AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 225 



veighecl in, showing how popular the victory was with the local people. Net 

 value of the stakes, £4350. Time, as taken by Benson's chronograph, 1 minutti 

 4'J seconds. 



John thus recounts his experiences — 



" I rode Prince Charhe in the Two Thousand 



Guineas when he won them for Mr. J. Dawson. 



There would be fourteen starters. I always was 



waiting on them and he on them at the finish. 



He was rather severely punished, and never liked 



the spurs again. He ran in the Cambridgeshire, 



and Flageolet beat him in the Free Handicap 



Across the Flat. He and Thunder were very near 



together. His biggest performance was at the 



Royal Down Meeting at The Maze, winning with 



11 St. 6 lbs. ; His Lordship — a winner of Queen's 



Plates — 6 St. 2 lbs., being second, and beating 



Madge Wildfire, giving her 3 st. At Stockton 



Madge Wildfire won the Harewood Plate in a 



field of nineteen runners, and also won at York 



soon after, so it was a great performance of 



Prince Charlie's. The only race I rode him 



after v\^as in Cremorne's Derby in '72. He 



couldn't act round Tattenham Corner, losing 



ground there. A real good horse at his distance 



was Prince Charlie. Yes, he was a roarer; he 



certainly made a noise." 



In his day Prince Charhe was the idol of the people. 



A writer of the period said of him — " Amongst roarers 



he was something more than a prince; he was an 



emperor." Sufferer as he was from the wind infinnity, 



liis was a marvellous performance — to run second to 



Wenlock in the St. Leger. A giant in build and the 



" mould of form " in shape and make, he was also a 



horse of most lovable temperament. The attempt to 



Q 



