1^8 ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



liis early struggles, and the horses and men surrounding 

 him: — 



"John Osborne seemed quite an Old Parr in our 

 minds, and yet he had hardly been known on the Turf 

 much before Charles the Twelfth's year. He was at 

 one time head lad under Skaife, when the Duke of Leeds 

 kept racehorses at Hornby Castle, with ' Sim ' Temple- 

 man as his jockey. ' Chocolate and black cap ' were the 

 Leeds colours, and he adopted them when His Grace 

 died. Our first remembrance of him on the Turf is in 

 connection with Mr. Toy's Ararat, one of the colts 

 which, in conjunction with the Commodore, Malvolio, 

 and Lanercost, made Mr. Ramshay's Liveipool so 

 popular. The bay was a pretty good one in his time, 

 and once went so far as to get to Bee's-wing's head for 

 the Stockton Cu^d, and it was all Cartwright could do 

 to prevent him from getting ' bang up.' Old Bob 

 Johnson (Bee's-wing's jockey) was never so astonished 

 in his Hfe, and, ' in course,' he had some reason for them 

 •at Tupgill when they at last ventured to mention it. 



" With 1842 came a new order of things, and Jolin 

 had the Marquis of Westminster's string — Sleight of 

 Hand, Maria Day, Auckland, and a lot of others — in 

 his keeping. Auckland, by Touchstone, was a colt upon 

 which the Marquis of Westminster was wondi'ously 

 sweet, and from his foalhood he set a monstrous figure 

 on him. He was reared at Moor Park paddocks and was 

 coming north in the early days of the London and North- 

 western, with a black filly, when an engine burst and 

 nearly boiled the filly and took some skin off the colt. 

 They were taken to the Red Eagle Inn at Rugby, where 

 the filly died, and the Marquis went in for something 

 hke £3000 compensation, and we believe he got it. 

 Auckland was very little the worse, and as it proved. 



