244 MEMORIES OF MEN AND HORSES 



AN ADVENTUROUS DRIVE 



I hasten to add that we went in the third instance 

 to see Daniel Cardoso's stable, where he has some 

 extraordinarily good colts, the property of Mr Pats. 

 The best of these, to my mind, is a very remarkable bay 

 colt by Your Majesty out of Marie Helena. He cost 

 43,000 dollars at the Ojo de Agua sale, and he looks 

 worth the money. The best old horse in the stable 

 is Gaulois, by Cyllene out of Pirita. In this stable I 

 found everything really well done, and trainers have 

 overcome all obstacles except the hot weather and the 

 monotony of the same training ground and the same 

 race-course, for which the totalisator is alone to blame. 



It is necessary to write a mere impression of these 

 good trainers and their stables, but I cannot conclude 

 without some reference to the adventures of myself and 

 Mr Getting in our journey to Palermo and back. It 

 necessitated the use of three taxis, the first having burst 

 a tyre before we got half-way there, and the second gave 

 us, on the return journey, a typical exposition of how 

 not to drive. All Argentine drivers appear to be quite 

 reckless, and ours ultimately dashed on to pass a cross- 

 road with a horse carriage coming from the right and 

 a tramcar from the left, all going at unreduced speed. 

 Our man at the last moment turned his car sharp to the 

 left, and, I am glad to say, just missed the horse, but that 

 did not prevent his dashing into the tramcar. We were 

 very lucky to escape as we did. Mr Getting cut his 

 knee rather badly, and I, who saw what was about to 

 happen twenty yards before it did happen, was practic 

 ally uninjured. The taxi was smashed up, and we 

 got another, which went along even more recklessly, 



