308 EACECOUESE AND COVEET SIDE. 



some figure for a young man of some five or six 

 and twenty, who began life in a stable-boy's 

 jacket "without a sixpence to call his own. 

 Singleton's doings, however, are lost in the 

 mists of stable history, but before he retired 

 from the scene a figure appeared upon the race- 

 course whose name still hngers — Sam Chifney, 

 senior. There can be no doubt that the elder 

 Chifney thoroughly understood his business and 

 thought for himself, his system of finishing with 

 a loose rein being at any rate original, though 

 nowadays no one would think of adopting the 

 method. Old Chifney had an excellent opinion 

 of himself, and his sons Sam and Will, who 

 followed in his footsteps, fully shared their 

 father's high estimation of the Chifney family. 

 The old man put on record his impression that 

 " in 1773 I could ride horses in a better manner 

 in a race to beat others than any person I ever 

 knew in my time; and in 1775 I could train 

 horses for running better than any person I ever 

 saw." 



To compare the skill of bygone jockeys 

 with that exhibited by .riders of the present day 

 would of course be futile. It may be assumed 

 that then, as now, the best men got the most 

 out of their horses, and that they were ardent 

 devotees of the sport is shown by many stories, 



