82 



ashgill; or, the life 



bookmaker, and poor Tom Green, the rubicund 

 Yorkshire trainer who was carried off by the "pale 

 horseman " in 1899. Jackson prospered so well in his 

 affairs that he was able to own horses and place them 

 in several of the leading northern stables. This widely 

 distributed patronage still further ingratiated him with 

 trainers whose secrets were committed to his keeping. 

 He became connected with old Wilham I'Anson's 

 stable at Malton in this way, and thus he learnt of the 

 excellence of Blair Athol when the " palefaced 

 chestnut " was a " dark " horse for the Derby of 1864. 

 It was Blair Athol who dashed to the ground the bright 

 hopes which Lord Glasgow cherished of winning the 

 Derby with General Peel, so named after his life-long 

 and dearest friend. Blair Athol never appeared in 

 public until he bore the late Jim Snowden in triumph 

 past the Derby winning post. During the winter 

 Jackson had executed the commission for old William 

 I' Anson, and doubtless, helping himself largely to the 

 long odds, stood to win a huge stake. 



Conflicting stories were current at this period with 

 regard to the antecedent environments of Blair Athol's 

 Derby. One rumour was that Mr. Hargreaves, " Jock's " 

 confederate, wanted General Peel to win, and to leave 

 Blair Athol a negligible quantity until the St. Leger 

 in the autumn. Naturally old William I' Anson was 

 averse to any such proposal, for he was as anxious to 

 secure the Epsom triumph as the excitable peer who 

 owned General Peel. The old trainer's will prevailed, 

 and Blair Athol's subsequent victory in the Derby and 

 St. Leger of 1864 now form stirring chapters in the 

 long history of those great events. 



And here we may be excused making a further 

 digression from the direct line of the main story. Like 



