MERMAN'S GOLD CUP 



Goodwood Plate and Great Ebor on Jiffy II. After 

 winning the Middle Park Plate twice I finished second 

 on Orchid and was second on Codoman in the Cam- 

 bridgeshire. I was not riding the last three weeks of 

 the season, having ninety-two winners out of 310 

 mounts, making a tie with ^lorny, who, however, had 

 had one hundred and sixty-six mounts more than I. 

 Lester was first and Johnny third. 



The successes of the two Reiffs had naturally not 

 called off the attention from the great topic of the 

 American invasion and its consequences, and there 

 were plenty about who were ready to say anything 

 that could be suggested about horses who had run 

 curiously well or unaccountably badly. All the same 

 for jockeys who always rode to win there could not 

 be serious thoughts of any disaster, and nothing was 

 further from our thoughts ; certainly nothing was 

 further from mine. Looking back now at that time I 

 find that everything stands out sharp and clear and 

 that details and impressions have stayed in my memory. 

 How indeed could it be otherwise when my career as a 

 jockey was to come to an end for so many years. 

 Before coming to the climax — which w^as reached in 

 the Autumn over Codoman' s second in the Cambridge- 

 shire — I should like to say a few words about some of 

 the earlier races and especially about Merman. 



It was Gold Cup day at Ascot. Mrs Langtry's 

 horse had been brought there, but the reason why was 

 not very clear, for Robinson w^as against running him 

 in the Cup, saying that he was short of two or three 

 gallops. I pointed out that this was not necessarily 

 against him : at all events he was a fresh horse and 

 had not been overtrained as I heard one or two of the 

 others had been. Robinson said he couldn't do any- 

 thing until he saw the owner. Earlier in the afternoon 



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