ASHGILL. 81 



satisfactory than the last, the Osbornes were 

 very confident they had got something out of tlie 

 common. In the Three-year-old Produce Stakes 

 Ely beat him a head and gave him 3lbs., a fact 

 which Mr. Osborne attributes to there being 

 nothing in to force a pace, a very necessary 

 condition to secure a victory for so stout a horse 

 as The Miner. 



The pace which Claremont's party made so hot 

 in the Great Yorkshire Stakes served The Miner 

 admirably, and it is still a matter of regret with 

 Osborne that he was not backed in earnest for 

 that race. This was the only race he won, and 

 he finally broke down in the Cambridgeshire, and 

 could never be trained ag-ain. That he would 

 have developed into a first-class cup horse there 

 is very little doubt, and had it not been for his 

 persistent ill luck a few of the valuable two and 

 three-year-old races could not have failed to go 

 his way. 



Minaret was a very smart two-year-old, but 

 failed to maintain her reputation when she got 

 older, and quickly was relegated to the stud, 

 where she bred some useful animals, notably 

 Mintdrop, the dam of that game little horse. 

 Peppermint, and Clinkumbell. 



What a grand lot they were that used to file 

 out of the Ashgill stables in 1873 and 1874, 

 Thorn, handsomest of cup horses, Apology, Lily 

 Agnes, Holy Friar, Grand Flaneur, &c. The 



G 



