OLD JOHN DAY. 63 



^^ ^ Beg-o-ar liislono- limbs !' said the little old fellow in 



Do O 



tlie jarvey's coat ; ^ he'll make his spindle-shanked brute 

 first favourite vet. I must get Gullj to see him before 

 he spring's to even betting — though he has no more chance 

 on his merits than a man in boots.' " 



How capital it all is ! What a famous photograph is 

 that of Lord GeorgC; and how good the ^^ anxiously 

 smiling " John ! And somebod}^ does see him, and John 

 is permitted to get part of it ^* off" at last. And '' Black 

 Bill " strips for the grand magnificent Cotherstone, though 

 they have one of the finest horsemen of his age in Sam 

 Rogers against him. The two Johns are right, however. 

 Scott knew "his horse was good enough, and Day felt the 

 other was not. But he finishes well up, and John heaves 

 a heavy sigh of relief as he vows never to take such 

 liberties again. 



There is another era approaching by this, as another 

 leviathan is landed on the short green turf. The brothers 

 John and Alfred are pulling famously together at Dane- 

 bury, while William is developing into a great man all 

 by himself in Wiltshire. And so, when '^Mr. Howard " 

 is announced, " Honest John " readily gives him the inter- 

 view, and has once more a long string in work. He is 

 now only trainer, for John Day is getting on, and to 

 Tiny Wells is entrusted the handling of them. This is 

 too recent a chapter in modern history to require long 

 dwelling on. But Virago, saved to her third year, fairly 

 swept the country, north and south. Then, there were 

 Scythian, and Little Harry, and Queen's Head, and 

 Oulston, and others, all spealdng to the stuff left in old 

 John, and that yet to come on in young Wells. Never- 

 theless, in the summer of '55 John Day withdrew some- 

 what suddenly from Mr. Howard's service, left Findon, 



