MY START AS A TRAINER 73 



myself, I bade the company " good night ** and 

 departed. The following morning I learnt, not 

 to my surprise, that, after I had gone, Dawson 

 and Ashmall indulged in a scrap. I must say, 

 however, that Tom Dawson was a thoroughly 

 kind-hearted man, though apt to be a little 

 troublesome ** in his cups.*' 



Coming again to the year 1865, there was 

 Argonaut's victory in the City and Suburban 

 at Epsom, to which a reference has already been 

 made. This was the first important race Sir 

 Joseph won after I became his trainer, so I 

 naturally look back upon it with special pleasure. 

 Now six years old. Argonaut had begun to race 

 when three. Though he had a few prizes to 

 his credit when I saddled him for the City and 

 Suburban, his record was nothing to brag about. 

 As a five-year-old he was out ten times without 

 once getting his head in front. When, there- 

 fore, he went to the post at Epsom we had no 

 confidence in him. That his owner allowed him 

 to " run loose,*' or practically so, may be gauged 

 from the fact that he was a 25 to i chance. 

 However, he managed, with Wells in the saddle, 

 to beat the Marquis of Hastings' well- backed 

 candidate. The Grinder, by a head. It may be, 

 as some urged at the time, that Wells " stole " 

 the race ; anyway, Grimshaw, who rode The 

 Grinder, was roundly blamed for failing to carry 

 out his orders and " come along all the way." 



