310 ATTACKS ON THE TURF. 
backed another horse, may lose and would pay. But there 
would have been no dishonesty if the horse had been beaten. 
The fact is, horses are beaten from other causes than the 
roguery of owner, trainer, or jockey. It is possible to cite 
numerous instances in which the jockey, by consummate art 
has, at the critical moment, turned what would have been an 
easy defeat into a splendid victory, and not unoften at his own 
cost. At Goodwood on one occasion this was so palpably 
done at the cost of some thousands of pounds to the jockey, 
that the prefix of “honest” was ever after attached to the 
rider's name. The contest for the blue riband of the turf 
itself can contribute a case, a parallel to which it will not be 
easy for the Professor himself to find off the race-course. In 
this instance a jockey rode the winner for his employers when 
his own horse ran second. In one minute he could have 
made a splendid fortune and would never have been called to 
account. But the temptation, great it must be confessed, had 
no charm for him. He preferred honour to riches. 
Fortunately these facts are known and appreciated by the 
chief supporters of racing, and therefore the jockeys as a 
body can afford to treat with contempt attacks upon their 
honesty. For myself, I find it difficult to believe that the 
writer really supposes the occult practices he condemns have 
existence. According to him, trainers and jockeys, by com- 
bining to deceive their employers, make their own fortunes, 
and the unhallowed process is kept an undivulged secret from 
all save the nefarious accomplices. According to the pro- 
fessor, the evil is by no means fleeting, it is chronic. Annually 
similar frauds occur, and fresh owners take the place of their 
ruined predecessors, to be dealt by with the same unrelenting 
dishonesty. But such a theory carries its own refutation: 
were it so, no owner, even a millionaire, would be able to 
