AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 173 



CHAPTER XI 



• 



" The Doncaster mayor doth sit in his chair 

 While his mills they merrily go — 

 His nose cloth shine with drinking of wine 

 And he's got the gout in his toe." 



The year 1869 was fraught with big events in John 

 Osborne's history. Only since the previous season had 

 the Tupgill connection lasted ; and as showing how the 

 advantage of riding of good animals confers distinction 

 upon a jockey, we have only to mention that Pretender, 

 the champion colt of Tupgill, bore him to victory in the 

 Two Thousand Guineas ; and doing well in the interval 

 from the great Rowley Mile contest, which reveals the 

 early spring excellence of a three-year-old, the son of 

 Adventurer enabled him to gain immortal renown in his 

 first and only Derby, after one of the most exciting 

 finishes on record with Pero Gomez. But in other ways 

 '69 will long be a memorable year. 



Towards the end of the first month of this year 

 died John Jackson, otherwise known as "Jock o' 

 Oran." The exhausting disease from which he had 

 long suffered reduced his once manly frame to a 

 mere shadow, death at last coming as a relief to one 

 of the jolHest, most liberal, and hospitable " characters " 



