AROUND EPSOM AND LEATHERHEAD 153 



the tract comprised in the title, Boxhill, and 

 about ten times as large as its visitors generally 

 think this part of the Deepdene Estate is. 

 Deepdene itself, where Lord William Beresford 

 lived, is farther along towards Dorking, and will 

 long be remembered ;by racing men because of 

 its plucky owner and the mark he unfortunately 

 was the prime cause of making on our Turf 

 affairs. To my thinking, the worst day's work 

 in the history of racing was done when Lord 

 William introduced the American jockeys into 

 this country. I do not pretend that we were an 

 altogether happy family up to then, but, most 

 assuredly, we have scarcely ever known what it 

 is to live in peace and comfort since. 



The United States riders brought with them 

 very unorthodox methods in addition to the 

 forward seat, which was by no means their 

 original invention, and I sincerely wish had 

 never been exploited, as it was, to our dis- 

 comfort. Without going into the old story of 

 the reign of terror, during which our most trust- 

 worthy English riders' word made no weight 

 against any Yankee boy's, and so long as an 

 American was put up when the winning time 

 came, all previous performances, including running 

 horses pig-fat with such men as Morny Cannon 

 up, were considered quite legitimate by Stewards 

 and others, some of whom were misled and some 

 wisely made their market, one could not help 

 being reminded of the bad days. It seems but 

 yesterday since I saw a Steward of the Jockey 

 Club march into the weighing-room of the 

 Rowley Mile Stand with his arm round a pigmy 

 American pilot's neck ; or the date of the other 

 occasion on which the late Prince Soltykoff pre- 



