HERMIT AND ISINGLASS 



on his horse Hermit, and would he let him stand 

 the odds to £100 on The Rake on consideration 

 of giving up his claim ? Mr. Pryor replied that 

 he thought The Rake was certain to win the 

 Derby, and Mr. Chaplin could back him for 

 what he thought proper, but he had so many 

 friends standing in with him that he could not 

 afford to let him do so. Mr. Chaplin, however, 

 said he should be sorry to stop me from riding 

 the winner, so wrote back at once and gave 

 me up. 



"The most extraordinary part of the story is, that 

 on the Friday before the Derby the news arrived 

 at Harpenden Races that The Rake had broken a 

 blood-vessel. That night I went over to Chantilly 

 to ride in the French Derby, and when I returned 

 to England on the Monday had no idea which 

 horse I was going to steer at Epsom. As each 

 had broken a blood-vessel, I didn't think it 

 mattered much. On the Tuesday morning I 

 went on to the course to ride The Rake a gallop 

 as usual before the Derby, never having been on 

 his back. Mr. Joseph Dawson, his trainer, told 

 me to follow some horse or other three-quarters 

 of a mile cantering twice, as he said that his 

 colt had done a good preparation. After I had 

 pulled up I said to Mr. Dawson, ' Well, of all 

 the Derby horses I have ever ridden, this is the 

 worst.' 



" He answered : ' Wait until you get a pair 

 of spurs on him ; you'll find him a different 

 horse.' 



" Of course I gave way to him, and thought it 

 must be laziness which he attributed it to. On 

 my way home I saw Bloss's horses doing their 

 work, and Hermit was sent to canter a mile on 

 the Derby course. This was the first canter he 



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