3 M A TRIAL FOR MR. MERRY. 



Voltigeur, and most of the best horses of the day. 

 Meeting M r. Merry at Newmarket, he asked me if I 

 would try Robbie Noble for the Cambridgeshire ; to 

 which, of course, I readily assented. 



' I will,' he said, ' send Saunders and Mr. Buchanan 

 to your place witli the horse, and I wish you to try 

 him as you would try one of your own that you 

 thought good enough to win such a race ; and,' he 

 added, ' I have Mr. Parker's authority for saying you 

 can take Joe Miller, or any other horse of his for the 

 purpose.' 



About ten days before the race, Mr. Saunders, his 

 trainer, with Mr. Buchanan, arrived at Woodyates 

 with the horse in readiness to be tried the next 

 morning. In the evening the subject naturally 

 occupying our attention was the weights that Ilobbie 

 Noble and the other horses taking part in the trial 

 should carry. On this point Mr. Saunders's notions 

 and my own were totally different. He thought that 

 the two, Ilobbie Noble and Joe Miller, should be tried 

 at a difference of 10 lb. only. I argued that the 

 difference should be 21 lb., Bobbie Noble, of course, 

 giving it, to enable him to win ; and this notwith- 

 standing that Joe Miller had beaten him at even 

 weights a few months before at Ascot. I declined 

 altogether to stake my personal reputation on surmise. 

 And I think, as many will think with me, that had 

 Ilobbie Noble won a trial at 10 lb., he probably could 

 have done so, giving 10 or 20 lb. more. Mr. Saunders, 



