174 JOHN PORTER OF KINGSCLERE 



month earlier. At the Second October Meeting 

 Mr. Gretton*s colt Antient Pistol, receiving 

 21 lb. for a year, ran a dead-heat in a welter 

 handicap over the Ditch Mile with Count 

 Festetics* Aventurier. He had won three other 

 races earlier in the season. A day or two after 

 the dead-heat had been run we tried Isonomy 

 as follows : 



Cambridgeshire Coune 

 Antient Pistol, 3 yrs., 6 st. 7 lb. . . Graves i 



Isonomy, 3 yrs., 8 st. 5 lb. . . . Fordham 2 

 Harbinger, 4 yrs., 8 st. 9 lb. . . T. Cannon 3 



Singleton, 3 yrs., 7 st Huitable 4 



Won by a neck ; six lengths between second and 

 third ; two lengths between third and fourth. 



Harbinger, in June, won a mile race at Man- 

 chester; the week of the trial he started second 

 favourite for the Cesarewitch, carrying 7 st., but 

 was unplaced. Singleton was a winner of four 

 races that season prior to the trial. The ** tackle,'* 

 therefore, was fairly good, but unfortunately the 

 test was almost abortive. Mr. Gretton and I 

 drove to the stand on the Rowley Mile to see the 

 jockeys weighed out, and on our way thither 

 kept our eyes on the trial ground to see that all 

 was clear. Everything being in readiness, we 

 drove back to the Portland Stand (no longer in 

 existence), where the gallop was to finish. Before 

 reaching our " observation post " we found, to 

 our dismay, that while we were down at the 



