126 MEMORIES OF MEN AND HORSES 



was contemplating such prices as these. Ought he not 

 to use some discretion ? 



Captain Machell advised that he certainly ought, and 

 the result was that he gave way at the final touch and 

 let Mr Sievier buy Sceptre for 10,000 guineas dirt 

 cheap at the money, as it happened. 



There is no need to tell here how she won her first 

 victories when trained by Charles Morton, or how, in the 

 next spring, she was handled by another and half ruined. 

 "Whatever happens in this race," said Mr Sievier to 

 me as she went out of the paddock for the Lincoln 

 Handicap of that year, "he shall never train her again." 



Sceptre was just beaten by St Maclou for that race, 

 and Mr Sievier took to training her himself at 

 Shrewton, with extraordinarily successful results. She 

 won the Two Thousand Guineas, after having shown 

 such preliminary nervousness in the paddock that she 

 had to be taken out and saddled elsewhere. Then 

 having regained her confidence, she made light of the 

 One Thousand Guineas, and the public thought the 

 Derby must be a good thing for her as indeed it 

 would have been had her requirements been as well 

 understood then as they were later on. Her defeat for 

 the Derby elicited a howl of execration from the public 

 the equivalent of nous sommes trahis. It is to make 

 clear the facts that I again take the liberty of quoting 

 from myself: 



" The Sportsman" 315^ May 1902. 



SCEPTRE AT HOME 



"SHE is at least 10 Ib. better than she was in the 

 Two Thousand Guineas week, and you'll find that's the 

 truth when you ride her to-morrow." 



