TRAINERS AND JOCKEYS 45 



was a small house, and on this occasion was occupied 

 entirely by some dozen or so of gentlemen riders and their 

 friends. Most of the former were amateurs, but there were 

 two or three of the " gentleman professional " order among 

 them, and they were certainly, without exception, a downy 

 lot all round. On the morning of the second day of the 

 races these gentlemen breakfasted as usual in the coffee- 

 room of their inn, and, there being no strangers present, 

 they proceeded to compare their respective books and to 

 discuss how they stood with regard to the different events 

 yet to come off. When the Grafton Club Plate, in which 

 most of them were engaged to ride, came upon the carpet, 

 John Day's 15 to i cropped up, and then the remarkable 

 discovery was made that " all the cream " depended upon 

 Honest John's horse coming in first. 



The Grafton Club Plate was the third item on the card, 

 and a field of twelve faced the starter. When the flag fell, 

 the lot went off to a good start at a great pace, but the 

 inevitable tailing process soon began, and John Day saw 

 with satisfaction that the Danebury screw was not in it. 

 After all there is some advantage in having a real bad 'un 

 in your stable that can be trusted not to win in any 

 company, so long as you can keep the fact dark and turn 

 an honest fifty-pound note out of the brute. So probably 

 thought old John as he placidly watched the race. But his 

 complacency was not to last long, for an incident happened 

 which startled him and everybody else. The girths of the 

 leading jockey's saddle gave way, and over he went a 

 cropper on the turf; the horse swerved, and bolted across 

 the course ; the three next horses took fright and followed 

 suit, and thus four were out of the race at once owing to 

 this untimely accident. The knocked-out division now 

 had the race to themselves, and, to judge from the 

 slackening pace, they were all so pumped that it would be 

 as much as they could do to struggle to the post. One 

 after another held out signals of distress till the despised 

 Danebury screw was actually leading with the race 

 apparently at his mercy. Old John had pushed his hat 

 to the back of his head in his excitement, and was suddenly 

 heard to exclaim in a tone of consternation : 



