50 SPORTING STORIES 



legs amongst them, and that's more than you can count 

 amongst your fifty up there ! " 



On another occasion John himself asked a friend's opinion 

 of five youngsters of Lord George Bentinck's that had just 

 come up from Doncaster. 



" Why, they won't stand your training a fortnight," 

 blurted out the other. 



" My training ! What d'ye mean by that, sir ? " 



" Well," said his friend, softening down a bit, " I think 

 the Danebury hill will be a leetle too much for them." 



And sure enough, in a fortnight two of his " velocipedes " 

 had thrown out curbs ! But find a horse to face " the 

 Danebury hill," and he was sure to come a " cracker." 

 Despite the fact that a pot now and then boiled over, 

 people knew this, and treated the stable with respect. 



Few horses ever created such a sensation as Virago did 

 when she was brought to Epsom to run for the City and 

 Suburban and Metropolitan Stakes of 1854, both races 

 being run on the same afternoon. For the former race 

 young John Day of Danebury had a great favourite in 

 Marc Antony ; but his father told him he had a better 

 mare than even Crucifix, and nothing had a chance beside 

 her. Virago won, it will be recollected, in a canter, and 

 " Honest John " repeated that the Metropolitan was an 

 equal certainty. It was in vain that Mr Greville told him 

 he had tried Muscovite, so that no three-year-old alive 

 could beat him. John would not listen to a word he said, 

 but simply met all his arguments by " She is worth your 

 five hundred pounds, sir " ; and away went Mr Greville, 

 groaning at the thought of having to meet such an animal. 

 After Virago had won as easily as before the veteran was 

 in great form, and Napoleon was never prouder of the Old 

 Guard than he was of his chestnut. 



" How did you manage to get her in so well, John ? " 

 inquired Lord Derby, with a sly twinkle in his eye — for no 

 one relished a conversation with old John Day more than 

 his Lordship. 



" I will tell you how I did it, my lord," was the reply ; " I 

 ran her ' big ' at Shrewsbury, and told Wells to pull her up 

 directly she was beaten. Capital, wasn't it ? " And away 



