MEN WHO HAVE WON THE DERBY. 39 



with tho advent of Frampton.' At an early period he 

 hit up^u the phin of making any match that he had 

 anything to do with a ' certainty,' so far as that could 

 be accomplished. By means of a secretly-ridden trial, 

 he endeavoured when it was possible to tind out which 

 was the better horse ; if the animal was his own, then 

 he backed it ; if his opponent's, then he supported it, 

 and contrived by some means to lay against his own. 

 Gf the many stories told to the disadvantage of Framp- 

 ton, some are probably altogether imaginative, and 

 others rest only, on a slight foundation of fact. 

 AVhether the 'father of the turf was really guilty of 

 the numerous sins laid to his charsje or not, there is 

 plenty of evidence to show that he pla3'ed in his time 

 an important part on the turf. In particular he was 

 famed for the knowledge he treasured up of the form 

 of the running horses of the period — a necessity, no 

 doubt, of his position as the heaviest betting man of 

 his time. As has been stated, Frampton died in the 

 year 1727, at the age of eighty-six. Granting that he 

 had been, as the saying goes, 'on the turf for a period 

 of sixty years, he mu^-t have been familiar with the 

 rise and progress of horse-racing. Unfortunately, the 

 printed records of regular sport only begin in 1709, so 

 that little is known of Frampton's numerous achieve- 

 ments in the racing world. 



In the year 1727, the year in which he died, there 

 was racing at Newmarket (two meetings), Whitechurch 

 in Shropshire, Epsom, Walbasey in Cheshire, Guild- 

 ford, Ipswich, Stamford, Richmond, Nottingham, Pres- 

 ton, Peterborough, Ascot, Hambleton, York, Leighton, 

 Lewes, Winchester, Grantham, Oxford, Bake well, Derby- 



