WILLIAM DAY'S REMINISCENCES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1797, 30 April 1886, Page 21

WILLIAM DAY'S REMINISCENCES.

In this volume (says Bell's Life) the veteran trainer, Mr William Day, makes his second venture as an author. In it he speaks of many of the men who during the past 50 years have been prominent in racing circles. It is replete with amusing turf stories, and should prove deeply interesting to all lovers of our national sport. Having trained so many winners of the most important handicaps, and being so intimately acquainted with the ramifications of the ring, and the workings of commissions, Mr Day's " Memoirs and Recollections serve to cast a light on many of the celebrated coups of former days. Of Mr Henry Pad wick we learn that ho probably owed his phenomenal success as much to luck as to judgment. He sold three of his horses for 22,000— an extraordinary figure in those days. Mr Day speaks of him as follows :— " Nevertheless, with all his acumen, Mr Padwick was not a good judge of racing. His study had been thi? study of mankind ami the state of their exchequer rather than the merits of his horses and where to place them with the best chance of success. One instauce that came under my own observation will serve to show this disability on his part. In the spring of 1861 he came to see Alvediston, who was then very big (if any of my horses in training were ever thought to be so), not having to run early. On his return the next day he wrote and expressed his wish that the horse should run shortly after at Epsom in the Woodcote Stakes. I reasoned with him on the impropriety of doing anything so indiscret ; but to entreaty he remained inexorable. The horse ran, was well beaten, and he lost his money, as he richly deserved to do. He then arranged that the horso should be kept for his Stockbridge engagements. But the resolve had no sooner been made than ib was broken. For suddenly, ab all risks, he would have him run at Ascot, where he was sent about three parts fit, having had but a hurried preparation* Luckily he just won the New Stakes, plainly showing, as I have before said, all that Mr Padwick wanted was to see his horses kept running. The condition they were in was to him of little consequence, notwithstanding that he was sure to back them for a good stake. Now this was not, in my opinion, the action of a clever, nor, indeed, of a discreet man," Again we learn that "Mr Padwick had for his clients the shrewd and the simple, the noble and the ignoble ; and though on the whole he must have had the best of his business transactions, yet it cannot be doubted that at times he met more than his match '" and caught a Tartar." He assured me that he lost over £17000 (cash lent) by the late Duke of Newcastle, and much more by other specimens of the august type of borrowers." As to his character, Mr Day says : • " Moving in all grades of society, Mr Padwick never seemed out of his sphe.e. In the company of either sex he was always welcome, for he was irresistibly suasive and plausible. He was witty and clever, although, no doubt, he often found himself with others who knew more than himself. He was, however, impatient under defeat, and accustomed to deal with the suspicious, became suspicious himself. Ido not know whether the failing was inherent in his character ; but it was one that he cherished to the end, leading him unfortunately into both loss and trouble. Necessarily in his calling he was no stranger to litigation. Yet he must always have been well advised to work behind the scenes, for I do not remember his appearance in the witness-box, where many of his craft are too often seen to their disgrace.'" And again as a gambler : "Mr Padwick was at heart a gambler. He wa's as great an adept at the cards, betting, or dice as he was at racing, or even in his special business. Of his gambling propensity he gave sufficient proof on one occasion. He won on Virago as a three-year-old £80,000 in bets, and lost this immense amount or more the same year on the Stock Exchange, on information that an astute city man would have scouted i s s.lender as a thread. He was undoubtedly a confederate with John Gully in Andover ai d other horses, and was even reputed to have bei n connected in the same way with the redoubtal le Harry Hill, although my brother John always assured me there was no truth in the latter . report. He was often at Danebury when Hill was there, which fact may have given rise to the rumour. The three were often seen ( n the racecourse in company, although both Guy and Hill were too clever to accompany Mr Padwick to the gaming tables at the different race meetings and other places, to whose incomings he must have been a mine of wealth." Of Mr John Baynton Starkey, a well-known sportsman and owner of some of the most celebrated racers of his day, the author has & good deal to say : — " Mr Starkey was well educated, generous to a dogree, if eccentric to folly. To this eccentricity perhaps his downfall may be attributed. He was markedly unostentatious in his mode of living, and had "no apparent means of spending £1000 a-year; aud^yet in the course of some half-dozen years ■'* he managed to get ' rid of a fortune of £300,000 or at the rate of £50,000 per annum. This is almost incredible; and as he raced, his misfortunes have naturally been attributed to following sport in this form. Yet I think that I can show that its thoughtless votaries, such as Mr Starkey was, do more injury to the repute of our national pastime than all the avowed gamblers and unscrupulous schemers that are its real plague-spots ; for I can prove beyond doubt that in his connection with the turf Mr Starkey was by no means, at any time a heavy loser." This gentleman appears to have homewhat resembled Hamlet's imaginary hero — "A man whom Fortune's buffets and rewards had ta'en with equal thauks." Having backed one of his youngsters (Land Tax)' for the Danebury Nursery, ho started Veridas, whom he had just purchased at Mr Blenkiron's sale for £210, to make the running, with the result that the filly won and the horse was second. Yet we are told that he appeared delighted; but nob so his friendg and followers, who were dreadfully crestfallen at such an unlooked for and disastrous result. Mr Starkey also owned Fisherman and Leamington. The latter will be remembered as ths sire of Iroquois. Speaking of the Danebury confederacy, which comprised Messrs Gully, Hill, Pedley, Arnold,

and Turner, the writer can hardly see that Gully was deserving of his high reputation, inasmuch as he onl.v fought two men, »ne of whom beat him. Of the celebrated ex-pugilist, owner, and M.P., the writer says :—: — " I must not omit to bay of Gully, before con* eluding my notice of him, that he was by means popular with those who knew htm best on the turf; and though not a bad judge of a horse, was often ' reputed wise for saying nothing." For he would muse for hours over his big cigar without uttering a word-, and was as l'eticent in all Jhis affairs as ho was in ' the House ' when an honourable member. The barrels of beer that he had placed in tho streets df Waketield did more towards securing him a seat in Parliament than his powerful oratory in appealing to the"good sense and honourable feelings of the Independent Liberal electors." Hairy Hill, the friend and associate of Gully, tloes not appear to have been a very estimable person:

"'From betting and his other curious transactions on the turf, Harry Hill soon amassed a fortune, the whole of which, miser-liko as he was, he did not retain to the end. He faas always to be seen in the evening* at the Coach and Horses, Dover street, Piccadilly, not in the most select company. He was slovenly in his dtess, wearing a faded black suit ■boat appeared to have been made for his grandfather, so ill it fitted him. Ho was not particular as to cleanliness, and his hard features were too surely ati index of the working of his mind. His conversation was licentious and vulgar, though t do not doubt that he himself may have esteemed his vile wit the essence of cleverness. ' Indebted to his memory for his wit, and to his imagination for his facts,' he would crack his sides with laughter at his own personal and ill-timed gibes, not being ashamed to utter what others would blusll to hear.

Mr Day is of opinion that 6n& of the most jcpftspicuous turf figures of the century, Lord George Bentinck, war hardly the good judge of racing stock that he was supposed to be, and instances his parting with Venison and his retention of Bay Middlefcon. His matches, too, were hot always well made. The author corrects Admiral Rous as to the amount of weight carried by Tripoli in the memorable race for the Feather Plate at Newmarket, and further hints that " Lord George " followed the time-honoured maxim that " the end justifies the means."

"There is no doubt many of his lordship's horses, with his knowledge, ran unprepared, for the purpose of deseiving, not only the world at large, but his friends also, iv order that on a future and fixed occasion he might reap alone the full reward of this policy. Indeed, he was frank enough to say, perhaps not altogether without reason : llf you wish to have anything made public wiite it to your friend in confidence — everyone will soon hear of it.'" Mr Day seems to think that this nobleman was not entirely actuated by disinterested motives in his exposure of the Running Rein scandal, and his account of a dispute between liis lordship aud a Mr Wreford is a convincing proof that he was not at all times the preu.r chevalier ; "The quarrel was somewhat more than :v wrangle ; but Mr Wreford expressed himself unwilling to go to law, and proposed that the pointf in dispute should be left to arbitration To this suggestion Lord George tauntingly replied, with natural delicacy of feeling, iv reference to a domestic misfortune which had nothing whatever to do with uhe matter in question:—'l thought, sir, you had enough of arbitration in your daughter's case." " The' appearance of one of the most powerful and imperious autocrats that ever ruled his compeers or towered over a prostrate foe in the insolence of conquest is thus described : " This distinguished nobleman in height was considerably over 6ft, and well proportioned. He walked erect with a stately movement, proud and distant, quite in keeping with the ancient pride of his most noble ancestry. His dress was peculiar. His tight-fitting buckskin trouner* were in admirable contrast to a claret-coloured coat, with 'brass or gilt buttons. The massive gold chain shone brilliantly on a dark velvet waistcoat, nis necktie was always of a spotless white or cream-coloured satin, and very long and full; and in it a neat pearl pin was always to be sei'ii. A fashionable hat, much the same as is worn in the present da,i completed his everyday costume." Mr Day grows very loquacious on the subject of the Bentinck family. He remembers tLelalp Duke of Portland, " wiio once came to Danebury in the heijjhc ot trimmer, di-et-sed in a lonir, ' heavy sable fur coat that nearly touched the ground when he stood erect." A peculiar and quaiut character of the time, Mr Fulwar Craven, stands out boldly before, us :

' " One of the most notable chai actors figuring on the turf at this period was Mr Fuhv.ir Craven, of Becklumipton. He was a gentu man by birth and education, if his eccentricities weu> beyond comparison at the time, and have never been eclipsed since. His tlreas itself was inimitable, lie wore light-coloured kerseymere breeches and gaiters, the tongues of the latter nearly covering bi& boots, which, in their turn, were more (l.mdified than substantial. The hinder part of Hhe calves of his legs were uncovered tor some two inches in width, the better to display his flesh-coloured silk stockings. He wore a claret coloured coat, buff waistcoat, and a large frilled shirt. From the outside breast pocket of his coat hung a large yellow silk handkerchief, covering half his side. His shirt-collar was Gladstonian, of an immense size, and round it was loosely wound a gaudy necktie, secured with a pin nearly the size of a small saucer. He had long, flowing, and very bushy red or auburn whiskers, and wore a white hat, characteristically high. He took an immense quantity of snuff from a huge gold box, which he carried in Ins waislcoafc pocket."

(To be continued.)

Mr J. Russell Lowell, it ap^gars, has decided to live iv England for the future, and will settle down probably at Oxfox*d. An English paper states that this is not definitely decided, but probably the charms which the most beautiful of English cities possesses for the scholar-poet of America will outweigh the attraction of life in London. For the future he is likely to form one of the circle of celebrities which the Master of Balliol gathers round him. It is no secret (says our contemporary) that when Mr Lowell left us he left his heart as well. True patriot as he is, he contracted in England intellectual ties stronger, perhaps, than any he had formed in a country where many of his old friends have been dying off. Society, too, of all kinds welcomed him with effusion, crowded to Wordsworth and Browning societies to hear his polished and conclusive deliverances on our poetry and literature, and was never tired of asking him to its high functions. Ever since he crossed the Atlantic his heart has been pining for the intellectual fleshpots he left behind 'him ; and now that he comes back to us, he js not likely to leave us for yet awhile. ■