1-38 



ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



didn't meet a fool that day. Ely beat The Miner 

 in the three-year-old Produce that year at York. 

 Well, we fancied him very much that day, but as 

 he had to make all his own running, he was 

 beaten. He beat Ely in the Great Yorkshire 

 Stakes, when there was a pace. He also beat him 

 in the St. Leger, although he had to make his own 

 running. They laid 20 to 1 against The Miner 

 that day at York he beat Blair Athol. If The 

 Miner hadn't run the first day many people would 

 have backed him against Blair Athol. My 

 father backed him at 1000 to 10 before he ran 

 in the St. Leger. The Miner did not run in the 

 Derby. Through being shaken so much in the 

 ' Two Thousand ' he was very sore and wasn't 

 trained for the Derby, and put by for some race 

 at Ascot. He could never be trained as a three- 

 year-old owing to his legs giving way. He went 

 to the stud at Low Street, near Bedale, and died 

 when he was six or seven years old. He was 

 the sire of Controversy, who appears in the stud 

 book as by ' Lambton or The Miner.' There is 

 no doubt he was got by 'the Miner. 



" How do you arrive at that conclusion ? 

 " I make it out that Lambton went amiss, 

 and his mare was covered by The Miner after- 

 wards, and the mare foaled to his time. I cannot 

 tell what difference of time there was between 

 the two services. Mr. Ashton had the stud farm 

 at the time, and had both stallions." 

 It was in 1863 that John Osborne rode his first St. 

 Leger winner, on Lord St. Vincent's Lord Clifden, 

 whose victory was one of the most sensational in its 

 incidents of any race for the Doncaster " Sellinger " 



