SAM ROGERS PARDONED.

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by Ithuriel, Flatman up, the betting being 6 to 5 on Red Deer. The week afterwards the two horses met again at Goodwood, when Sam Rogers went the wrong course, though he had so frequently ridden over it, and was cautioned by Nat that he was "going wrong." Even then Lord George continued to support him through that week, and through the following one at Brighton.

The punishment inflicted on Sam Rogers was prolonged for three years, on the expiration of which Lord George, being then senior Steward of the Jockey Club, invited the favourable consideration of his brother members to a measure which he brought forward in the July meeting of 1847, by proposing that the sentence passed on Sam Rogers and other jockeys should forthwith be remitted. His Lordship added that Rogers had been represented to him as having conducted himself well and discreetly since the infliction upon him of the severe punishment which he had incurred in 1844. It was resolved, therefore, nemine contradicente, that, "upon the recommendation of the Stewards, the sentences passed in 1844 and 1845 upon Samuel Rogers and others, excepting John Braham, shall now be remitted, and that they be allowed to come on the course, and to ride and train at Newmarket as formerly." In addition, the Stewards expressed their sincere hope "that the punishment these delinquents have received may be a warning to them which they will never forget,

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and that their conduct hereafter may justify the leniency now extended to them.'

When, ridden by Sam Rogers and trained by his father, Mr Stirling Crawfurd's The Cur won the Cesarewitch of 1848, beating Colonel Peel's Dacia, who ought to have won, and affording Sam Rogers an opportunity for displaying a fine bit of jockeyship, all recollection of Ratan's year, and of other transgressions, was obliterated from the public mind.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE GOODWOOD STABLE IN 1845.

THE winter of 1844-45 was very severe and protracted, commencing on the 4th of December 1844 with sharp frosts, which continued with little intermission till the 23d of March 1845-two days before the Northampton meeting. So severe and wintry was the weather a week before the races that it was thought they would have to be postponed, there being 19° of frost from the 14th to the 17th of March, and 11° on the 21st. In order to utilise to the fullest extent the great advantages afforded by the exercise - grounds at Goodwood, which are completely sheltered by plantations and trees, Lord George caused strawbeds of immense magnitude to be laid down, the outer ring being nearly half a mile in circumference, within which two lesser rings were formed. As these straw-beds were some distance from the stables, it was necessary to make an approach to them by covering a track or path with litter,

leaves, and straw. As there were from sixty to seventy horses to be exercised every day, I did not like to trust more than a few of them upon the track leading to the straw-beds at the same time, for fear of one or more lads being pitched off, and the horses getting loose. The straw - beds were surrounded by a high ring-fence, and as soon as one detachment had got safely inside the fence, others were despatched from the stables. There were outlets provided at many points in the surrounding fence through which riotous horses could be removed, in order not to disturb or demoralise their quieter and better-behaved companions. In this manner the horses engaged at Northampton and other early meetings were able to do enough work to make them far more fit to run than others which had not enjoyed the same advantages. The famous Halnaker gallop, which ran for a long way through a wood in the park, afforded a convenient trial-ground for the Northampton lot and as the Halnaker gallop was between two and three miles distant from the stables at Goodwood, each horse about to be tried was, by Lord George's instructions, conveyed in a van to the trial-ground. He took great pleasure, and was much interested, in making all these preparations to circumvent " Jack Frost," and was not a little encouraged by the results of the trials in which Cherokee, a two-yearold filly by Redshank; Discord, aged eight years; John o' Gaunt, aged seven years, and others, were

"put through the mill." Cherokee won her trial so easily by four or five lengths, that his Lordship was afraid some of the old horses in the gallop had not run up to their form by reason of the shortness of their preparation. He therefore desired me, before I left for Northampton, to try My Mary (who was second to Cherokee) over again with the unerring old African, as it was his Lordship's intention to stand a good stake on Cherokee for the Althorp Park Stakes, if I was able to make out that My Mary, aged three years, was in form. The second trial came off all right, as My Mary won it easily, making it pretty evident that Cherokee was very smart, as My Mary had won the Prendergast at Newmarket in the preceding autumn. Accordingly, Lord George, after arriving at Northampton, gave his chief commissioner, Mr Harry Hill, an unlimited commission to back Cherokee for the Althorp Park Stakes. As I was saddling the mare, Mr Hill came up to his Lordship in great tribulation, stating that he was unable to execute the commission, as they only offered 5 to 4 against Cherokee, although there were ten starters, and two or three others heavily backed. "Don't come

here to bother me with your fears," exclaimed his Lordship, testily; "go back and get on as much money as you can, and you will find 5 to 4 good enough odds when the race is over." And so it proved, as Cherokee won in a canter by two lengths. Lord George next proceeded to back