TRIAL OF 'HOBBIE NOBLE.' 315 



however, was an older man than myself, and his 

 opinion entitled to, as it received, respect. Ulti- 

 mately at the suggestion of Mr. Buchanan, who 

 reminded him that I was ' to try the horse as I liked,' 

 an agreement was reached, the difference in weight 

 being fixed at 17 lb., a mile and a distance, and in 

 the result Hobble Noble won cleverly ; Joe Miller 

 second, and the others beaten off. It does, of course, 

 seem strange that Joe Miller, his quondam victor at 

 even weights two and a half miles, should be beaten 

 with an allowance of 17 lb. at a mile. The explana- 

 tion is that the one horse could, and the other could 

 not, stay over a longer distance than a mile. More- 

 over, Joe Miller may not have been quite at his best 

 at the fag-end of a long season, after running in so 

 many long races, including the Derby. Besides, his 

 quite recent trial with Weaihergage was an additional 

 reason for my wishing to try at 21 lb. 



As for the race itself, I should say that Mr. 

 Saunders stayed at my place the whole of the week 

 preceding it, and to my knowledge, after the trial, 

 the horse had but a few canters ; work he may have 

 called it, but not in my opinion sufficient to enable 

 so gross a horse, with such a weight on his back, 

 successfully to compete with others properly trained. 

 He failed partly from this cause, and partly from the 

 execrable riding of poor little Petitt — with the best 

 intentions. He had not, if I remember rightly, 

 ridden for years before, and then but seldom (for 



