102 THE BLUE RIBBON OF THE TURF. 



and it is, under such circumstances, really wonderful 

 that so few quarrels take place. 



In an important training-establishment a large 

 number of persons have to be employed — mostly 

 boys. These persons are always a source of anxiety 

 to the head of the establishment. They are anxiously 

 waited for by the scamps who hang around such places, 

 who tempt them to betray their trust. Where the 

 boys are so weak as to submit to such treatment, they 

 are eagerly questioned and cross-questioned about all 

 that takes place in the stables. They are treated to 

 games of billiards, plied with liquor, and have presents 

 made to them of occasional sovereigns and suits of 

 clothes, all, of course, on condition of betraying their 

 master's trust in them. Only a few months ago a 

 Newmarket lad was kicked out of the stables for 

 doing 'something' to one of his master's horses 

 which had become a good favourite for an important 

 handicap. It is impossible even for the most vigilant 

 trainer to escape an occasional occurrence of the kind 

 indicated. ]\Iany instances might be related of trainers 

 being baffled by stable lads, and in consequence im- 

 portant information becoming public, detrimental to 

 the interests of the establishments. The domestic 

 economy of such institutions requires a good deal of 

 study — the provender for the animals nowada^^s has 

 become costly, and when thirty or forty boys and 

 other servants have to be fed four times daily, the 

 bakers' and the butchers' bills require a good deal of 

 consideration. 



Previous to the days of Mr. Thomas Dawson, of 

 Middleham, training was done in the most haphazard 



