212 ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



300 sovereigns at Shrewsbur}^; he won it, and 

 was bought in. The following year, as a three- 

 year-old, he won the Portland Plate at 

 Doncaster, and won it a second time two years 

 later. We put him in the Trial Stakes at 

 Stockton, which he won, and Mr. Brag's: boug-ht 

 him, so that the partnership of five of us was 

 dissolved. He was cut in the autumn as a four- 

 year-old, owing to showing a lot of temper. He 



; was a peculiar horse. He often used to beat 



himself before he started. If there was not a 

 big field of starters he couldn't beat anything. 

 Often enough he had to be whipped away from 

 the starting post. He was Mr. Bragg's property 

 for the whole of his racing career after Stockton. 

 He ran for about eleven seasons, winning many 

 races in the North. I believe the small ' punters ' 

 nicknamed him the ' Relieving Officer,' as he 

 often got them out of a bad day. He was a horse 

 with a tremendous fine turn of speed to finish 

 with in a five or six furlongs' race. 



" Thorn was a very good-looking horse, with 

 rather weak, curby hocks. His first race was in 

 the ' Gimcrack ' at York, and he was second to 

 Kaiser for the Doncaster Champagne Stakes. 



) Then he won at Ayr and a weight for age race 



at Shrewsbury, but was disqualified. As a three- 

 year-old he won the Lambton Stakes at Durham, 

 the York Cup, beating Uhlan, the Bradgate Park 

 Stakes at Doncaster, and was beaten in the 

 Doncaster Cup by Uhlan, but he was running 

 out of his distance then — two miles and five 

 furlongs. I rode Thorn in the great majority of 

 his races. He was a very generous horse, but 



