Lord William Beresford, V.C., Some Memories of a Famous Sportsman, Soldier and WitMenzies, Stuart, Mrs.
History
Lord William Beresford, V.C., Some Memories of a Famous Sportsman, Soldier and Wit
Menzies, Stuart, Mrs.
Beresford, William Leslie de la Poer, Lord, 1847-1900
From now on, until Lord William left India early in 1894, there is
little if any particular interest to relate except his successful
racing, to which he devoted all his spare time. Chasing appealed
strongly to him, the excitement of it being after his own heart, and
nothing pleased him better than to be up himself. Being a good judge
of a horse, he knew what to look for when keeping his eyes and ears
open for possible winners. On paper we all know the thing to look
for, good shoulders to help them when landing, plenty of power behind
to propel with, and so on, but in practice this does not always do
the trick, for most of us at times have seen little weedy, tucked-up
animals win big prizes. Never mind, we are told the exception proves
the rule, and, as I have already remarked, Logic is, no doubt, a
good training for us all as leading to sound and considered judgment,
but horses are unacquainted with it. It is very seldom, however, that
a horse will not do his best, strain every nerve, in response to the
demands of his master. Lord William was a bold, plucky rider, with
good hands, but in racing was, I think, inclined to be too impetuous.
I have seen him spoil his own chances by being too eager. My readers
will say he managed to win a good many when riding himself. Quite
true, so he did, and he could do almost anything with horses, but his
tendency in racing was to go “all out.”
A good deal of business was done in India over the Calcutta
Sweepstakes on the English Derby. Lord William was always keenly
interested, and did a good deal of buying and selling over the
horses’ chances, which, of course, is just as legitimate as certain
leading lights in the English racing world making a £10,000 yearling
book on the Derby. As a purchaser of tickets Lord Bill was in a good
position to judge a horse’s chances, being well posted from home, his
brother Lord Marcus keeping him well informed of all that was going
on, the breakdowns, scratchings, and other contingencies connected
with good and bad luck of the racehorse in training. The Calcutta
Sweep on our Derby is the most valuable in the world. Lord William
did a large business with the Indian lotteries, and made a heap
of money over them. The sweepstakes being drawn some weeks before
the race is run, gives everybody who likes to avail themselves of
it opportunities of making money by buying and selling the chances
subsequent to the draw, taking the form of jobbery on the Stock
Exchange. Many of my readers know all about this, but there are some
who may be glad of the explanation. It is not now possible to do
what has been done in the past with Calcutta Sweeps, what is called
“future event wagering,” is more or less a thing of the past. It must
be remembered there was not much for Lord William to learn about
racing, and he knew how to hedge so as to make his book fairly safe
before the flag fell. There is an old adage, “No bet is a good one
until it is well hedged.” I think latterly Lord William hedged a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account