MY START AS A TRAINER 6i 



1795. -^^^ ^ brief period he served in the 

 army as a cavalry officer, but, finding the Hfe 

 was not to his liking, he retired and went yacht- 

 ing in the Mediterranean. Then for a time 

 he settled in Italy. It was at Florence that 

 he acquired his love for racing. He and Mr. 

 J. M. Stanley (afterwards Sir Massey Stanley- 

 Errington) became confederates, imported some 

 platers from England, and ran them with a fair 

 measure of success. In 1844 Sir Joseph was 

 back in England, and that year his name appeared 

 for the first time in the Racing Calendar, The 

 few horses he owned at that period were trained 

 for him by Beresford at Newmarket. A notable 

 success came to him early, for in 1847 ^^^ filly 

 Miami, whom he had bought from Isaac Saddler, 

 won the Oaks — a triumph foreshadowed when, 

 the previous year, she defeated The Cossack in 

 the July Stakes. The Cossack, trained at Dane- 

 bury for Mr. Pedley, won the Derby, 



Thus encouraged. Sir Joseph gave Mr. Gully 

 ;^30oo for the filly Mendicant, who had run 

 St. Lawrence to a head for the Chester Cup. 

 It was confidently hoped that Mendicant would 

 win the Ascot Cup, but no sooner had she become 

 the property of Sir Joseph than she went amiss, 

 and her effort at Ascot was a dire failure. For 

 the moment Mendicant looked a bad bargain; 

 in reality she was a treasure. Beadsman was 

 one of her produce, and when that colt scored 



