474 A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH TURF. 



way, and had thrown his jockey on to the course, where Prime Warden smashed 

 poor Bill's collar-bone and very nearly fell himself. The impassive owner of Epirus 

 was to win four Derbys, three Two Thousands, and one St. Leger, and to be a 

 well-known though never a prominent figure on the Turf until his Taraban 

 won the Northumberland Plate and the Goodwood Stakes in 1871, when George 

 Fordham, who used to join the horse in a sponge of port wine before his races, 

 hardly knew his owner even by sight. Even in his young days of victory Mr. 

 Bowes was very reticent. Some one asked why he was "down in the dumps" 

 one night at Crockford's. He had just won about ,50,000 over Cot her stone's 

 Derby, a son of Touchstone, from Emma, dam of Milndig. His most popular and 

 his best winner was West Australian, who was first to wear the " Triple Crown." 

 It was difficult enough to get him safe to the post for the St. Leger ; but with the 

 help of Mr. Frederick Swindell, John Scott eventually did it, only to find that 

 Scythian was to be started with the express object of knocking him down. Lord 

 Derby, who also trained with " the Wizard of the North " at that time, got a capital 

 description of what followed from Frank Butler, who rode "T/ie West" at Doncaster. 



"He corned hat me once, m'lord," said the jockey, "and then he corned hat me 

 again, and when he corned hat me the third time, close to the Red House, I see 

 what he was hup to ; so I hups with my whip and I says, ' You dam' young davvle, 

 if you comes hat me again, I'll knock your dam' heye hout ! ' 



" The West" had seemed a trifle sleepy at the start for the Derby ; but between 

 then and the St. Leger his form changed completely, and he filled out from a colt 

 into the smart, well-moulded horse he was, though the affection of contemporary 

 artists has endowed him with more perfect points than even the admiration of 

 posterity can ever credit. He had plenty of quality from his dam Mowerina, 

 "the remnant of old Emmas race;" and John Scott's idea of getting bone from 

 Melboiirne turned out exactly right ; most of Melbourne's foals were lengthy and 

 plain-headed with lop-ears. " The West" was born on the 24th of April, and had such 

 bad distemper in the autumn that he wasted very thin until the spring grass picked 

 him up again for good. It was when he was alive that " The Druid " wrote : " For 

 the type of what a really serviceable racer ought to be, commend us to the low and 

 lengthy Fandango, with those great well-hooped ribs knit into the most muscular of 

 quarters, and that stealing action close to the ground and giving nothing away. It 

 is on the perpetuation of points like these, and not on beauty, that our English horse- 

 fame depends." Again we are faced with the multifarious nature of the types in 



