AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 35 



was a good mare he trained; then there were 



True Boy and Fancy Boy, two good useful 



horses. Grimston was a good mare and won 



him the Goodwood Cup in 1846; and Allendale 



was another high-class animal. Maid of Masham 



he had at Brecongill in 1848 and 1849, but before 



that there was Pointon in 1846. He beat lago 



for the great Yorkshire Stakes. We must not 



forget Ellington who won the Derby, and 



Gildermire who ran a dead heat for the Oaks 



and then was beaten. He also trained Tunstall 



Maid, Early Bird, Sprig o' Shillelagh, and Water- 



marske. His son Thomas trained Tim Whiffler 



as a three-year-old, and ' Mr. Thomas ' also acted 



as one of Lord Blythswood's private trainers 



while he was here. In regard to his opinion of 



' best horses,' Mr. Thomas Dawson expressed to 



me that the best he ever knew was Touchstone, 



and regarded his win in the Doncaster Cup of 



1836, when he beat a large field in a trot, as a 



really great performance. He even thought 



Touchstone a better horse than The Flying 



Dutchman or West Australian." 



Ashgill, as a training stable, had already asserted 



itself as a power to be reckoned with in the early forties. 



Old John Osborne, assisted by his ever-faithful, 



industrious, homely wife, was " feeling his feet." With 



his stud of racers largely increasing, fortune was 



beginning to smile upon his efforts. In the autumn of 



1841 he attracted the patronage of the Marquis of 



Westminster, who engaged him to train his horses at 



Delamere Forest, but by mutual arrangement " Old 



John " was allowed to carry on the business at Ashgill 



at the same time. 



