AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 51 



nineteen years old. Thormanby was her eighth foal 

 That Thormanby was a top sawyer cannot be gainsaid ; 

 and Harry Custance, in his " Recollections," places him 

 on the same pedestal of merit with Sterling and the 

 "triple classic" Lord Lyon. Some breeders incline 

 to the belief that the descendants of "Old Alice" 

 inherit their excellence mainly from her, but it does not 

 always follow that the dam is the chief agent in repro- 

 ducing speed, stamina, and gameness. Isonomy was 

 unquestionably the greatest horse of his epoch, though 

 he never had the chance of gaining classic renown, 

 which undoubtedly he would have achieved had he been 

 in the Two Thousand, the Derby, or the St. Leger. His 

 victories in the Ebor Handicap and the Manchester 

 Cup were, in every sense, really great performances as 

 a weight carrier over a distance of ground. In such 

 descendants as Common, Isinglass, Ravensbury, and 

 Satiety he has immortalised himself as a sire. As a 

 set off against the theory that excellence is mostly trans- 

 mitted from the dam, the case of Isonomy stands out 

 irresistible, and equally so is it dissipated by St. Simon, 

 a really great horse, who has got winners in the first 

 flight from different mares, whose strains have nicked 

 in with the Stockwell and Faugh-a-Ballagh blood he 

 combines in his descent. 



Some two years ago a correspondent wrote to the 

 Editor of the Sporting Times as follows : 



" In September last a letter was addressed to you 

 by Mr. Oswald Fletcher, giving certain erroneous state- 

 ments concerning Alice Hawthorn. First in the list is 

 the statement that ' Mr. John Plummer, a carrier in 

 Collier Gate, York (the firm is still in existence), 

 bought Rebecca (dam of Alice Hawthorn) for 



