Captain Arthur J. Smith 



that did not fall to his lot at some time or another during his 

 riding career, the one ambition of his life was never destined 

 to be gratified. At this point, we do not think we can do 

 better than let the subject of our memoir take up the running 

 on his own account. 



"Altogether," he writes, ** I rode eight times in the Grand 

 National, being third in 1882 on Zoedone, then a five-year- 

 old, and the property of * Uncle ' Clayton. I was to have 

 ridden her the following year in the Grand Prize at Sandown 

 Park, but where I happened to be at the time, it was so hard a 

 frost that I thought it impossible to run, and didn't, therefore, 

 go there. A rapid thaw, however, set in, and Count Kinsky, 

 to whom the mare now belonged, being on the spot, rode 

 her himself, and later on at Liverpool, where she won 

 the Grand National. So I lost the chance of doing what I 

 had been trying to do for years — a bitter disappointment. 

 I am stwCy^ adds Captain Smith, " with ordinary luck, I 

 should have beaten Reugny in the Grand National of 1874 

 on Heraut D'Armes, a horse belonging to Mr. William 

 Forbes, and the best I have ever ridden. 



" A beautiful jumper, with tremendous speed, he could stay 

 for a month, but his trainer, thinking he had pulled me very 

 hard in the Conyngham Cup at Punchestown, which he won 

 in a canter, insisted on putting a ' segundo ' bit, with a 

 chain and snaffle, in his mouth ; the result being that he 

 jumped badly in the race and eventually fell." 



It were odd indeed if, in the course of his career in the 

 saddle, a Grand Military had not fallen to his share, and 

 accordingly we find him winning that much-coveted prize 

 on Bell's Life for Major Wombwell (now Sir George 

 Womb well), of the 12 th Lancers, at Rugby in 1864. In 

 addition to this. Captain Smith rode the winner of the 



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