Major F. Herbert 



however, did not bode well, and resulted in financial disaster so 

 far as regards myself, seeing that I never received a penny of 

 the stakes, the committee in all probability having spent my 

 entrance fees in riotous living. Another incident I can call 

 to mind was in connection with a horse I owned called Mephis- 

 topheles, called by the Irish Bookies, ' My Fist of Fleas,' 

 trained by old Alan McDonough on the Curragh, the worst 

 tempered horse I ever rode, but a good one when he would 

 try. There had been some heavy wagering between Jock 

 Ainslie, then commanding the Royals, and Sir Archibald Little 

 — the latter, I believe, having laid against the former winning 

 the Punchestown Grand Military with Wild Fox. The hopes 

 of the opponents to Wild Fox were centred in my horse, 

 who during the race behaved splendidl}'', showing no temper 

 until the run in, when the rider of the horse immediately 

 behind, seeing that I had the race in hand, and knowing 

 the temper of my mount, began to use his whip as noisily 

 as possible, with the result that Mephistopheles, stopping as 

 if shot, set to kicking, and so lost me the race." 



With the transfer of the regiment to England, Major 

 Herbert's riding was almost entirely confined to this side the 

 Channel, and for some eight years he figured as owner and 

 rider at most of the cross-country meetings, Bacchus, by Father 

 Thames, a cast-off from the late Duke of Hamilton's stable, 

 Bluebeard (an Irish-bred horse), Killeen, by Kildman, on whom 

 he won six steeplechases out of eight in 187 1, beginning with 

 the Hunt Cup at Finchley — now a populous part of London — 

 and Sir Robert, a selling plater that won him several races, 

 being some of his best horses. Major Herbert's luckiest race on 

 Killeen, he tells us, was the Light-weight Divisional Steeple- 

 chase at Aldershot, as, on jumping the water, the mare came down 

 on her nose, shooting him on to her head ; but she recovered, 



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