AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 81 



connection of great value with old John Osborne, 

 Thomas Dawson, John Fobert, Harry Stebbings, and 

 others, who, with confidence, placed their commissions 

 in his hands. Jockeys, too, entrusted him with their 

 investments. It goes without saying that the infor- 

 mation thus imparted to Jackson would not be allowed 

 to go without profit to himself. His rise to wealth was 

 rapid. He brought off several coiifs, which enriched 

 his exchequer. One of his triumphs was landing 

 £27,000 over Ellington, trained by Tom Dawson, for 

 the Derby. It is a moot question whether that win- 

 exceeded his gains over Blair Athol's sensational 

 victory in the second of the classic races at Epsom. 



John Osborne has told us that Jackson bought 

 Saunterer from his father, Jackson then being some 

 thirty years of age; and, as he began a penniless 

 country lad, it is clear that his rise to wealth must 

 have been exceptional. In 1857 he owned a mare called 

 Sneeze, who distinguished herself by running second 

 in The Oaks ; and though he repeatedly made an effort 

 with horses he owned to gain the most envied prizes 

 of the Turf, Sneeze's performance was his nearest to 

 classic distinction. The star of the great Davies now 

 being on its decUne, Jackson became the " Emperor of 

 the Ring," occupying a position somewhat similar to 

 what Mr. R. H. Fry holds in the present day. While 

 evincing so much astuteness in his relations with trainers 

 and their secrets, he could hardly restrain himself at 

 the moment when a horse he had backed was winning, 

 or when one that he had operated against was 

 being defeated, from shouting his jubilant feehngs with 

 stentorian lungs, heard clear above the babel of the 

 crowd. In this weakness, if it may so be denominated, 

 he resembled the late Bob Howett, the Nottingham 



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