BLUE GOWN'S DERBY 113 



We did not, of course, fancy either of our 

 candidates. Formosa and Moslem ran a dead- 

 heat for first place ; Mr. Chaplin's St. Ronan was 

 a ** bad third,** and then came Green Sleeve, who 

 did quite as well as we expected. At the Craven 

 Meeting a fortnight earlier Blue Gown, who was 

 a trifle lame at the time because his plates had 

 been put on too tightly, ran The Earl to a neck 

 in the Biennial. The public "jumped to con- 

 clusions ** after that performance, because there 

 was a general impression that both Green Sleeve 

 and Rosicrucian were better than Blue Gown. 

 So, indeed, they were according to our trial the 

 previous autumn. What would have happened 

 in the Two Thousand if our two runners had 

 fared well during the winter can only be 

 conjectured. 



The weather had now become warmer, and 

 we hoped Rosicrucian and Green Sleeve would 

 quickly throw off the effects of their illness. As 

 the days went by there was, however, scarcely 

 any noticeable improvement. A fortnight having 

 passed, it was decided that Rosicrucian and Blue 

 Gown should be formally tried together. Although 

 every effort was made to keep our intentions secret, 

 the local touts learned in some mysterious way 

 that there was to be a gallop. When visiting 

 Kingsclere, Sir Joseph Hawley generally travelled 

 either to Newbury or Overton, and the roads 

 from these stations to the stables were carefully 



I 



