262 MEMORIES OF MEN AND HORSES 



that he inclined rather to the professional crowd who 

 did not like the starting gate or jockeys like Lester 

 ReifT, who headed the winning list but kept himself clear 

 of all outside influences. Now my feeling was very 

 strong on the side of Reiff and the gate, and in fact 

 anything else (such as the draw for places) that could 

 get us away from the bad old days when a compara- 

 tively few jockeys had things all their own way and, 

 especially, controlled the flag starts, and took the best 

 positions on the rails. 



I am sure that Charles Greenwood was not consciously 

 biassed, but most of us have a tendency to support our 

 friends, no matter how fairly we may try to hold the 

 scales. Anyhow he was a racing journalist who, within 

 his own limits, has never been surpassed. 



Fred Ball, who was Greenwood's understudy on the 

 Telegraphy and a very capable one at that, succeeded to 

 the post of "Hotspur "and carried on for some years 

 with very fair success. In no respect was he brilliant, 

 but he was a genuine hard worker, always doing his 

 very best, and he was a most able journalist in all the 

 technical details of the profession. Thus, when a year or 

 two before his death he did the " Travelling " notes on 

 racing for The Evening Standard, I have never seen that 

 work so well done, and I used to be fairly astonished by 

 the way he could sit writing in the press-room and still 

 collect first-rate information of all that was going on in 

 the paddock. This he would do by questioning me or 

 anyone else who came in, but it was the way in which 

 he assimilated the information without any delay that 

 surprised me. 



Fred Ball used to own a very remarkable raven 

 which took pleasure in killing rats. It used to delight 



