58 TALES AND TEAITS OF SPORTING LIFE. 



pointed the story by adding- the name of the winner. It 

 will be seen from this that John beg-an life with all the 

 incentive to excel that even the rivalry of his own family 

 could conduce to. He increased this wholesome stimulus 

 on the first available opportunity by paving the way to a 

 family of his own. In other words, he married at a very 

 early penod in his career. The partner of his choice was 

 also from the neighbourhood of Stockbridge, but the 

 match was terribly against his father's wishes, to whom 

 he was naturally becoming very useful. Of course the 

 lad had been almost altogether home educated, while one 

 of his first engagements ^' out" was encouraging' enough. 

 It was with no less a personage than His Majesty King 

 George the Fourth, at that time Prince of Wales, for 

 whom he rode light weights. The King, indeed, never 

 forgot him, and only two years before the Royal George's 

 decease, that is in 1828, John had the honour of riding 

 his favourite mare, Maria, for the Somersetshire, at Bath, 

 at that time a race of some importance, and which he won. 

 But even under the countenance of Royalty it must not be 

 supposed John Day fell into all these fine doings at once. 

 Like most of the jockeys of those days — ^the provincials 

 especially — he had a hard apprenticeship to serve. There 

 was no winning at York one afternoon, and at Abingdon 

 the next ; but the practitioner methodically went the 

 circuit, with the saddlebags and his hack — riding heat 

 after heat, and taking, perhaps, at best but two or three 

 small fees, strictly a la carte, in a day. Still John's good 

 name and steady, sober conduct served to smoothe the way 

 for him j and the Duke of Grafton, one of his fir ir est 

 patrons, at length sent him a ^^ special retainer " to come 

 to Newmarket. It mig-ht have been difficult for John 

 Day liimself to have dated many of his first successes. 



