THE WASTING OF JOCKEYS 61 



so low for more than eleven years, astonished everyone in 

 1855 by scaling only 7 st. 7 lbs. for his winning mount 

 on Skirmisher at Richmond. Sam Day, again, after a rest 

 of many years and a consequent increase of flesh, got 

 down in 1846 to 8 st. 4 lbs., a wonderful instance of self- 

 denial, suffering much less than his brother John from such 

 " a pigskin revival," though he had been far longer out of 

 practice. 



Even the immortal Mark Tapley might have taken a 

 lesson in cheerfulness under misfortunes from Sam Day, 

 or " Uncle Sam," as he was always called. No man ever 

 had such a string of accidents or was so plucky under 

 them, for at different times, while riding for Dick Goodisson, 

 he broke nearly every bone of his body (except his right 

 arm), skull and jaw included : one leg was twice broken — 

 once by jumping out of a carriage at Goodwood, when an 

 omnibus backed into it, and again by slipping down on 

 the marble floor of a hall. Sam's spirits, however, never 

 forsook him. When laid up he would console himself with 

 a tin pipe, upon which he had learned to play with rare 

 skill. Once he was laid upon his back for nine months, 

 and astonished the farmers among whom he was sojourning 

 at the time by the taste and brilliancy with which he per- 

 formed a variety of pastoral and martial airs. 



Sam used to say he could " kill a town wasting " ; and 

 this was no idle boast, as he proved more than once. One 

 night he was supping at Hobson's the trainer's, when a 

 letter came from Lord Henry Fitzroy stating that the 

 Duke of Grafton's mare Loo was to run the next day in 

 an A.F. ^ race, and that the money was on. Sam finished 

 his helping, and then went off to a weighing machine, 

 which made him 8 st. 4 lb. without his coat ; but he went at 

 it like a Briton, and with physic and a fourteen-mile walk 

 got off 12 lbs. and won. 



Sometimes Sam would show his ruddy, steaming face at 

 Wimbledon and depart like a flash before they could make 

 out his mission. Again, he would be found in his woollen 



* A.F. =across the flat. Newmarket differs from other race-courses 

 in that the races do not all finish at the same winning-post. Races 

 can finish up or down hill or on the level, as desired. 



