The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-11-29
aMMs
Courtenay,
Case &
Gravelle
COMPANY
~ 49,

poohed the idea altogether, offering to
bet that Rayon Dor could not lose.
laughed and said I'd bet him a monkey
that he'd never come down the hill
Great longIbacked. numbering camel!
He did not want to gamble so much
as a monkey. but he offered TO bet q
hundred even. whichever way they
finished 1t was foolish of me to lay
odds like that. as Rayon Dor was at
sixteens and Sir Bevys at forties, but
booked the bet.
So well did think of llis chance for
the Derby that i employed a tout to
meant having thousand on. and
when they tried him with Squirrel, as
/ knew thev would TO be sure and find
out the weights somehow or another.
One fine morning / got a telegram
from Mr.. Tout which said: "Sir Bevys
no good. Beaten in his trial by SPUR
rel"
all the time could not get II out OF
my head that there must have been
some mistake. but kept consoling my
self with the idea that he had either
trained off or that his two last races
in the back end of his 2-year-old form
had made him a bit happy. To make
a long story short. he won. Yes, ne
won all right. after nearly being left
standing at the post. coming all around
his field and winning in a canter by
three parts OF length. He was ridden
by poor George Fordham-the only
Derby ne ever won, although he had
lots of tries. and rather curlously had
refused to ride the sire of this horse
when he won the Derby in 1871, pre-
ferring to take the mount on Digby
Grand. who finished fourth.
You suppose / swore Well, the at
mosphere in my vicinity was a trifie
blue and sultry for some minutes, /
can assure you. 1t took more than one
small bottle to wash the taste out OF
my mouth. and, seeing the late Lord
IVES tmoreland, who had superintended
the trial. standing near, l congratulate
ed him on bringing off such big
coup. which. in fact, he had done,
winning 100000. i mentioned the fact
that had fancied the horse all along
from the Squirrels form at Chester.
knowing that he was 2S pounds behind
Sis Bevys and meant going a raber on
him. but as he beat him in his trial
/ could not back him. He laughed and
said: you were right all along. We
tried him to give Squirrel AZ pounds"
Oh, we gods and little fishes! how I
wished 1 had hold of my friend. the
tout. Just then. l really think IL would
have been justifiable homicide to have
removed him from the scene OF his vo-
cations TO where he could no more put
his trusting employers In the cart.
You may say dt was hard tuck. But
1 had worse luck than that few years
afterward. No, not from a trial that
was all right. but from trial that was
all wrong The result came near land
ing me into an early grave. 1t was in
the SOS. when / fancied myself more
than a bit as a gentleman rider, and
used to go all over the country TO the
different meetings on the lookout for
something to ride. What greenhorn
] must have beenl Riding any brute
that the more clever ones would have
nothing to do with. What crumplers
/ did get! shall never forget a fall /
got in the Midlands once. 1t was when
they first introduced the open ditch.
We used to call II -.the grave" in those
days. / was underneath four of them.
Lord what a smash II wasl One horse
killed and two of us carried off on a
hurdle. Well. well! Fancy doing thai
now and doing II for pleasure. Eek
perientia docet." I prefer looking on
these days and seeing some one else
slaughtered to make a Roman holiday.
/ used TO do quite lot OF riding for
certain sporting farmer, and one even
ing l got a telegram from him asking
next day in farmers race at a meet
ing not far from London. Well. know
ing that he generally had a good thing,
and being keen to ride a winner, / an
swered all right. The next morning,
when / got TO Euston, who should /
meet but another gentleman jock. just
about then quite a shining hight. After
passing the time OF day we compared
notes. and to my disgust 1 found he
a.. A.. g. h.
l knew then / should get the worst
OF the deal somehow. And so II event.
ually turned out. After getting nearly
shot out into the road on our way TO
the course, we were greeted in the pad
dock by our worthy employer. who
soon began to talk business. 1t turned
out that he had two horses running In
the same race. and. as usual, / had the
worst beggar TO ride. In case curses
come home to roost, I'll only tell you
that one was a gray and the other
chestnut. In their trial our friend told
us the gray had smothered the chest
nut at IL pounds. We went OFF TO dress
and get weighed out. While standing
about. waiting for the bell 20 ring for
the post, / heard them making the
gray a red-hot favorite in the ring.
Some or my pals wanted TO know IL IL
was good thing. told them almost
a certainty. When up comes the noble
owner and tells me that 1 was on a
pony TO nothing. to be sure and cut out
a strong pace. He gave me a leg-up,
and did likewise for the other Johnny,
whom we will call Mr.. Artful-and we'll
named he was. But. Ike all the clever
ones ne eventually got landed, and
does most OF his riding in his mind
nowadays. We cantered down to the
post with the other runners. formed
up, down went the flag. and the game
had begun.
Instantly took my mount to the
'front.'. and at the first fence soon found
ne could jump like blazes. and. as he
had a mouth like silk. all had TO do
was 70 sit still and let him stride along.
i made fhe pace a cracker all the way.
as had been told to. Three fences
from home ! was stifi In front, the old
morse going great guns and making no