Captain Frank Barton 



have now long since jumped the big fence, and the jumping 

 business never took on again. 



After my smash I sold off my horses. Baccy won the 

 Metropolitan at Croydon after I sold him, and I had the morti- 

 fication of owning a good horse which I never was able to ride. 



This was a horse called Rosenallis that I had bought at a 

 place of that name in Ireland as a three-year-old. When he 

 arrived at Newmarket, Captain Machell liked him, and was, as 

 usual, correct in his judgment, for the horse won the Household 

 Brigade Cup for me the first time he ran. Soon afterwards, 

 with 14 lbs. penalty, and ridden by Captain Bewicke, he won 

 the Light-weight Military in a canter. Bewicke thought so well 

 of him that, on returning from Sandown, he came straight to see 

 me and tell me how good he thought him, and warned me against 

 parting with him for less than four figures. He was quite 

 right, for shortly afterwards, " Roddy " Owen, who had ridden 

 in the race, and was beaten on the favourite, came and offered 

 me ^800 for him for one of his patrons — Benzon, I suppose. 



What success I may have achieved I owe, firstly, to Arthur 

 Yates, our cheery old friend and mentor, and, secondly, to the 

 kindness of my friends who gave me mounts. 



My regiment, the Scots Guards, generally produced a 

 soldier jockey, and I did my best to follow in the steps of men 

 like Lord Minto, Colonel Harford, and General G. W. Knox. 

 My successor was Sir Cuthbert Slade, whose early death all 

 his friends deplore, and I was gratified to see that last year 

 the Grand Military was again won by a Scots Guardsman, 

 Captain Paynter, with Mount Prospects Fortune. Unfortu- 

 nately, the gentleman rider is now almost an extinct species. 

 Soldiers have not the time they had formerly, and others have 

 not the inclination. In spite of what faddists may say to the 

 contrary, the soldier jockey was invariably a good, useful officer. 



449 2 G 



