My Racing Adventures 



the candle at both ends, or the snuffers will be 

 brought for you, and it will be your vital spark 

 that is extinguished." But what is the use of 

 making a feeble splutter only when one feels 

 capable of a more glorious illumination ? Lights 

 that burn low do not always last the longest. 

 And a few purple patches repay us for many 

 desolate interludes. There is nothing like riding 

 a winner to drive dull care away. What are the 

 odds, so to speak, if the net result is satisfactory ? 

 I commenced to train horses (in addition to 

 riding them) in the stables formerly occupied by 

 Robert I'Anson, the once eminent cross-country 

 jockey and trainer, at Burgh Heath, near Epsom. 

 I soon had my hands full and few boxes empty. 

 Success, too, was not long in coming; fortune 

 favoured me almost at the first time of asking. 

 To the Plumpton February Meeting, 1893, I 

 sent Mr F. Statham Hobson's " Eversfield," who 

 won a race there quite comfortably. He was the 

 first winner that I both trained and rode myself: 

 it was rather a joyful experience, and if I felt 

 slightly "up in the stirrups" afterwards — only 

 for a few moments, of course — there was some 

 excuse, perhaps, for that temporary elation. 

 Friends congratulated me with effusion, for 

 "Eversfield" had been well backed. Another 



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