Mr. L. R. Thomas 



jumping the last hurdle, but, as luck would have it, nothing 

 caught us, and we rolled home somehow. 



" For a subaltern in a marching regiment, I had now quite 

 a useful little string at Goddard's stables at Winchfield, and 

 being remarkably lucky as well — so often the case with a 

 beginner — in an evil moment I made up my mind to leave the 

 service and devote my time for the future entirely to racing. 



" The following year my luck continued, and I won several 

 races with Epworth and others; and in the spring of 1870 I 

 took over the management of Mr. Forbes Bentley's horses at 

 Findon. Mr. Bentley was very fond of the West country, and 

 we went a racing tour there every autumn. At Totnes we 

 had a good outing, winning five or six races, in one of which, 

 a mile over four flights of hurdles, I was riding Spitfire, and 

 won the first heat in a walk. During the second heat she cut 

 her tendon nearly through, and we finished a dead heat with a 

 mare called Blackbird, owned and ridden by Captain Churchill. 

 When we pulled up, I saw Spitfire was settled, so approached 

 Churchill re a division. He seemed to agree very quickly, 

 and I then found his mare had broken down so badly she 

 could not walk. I have never known since two dead-heaters 

 being both incapacitated. 



*'At Worcester that year I won the Hurdle Handicap on 

 Victress, a mare Mr. Bentley bought from Mr. Charlton for 

 ;^ioo; Miss Banks, ridden by John Page, being beaten a neck, 

 with a large field behind her. In the spring of 189 1 I got a 

 bad fall riding Seclusion at Exeter. She fell in some false 

 ground between the hurdles, and I did not get over it for a 

 long time. I remember we had a good year as far as winning 

 races went, the stable scoring upwards of fifty wins, including 

 the Great Warwickshire Handicap, the Stockbridge Cup, etc. 



"In the following year I went to live at Tenby, where at 



175 



