Colonel R. F. Meysey-Thompson 



The next spring Mr. Meysey-Thompson got a crushing 

 fall when riding his own horse, Mainspring, at Baldoyle, in a 

 three-mile race. The latter had belonged to Mr. Moses 

 Taylor, and been trained by Mr. Garrett Moore, who afterwards 

 told his new owner he quite expected Mainspring would fall, 

 as he was always " stone-cold " after two miles. The horse 

 was well up with the leaders for just this distance, and then 

 kicked back at a gorse fence in front of a wide deep ditch, when, 

 getting no purchase with his hind feet, he turned a complete 

 summersault, throwing his jockey on to his head. As the 

 latter lay perfectly still, on his back, the crowd which promptly 

 gathered round, made up its mind that he had been killed, so 

 to make assurance doubly sure, one of the more venturesome 

 stepped forward, and put his finger into the victim's eye, to see 

 whether this would cause any movement. As it failed to do so 

 the crowd were satisfied the accident had been a fatal one, and 

 felt they had seen something really worth coming for. 



The damp climate of Ireland was not suitable to a sufferer 

 from malaria, and constant attacks prevented many appearances 

 in a silk jacket. He was fortunate in his mounts, when well 

 enough to ride, winning another race at the Curragh — his 

 record there was three wins and one second out of five mounts 

 — and he also won two races on the flat at Baldoyle on the 

 same afternoon, besides a few others at various meetings ; but 

 the doctors at last insisted on his going to a more bracing 

 climate, and a culminating bout of illness not only drove him 

 to the South of France to recuperate, but also necessitated his 

 resigning his commission in the Army. It was the more pro- 

 voking, as he had got a few useful horses together, which had 

 just won the Conyngham Cup and Grand Military Hunters' 

 Race at Punchestown, the Dunboyne Plate at Fairyhouse, and 

 the Oriental Stakes at Sandown ; while one which had not yet 



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