170 TALES AND TRAITS OF SPORTING LIFE. 



THE FAVOURITE. 



^' I'll take twenty to one in hundreds he wins/' said 

 the Commissioner, opening- his hook and his mouth once 

 more. 



^* Done with you," said the puhHc. 



^^ And I'll take five to one he's first favourite hefore 

 starting'," continued the initiated. 



*' Done ag-ain,'* said the public. 



But the many g-ot tired first for all that, and the world 

 — the sporting' one, that is, of course — went home to bed 

 with the firm conviction that "there was something up." 

 The King' of the Valley was g'oing' back visible, and the 

 outsider was coming- on quite as palpably : the Iving- of 

 the Valley, who won the Champagne in a canter, and 

 out-paced the Colonel's flying- filly over the T.Y.C. The 

 King' of the Valley, who had been backed all through the 

 winter at under eight to one, and never been one hour 

 amiss in his life, was giving- way — and to what ? To a 

 nomination that nobody had ever heard, seen, or thought 

 of before. It was all " flash," it could be nothing else — • 

 a mere bogy to frighten the considerate out of their calcu- 

 lations — a three days' wonder that must burst like a soap- 

 bubble b}^ Monday. And Monday came again, and the 

 Commissioner came again, and took five to one again 

 *^he's first favourite before startin"-." 



O' 



People began to take it up also — Manchester followed 



