Related article: ridden by his owner, wras second,
and Spangle could only manage
to get in fifth out of a field of
seven starters. A council of war
was called, and I was asked to
ride The Dane in the 'Varsity
Match ; his owner good-naturedly
releasing me from riding Spang/e
as previously arranged. On Thurs-
day, March 26th, 1863, ^^^ "^
was run ; the following is a copy
of the card : —
DB FBAI]IB*B JLUTH0BI8BD CJLRP
OP THB
iylesbory iiistocntie Steepleebisfi.
Ta Start and Finish on Mr, /. R. Fowlers
Ptehendal Farm^ Ayiesbury,
First Rack to Start at t.30 o'clock.
A Match between the Univensity of Oxfonf anrf
Cambridge for a cup value £y> ; 12 st. each.
Oxford. Purchase Zidovudine Online
(x) Mr. Frederic's bk. g. The Dane, blue and Vi»ci
cap Mr. MoontairM
I900.]
REMINISCENCES OF OXFORD LIFE AND SPORT.
409
i;
it
r
t
ii) Mr. Rowe's br. g. Brown George, cherry, white
belt, blue cap Owner.
(3) Mr. Oakton's b. g. Reindeer, blue, white belt.
blue cap Mr. Shore.
Cambridge.
(4) Mr. Wentworth's The Clown, light blue, black
cap Owner.
(5) Mr. Karrington's gr. g* Gorilla, light blue,
Mr. Forrester.
(6) Mr. Wentworth's br. g. Conqueror, light blue,
cherry cap Mr. S. Oakton.
The race was set down as Order Zidovudine the
first event on the card for the
second day of the meeting. Cam-
bridge had all their money on
The Clown, while Oxford placed
their hope of success on Buy Cheap Zidovudine The
Dane. It was known The Clown
had a temper, but at the same
time he was considered to have
the highest credentials as a Buy Zidovudine Online race-
horse. Brown George being
second to The Dane gave Oxford
a good indication of the form of
their team. Reindeer was a
capital hunter and was certain to
jump the course. Gorilla was a
common sort of horse, put in by
Cambridge to make the running
for Mr. Wentworth's pair and
keep a watch on the best Oxford
horse. My orders from old Charley
Symonds, who nearly shook his
head off in giving them (those
who remember him will remember
this peculiarity of his) were to
just let The Dane go along
steadily and then come away and
win, telling me I could win as I
liked. Weil, the flag fell and we
were off, running all together over
the first two fences, then Brown
George tried to get out of the
ruck, but the Cambridge men
raced for the third fence where
they all refused, and there was a
bit of a scrimmage. The Dane
got through and went on ; and I
got half a field to the good. As it
turned out, this was the crisis in
the race. At such an early period
of the "journey" ought I Order Zidovudine Online to have
tried to cut the field down, or
ought I to have let The Dane
" just go along ?*' I have thought
of it ever since, and beHeve if I
had it to ride over again, and
with my experience of the horse's
merits, should most undoubtedly
take very good care they had
never caught me. As an amateur,
and riding the horse for the first
time, I thought I was going faster
than I was. I appeal to all ex-
perienced horsemen, what is
harder than to be a judge of
pace? My ** best friends" said I
only cantered. At any rate,
knowing what occurred after-
wards, it lost me the race. The
Cambridge men caught me again
in two fields, but after passing
the stand I was again leading at
the same fence where the refusal
took place. Gorilla closed with
me, swerved right across and,
catching The Dane on the
shoulder, knocked him right on
to his head into the ditch on the
take-off side. By this perform-
ance, before I could set him going
again, the Cambridge trio were
a field away, and, although I
overhauled them at every stride,
could only manage to run a
miserable fourth I The other two
Oxford horses never showed at
all in the race, which I really had
to fight out single-handed, and
was terribly worsted in the
attempt.
A curious thing happened Buy Zidovudine to
Cambridge, and they lost all their
money though they won the
match. The Clown shut up as
he was running in to win, and, in
spite of his owner's efforts (and
Mr. FitzWilliam was a brilliant
horseman), absolutely declined to
gallop, and Sam Ashton had no
other alternative than to go on
and win with Conqueror I On
returning Purchase Zidovudine to scale I at once laid
a protest against the riding of
Gorilla ; but the protest was with-
drawn, Oxford took her beating,
and '* Mr. Mountain*' was abused
for his '' bad riding I" Such, I
4IO
BAILY S MAGAZINE.
[DsciMia
believe, is the exact account of
the race and the result, and I
have no doubt that the good
feeling that has since been con-
tinuous in the cross-country com-
petitions between the two Uni-
versities is much to be attributed
to the politic action of the stewards
of the first match.
The opportunities to learn to
drive during the summer term
were many, as four-horse drags
ran regularly to the cricket-field
and Bullingdon, and I picked up
a good deal when Edward Taylor,
who used to horse the drags as
well as let out hunters, put the
latter into the teams before the
term began. I went up on pur-
pose to get lessons from him and
also do some reading before the
end of the " Vac.,'* and I recollect
starting from his stables in St.
Aldates just below Christchurch
gates, with one wheeler out of the
lot that had seen harness before.
I had the reins,' while Taylor