A CHRONICLE OF THE DERBY. 243 



scarc3. The Escape affiiir is thus briefly nariMted in 

 Whyte's ' History of the British Turf : 'On the 20l!i 

 October, 1791, the Prince of Wales' best horse, Escape, 

 ridden by the late Samuel Chifney, was beat by 

 Coriander (by two lengths) and Skylark, for the Plate, 

 for which he was the favourite in the betting, " Ditch 

 In." On the following day, the betting being 4 and 5 to 1 

 against Escape, this liorse, jockeyed again by Chifney, 

 beat Skylark and other horses easily. Upon this a 

 great outcry was roised at Newmarket by the losers, 

 who did not hesitate to say that Chifney had rode to 

 lose on the 20th, and that the Prince of Wales was 

 implicated in the cheat.' The Prince gave up racing 

 for a time, having, as we have read, ' been houmled off 

 the turf in consei.|ueuce of his popularity,' which was 

 unbounded; he had made himself, without any sacri- 

 fice of dignity, ' everybodj^'s body :' he was vociferously 

 cheered whenever he appeared. The Prince returned 

 to the turf again in 1826, when he followed the 

 pastime with greater ardour than before. His chief 

 advisers were the Chifneys, whom he engaged to 

 manage and ride his horses, some of which were 

 bought at big prices. 



The Oaks was won by Lord Egremont's Nightshade. 

 His lordship, who was a keen sportsman, had tried 

 several times to obtain the ' Garter of the Turf,' and 

 now his ambition was gratified. There were seven 

 runners out of eighteen nominations ; the winning 

 jockey was again Fitzpatrick. The Duke of Bedford 

 ran second with Busy, and Mr. Wastell's filly by Alfred 

 out of Magnolia was third. The Duke of Grafton, 

 Lord Grosveni«r, Sir F. Standish, Lord G. H. Cavendish, 



16—2 



