CHAPTER XXIV 



WILTS AND HORSES 



I SUPPOSE, readers, that most of you would be 

 only too pleased to own a Derby favourite and 

 train that same yourself? You would? So 

 would I ; but I should want to hedge a bit by 

 way of insurance against going off my head 

 while the last turns in winding up were being 

 twisted round. Such possession carries very big 

 greatness, and from greatness I always pray to 

 be delivered. No need to pray on those lines, 

 say you, nor to petition for guid conceit o' mysel' ! 

 Say what you like ; I write what I feel. The 

 penalties of greatness make a heavy load, and I 

 am with a very eminent trainer who has won a 

 Derby. Said he, "I've been through it, and it's 

 killing business thinking of the risks." I pity 

 the nobbier who tried to get at Sceptre, for 

 instance, while the beautiful mare was being 

 prepared at Shrewton for Epsom. But putting 

 myself in her owner-trainer's place — I did so 

 literally in one way as a visitor — I felt that I 

 should be heartily grateful when the Wednesday 

 was over, win or lose. To anyone not armour- 

 plated in the matter of nerves the tension as the 

 day draws near must be awful, and I can quite 



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