MRS LANGTRY AND AURUM 177 



^2500 was duly paid into Mr Wilson's bank in the 

 city on the morning of the Victoria Derby, and then 

 came up the result which I got in an evening paper 

 while I was returning from Hurst Park Amberite I, 

 Aurum 2 ! This was quite horrible, and when I reached 

 home there was a cable from Wilson giving the result, 

 and adding: " Aurum knocked on fence, cut fetlock; 

 not his form." 



I knew well that it was not his form, for he had given 

 Amberite 14 Ib. and run right away from him only 

 three months earlier, but the cable read as if he might 

 be seriously damaged. 



Mrs Langtry took this disappointment like the good 

 sportswoman she has always been said she knew every- 

 one had done his best for her, and hoped for better luck 

 next time. 



I was overjoyed to receive a cable on the following 

 Monday : " Running Aurum in the Cup to-morrow. 

 Think has good chance." 



Obviously, then, the colt was all right, but he would 

 be a wonder indeed if his chance was really good, for 

 he was handicapped to carry 8 st. 6 Ib., which is 14 Ib. 

 more than the standard weight given to a Derby 

 winner in this race. Nevertheless, when the result 

 came up, Aurum had run third close up with two old 

 horses, Gaulus and The Grafter, to each of which he 

 was giving close on a stone, and that as a young three- 

 year-old such as ours would be in March over two 

 miles. Properly considered, it was a greater perform- 

 ance even than Carbine's, for we saw over here what 

 The Grafter's form was. 



So far so good, but on the third day of the meeting 

 Aurum came out and won the Flying Stakes, and on 



M 



