Ihe Leather Plater. 325 



never headed, and won the first heat (just one mile), with the dun 

 second ; the captain again third on a fresh horse. These were the 

 only three that went for the next, heat, and they came in again in 

 the same order, Tom making running throughout. The young 

 horse had now "won his spurs," and we were offered two hundred 

 for him on the course, which we refused. 



There were "sounds of revelry" that night at the Chequers, to 

 which all our party adjourned after the races ; and old John Harrison 

 was more oracular than ever. 



After the race Tom advised us to keep the young horse only for 

 hurdle-racing or the flat, and added that he did not think just then 

 there were many half-bred horses in England could beat him; and 

 so it turned out, for we had a very merry summer, all over the 

 country, picking up all the little county stakes for which we chose 

 to enter him. We did not fly at any high game the first year : but 

 when Jack Russell and myself came to divide the profits of that 

 year's racing, we were both very well satisfied with the result. I 

 may add, that Frank, the young rough-rider, rode the colt for us 

 three or four times, and in his second season we engaged him for 

 our regular jockey. 



The captain was more vexed with his defeat in the hurdle-race 

 than in the steeple-chase. He had always felt a little sore at my 

 buying the colt out of his hands, and the first time we met we 

 had a word or two on the subject. We were both of us a little 

 f( peppery," and the result of the interview was that he matched 

 his mare, which had run third in the hurdle-race, against our young 

 horse one mile and a half over the flat, for 50^. a side, at 10 st. 

 each. He very much wanted to get the match on with " owners 

 up," but as I knew this would be as much as giving the race away, 

 I declined on these terms, and he conceded the point. The match 

 was to come off over Hollerton Race-course in six weeks, and we 

 engaged Tom to ride for us, as Frank was hardly within 5 Ib. of 

 the captain in race riding. But even with Tom up I was giving 

 away great odds. The captain's mare was thorough-bred, there 

 was no "long hair in her pasterns," and she had won more than 



