AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 299 



the veteran. The pace from the fall of the flag was 

 very fast, Martin having received instructions to break 

 down all opposition if he could. A big weight of money 

 was thrown into the market for " Victor " at the last 

 moment, which caused Novice, who had won the race 

 in 1880, to be driven to a forlorn price, Mr. Bragg, who 

 was not a leviathan in his betting transactions, taking 

 £1300 to £200 about his horse at the last moment. 

 This win, coupled with the bets and stakes on the 

 Northumberland Plate, rendered this season for Mr. 

 Bragg a very profitable one. 



Opinions differed as to whether the cheers for 

 Osborne and Victor Emanuel, after this exciting " Ebor," 

 were not as much in testimony on the part of the 

 spectators of their delight at the defeat of Prestonpans, 

 whose equivocal position in the market up to the 

 eleventh hour had brought obloquy upon the name of 

 his ovnier. Fordham had the mount on Prestonpans, 

 and there could be no mistaking his disgust when he 

 finished absolutely last. Mr. Gretton's mode of pro- 

 cedure in the case of Prestonpans and other of his 

 horses had already gained him an unenviable notoriety, 

 apart from the adverse criticism that assailed him 

 when he withdrew his horses from John Porter's stable. 

 For some time past his horses had been so many " Wills 

 o' the Wisp." Prestonpans, after being tailed off in the 

 Brighton Stakes, came out the following Saturday at 

 Lewes, and after being backed for no end of money — 

 it was reported that £4000 was put on by somebody — 

 he all but beat Fortissimo, at that time a nailing good 

 horse; indeed, had Archer not ridden the latter for 

 nearly the last quarter of a mile of the race, Mr. 

 Gretton's horse would undoubtedly have won, for after 

 stumbling badly opposite the stand, he ran the Good- 



