CHAPTER VII 



TALKS WITH LORD WILLIAM BERESFORD 



Character and Disposition of Horses — A Take-down at Leicester — 

 Buying a Trotter — Myself against the Horse-swopper — Diddled — 

 Warwick in a Fog 



The more I saw of Lord William Beresford the kinder 

 he seemed to become to me, and the more interested 

 he became in what I was doing. He was always 

 anxious to know what rides I was getting, and to in- 

 fluence others to put me up. In 1897 he was staying 

 at the Adelphi Hotel at Liverpool for the Autumn 

 Meeting, and several times he asked me round to his 

 apartment, where he would sit " talking horse " to 

 me for hours together. Sometimes others would come 

 in but I think he liked better to chat alone. Especi- 

 ally he was interested in the instinct of horses — not 

 any particular English horses that I was just then 

 riding, but those whose characters or dispositions I 

 had really studied. Some of the things about which 

 he drew me out may be put down here, for as the topic 

 interested him so it must others. 



I have always had rather a reputation for doing 

 more with horses who are bad tempered and sulky 

 than other jockeys, but I don't take much credit for 

 this. I told Lord William that it was simply because 

 I knew that horses don't like to be bullied, and I also 

 told him that I had managed to find out the peculi- 

 arities of one or two of his own horses, and that I 

 would play up to them accordingly. For instance I 

 remember a colt named Lake Shore on whom I won 



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