PERFCRMANCES OF FESTER AND CHARON. 109 
referred to—Charon. In him we have a similar case of 
improvement from two tothree years old, except that he did 
show pretty good form in some of his two-year-old races, having 
beaten Hesper, Fulius Cesar, and other fast horses. He was in 
the hands of the most talented men, who had the whole of the 
winter and part of two summers, to discover his latent merit ; 
yet the commencement of his three-year-old racing was so 
wretched, he was pronounced a “selling plater,’’ and as such 
was started at Goodwood and won, when he was claimed by 
one of the shrewdest and most popular gentlemen on the 
turf, and within a few weeks placed the next race he ran for 
to his new owner’s credit. He was “sold again,” as the 
Cheap-Jack says, for a sum comparatively small in relation to 
his real worth; and after passing through the hands of well- 
nigh all the talent, fell to one who, if his discernment had 
been equal to his luck, and had led him to try the horse 
privately over a distance of ground before making his merits 
public, would not have missed a fortune without adding to his 
reputation for astuteness. In his hands he eclipsed all former 
doings, winning several long-distance races, and was sold for 
1,750 guineas. Nor did his victorious career end here, for he 
did his noble owner good service by beating ester and the 
winner of the French Derby, besides many others. 
Here, again, the secret scems to have been that the horse’s 
forte was over a distance of ground, and no one appears to 
have been aware of the fact till too late. At his first effort 
on a long course every one was fairly electrified ; he was only 
beaten a head by Thunder, and as Lily Agnes was behind 
them, it proved that the old horse was not out of form. We 
are all very wise after a mistake has been made, and see then 
what should have been done to prevent it; though in reality 
we would probably have done the same thing, or something 
