PREFACE 



Herein an attempt is made to concentrate into book 

 form some of the leading incidents associated with the 

 career of one who has been a picturesque, militant 

 figure in the multitudinous events of the British Turf 

 during a period of more than half a century. Of 

 necessit}^ the author has excerpted from various sources. 

 In thus borrowing from writers who were eye-witnesses 

 of the men, the horses, and the incidents that troop 

 forth as the tale is unfolded, it was deemed better to 

 reproduce their opinions and observations intact, with 

 the colouring fresh and vivid, than to resort to a dull, 

 lukewarm rechauffee from the compiler's pen. 



Quite pardonably, John Osborne, as the central 

 figure, is allowed, in a large measure, to tell his own 

 story in his own words, the author occasionally intruding 

 upon the recital to point a moral, or to amplify the tale 

 by presenting corollaries to the hero. Thus actors are 

 brought into the caste who may be considered essential 

 to complete the embodiment of the play. Much help 

 in the task has been gained from Baily's Magazine, and 

 from the occasional writings of Mr. John Corlett; nor 

 has the " Druid," most vivid, picturesque, and elegant of 

 Turf chroniclers, been untapped. For permission to 



