DANEBURY AND THE MARES 



because some time since, looking through an old 

 volume of the Racing Calendar of about this period 

 with Lord Coventry, I noticed that he had won a 

 minor Plate. I asked him what sort of a horse the 

 humble winner had been and gathered that it was by 

 no means a good one, but that it had been expected 

 to win that particular event. Lord Coventry went 

 on to tell me that he and his partner, Lord Courtenay, 

 afterwards Lord Devon, had sent into the ring to back 

 this animal for as much as the commissioner could 

 get on. I enquired if Lord Coventry remembered 

 what the amount might have been, and he replied that 

 it was something over ^46,000. The horse started 

 at 6 to 4 and won. It cannot be supposed that this 

 was an altogether exceptional event, and one may 

 gather how betting ranged in the sixties when owners 

 thought they had what looked like a good thing. 



It will be understood with what anxiety the start of 

 the race in which Historian was running must have 

 been watched, for in a half-mile sprint there is little 

 time to make up for a bad beginning. When the 

 flag fell Historian's head was turned in the wrong 

 direction ! How his jockey contrived to get him 

 round and to overtake those who had jumped off, 

 William Day professed himself unable to guess, but 

 Historian got home by a short head. 



It will perhaps scarcely be gathered from what Lord 

 Suffolk writes of the Hurstbourne Stakes that this 



