H 5uinpina prise 293 



prize-winners of the year at Alexandra Park, Man- 

 chester, Islington, and other places, were there to 

 compete. It was a post-entry, and I went up at the 

 last minute and got my numbers — 18 and 19 — for 

 ' Only a Clod ' and ' The Doctor,' both of which the 

 Duke of Hamilton gave me. I rode the former 

 myself, and put Dick Shaw — a well-known steeple- 

 chase rider at that time, who won a lot of races for 

 Bob Howett — on ' The Doctor.' Mr. Henry 

 Chaplin was one of the judges, and Mr. J. Bennett 

 the other. Just as we entered the ring, Mr. Bennett 

 said, " Here is Custance's old horse ' Doctor,' " as he 

 knew him well. Mr. Chaplin, not knowing the 

 horses, concluded I was riding him, instead of which 

 I had selected to ride ' Only a Clod,' for the simple 

 reason he was such a hot little brute that very few 

 people could manage him who were not used to him, 

 and as I was used to him I thought it best for me to 

 appear in the saddle. The jumping started, and 

 they had put up some very large obstacles, especially 

 the gate, which was quite five feet. Mine were the 

 two last to jump. I went first, and did my round all 

 right, except the double, which was too narrow, and 

 my hot old brute jumped clean into the second 

 hurdle, and of course lost a point -or two. He 

 cleared the gate, water, and everything else at a 



