184 A Sportsman at Large 



to slips ; so he came to me asking for a division I to take the 

 Cup. Now, although I was keen on winning this handsome 

 trophy outright, I would have agreed to this, in a spirit of 

 sportsmanship and sympathy ; but a friend, who had half my 

 bet, and had taken another 200 to 6 " on his own," inter- 

 vened and implored me to claim stakes, as he had, he said, 

 hedged, and if a division were agreed on, he not only would 

 have lost a certain three hundred pounds, but his hedging money 

 would have equalled the sum due to him on the " dead heat." 

 What could I do but refuse the division officially ; so that 

 Handy Cat might be declared the absolute winner, and thus land 

 the money of her backers ; for there were many others besides 

 the friend mentioned who had supported her on my recom- 

 mendation ? There was no other course open to me ; but I 

 wrote to Lord Sefton explaining the circumstances and asking 

 him if he would allow me to present his trainer with a 

 solatium ? 



The answer was in the affirmative, and " Weasel " called 

 on me at my London flat to receive the douceur ; but it would 

 appear that the outcome of the affair rankled in the minds of 

 both master and man.* 



I forgot to mention that during this era of my coursing 

 career my string was trained by Alf Reynolds, of Pewsey, on 

 the Wiltshire downs. Reynolds was a right down good fellow 

 and a clever and painstaking trainer. My " kennel com- 

 panion " was in this instance Squire Alexander, a great sports- 

 man, and, like myself, keen on anything to do with horses, 

 hounds and dogs. He it was who so unexpectedly won the 

 Ascot Cup in 1904 with Throwaway. He was also the hero of 

 an amusing match at the Bibury Cup Meeting between one of 

 his own gees and one of " The Mate's " (Sir John Astley)f 

 Owners Up ! As the weight of the two sportsmen, in the 

 aggregate, was about equal to two sacks of flour and a cartload 

 of bricks, sympathy for their unfortunate mounts was acute ; 

 but there was much hilarity over the set-to. I forget which 

 of the two was second ! 



* See account of N.C.C. inquiry, pp. 178 and 179. 



t By an unfortunate slip, alluded to in " Chasing and Racing " as Sir George 

 Astley. 



