Aboo Janoub. 87 



public by the fleetest of Arabs, even when favoured 

 by the fastest of stop watches, which are often sad 

 flatterers. As a natural consequence, when the Star 

 was fit and well and had something speedier than the 

 rails alongside of him, he proved a miserable failure. 

 The Gordon Highlanders got him afterwards, but 

 could do nothing with him, so sold him to cJne of the 

 4th Hussars as a charger. Aboo Janoub was a big, 

 strong grey with a coarse head. He showed little 

 quality, though he was said to be of very high caste. 

 He never ran very well, and had more than the usual 

 number of excuses made for him. His owner backed 

 him heavily for the Calcutta Derby that year, and has, 

 I think, hardly yet done wondering how he lost. Some 

 evil-inclined person was supposed to have mixed datura 

 seeds in his corn prior to the big event, and thus made 

 him "safe." Instead of framing excuses for horses, 

 how seldom do we hear an owner say that the reason 

 his horse lost was because he did not gallop fast enough ! 

 I saw Aboo Janoub, after the Calcutta Derby, at Luck- 

 now and Benares, and beat him with Caliph each time 

 they met. The excuse then was that he had not got 

 over the effects of the datura. I believe the horse was 

 a good one, but unsound. 



