ENGAGED FOR HOLOCAUST 



The only reply I could think of was : " Yes, I'll 

 ride him all right, if you like." 



He thought for a moment. 



" Well you can, that's arranged, eh ? You've 

 never seen him ; that doesn't matter, for I hear there 

 are many winners you have ridden which you have 

 never seen. He's a nice sort of horse ; whether he 

 can win or not I don't know. There's Flying Fox of 

 course, and that's enough without mentioning the 

 others in the race." 



I listened attentively and when he mentioned Flying 

 Fox I was quite of his opinion that the big colt was 

 enough to think of without worrying about the rest 

 of them. M. de Bremond stopped a little while 

 talking to me, both of us standing up, and added : 

 " Well I'll see you at Epsom to-morrow." 



The news got about through one and the other 

 that night but there was not much business done 

 since everyone was Flying Fox mad. In fact there 

 were thousands of pounds laid on him that evening 

 at 2 to 1 and 9 to 4 on — he started at 5 to 2 on. In a 

 previous chapter I have mentioned what a great horse 

 the favourite was and even though I had confidence 

 that my recently found mount would do well from 

 what I had heard of him, still I couldn't pretend that 

 I had any serious idea on that previous evening that 

 I could win. All the same it was nice to have a ride 

 with any kind of chance in a race I had heard and 

 read so much about. In America even those who do 

 not follow English racing results will always read 

 anything about the Derby, the greatest race in the 

 world. I know that 7 did, and I often found others 

 doing so. American owners and breeders too always 

 had the ambition to have an entry in the English 

 Derby, and the prospects would be discussed a long 



135 



