My Racing Adventures 



against the mile-post with his beacon-course or 

 hang-dog expression. I could not give him a 

 walk-over, not after his jumping me off like that : 

 it would have been unnatural. 



" Worse men than us" so I cantered on — " 1 

 mean worse than you — have been known to win a 

 little money at the races. But, of course " — this 

 was my next terrible admission — "trainers do 

 not find more first-past-the-post heroes than they 

 can do with for themselves, so that the prospects 

 of a rank outsider may be readily estimated." 



He took heart of grace in view of my official 

 recognition of him as a potential factor of ruin. 

 " I loathe the notion," he declaimed, " of backing 

 horses which are puffed up by asses, if not ridden 

 by them " — he glanced at me out of the corner of 

 his eye as if he were scoring off me with deadly 

 effect — " and relying on my own sound, practical 

 judgment " — he coughed in an embarrassed way, 

 as well he might — " I do not back winners enough 

 to keep a female in necessary — er — disinfectants." 

 ... It seemed that he had been recently crossed 

 in love, twice, which accounted for his acrid 

 criticism of divinities. 



Expert knowledge and information are a great 

 help in this department, but they do not infallibly 

 yield a dividend at the end of the week. Regular 



164 



