ASHGILL. 79 



in the Queen's Plate. She had evidently come 

 on since York, for she just managed to beat Lady 

 Patricia by a neck. 



It was the old Apology that Osborne mounted 

 for the Ascot Cup, and the veteran stoutly main- 

 tains that she improved at least a stone during 

 the week which elapsed between Manchester and 

 Ascot. This is quite within the mark, for she 

 beat Craig Millar, a different sort of horse to 

 Lady Patricia, by half-a-length. Her last race 

 was for the Queen's Plate at Newcastle, which 

 she won by twenty lengths. ■^' She is now at Mr. 

 Vyner's Stud at Fairfield, but with the exception 

 of Esterling she has not bred anything of especial 

 merit. The best bred and handsomest horse of 

 his year, he seemed good looking enough to win 

 anything, but he was very unlucky, and could 

 never be thoroughly trained owing to lameness 

 in his shoulder. He is now standing at Moor- 

 lands, near York, and promises to grow into a 

 successful sire. 



The best racehorses Manganese bred were The 

 Miner, by Rataplan, and his sister Minaret. The 

 Miner was an unlucky horse in more ways than 

 one. In the first place there were a lot of 

 exceptionally good horses in his year, but as he 



■■'■ Apology rau twenty times, winning eight races of the aggre- 

 gate value of £14,445. She and her sister, Agility, won for Mr. 

 King nearly £'21,000. It was lucky, indeed, for him that he 

 took Mr. Osborne's advice and did not part with Mandragora, 



