THE DERBY MYSTERY. 



prevented winning- the Derby by some controllable 

 circumstance, of which, probably, no one but himself 

 knows anything. The popular theory was, that the 

 horse was not trained — certainly a new phase in my 

 system of training* ! This report was set on foot by 

 the jockey Aldcroft, who, however, was at the time 

 looked upon as himself not altogether free from sus- 

 picion — a fact that might account for his starting any 

 theory that would relieve him of the odium, and put 

 it on the shoulders of another. Mr. Merry, indeed, 

 told me that Aldcroft had assured him that the horse 

 had not been trained, and that he could not be any- 

 thing like the horse he was on the Two Thousand 

 day. 



As Aldcroft did not see the horse between the two 

 events before the morning of the race, he must have 

 drawn largely on his imaginative powers to reach 

 such a decisive, conclusion. Yet he was believed 

 before the trainer, as jockeys are in the present day. 

 What the horse did, and how he was treated in the 

 interval between the two races, I may therefore briefly 

 relate, as it is information never given till now. After 

 his return from Newmarket, nothing interfered with 

 his usual work till ten days before the time, when he 

 coughed. The fact was immediately conveyed to Mr. 

 Merry by myself. He ate well, and in other respects 

 seemed in perfect health; and being fit so lately, he 

 w T as eased in his work for three days, not being abso- 

 lutely idle, but taking cantering exercise, and then 



