82 JOHN PORTER OF KINGSCLERE 



These Matches kept trainers on tenterhooks. 

 They were frequently made without the trainer 

 being consulted. Horses visiting Newmarket 

 could at that period remain there for several 

 weeks without becoming liable for the Heath 

 Tax. At the beginning of the series of spring 

 and autumn meetings I used to take with me to 

 Newmarket all the horses in our stable in a con- 

 dition to race, whether they were or were not 

 engaged. While a meeting was in progress, Sir 

 Joseph would, during the evening, send for me 

 and say : "I have just made a Match to run so- 

 and-so against Thingumy. Have my horse 

 ready to run to-morrow.'* The plan of having 

 the horses on the spot led, indeed, to a lot of good 

 sport we should not otherwise have seen. Both 

 in the spring and autumn I used to be at New- 

 market five weeks without going home. The 

 change from this procedure, which followed the 

 revision, in 1872, of the regulations with regard 

 to the payment of the Heath Tax by visiting 

 horses, was in some measure responsible for the 

 disappearance of Matches from the Newmarket 

 programme. 



Before making this digression we were dis- 

 cussing The Palmer. As a three-year-old he 

 won three of his eight races — the Ascot Derby 

 and the Royal Stakes and Free Handicap at 

 Newmarket. In the last-named event he had, 

 however, to di\dde honours with the Duke of 



