MY START AS A TRAINER 65 



They were both so unpromising as youngsters 

 that Sir Joseph offered to give them to anybody 

 who would take over their engagements. For- 

 tunately for him, the racing world had by this 

 time come to regard his judgment with so much 

 respect that his offer was not accepted. Horses 

 that he looked upon with so much contempt 

 were not, it was argued, likely to prove profitable 

 to other people. That offer must have rankled 

 in many a man's mind after FitzRoland had won 

 the Two Thousand, and Beadsman the Derby I 

 The following year Musjid (bought at the Tick- 

 hill sale, after others had rejected him) won for 

 Sir Joseph another Derby, and a tremendous sum 

 in bets. 



When, therefore, I became his trainer Sir 

 Joseph Hawley had already accomplished much 

 more on the Turf than is achieved in a lifetime 

 by most men who thereon woo the goddess 

 Fortune. At first he struck me as a man of 

 somewhat stern manners, and one I might have 

 some difficulty in pleasing. But I soon altered 

 my opinion. The closer I came in contact with 

 him the more I liked him. He was a fine fellow, 

 Sir Joseph. 



There were twelve horses at Cannon Heath 

 when I assumed control of the stable at the end 

 of July 1863. One was Asteroid, a five-year- 

 old son of Stockwell. He had won the Chester 

 Cup that year, but when he came under my care 



F 



