'FISHERMAN'S' PERFORMANCES. 293 



consider the preparation that, in public, the horse 

 had had. In the early part of the year he won a 

 stake at Chester, a mile and a half, of the value of 

 £67 ; and before and afterwards several Queen's 

 Plates, two miles. In the summer he won eleven 

 races out of the twenty-eight in which he took 

 part. Pretty good preparation for a St. Leger 

 candidate ! 



Put this was nothing to the work that Fisherman 

 had to do, at the same age. It is certain that if he 

 had been properly, I had almost said decently pre- 

 pared, he would have won the City and Suburban, 

 just as easily as he won the Queen's Vase, or any of 

 the twenty-three races he won that year; and pro- 

 bably, if trained, half of his defeats would have 

 proved victories. But when we read of a horse such 

 as Fisherman was, running for £60 at Stamford and 

 £60 at Liverpool, what are we to think ? Indeed, 

 out of the races he won in this year, more than half 

 did not average £100 each, and for one of them, 

 value £30, he had to go all the way to Carlisle. In 

 fact, in spite of all the study he gave to the matter, 

 Mr. Parr signally failed in winning large stakes, 

 either in bets or prizes. 



Besides Fisherman, Rataplan, and Saucebox, he had 

 another fair horse in Mortimer, his Chester Cup 

 favourite. Indeed, this race was regarded as an 

 absolute gift to him from the moment the weights 

 came out ; and, no doubt, if the horse had been only 



