PURCHASE OF MARTHA 



price he would pay for him ; and, although it may- 

 sound funny to some people, I do not hesitate to say 

 that Hamburg, with the possible '.exception of Santoi, 

 was the only great race -horse I ever rode. He was one 

 of the sweetest-dispositioned horses that ever raced. 

 You could place him anywhere you liked and he would 

 always do his best. He loved to race, as every good 

 thoroughbred does, and you never saw such a beggar 

 to do his level best under all conditions, and he had 

 none of that devil you meet with in some of the greatest. 

 I was never beaten on him. 



When he had been on the Turf a little while Mr 

 Whitney, although he loved the sport for its own sake 

 as much as any man I have ever knoAvn, began to 

 bet very heavily. He liked to win, and would say so, 

 but he never talked of winnings or losses, and not a 

 soul could tell how he stood after a race. 



Another purchase I advised Mr Whitney about, and 

 one that made a bit of history, was a little mare named 

 Martha. He would pay any price for a horse that I 

 said was worth while, and I had told him at Saratoga 

 that Martha was sure to win back her purchase money, 

 and he answered : " All right ; go ahead and buy her." 

 I did, and she more than won herself out. The sequel 

 of it may as well be told here. Martha turned out 

 to be one of the best brood mares in America. Two 

 or three years afterwards I had been riding in 

 Liverpool — in England of course — and on returning 

 to London I found a message telling me to call on 

 Mr Wliitney at the Bristol. I had just ridden a mare 

 called Maluma in the Liverpool Cup, and got the only 

 real bad fall of my life. My right ear was almost torn 

 off and my face so scratched and cut that it looked 

 as if someone had used a currycomb on it. A great 

 surgeon at Liverpool, Sir Tut well Thomas, had sewn 



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