A Good Thing i6i 



had been having a bad time that year, and the Hundred- 

 and-ninth, which contained several men with excellent 

 sources of information, had been hard hit ; for it is very 

 possible indeed to know too much when one goes racing, 

 to grow confused in the multitude of counsellors, and 

 just to miss winner after winner throughout the whole 

 of a long afternoon. One may have known the trials of 

 all the horses in a race, what their friends expect them 

 to do, why this colt lost his race last w^eek, why that filly 

 w^on hers by a fluke, so that the form must by no means 

 be followed, and a great deal more ; but the result of all 

 very often is that you have a plunge on the second, and 

 find that you have tried to save your money on an 

 animal that finishes near the tail end of the ruck. 



' I think she's sure to win ! ' was Upton's reply to the 

 other's question. 



* You are deuced oracular,' remarked Frey, who was 

 getting rather irritated at being put off ; ' I wish you 

 could contrive to be a little explanatory.' 



* Well, my dear fellow,' Upton answered ; ' suppose 

 that in the Kempton race Dewdrop was not quite fit. 

 Suppose we thought it was just about good enough to 

 back, but tliat she might have been made a great deal 

 better if we had had more time ; supposing that, instead 

 of laying well up with the leaders, as he was told to do, 

 Barnes muddled along, and got shut in at the bend ; 

 supposing that there was a scrimmage at the turn, 

 that he lost his iron, and was almost knocked over ; 

 and supposing that the mare was struck into and had 

 her leg cut, and, in fact, that the whole running was 

 wrong.' 



' That would go a long way towards explaining why 

 she did not show her form at Kempton, but it would not 



M 



