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 good deal. I have heard it remarked that he lost his nerve a little, and after making a big book would hedge it off again, thereby not making the sums he might have done over his own horses, but I think we may take it his lordship knew what he was doing, and did it fairly satisfactorily.