1 64 MR. PARKER. 



stood before, and have lost a large stake ;' thus abso- 

 lutely fulfilling my dream to the very letter. 



I have already in these pages had something to say 

 of Joe Miller, but have much left to tell of his other 

 performances. In the Metropolitan Stakes he was 

 unlucky, losing the race by being interfered with by 

 Miss Ann in coining round Tattenham Corner. It 

 was not, however, a specially lucky thing for the 

 jockey who interfered with him. For he, not know- 

 ing that Mr. Merry had backed Joe Miller for a lot of 

 money, told that gentleman what he had done with 

 some glee, and greatly to Mr. Merry's annoyance, as 

 he told Mr. Parker afterwards. But they both had 

 their revenge, and the stable also, in the Chester Cup. 

 Mr. Parker entirely for himself, independent of the 

 commission, took the following bets from Davis, the 

 Leviathan; 25 monkeys to 1, or £12,500 to £500; 

 and again, 12 monkeys to 1 against him for the 

 Emperor's Cup at Ascot, both of which he literally 

 won in a trot — though the last victory was more 

 owing to his being well and the state of the ground 

 than to any merit of his own. But, under any cir- 

 cumstances, it is a pleasant thing to win of one pro- 

 fessional £18,500 in bets in the course of a couple 

 of months on one horse, and get it paid (free of duty). 

 In those days you did not see only three or four horses 

 brought to the post to run for valuable cups, nor half 

 a score contending for the Chester Cup or other big- 

 handicaps. For the Cup in Joe Miller's year there 



