JAMES MERRY 



for them to stop, and wrote off to Mr. Merry, " If 

 my hundred pounds is on please hedge it, as I am 

 afraid he is no good." Butters was on his back in 

 all his work, and Harroway always rode the horse 

 that was told off to lead him, the pair fully under- 

 standing that, if any one was out with Waugh, 

 they were to pull up some time before reaching the 

 trainer, and never to gallop past. Of course, how- 

 ever, the matter could not be kept a secret for 

 ever, and an immense amount of money was laid 

 against the colt for the Two Thousand Guineas, 

 for which he started at 10 to 1. Those who took 

 liberties with him and overlaid their books — and 

 there were a good many who were anxious to help 

 themselves — had a terrible fright, as Pretender 

 only beat him by half a length after a desperate 

 race. Indeed, there is no doubt that he ought to 

 have won, and would have done so if Kenyon had 

 obeyed his orders, and made a waiting race of it. 

 The then fashionable light weight was, however, a 

 httle " above himself "just at that time — a common 

 failing, it is to be feared, with his class — and took 

 considerable umbrage at being put on a horse 

 whose roaring had then become a matter of 

 notoriety, and who was generally regarded as 

 possessing a very indifferent chance of success. 

 " I'll let them see if I'll ride their stiff 'uns or not," 

 was his impertinent remark, and, instead of carry- 

 ing out his instructions, he jumped off in front and 

 made every post a winning post — the most fatal 

 course that could possibly have been adopted with 

 such an accomplished "musician" as poor Bella- 

 drum had become. Daley was up in the Derby, 

 and such was the fear inspired by the display the 

 colt had made in the Guineas that many of those 

 who had slated him unmercifully took back their 

 money at any price they could get, and he actually 



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