160 ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



(not on Middleham Moor for love, but all over England 

 for ' the brass ') stood him in fine stead. As an early 

 tryer and bringer-out of ripe two-year-olds, and as an 

 artist for keeping them on their legs when they were- 

 brought out, he had no superior during the '52 season. 

 Exact and Lambton were like the man and woman in 

 the clock when one wasn't out, the other was. Exact 

 ran sixteen times and won nine, and Lambton was out; 

 once less and won one more. Very often they were in 

 the same stake, and John had some little difficulty in 

 deciding which was to go. At the York August of that 

 year his London commissioner backed the wrong one- 

 for a race, and John had to follow the 'wires' and 

 change his tactics forthwith. They drew about 1000 

 in stakes between them that meeting, which John 

 thought a great thing, as he had not then dealt in Little 

 Stag, or Prince Arthur, King Arthur, Wild Agnes, andl 

 the rest of that lucky Agnes family, of which he sold 

 two, ' Little ' and ' Miss,' to the present Sir Tatton Sykes. 

 It might be the bargain was better, and therefore he? 

 liked to send his best mares en masse to a horse if the 

 blood suited; and Birdcatcher, Weatherbit, and The 

 Cure were all his particulars. For Colsterdale, which 

 he purchased for 300 at the Sledmere sale, he had some- 

 fancy ; and his brood mares had gradually increased and 

 multiplied till there were forty of them. No one did 

 more with The Cure, and he had a strong attachment 

 to Wild Dayrell, though he did not use him in the same 

 wholesale way. He also left a good word behind for 

 Picador. 



" Brown Brandy, Cherry Brandy, and Lord Alfred 

 were ready to appear at the footlights when Exact and 

 Lambton (for no one knew the moment to sell better) 

 had departed South. The grey was a son of Chanticleer 



