But I told him I was all right, and made my way as fast as I could to my horse. I won my race for Jimmy White by a short head! And I won three races in a row after that.
A fortnight later I rode Abbots Trace again. Remember he was supposed to be a somewhat erratic horse, and his conduct with me in the Derby had emphasized that belief. It was wrong, utterly wrong. He was a fine, game horse, and my riding did him an injustice.
This second race resolved itself into a match between Frank Bullock on Spion Kop and myself. Frank and I had ridden so often in matches that we used (o get a tremendous amount of fun all through our careers in encounters of this sort At the start of this race I have no doubt that Frank had the idea in his mind that I would be up to my old trick of dwelling at the post so as 10 drop in behind him. This was usually my way of riding in a small field.
I made a mistake in doing this ance, when I rode in the famous Papyrus-Zev match, but I will tell you about that another time.
Abbots Trace, as I said, had the reputation of being erratic. When a horse earns a reputation it is just as well to find out the basic cause of it. All that was wrong with Abbois Trace was that he had an exceedingly light mouth and demanded very careful handling for the first furlong or so of a race.
A bit of silk would have been Strong enough rein for him in the early stages of a race. the first 100 yards. If he was not handled tenderly in that first short distance he was inclined to throw himself about. But after he had gone about a furlong you could take him anywhere and anyhow, On this occasion, suspecting that Frank expected me to dwell at the start and tuck myself in behind him, I let Abbots Trace slip along fast from the gate on his own. We had not gone very far before Frank got it into his mind that T was trying to "slip" him.
For some time I kept my horse going and then about half-way I pulled Abbots Trace back and dropped in behind Spion Kop, nicely covered up. There I stayed, keeping Frank busy guessing what I was up to until within about 100 yards of the post. I then made my effort and got the advantage of him by a head.
The two horses passed the post locked together—his horse was looking at mine as looking at him.
"What's happened?
Frank asked "I have just beaten you I think," 1 answered
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.