A VISIT TO A VETEEAN. 219 



of a statuette of a thoroughbred horse, which 

 I see reflected on the blind, gives some sort 

 of indication as to the tastes and occupations 

 of the inmates. And the sound of wheels 

 soon brings to the door my host, William Day, 

 son of old John Day of sporting memory, 

 and grandson of yet another John Day, who 

 was famous in the horsey annals of his time, 

 and whose grandson William, formerly of 

 Woodyeates, has more than kept alive the fame 

 of the family by his exploits in the saddle as 

 jockey, in the stable as trainer, and in the 

 paddock as owner of racehorses. 



It is not my purpose to go into unnecessary 

 details, but rather to recount some facts con- 

 cerning, and opinions held by, the author of 

 " The Eacehorse in Training," who has often 

 given such unmistakable proof of the soundness 

 of his theories by the unprecedented success of 

 Foxhall in the Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire, 

 not to mention the Grand Duke Michael Stakes 

 amongst other instances ; and so the pleasant 

 dinner, at which my host's wife and three 

 daughters were present, need not be lingered 

 over on paper, as it was lingered over in fact. 

 The cloth removed and the ladies gone, we drew 

 round to the fire, and, as a matter of course, 

 discussed that " noble animal," the horse. 



