My Racing Adventures 



was then summer-time, and I hacked him about 

 for two or three months, greatly to my own satis- 

 faction and his benefit. He improved wonder- 

 fully, the treatment suited him, and, though he 

 had a funny mouth, he was quite a beautiful 

 hack. Not everybody could ride him. He was 

 apt to slip off incontinently or without warning 

 if his jockey were rough and upset him ; he could 

 easily upset the man on his back if his plumage 

 were ruffled. But we always got on very well 

 together. A horse and his jockey, unlike a fool 

 and his money, ought not to be soon parted if 

 both are gifted with the usual amount of common- 

 sense allowed by Act of Parliament. 



Put into training again, " Ilex " was duly 

 entered for the Grand National of 1890 when he 

 was six years old. He ran once unsuccessfully 

 at Sandown before he went to Aintree, where his 

 weight for the Cross-country Championship was 

 10 st. 5 lb. We did not regard that impost as 

 at all prohibitive. In his final gallop before the 

 race he achieved a wonderfully smart perform- 

 ance. He was sent 4j miles over our private 

 steeplechase course at Walton ; he was led for 

 the first 2j miles by "Swindler," who was a 

 good 3-mile horse, and then " Willie Blair " — 

 who could win 2- mile handicap steeplechases 



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