My Racing Adventures 



journey I was glad to get off my steed and see 

 if he could prop himself up against a haystack 

 or something without gasping for my assistance." 



James Adams, a great jockey in his day, has 

 still a pretty wit, and he is glad to exercise it, 

 regardless of expense, for the delectation of his 

 brother churchwardens. They are never tired of 

 listening with the accompaniments of pipe and 

 glass to his merry stories. 



Modern trainers, as hinted, are not continually 

 trying to delude the touts, who do their best, and 

 they were never a source of anxiety or trouble to 

 me when I had a lot of useful horses in my stable. 

 " Live and let live " was my policy ; we shall 

 all die soon enough. My " good things " were 

 not given away as a result of external machina- 

 tions. The knowledge possessed by the " Brussels 

 sprouts " relative to my " flyers " might have been 

 put into a pill-box and shaken vigorously without 

 bursting the lid. And when, as once occurred, 

 one of those lynx-eyed professors reported a horse 

 to have done a fast 3-mile gallop after that animal 

 had been dead a month, we must be excused for 

 indulging in a little childish mirthfulness. It is 

 so heartening when our lucky star is not in the 

 ascendant or is sulking behind a cloud. 



" Why, yes," said a budding tout on the Downs, 

 232 



