JAMES MERRY 



inclement, and the horses were on the straw-bed all 

 the winter, the snow only disappearing at the end of 

 the first week in February. This state of affairs natu- 

 rally gave Peck an anxious time of it, for he had been 

 told that King of the Forest was a colt requiring 

 an exceptional amount of work. Fortunately this 

 did not prove to be the case, indeed the colt, who 

 did not start really strong work until the second 

 week in February, was quite fit to run by the end 

 of March, being, if anything, a little overdone. 

 Then came a spell of wet weather, and when Mr. 

 Merry came down to try him some ten days before 

 the Two Thousand, the ground was hke a bog. 

 There were no good old ones in the stable fit to try 

 with just then, so it was arranged that "the King" 

 should carry even weights with the four-year-old 

 Competitor, and give 28 lb. to an un-named filly 

 by Thormanby out of Clotilde and Rifleman, the 

 latter of whom subsequently proved good enough 

 to finish third to Henry in the Ascot Derby, whilst, 

 singularly enough, the Clotilde filly won the race 

 that immediately followed the Two Thousand. In 

 those days every possible precaution was taken to 

 throw the touts off the scent, so the horses with 

 white legs had them blackened, and artistic white 

 stockings were temporarily bestowed upon those 

 that did not possess them, whilst the gallop took 

 place soon after three o'clock in the morning, in 

 such a thick fog as to render it almost dangerous. 

 Peck acted as starter, and JNIr. Merry and Capt. 

 Phillips judged. King of the Forest made the 

 whole of the running, and beat the Clotilde filly by 

 a head. Rifleman, three lengths away, was third, 

 whilst Competitor, who was afterwards found to be 

 dead out of form, was beaten off. Unfortunately 

 the trial completely upset King of the Forest, in- 

 deed he never cleaned his manger out from that 



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