298 



ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



The Ebor Handicap of 1882 stamped Victor 

 Emanuel as one of the gamest and best-bottomed 

 little horses in training that season. In saying that 

 much, the admirable jockeyship of John Osborne on the 

 son of Albert Victor and Time Test, by Saunterer, 

 must not be overlooked. Perhaps no other jockey, not 

 even excepting Archer, could have displayed better 

 judgment of pace over a distance of ground than did 

 the veteran Ashgill horseman on this occasion. His 

 effort in the last fifty yards was timed to the exact 

 moment to win by a head, Victor Emanuel's form 

 of conceding 3 st. all but 2 lbs. to a three-year-old of 

 Bahol's pretensions being one of great merit. 



Victor Emanuel was one of the commonest and 

 most singular-looking thoroughbreds in training. 

 Indeed, if looks went as a guide to a racehorse's 

 attributes, he would not have been accepted as a gift 

 by some owners had he been offered to them without 

 credentials. As against his want of s}Timietry, he was 

 one of the grandest movers ever seen on a racecourse, 

 and a stayer to boot, as his " Ebor " attested. At the 

 distance it looked any odds on Baliol, who up to 

 that point had made the pace a cracker. Little 

 " Teddy " Martin, who rode the Heath House colt, was 

 even thus far from home labouring under the delusion 

 that he had won his race, for he eased up Baliol at the 

 stand. Osborne saw this, and asking Victor Emanuel 

 a last question, the little horse gamely responded, and 

 gaining upon the light weight at every stride, got on 

 terms with him on the post, winning amid a furore 

 of excitement by a head. The boy Martin seemed 

 surprised when Osborne got at him, and although he 

 did all he could to retrieve the fortunes of the race, he 

 found more than his master in a resolute finisher hke 



