AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 203 



to die happy. Within, the state of matters was for a 

 time similar to that which prevailed at the club, and 

 the only object of interest was a written protest of Sir 

 Joseph Hawley. It is evident that Sir Joseph Hawley 

 had been led into some extraordinary error, or been the 

 victim of a very discreditable hoax. The latter appears 

 the more probable theory. For it is almost impossible 

 to conceive that he would have taken such a step as to 

 protest against the payment of stakes, unless evidence 

 that was at least apparently conclusive had been pre- 

 sented to him." 



Wells on " Pero " rode his second Leger winner, 

 the first being Saacebox for Mr. T. Parr; he had 

 also won up to this period three " Derbies " on 

 Beadsman, Blue Gown, and Musjid. Fordham had 

 ridden second in the Leger three times, viz., on Buck- 

 stone, Paul Jones, and Martyrdom. Of Mr. Merry it 

 was said that he had not a shilling on Pero Gomez until 

 when, disliking Pretender in the paddock, he took 300 

 to 100 about his colt. There was an on dit circulated 

 that Mr. Jardine gave John Osborne 1000 for winning 

 the Derby on Pretender. While on his way to Ascot 

 with the remainder of Tom Dawson's team, Pretender 

 had a narrow escape of being burned to death. At 

 Ketford the axle of the horse van became hot, and the 

 train was much delayed in consequence. 



It does not serve our purpose to dwell upon the 

 interval between the decision of Pretender's Derby 

 and the St. Leger, beyond mentioning that the son 

 of Adventurer progressed in so satisfactory a manner 

 in his preparation for Doncaster that he became a 

 raging hot favourite. Evidently, from the foregoing 

 detailed and graphic report of the Derby, mainly 

 extracted in extenso from the Sporting Times, Pero 



