376 SPORTING STORIES 



He lost no time in issuing the bills. Those in the town 

 who had betted on the horse, thinking it a lucky tip, took 

 tickets, and when the news came that Flying Dutchman 

 had won the Blue Riband, numbers of people, struck by the 

 coincidence, flocked to the theatre, filling it from floor to 

 ceiling, and making it indeed, as the mysterious voice had 

 prognosticated, the biggest house of the season. 



This disposition on the part of sporting men to accept 

 such omens has before now been taken advantage of by 

 impostors, and more than once advertisements have ap- 

 peared in the sporting papers announcing that a lady who 

 had twice dreamed the name of the Derby winner had 

 again been so favoured, and was prepared to send this tip 

 from Queen Mab on the receipt of thirty postage stamps. 

 It is said that she reaped a goodly harvest, though it was 

 more than the senders of the half-crowns did. Spiritualists 

 have also tried the dodge, and mediums have seen horses 

 gallop past the winning-post that never came within half 

 a mile of it. 



To come again to the experience of persons still living, 

 here is a curious instance of a lucky dream. The night 

 before the race for the Chester Cup of 1856, Mr William 

 Day, the trainer, dreamt that One Act won, and that 

 William Goater was second after a good race, and that he 

 told Goater after the horses had passed the post that 

 he thought he (Day) had won. To this Goater hastily 

 replied, "You know you have"; and, walking up the 

 course together, the Findon trainer added, " You have 

 done me out of the best stake I ever stood." 



This dream William Day told to some ten or a dozen 

 gentlemen during breakfast at the hotel at Chester where 

 he was staying. After saddling One Act, William Day 

 stood close to the winning-post to see the race, and as 

 soon as his mare had passed it the third time he thought 

 she had won. He said to the judge, " What has won, 

 Mr Johnstone?" "White," he replied; and then, looking 

 up, he added, " Oh,f ou, Mr Day ! " Strange to say, William 

 Goater was standing by Day's side all the time, quite 

 unnoticed by the latter, until, turning round to go and 

 meet One Act, Day found himself face to face with his 



