SAM DARLING 117 



charge of Fred Darling, and I am quite sure that Sam 

 Darling if able to go the few hundred yards from 

 " Willonyx " to see them will have felt a renewed in- 

 terest in life. There is no sort of secret, however, as 

 to the serious state of health of this good and game 

 sportsman, who is the friend of so many, and he knows 

 all about it himself. Still, he might live to see his son 

 train a Derby winner in Westward Ho, though it will 

 be contrary to his own methods if the colt is not started 

 for some sort of race before being asked to win the Derby, 

 or any other classic event. I have had many happy 

 experiences with Sam Darling, and know him perhaps 

 more intimately than most of his friends, whose name 

 is Legion. We shall have no more adventures, amus- 

 ing or otherwise, in Egypt or South Africa ; nor shall 

 I be instrumental in taking other Derby winners from 

 him as I did in the case of Galtee More and Ard 

 Patrick, but what would you? We are finite beings, 

 so far as our mortal fabric goes, and no man can 

 expect to go on training Galtee Mores and Ard Patricks 

 year after year regardless of the flight of time. I have 

 often wondered what has become of the wild Russian 

 General, Arapoff, who was one of the three who came 

 to settle finally on the purchase of Galtee More. He 

 was a large distiller of vodka, and had never been in 

 England before. I remember he insisted on stopping 

 at the Ailesbury Arms, Marlborough, as we drove 

 out to Beckhampton, for he must have a draught of 

 neat whisky, which was of very different strength from 

 the present sort. Then, at Beckhampton, after lunch, 

 he besought Sam Darling to let them see Galtee More 

 do "a leetle gallop," for they would never be able 

 to do so in Russia. It was a very "leetle gallop" 



