LORD DARLINGTON AND MR. THORNHILL. 141 



placed under Sam's charge, as trainer, although his 

 brother William looked principally after them. With 

 brothers less attached to each other, an arrangement 

 of this kind might have led to some misunderstand- 

 ing ; but during the whole of their long connection, 

 both as regarded the management of Mr. ThornhuTs, 

 as well as Lord Darlington's stud, which came from 

 Perreir's to Sam's some few seasons afterwards, they 

 never ceased to be of one mind. The very next 

 Epsom meeting saw them successful for Mr. Thorn- 

 hill in the Oaks with Shoveller a small, lengthy, 

 and blood-like whole-coloured bay mare, of whom 

 they gave him so good a report, that he won nearly 

 20,000. In this race, Sam convinced Frank Buckle 

 that the high opinion he had long entertained for 

 him was not unfounded, as he waited on him from 

 the moment he took up the running with Espagnolle 

 at Tattenham Corner, and making one of his magni- 

 ficent rushes in the last two strides, defeated " the 

 governor" on the post by a head. His Thornhill luck 

 had not, however, run out with the half-sister to Sam, 

 as the Derby of the following year (1820) again fell 

 to him with Shoveller's full-brother Sailor, who won. 

 the Derby on his third birthday. Such a delicious 

 Epsom sandwich for one owner as two Derbies, with 

 an Oaks between, has never been known either before 

 or since. Sailor was a plain, light-fleshed, chesnut 

 colt ; rather leggy, but at the same time very power- 

 ful, and though he had by no means a large foot, 

 deeply devoted to mud. This last quality was most 

 opportune, as the whole of the night preceding his 

 Derby was a perfect hurricane of wind and wet. Sam 

 was lying comfortably in bed, recruiting himself after 

 a heavy walk in the sweaters on the preceding evening, 

 and knew nothing of his brightening prospects till he 

 called for his slender tea-and-toast breakfast ; while 

 William, on the contrary, was exposed to the pitiless 

 tempest at four in the morning, as he rose from his 



