92 ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



the Ascot Cup, in which he broke down and 

 was then sent to the stud. In 1857 we had some 

 very useful horses at Ashgill. There was Lady 

 Alice, the grand-dam of St. Gatien; Intisidora, 

 afterwards named Chantress. My father bred 

 Lady Alice, who won us several races as a two- 

 year-old, as also did Intisidora, who, after 

 winning a selling race, was claimed by Captain 

 Christie. This same year my father won five 

 races at Eccles with Tiff and Black Tiffany. 

 Two members of the Eccles Eace Committee 

 came to Ashgill a week after the races and 

 brought money for the five races, amounting 

 in all to 104 sovereigns all in gold, which they 

 laid out on the table. These were the days when 

 stakes were very small. No, there were no 

 10,000 stakes then. 



" It was on Vedette in 1857 that I had my 

 first winning mount in the Two Thousand. He 

 was the property of Lord Zetland, for whom he 

 was trained by George Abdale. A short time 

 before he had to run in the ' Two Thousand ' 

 Vedette was going off a bit. When we got on 

 to the course I found him going rather short 

 in his first canter. He had a second canter 

 before starting, and he went all right, and he 

 won the race very cleverly. I think it was a 

 very heavy betting race, a lot of horses being 

 backed that had been highly tried. There was 

 Anton from Danebury, and Loyola, belonging 

 to the Duke of Cleveland, and several others. 

 After Vedette had won he was dead lame, and 

 it took him an hour and a half to hobble from 

 the Heath from the old red weighing room to 



