 Although Shackles's owner is confident in his horse and his Australian jockey, Brunt, the owner of a less-fancied horse, "The Lady Regula Baddun" (named as a delicate tribute to Mrs. Reiver, see The Rescue of Pluffles), knows that Brunt is traumatised by a horrific fall at the Maribyrnong Plate in Melbourne where four jockeys were killed and often tells of how the jockey Whalley said "God ha' mercy, I'm done for" seconds before he was crushed.He also knows that at one end of the Chedputter course, two old brick mounds enclosing a funnel shaped hollow focus speech in an ordinary tone of voice into a whining echo.Midway through the race, with Shackles about to pull clear of the pack, Brunt hears a ghostly voice saying "God ha' mercy, I'm done for."