20 SPORTING STORIES 



laid the previous Saturday, ridden by John Jackson, won 

 the St Leger, to the intense surprise of his owner, Mr Petre, 

 who had paid Mr Wyville a bonus to take his betting-book 

 off his hands. 



Another odd wager of Jemmy's, but a more successful 

 one, was his laying Mr Ferguson, the owner of Antonio, 

 ;{^io even that he couldn't whistle when the St Leger 

 horses came in. Mr Ferguson accordingly commenced 

 when they were at a distance, and right shrill was the note. 

 " Nay," said the crafty layer, " thou must only whistle when 

 I tell thee " ; and as they swept past, with Antonio in 

 front and Wrangler at his girths, the signal was given, but 

 the lucky owner could only make a blow of it. 



Perhaps Jem Bland's greatest coup was in the St Leger 

 of 1826, when he landed upwards of ^30,000 over Lord 

 Scarbrough's Tarrare, on whom George Nelson won his 

 first and only Sellinger. It was a most sensational race. 

 The winner started at 25 to i, and, with the exception of 

 his noble owner, no one appeared to think he had the ghost 

 of a chance. Sultan, the favourite — " Crocky's white nose," 

 as they called him — had broken down on the Saturday 

 before the race. He could hardly be got into Mr Mawe's 

 stable at Belle Vue, and some who stood heaviest on him 

 raced off in chaises, with bribed drivers, to reach Sheffield 

 and Nottingham before the news, and try to save a little 

 of their money. Of course, the betting ring were suspected 

 of having nobbled the favourite, and Jem Bland had to 

 take his share of the suspicion. 



Another great year of Jemmy's was that of the famous 

 Plenipotentiary scandal. " Plenipo," as he was called for 

 short, had won the Derby of 1834 in a canter, and was far 

 away the best horse of his year. He was, of course, made 

 a hot favourite for the Leger, which seemed literally at his 

 mercy. He started at 5 to 4 on, and was nowhere. That 

 the horse had been " got at " no one could doubt. Two 

 days before the race Plenipo was as fit as hands could 

 make him — " light and bounding as Duvernay or Taglioni." 

 At the starting-post he was "gross and helpless as Jack 

 Falstaff or Daniel Lambert." Mr Batson, the owner, was 

 suspected of complicity with Jem Bland on this occasion, 



