Then came the moment when Walter resorted to his ace of trumps. This was an umbrella, kept evidently for the purpose, which was opened and shut rapidly, as near as was consistent with safety to the horse’s heels. This usually produced the desired effect, and Carbine would then proceed far enough up the running to enable his jockey to invite him to turn round and sweep down the course in his preliminary. It was a curious and somewhat entertaining performance, but what the horse thought about it all it is difficult to say. But now, to sum up and deliver a verdict on the question of the merits of Carbine and The Barb. It is possible that The Barb was the better horse, and he was, most probably, the better looking of the two. Yet I fancy I know full well what the verdict of posterity will be. When a statue to Carbine has been erected in Olympia future generations will read in large letters on its plinth, “C.O.M.,” and archæologists of a later age will interpret this to mean: “Carbine, Optimus, Maximus” (“Carbine, Best and Greatest”). Chapter XIII. Other Great Horses. There have been numerous other great horses in our country, some of them standing on a high pedestal, but none of them on quite such a lofty one as that supporting Carbine or The Barb. Some may worship the memory of one, some that of another. It is a case of “laudabunt alii” (each man to his own choice). But we should like to recall a few of those celebrities, some of them dead and gone, a few still in the land of the living. Chester and First King were good, possibly even great horses. As two-year-olds they never met, but both were champions, First King winning all his three engagements, and Chester four out of five. The latter was beaten a head in his initiatory effort by Sir Hercules Robinson’s Viscount—an evident fluke. As three-year-olds there was a battle royal between the two. The Derby, Chester won easily by half a length. In the Mares’ Produce, a mile and a quarter Mr. White’s colt repeated the dose. But in the Championship, over three miles, First King won by four lengths, and he beat the New South Welshman, but only by a short head, in the Leger. Chester had no engagement in the Australian Cup, which First King won, and in the Town Plate, two miles, Chester had no difficulty in putting the King down by two lengths. It is possible that Mr. Wilson’s colt was a little stale after the Australian Cup. They never crossed swords again, and although Chester won seven out of his eleven engagements as a four-year-old, I question if he was ever so good again as he was at three. Horses like Warlock, Melita and Cap-a-pie beat him at weight-for-age, which, had he been at his best, could never have occurred. First King did not appear as a four-year-old, but at five years he was only beaten once, and that was by the Derby winner, the beautiful, shapely, grey, Snowden colt, Suwarrow, in the Canterbury