CHAPTER XIV. 



Spain. 



In racing, as in all other affairs of life, it is very needful 

 to study the bearings in every direction, but it has one 

 advantage, that there are rules and conditions very clearly 

 laid down which govern most occasions. If any one is so 

 careless as to neglect these, the penalty has to be paid to 

 the benefit of the more careful. That genius, to be a 

 success, must be painstaking, is one of the truest of 

 proverbs. How necessary it is to leave no detail un- 

 noticed, the following anecdote may help to point out : — 

 In the summer of 1876, when travelling to some races in 

 Spain with the late Lord Edward Somerset (the then most 

 efficient starter to the Gibraltar Jockey Club) and some 

 other friends, it was proposed that we should endeavour, 

 on our return, to get up a summer meeting at Gibraltar. 

 Two of us had each bought a young horse at the Easter 

 fairs at Jerez and Seville the year before, and it was pro- 

 posed that we should have a match between the colts, 

 who had both recently been broken. Though mine had 

 never had a gallop, I was glad to have a chance of trying 

 his capabilities, and eagerly assenting, asked what weights 

 the horses should carry. The reply was, " Let us have the 

 lightest weight I can ride," and so it was settled. The 

 match was run off, each carrying 11 st. 11 lb., and I won 

 easily by a neck on " Jerezano." At the following autumn 



