CORRECT TRIALS REVERSED IN PUBLIC. 153 
To show how often public running is incorrect, if not 
actually monstrous, I will comment upon certain examples ; 
but first, however, will state that I have seen very many 
instances of horses that have been well and properly tried, 
being backed on their first appearance in public, and winning. 
Promised Land, at Goodwood, beat a horse that before 
had not been beaten, and the latter (Worth Lincoln) was 
most certainly, at the distance, the best horse of his year. 
This would seem a contradiction, were it not added that 
he was conceding five pounds (for previous victories) to his 
conqueror. Lord of the Isles did a similar thing, at the 
same place, by winning the Molecombe Stakes; as did 
also Banditto, who after being beaten at Ascot, in his turn 
defeated Europa, who until that time, like Morth Lincoln, 
had been without an equal. I think that on this race there 
was more betting than I ever remember on any race of 
the kind before or since: the patrons of the Danebury 
stables relying on public form, on which Europa was a 
long way ahead of her opponents; whilst we based our 
assumptions solely on private trials, which led us to believe 
the Ascot running was all wrong, and the form of our horse 
better than that publicly shown by Europa. The accuracy 
of our conclusion was proved to the very letter by the 
result. 
Wild Dayrell may also be quoted in confirmation of the 
truth that trials, when carefully carried out, are the safest 
guides. For he won the first time he ran at Newmarket, and 
the following year he won the Derby. 
To these could be added endless instances of the trust- 
worthiness of home trials, verified by the performances of 
the same horses in their public races: but let those already 
given suffice ; and let us turn to the other side of the picture, 
