1 62 A Good Thing 



give me any exalted confidence in Barnes's jockeyship/ 

 was Frey's answer, when the other had finished his list 

 of suppositions. ' He can't well get shut in in a match, 

 and Bobby York w^on't hustle him ; but it can never be 

 a good thing with a bad rider up — that's the long and 

 short of it. I remember a match some years ago. One 

 of the horses was literally a good two stone better than 

 the other, and by w^ay of getting a bit of a price they 

 got Morny Cannon to ride the bad one, knowing that a 

 lot of backers would be sure to follow him. We thought 

 it was a certainty for the other, for the man on it could 

 ride a bit, at least so we fancied, but he was beat — Morny 

 Cannon got alongside of him in the straight, and then 

 it was all up. However, w^hat all your suppositions 

 amount to is that it wasn't a true run race at Kempton.' 

 ' That's so. We tried her as soon as she w^as all 

 right again — she had a cut above the fetlock that looked 

 rather bad at, first — and she has been going on the right 

 way ever since.' 



* Still, you never know how a bad rider will throw 

 away a race. I don't like it — I certainly can't see that 

 it's a good thing,' Frey objected. 



' No, you know, that's true enough,' Leigh put in ; 

 ' I don't iike it.' 



* Then you needn't back it — there's no compulsion. 

 If you think it's sure to be beat, back the other, and 

 there you are ! ' was Upton's contemptuous reply. 



' You've got something up your sleeve, I know,' Frey 

 remarked, ' though I can't see what it is. Fisherman is 

 fit and well, I know, and there can be no mistake about 

 his age or anything of that sort.' 



' Nothing whatever, so far as I know, I assure you 

 We've all know^n him since he was born — since he ran as 



