AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 57 



broke his fetlock. So you see they ran good 

 horses at the Httle place in those far-off days. 



" Resuming my recollections of Ashgill in 

 the ' forties/ Brandy Face and Lady Hilda were 

 good winners for the stable in '47. In the 

 following year, Brandy Face, who was an 

 Inheritor, won eight or ten races for us. I looked 

 after him myself up to the end of his four-year- 

 old career. He was then sold by my father to 

 Lord Wiliam Powlett for 400 guineas, and he 

 won several races for his lordship afterw^ards. 

 Ada Mary, by Bay Middleton, Avas one of ours 

 in '48. She was the dam of Adamas, and won 

 the ' Convivial ' at York that year. I rode her 

 at Richmond, when she beat Ruby by a head. 

 My first winning mount was at Ripon in 1848, 

 on a horse called Billy, from Brigg. I had 

 actually won the first heat in the same race the 

 previous year on Monsieur Pierrot. Then George 

 Abdale rode him in the second heat and was 

 beat, but he won the third on him and the stake. 

 After the race, the owner of Monsieur Pierrot 

 came up to me and said — 



" ' You would have w^on on him the second 

 heat if you had been allowed to ride.' 



" The horse ran away with me the first heat. 

 When they put George Abdale up for the second 

 heat, he waited and w\as beaten. They found out 

 the mistake in waiting, and, changing the tactics 

 the third heat, we sent him along at top speed 

 and won in a canter. In those davs there was a 

 great deal of racing in heats. At all the small 

 meetings there was one race in heats each day. 



" ' Was it not verv severe on the horses ? ' 



