THE WASTING OF JOCKEYS 69 



reduce himself that, with all the paraphernalia (excepting 

 the whip) appertaining to riding, he weighed only 8 st. 

 7 lbs. ! 



All who are versed in Turf lore are, of course, familiar 

 with the famous finishes of George Fordham. But here 

 is a story of one which will, I think, be new to most of my 

 readers. It took place at the Salisbury races of 1867, on 

 the second day of the meeting, when four two-year-olds 

 started for the Stonehenge Plate of £$0 : Lady Barbara, 

 with Fordham up ; Hue and Cry, ridden by Tom French ; 

 whilst Tom Cannon was on Brenda and Saddler on Active. 

 The two latter were soon beaten off, but the other two 

 came on, the jockeys knee and knee together, and finished 

 a dead-heat. Now Lady Barbara belonged to the young 

 Marquis of Hastings, who was not the man to cry a go ; and 

 he determined to run it off, which they did. On they came, 

 knee and knee together again. If the horses had been the 

 Siamese Twins they could not have been much closer 

 together, and amidst the most deafening shouts they finished 

 another dead heat. This time everybody said, " Of course 

 they'll divide now " ; but not a bit of it. The horses were not 

 distressed, for it was only half a mile, and it is good going 

 on the Wiltshire Downs. So, after half an hour's grace, 

 they came out to do battle the third time, and on each 

 occasion slight odds were betted on Lady Barbara. I will 

 let an old friend of mine who saw the race describe it in 

 his own words, " Well, now you shall hear what that deep 

 old file did. In the two previous heats he rode on the near 

 side, or, in other words, the side next to the grand stand 

 and betting ring, and I noticed that Hue and Cry leaned 

 a good deal against Lady Barbara, who also leaned towards 

 her opponent. So, to make it understood better, they were 

 both propping one another up ; and when Tom French used 

 his whip just at the finish of the second heat, I observed 

 that his mare swerved, and, had it not been for the friendly 

 prop of the other, would have gone wide. Master George 

 says to himself, ' All right, Tommy, you are not going to 

 have me for a leaning-post always,' so in the last essay 

 he changed sides at the start. On they came to the 

 commencement of the stand by the box-wood bushes, and 



