146 TRIALS. 
the old horse, steered by one of our most accomplished jockeys, 
and very easily too. For some reason, probably because of 
the ease with which the triai was won, I doubted its correct- 
ness, although the noble earl was satisfied, and the jockey had 
no excuse to offer for the result. However, for my own satis- 
faction, it was arranged that the old horse should be left with 
me to try the other with again, neither his lordship nor the 
jockey being able to stay or take part in the proceeding. A 
few days afterwards, in a second trial in every respect the 
same as the first, the General, with a stable-boy on his back, 
entirely reversed the earlier result, beating his opponent as 
easily as before he himself had been beaten, and confirming 
my suspicions that all had not been right when the grey had 
won too easily to please me. 
Watching this trial very narrowly, as I did, and seeing 
nothing in it that I thought I could alter, I felt sure it was 
correct, and that the first one, from some unaccountable mis- 
take, must have been wrong. I communicated the result to his 
lordship on seeing him at Ascot, but he could scarcely believe 
it, and still considered that the first trial with a jockey uf 
must have been the right one. The jockey, when told of 
it, was of the same opinion. The General's opponent and 
quondam victor ran, and was, as I was sure he would be, last. 
Had prudential tactics not prevailed, there would have been 
no second trial in this case; the first would have been impli- 
citly relied upon as correct. We should have lost our money, 
and the blame would have been mine; a sufficient reason, 
on the trainer’s part, to make “assurance doubly sure,” by 
trying a second time when the least doubt exists. 
To account for so extraordinary a change as in this case 
within so short a time, is, I candidly admit, beyond my power. 
The probability, however, is that Gexeral Hesse got off cross- 
