238 A MIRROR OF THE TURF. 



handicap, and in consequence the odds against 

 that horse would be quoted at a rapidly lessening 

 figure, much to the chagrin of those who had laid 

 the larger or longer rates of odds, and who, 

 awakening to what had happened, were desirous 

 themselves of backing the horse so as to lessen 

 the sum they would require to pay in the event 

 of its winning the race it had been backed for. 

 Persons who are employed to do commissions get, 

 as a matter of course, to know " the strength of 

 them," and if they fancy the horse has a good 

 chance they help themselves pretty liberally to 

 a share of the money at the highest rate of odds. 



Fortune seemed on occasion to play into the 

 hands of Mr. Swindell as if no one else deserved 

 a turn. He was the first to learn from Sir 

 Joseph Hawley that Beadsman would be his 

 best horse for the Derby, that colt having beaten 

 Fitzroland, who had become a prime favourite 

 for the Blue Ribbon from having won the 

 Two Thousand Guineas. " Put me ^1,000 on 

 Beadsman at the best odds you can obtain," 

 said Sir Joseph, and Swindell was able the next 

 day to tell the lucky baronet that he had obtained 

 ;^i8,ooo to the stake authorised. "All right," 

 was the reply ; " now help yourself, it is a good 

 thing." And so it proved, as Beadsman, beating 

 twenty-two competitors, won the Derby of 1858, 

 and that horse was the sire of Blue Gown, which 

 ten years later placed another big stake to the 

 credit of the noble baronet. 



The turf transaction which gave Mr. Swindell 

 his first good " lift " as a manager of racing events 

 was his manipulation of Chanticleer, a horse that 

 won the Goodwood Stakes in 1848, a race on 



