BLUE GOWN^S DERBY 119 



I and 30 to I, respectively, were tendered against 

 Green Sleeve and Rosicrucian. By adopting the 

 course he did, Sir Joseph merely provided for the 

 unlikely contingency of either of his other two 

 candidates running as well as Blue Gown. In 

 that event the latter could have been " pulled " 

 to allow his stable companion to win. Wells 

 had ridden all our Derby candidates in their 

 exercise gallops, and when given his choice of 

 mounts, selected Blue Gown without hesitation. 

 I should have thought him a poor judge had he 

 done otherwise. Blue Gown was then ready to 

 run for his life; the other two most certainly 

 were not. 



The sporting public were greatly interested 

 in our three horses, and their merits were freely 

 discussed. I had an amusing experience one day 

 when travelling to Overton from Waterloo. A 

 military-looking gentleman and I had a compart- 

 ment to ourselves. The former, after reading a 

 sporting paper for some time, endeavoured to 

 open a conversation by saying to me: " My 

 friend Hawley has three horses engaged in the 

 Derby. Sir Joseph tells me, and so does John 

 Porter, that Rosicrucian is the best; but Wells, 

 their jockey, whom I also know, fancies Blue 

 Gown.** I made no response, though I must 

 have had some difficulty in holding my tongue. 

 At Woking, our first stop, the guard came up 



I and handed me a parcel of books from Smith's 

 I 



