44 COLONEL HANGER TO 



them cleverly, you have no right to expect 

 that he is the best, or nearly the best horse 

 of his year. I will inform you of a won- 

 derful trial, when Shark was coming six 



A remarkable ^^^^^ ^jj jj^ ^,^^ ^^^^ ^^^ jqj^^,^ j^ j 



borrowed a mare, a good runner, of Mr. 

 Vernon. I think her name was Atalanta, 

 but I cannot mention her name for certain. 

 ^ I gave Mr. Vernon fifty guineas for the 

 hire of her ; but, then, I agreed to have 

 her for a fortnight before the race, in our 

 stables, that he should not run her to 

 death, by which I might have been de- 

 ceived in the trial. I promised him to run 

 her only once, from the Ditch in, and, on 

 the third day, again one mile only, and then 

 to return her. John Oakley rode Shark, 

 and Anthony Wheatley rode the trial mare. 

 Shark gave all the other horses, except the 

 mare, twenty-one pounds. There were 

 three others ; my horse St. George, Salo- 

 pian, and Jack of Hicton, The mare car- 

 rie^l four pounds more than them ; conse- 

 quently Shark gave her only seventeen 

 pounds. • As the mare and the rest of the 

 tiorses were coming down that small decli-: 



