RACING ADVENTURERS. 253 



do : Ridsdale could have managed such a bit of 

 turf business easily, being a perfect master of the 

 art of racing roguery." No objection was, how- 

 ever, made to St. Giles on the ground of fraud, 

 but a caveat was lodged on the ground ot 

 wrongful description in the entering of the horse 

 for the race, which in the Derby and some other 

 classic events, as is well known, takes place when 

 the colt is a yearling. On the case of misde- 

 scription being referred for decision to three 

 gentlemen of turf celebrity and honour, their 

 verdict was given in favour of Ridsdale ; it was in 

 the name of the latter that the horse had been 

 entered for the Derby. 



Extraordinary revelations have occasionally 

 been made of the amounts won by the confederates 

 by means of St. Giles' victory ; both of them, it is 

 certain, were large gainers by the success of their 

 horse, in favour of which the "oracle" is stated 

 to have been so industriously " worked " that not 

 more than three of the horses running in that 

 year's Derby were really trying to win ; the 

 horse placed third was Trustee, the property 

 of Ridsdale; Margrave, the fourth in the struggle, 

 belonged to Gully, and afterwards won the St. 

 Leger. The winnings of the partners on the 

 Derby were at one time computed at ^100,000, 

 ^40,000 being Ridsdale's share, the rest falling 

 to Gully. Some aver that the partners quarrelled 

 over the division of the spoil, but that was 

 not the case, as the partnership certainly lasted 

 till after the Doncaster meeting. 



Ridsdale was undoubtedly an adept in such 

 arrangements as have been hinted at with re- 

 ference to the clearing of the path for his horse. 



