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TOUTING THAT WAS THE REAL THING THINGStrange Strange Ways Thormanby Received Tips on Horses That Invariably Won I was at Doncaster ho said before the St Lcgcr in 1838 and outside the livery stable in which I baited my horse I saw a man leaning against a doorway He had an unmistakably horsey look about him and was as I suspected a ra e course loiterer Just out of idle curiosity I stmke tn him Well whos going to win the LegerV I asked Without a moments hesitation he an ¬ swered as glibly as if he were announiing a fact that could not be disputed Don John and Ian will be second But how aliout Cobham the first favorite I asked Cobham In answered In the same matter of fact manner as though there could be no possible doubt on the subject Coh Iiain will break down at the end of the white mils opposite the Intake Farm What makes you state that so positively I inquired For th rsi good reasons he replied Cobham is bad in his forelegs lie has not had a real rattling gallop for many a day Besides he is as fat as a bullock Now with his bad forelegs his weight of flesh and 8st 7 Ib that was before tin 8st lolb days on his back depend upon it hell never reach home And what makes you think that Don John is so certain to winV Because I liavi watched him closely and I know theres never a horse in Doncaster can go with him You may put that down as gospel truth truthI I was truck with the calm assurance with which the man spoke and I went and hacked Don John for as much money as I could put on My prophet was right Don John did win and Cob liam sure enough did break down though it was not at the end of the white rails but nearer home I won 700 pounds and determined to give my prophet a handsome honorarium for his ex ¬ cellent tip But I could find him nowhere He had mysteriously disappeared and I did not set eyes upon him again for many months When I did see him it was in the last place in the world I sliould have expected to encounter him himI I was crossing tlu Waterloo bridge on the Fri ¬ day or Saturday I forget the exact date before the Derby of 1839 when I ran right up against him I recognized him at once and told him who I was adding that I had to thank him for pocketing the 700 pounds over the Leger As he had urgent business on hand and I was in th like position I asked him to conic with me to a iiiet tavern and have some dinner He consented When we arrived at the tavern and were seated I told him of my intention to remunerate him for his tip and begged him to accept a twentypound note This he absolutely refused for some time to do and it was only by insisting on it that I forced him at last to take the money moneyRIGHT RIGHT HUNCH ON DERBY WIN WINHe He told me his story while we were discus ¬ sing over a bottle of wine after dinner and a melan ¬ choly story it was I wont however trouble you with it now I will only say that lie was a man of good family and had been educated at Cam ¬ bridge but through his own misconduct had come to grief We passed on to the Derby prospects lie had carefully watched the movements of every horse nd he assured me that Bloonisbury must win giving excellent reasons for his belief Well as you know Bloonisbury dill win and I pulled off a good thing indeed Nor did I forget you may bo sure my faithful and trusty tout toutOnce Once more and only once I was tempted to ask his advice and back his selection That was at the Doncaster meeting of the same year He gave me Charles XII with the same positive as ¬ surance as before When the first two horses passed the judges box the general impression was that Euclid had won and those who were in a posi ¬ tion to see declared that it was so I made up my mind that I had tempted Fortune once too often and that at last she had jilted me But to my surprise and gratification I found that the judge had given it as a dead heat between Euclid and Charles XII I shall not easily forget the intense excitement with which I watched the running off of that dead heat It was a near thing but Charles XII just did it and once more I landed a large stake so large that I could afford to give my tout a douceur of 100 pounds poundsAfter After those three coups I decided that it would be rash to tempt Fortune any more AVith the money which I won on those three selections I went into business and how I prospered some of this company know well I never saw my tout after Charles XIIs Legcr though I was several times both at Doncaster and Epsom afterward and perhaps had I met him I should have been tempted to back his selection once more Nor did I ever hear of him again though he had my address and might have written to me had he pleased But I have never forgotten and never shall forget that I owe my present comfortable position to a touts tip Thormanby in London Sportsman
