HOW THE DERBY WAS LOST. 427 



much better to ran for more of other people's money 

 and less of your own. 



So much for the Two Thousand. As for the race 

 for the Derby, of whicli so much was said at the time, 

 and not all truthfully, I have a little to tell. My 

 brother Alfred was engaged to ride Trumpeter, and as 

 I could not get anyone else that I cared about, I was 

 obliged to ride Promised Land myself. And I say 

 now, as I said then and have said ever since, that it 

 was I that lost the Derby, and not the horse that did 

 so. Nor is it any satisfaction to me that this great 

 opportunity came to me, and was let pass by against 

 my better judgment. Had I ridden the horse as I 

 knew at the time he ought to have been ridden, I 

 should, I believe, have scored the victory. But I 

 was overruled, as people often are, by the opinions of 

 others — opinions, no doubt, worthy of great considera- 

 tion, being those, in my case, of my father and my 

 brother John. The latter said : ' No horse could 

 make running up the hill and win, and your horse 

 must have good speed or he would not have won the 

 Two Thousand so easily.' My father generally con- 

 curred in this, saying, ' that if Nimrod made a good 

 pace up the hill and mine took it on from there, he 

 will win.' My own idea had been to let Promised 

 Land make the pace for himself from the start, and 

 do the work to the finish ; and I am perfectly certain 

 that it was his not doing so that lost him the race, 

 and nothing else. Nimrod was 18 lb. worse than the 



