BUCKLE AS A RIDER. 91 



marked, " I told you when you came to Newmarket 

 that I would pay you off, as I have done to-day." 



Never was jockey more respected than Frank 

 Buckle during the last thirty years of his honour- 

 able and spotless career. He was a most agree- 

 able man, and always glad to give hints about 

 riding to his younger rivals. When it came to a 

 fine point between two horses after a long gallop, 

 it was 6 to 4 on " Old Frank " against any other 

 "knight of the pigskin." No man had a more 

 powerful seat upon a horse, and in the longest 

 race he was never known to tire. Occasionally he 

 had to ride horses which, without his knowledge, 

 had been nobbled or in some way made safe before 

 leaving their stables. My father often told me 

 that in 1811, at the Second Spring Meeting, he 

 saw Mr Christopher Wilson's chestnut horse Wiz- 

 ard beat Lord George Cavendish's Middlethorpe 

 (also a chestnut horse) over the Beacon Course in 

 a 500-guinea match. Wizard was ridden by 

 Buckle, and Middlethorpe by Arnull. In the race, 

 Milddlethorpe, who was the son of Shuttle, and, 

 like all of Shuttle's breed, a bad-tempered horse, 

 stopped so short that Arnull was pitched off, and 

 Buckle galloped home alone. Much to his aston- 

 ishment, Buckle experienced the greatest difficulty 

 in keeping Wizard upon his legs till the winning- 

 post was passed. The horse reeled and staggered 

 like a drunken man, and seemed to be wholly be- 

 reft of sight. " I don't know what you have done 



