102 FAMOUS RACING MEN. 



Bonny and Blair Athol fame, had his home, was then the Malton 

 of Scotland, where long strings of thoroughbreds might be seen 

 every morning galloping over the crisp and springy turf. For the 

 Lowlands teemed with owners of racehorses, and even the canny 

 burghers of Glasgow and Paisley caught the contagion of the noble 

 sport from their aristocratic neighbours. And among the " douce 

 tradin' bodies" thus infected was the subject of our sketch, 

 Mr. James Merry, the eldest son of a wealthy Glasgow merchant. 

 Bom in 1805, Mr. Merry was educated at the Glasgow University, 

 or nominally educated, for his scholastic attainments were of the 

 most meagre description, and following in the footsteps of his 

 father he soon became a leading iron-master and proprietor of 

 extensive works in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire. He had been early 

 imbued with sporting tastes, but did not commence his racing 

 career until he was three-and-thirty years of age, when he made 

 his debut at Stirling, not only as an owner but as a gentleman 

 jockey — riding Patriot for the Hunter's Stakes, for which, 

 along with four others, he was beaten by Mr. Laing on Birth- 

 day. It was not, however, until the year 1842 that he really 

 went in for racing in earnest, and he then had several good horses 

 in training at Gullane under old George Dawson, the father of 

 the four brothers Dawson, who all attained high distinction in 

 the same profession, and one of whom was destined to play so con- 

 spicuous a part in Mr. Merry's racing career. In the following 

 year Mr. Merry's yellow jacket for the first time made its ap- 

 pearance on an English race-course at Liverpool, wheu he ran 

 Cable for the Liverpool Cup, for which his three countrymen — 

 Mr. Meiklam, Mr. Bell and Lord Eglinton — were first, second 

 and third with Aristotle, Eboracum and Pompey. The year 1847 

 was an eventful one in Mr. ]\Ierry's life, for he then acquired 

 two important possessions — an excellent wife and a first-rate 

 horse. The former was Ann, daiighter of Mr. J. M'Hardy, of Glen- 

 boig, Lanarkshire ; the latter was Chanticleer, the gallant grey son 

 of Birdcatcher, to whom Mr. Merry was largely mdebted for his 

 subsequent successes on the turf. In 1848 Chanticleer was cer- 

 tainly the most brilliant performer of the season — he won ten 

 of the fourteen races in which he was engaged, among them the 

 Northumberland Plate, the Goodwood Stakes, for which he carried 

 the crushing weight of 9st. 21bs., and the Doncaster Cup in 

 which he won an easy victory over Van Tromp. In stakes alone 

 Chanticleer won £3,460 for his owner that year, and what 

 amount Mr. Merry netted besides in bets will probably never be 

 known ; but when it is borne in mind that the astute Mr. F. 

 Swindells was his commissioner, and that 7 to 1 was betted 

 against the grey for the Northumberland Plate, 6 to 1 for the 

 Goodwood Stakes, and 3 to 1 for the Doncaster Cup, his win- 

 nings may be safely put down at £50,000. There were, by the way, 

 strange doings in the turf market respecting that race for the 



