A GREAT REVIVAL 93 



had been riding for me for some years, and I felt 



1 could trust him implicitly. 



The race was duly run, and Blue Gown won, 

 beating the filly Virtue half a length. So far so 

 good ; we were all very pleased. But our 

 joy was short-lived. "At the weighing-in,*' 

 reports the Calendar^ ** Wells was more than 



2 lb. overweight ; and Blue Gown was dis- 

 qualified.** This catastrophe was caused by 

 wilful stupidity on the part of our jockey. It 

 was the climax to a private quarrel between 

 Wells and the jockey John Doyle. The latter 

 had been nursing a grievance more than twelve 

 months. At the Ascot Spring Meeting, the 

 previous year, Doyle won the Sunning Hill 

 Stakes on Mr. Savile's D*Estournel. Baron 

 Rothschild*s Hippia, ridden by Morris, finished 

 second, beaten a head, and Sir Joseph Hawley's 

 Fakir, Wells up, was third. Morris objected 

 to D*Estournel for bumping, and Wells was 

 called before the Stewards as a witness. Doyle, 

 rightly or wrongly, gained the impression that 

 Wells's evidence induced the Stewards to dis- 

 qualify D'Estournel. Anyway, Doyle, though 

 specifically exonerated from blame, was furious 

 with Wells, and, having roundly abused him, 

 brought the scene to an end by declaring he would 

 ** get even ** some day. 



Doyle saw Wells weigh out for Blue Gown 

 at Doncaster, and noticed that he touched the 



I 



