44 ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



rooted belief in the Cures and Weatherbits, died, as 

 already recorded, in 1865. His faith in those strains 

 of blood was not destined to be upheld in his lifetime 

 to so great an extent as thereafter. But how proud 

 would have been the sturdy old trainer had he been 

 spared to see that grand mare Lily Agnes bringing 

 lustre to his old 20-guinea Agnes, by Clarion. And 

 justly still more proud would he have been had he 

 survived to see Lily Agnes create an apotheosis for the 

 " Agneses " by throwing the incomparable Ormonde to 

 the Duke of Westminster's Bend Or. 



Lily Agnes died at Eaton paddocks in her twenty- 

 eighth year on Thursday, 11th May, 1899. She was 

 bred in 1871 by Mr. Snarry, her sire being Macaroni, 

 and her dam Polly Agnes by The Cure out of Miss 

 Agnes. A mare of grand stamina, she won during her 

 career twenty-one races of the total value of £4950. 

 In her three-year-old season she won the Doncaster 

 Cup and the Northumberland Plate, capturing the 

 Great Ebor Handicap the following season. At the 

 close of her racing career she became the property of 

 the late Duke of Westminster, and to her he owed the 

 splendid issue of thoroughbreds which followed her 

 illustrious son, Ormonde, he having sired Orme, who 

 in turn sired Flying Fox. The latter was sold to Mons. 

 E. Blanc on the dispersion of the late Duke of 

 Westminster's stud for the record sum of 37,500 

 guineas. For several years the famous old mare 

 had been kept in retirement at Eaton paddocks, 

 and owing chiefly to the infirmities of old age creeping 

 on her, it was considered expedient to " be cruel 

 to be kind " by dispatching her with the friendly 

 bullet. She was buried at Eaton, close to the remains of 

 Shotover and Angelica, the stone tablets, " storied with 



