Captain Frank Barton 



that surprised me was, that he did not give me a fall. How- 

 ever, I got him round somehow, and actually thought I was 

 going to get him home, when something of Captain Homfray's 

 appeared from nowhere in particular, wide on the outside, with 

 his jockey cutting the sword exercise in approved style. This 

 settled me, as he had the legs of me from the last fence. I 

 forget its name, but remember it turned out to be quite a useful 

 horse, who won a good few races later on. 



The other second was also one of Captain Childe s — Merry 

 Maiden by See-Saw, a good mare, on whom I had won the 

 Brigade Cup the previous year at Aylesbury when four years old. 

 She was one of my favourite mounts, but on this occasion, the 

 last race of the day (Open Military), I was beaten after a close 

 race by Captain Baird's Playfair, who won the Grand National 

 the following year. How he ever achieved this performance 

 has always been a mystery to me, for he was a bad horse and 

 a very moderate jumper. I remember George Lambton riding 

 him at Sandown on one occasion, when I was riding a little 

 horse of my own called Baccy. We were side by side for some 

 distance, and George's expressions at the fences were more 

 forcible than polite, for the horse chanced every one of them. 



February, 1888, saw the end of my career as a jockey, and 

 very nearly the end of my life. We ran the Saint at Sandown 

 in a race in which he had full penalties, and carried the pre- 

 posterous weight of 13 St. 10 lbs. He was giving no less than 

 three stone to the ultimate winner, and until he fell with me at 

 the ditch fence — second time round — ran as game and full of 

 courage as ever. He never cried enough, or gave me an 

 inkling that he was done, but charged the fence full of courage, 

 and gave me an awful fall. I fractured my spine, and was 

 for many months a complete cripple, and though my constitution 

 and fitness saved me, I never completely recovered, and never 



447 



