XTbe */ID)?5teri^' Case 157 



about : A horse called ' Bras de Fer,' belonging to 

 Mr. John Batson, had won two races at Manchester in 

 the April previous, and it was proved the owner was 

 in the Forfeit List at the time of entry, but paid 

 afterwards. In consequence, the horse was dis- 

 qualified, and bets went with the stakes. Now, 

 said these gentlemen to themselves, " There is the 

 finest opening for us : we have only to get a horse 

 that the public will back, enter him in someone's 

 name who is in the Forfeit List at the time, and if he 

 wins, of course he will be disqualified." This they 

 tried to do with ' Mystery,' having ' Bras de Fer' as 

 a precedent. But the stewards of the Jockey Club 

 happened to suspect there was something wrong. 

 After investigating the case, I believe they referred 

 the bets to the Committee of Tattersall's, who gave 

 a decision directly opposed to the one they had 

 given some weeks previously, as they saw this 

 business was a mere "plant." So the biters got 

 bitten to a great extent, and I don't think they got 

 much sympathy either. I afterwards asked Jem 

 Potter for the ^10 he promised me. He directly 

 turned round and exclaimed — was it not bad enough 

 for him to lose ^150 over the race, and to lose his 

 mare, which was claimed, etc. ? I listened to him 

 for a short time, and presently remarked : 



