AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 391 



instinctive; he possessed the quick eye to take in the 

 situation, or to seize an opening. This, combined with 

 good hands, undoubted dash and pluck, rare judgment 

 and self-control in the heat of the struggle, left little 

 to be desired in his method. Only on rare occasions 

 did he resort to the whalebone to get the last ounce out 

 of a spun-out horse, resembling John Osborne in this 

 respect. Taciturn at all times, he did not lack deter- 

 mination, nor could he find many words at any time 

 when asked by the reporters to give a description of 

 any race in which he had ridden. His belief in Blair 

 Athol as a great horse — indeed, the greatest of his time 

 — could not be shaken. Beneath his quiet exterior there 

 was a rich fund of mother wit, rendered all the more 

 forcible and picturesque by his Yorkshire dialect, which 

 never left him, being in this respect a contrast to John 

 Osborne, who never had the slightest suspicion of the 

 " Yorkshire " in his conversation. Indiscreet living 

 gradually undermined his once robust constitution, and 

 he died, a shadow of his former self, in impoverished 

 circumstances. Often enough his besetting weakness 

 was seen in the weighing-room, but owners preferred to 

 give so fine a horseman a mount rather than less accom- 

 plished aspirants of his class. So bad was his state at 

 times that it was marvellous how he retained his seat 

 in the excitement of a race, and still more to win as he 

 often did. He took his occasional moral " fits " after 

 an orgie, and accompanied by his ever-watchful and 

 life-long " pal," Nat Outred, would go for a long 

 pedestrian " spell " over the Yorkshire moors for days 

 together. Thus recuperated in mind and body by the 

 magical influence of fresh air and exercise, he would 

 turn up at York or Doncaster in cherry-ripe condition. 

 " They can look oot for Jim noo," Nat would say, " he's 



