CHAPTER VI. 



Sires and Brood Mares. 



It was in the autumn of " Hermit's Year " that we went 

 to Plymouth, and in connection with that world-famous 

 Derby I had a dream, by which I ought to have profited, 

 but did not do so. I saw as plainly as possible a chestnut 

 horse, ridden in a crimson jacket, come away from the 

 others and win easily, but so utterly hopeless was "Hermit's" 

 chance considered to be, that none of us ever connected 

 the winner of the dream with him. There happened to 

 be another chestnut horse running, also ridden in a red 

 jacket, and just on the off-chance of my dream coming 

 true, he carried my small investment. It was with great 

 chagrin that I saw the vision realised, but by the wrong 

 horse, as far as I was concerned ! There probably never 

 was a race in which more people were unwilling winners 

 than in that Derby. When "Hermit" was supposed to have 

 gone utterly to the bad, it was perfectly impossible to 

 hedge any money that had been invested upon him earlier 

 in the spring, and so many persons most unexpectedly 

 found themselves winners in the end, as it were, in spite 

 of themselves ! "Lord Clif den's " sensational St. Leger was 

 the first that I ever saw, and he was afterwards for many 

 years at the stud at Moorlands before he was sold to Mr. 

 Gee, of Dewhurst Lodge. He was a magnificent horse, very 

 handsome, a bay, with jet-black legs and " hammer-marks " 



