HISTORIC JOCKEYS AND A ROYAL OWNER. 359 



riding under Richard Prince, Lord Foley's groom, and his riding soon put him in a 

 place by himself above Oakley, the two Arnulls (or Arnold), Buckle, Hindley, or 

 Clift. He was employed by Lord Grosvenor, the Duke of Bedford, Mr. Thomas 

 Panton, and finally by the Prince of Wales himself. He was five-foot-five tall, clean 

 run, muscular and light, and among many other victories he won the Derby for the 

 Duke of Bedford on Skyscraper (see pages 290 and 345). I have already hinted at 

 my opinion that, though Chifney was probably by no means a " plaster saint," he was 

 not so much to blame as Sir Charles Bunbury imagined. One side of that famous 

 inquiry will never be known. Chifney's own evidence may be summed up as follows : 

 His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales had entered his b. h. Escape (by 

 Highflyer, dam by Squirrel] for a race at Newmarket on October 20, 1791. He 

 had bred the horse himself, and named him because he had kicked through the side 

 of his stall when a yearling and was rescued without injury. It is curious that after 

 he was sent to the stud, one of his colts, called Hairbreadth, was killed in the Maiden 

 Stakes at Chester in 1798, by violently colliding with a soldier after bolting over the 

 cords. One of Escapes victories was at York in August, 1790, when he beat Actaeon 

 and Gustavus for the Great Subscription of ^"295 for five-year-olds, 8st. ylb., four 

 miles, in the year after the Prince of Wales made his famous visit to the York races, 

 saw Miss Farren as Beatrice in " Much Ado," dined with the Lord Mayor, and 

 finished a triumphant progress through the North by staying at Wentworth House 

 with Lord Fitzwilliam. In 1791, at the same meeting, Sam Chifney rode Traveller 

 (see page 254), Creeper (see page 229), and Traveller again, for the Prince of Wales, 

 and was beaten in all three races. The jockey (who was riding about 8st. gib.) 

 thought Traveller (6 years) was unfit, and said as much to his trainer, Casborne, and 

 to the Prince, but recommended his royal master to back Creeper (5 years), and 

 backed the horse himself for two hundred guineas. When he stripped Creeper for 

 saddling just before the Wednesday race (the Great Subscription) he " believed him 

 poisoned, for his carcase was swelled in so extraordinary a manner that I never saw a 

 horse so before." There was no time to hedge, or to warn any one else, and though 

 the pace was easy at the start (four miles) the horse was beaten by Walnut three or 

 four lengths. Mr. Orton gives the betting as 3 to i on Walnut. On Thursday 

 Traveller, who had been beaten by Spadille, Gustavtts, and Fox on the Monday, was 

 again beaten by Tickle Toby and Walnut over another four-mile course, " universally 

 allowed," says Mr. Orton, " to be one of the finest races ever run." The finish was so 

 close that Chifney, who " poured upon the leaders " in the last hundred yards, 



