VI PREFACE 



baronet ' (Sir Joseph Hawley) and his Beadsman ; I 

 saw Buckstone and Tim Whiffler, General Peel and 

 Ely, run their dead heats for the Ascot Cup ; I saw 

 Blair Athol win his Derby, the first time he ran in 

 public ; I saw Gladiateur win the Two Thousand, the 

 Derby, the Ascot Cup, and indeed nearly all the races 

 he won in England, and I saw him run for the Cam- 

 bridgeshire, which no horse could have won under his 

 weight ; I saw the struggle between Lord Lyon and 

 the then Bribery colt for the Derby, and the still closer 

 struggle between Lord Lyon and the then Savernake 

 for the Doncaster St. Leger. I have been a spectator 

 of the doughty deeds done by French and other foreign 

 horses on English ground from Hospodar to Boiard, 

 Chamant, Eayon d'Or, Insulaire, and Iroquois ; and, 

 though I am a httle hazy about La Toucques and Fille 

 de I'Air (to both of whom I might, mutatis mutandis, 

 apply the phrase ' Virgilium vidi tantiim ' ), I have a 

 very distinct recollection of the fantastic Sornette. 

 Other French and foreign performers on the English 

 Turf, more or less numerous than the sand that is upon 

 the seashore, I might mention as known to me by sight 

 and by witnessed exploit (such as Dollar and his Good- 

 wood Cup) ; but enough, no doubt, has been said to 

 prove that I have personally ' assisted ' at many event- 

 ful races and at some of the history I have attempted 

 to put together. 



As for books, such as it became a student of horse- 

 racing to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest, I have 



