AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 215 



by Osborne, beating Thunder, conceding 7 Ibs. The 

 pair met again at Doncaster in the Alexandra Plate 

 Thunder at 8 st. 13 Ibs. and Thorn at 8 st. 12 Ibs. 

 when Jim Goater on the former beat " Johnnie " on 

 Mr. Batt's four-year-old by a head, Kaiser, Syrian, and 

 other useful ones being behind the pair, who were 

 almost one and the same horse. 



Success also marked Thorn's five-year-old season; 

 and as a six-year-old, Apology this year (1876) gave 

 Osborne a comfortable win in the Ascot Gold Cup, 

 when she defeated Craigmillar, Balfe, and others of 

 class, Thorn doing service by taking the Stewards' 

 Cup at Newcastle. Across the Irish Channel at Down 

 Royal Meeting, Thorn gave him two brackets in the 

 Belfast Handicap; also earning the crusher of 11 st. 

 12 Ibs. in Her Majesty's Guineas. He won the Stockton 

 Stewards' Handicap by a head from Madge Wildfire, 

 and had a great finish at Doncaster, beating Kaleido- 

 scope, then a three-year-old, with Fred Archer up, 

 and conceding 26 Ibs., by a head, for the Alexandra 

 Plate. Mrs. Batt was so delighted with " Johnnie's " 

 magnificent riding of her husband's horse on this 

 occasion that she could hardly restrain herself from 

 embracing him after he had passed the scales. The 

 Caledonian Cup at Kelso, in which he beat Lord 

 Rosebery's The Snail a Northumberland Plate winner 

 and a walk over for Her Majesty's Plate were 

 included in his performance this season, the racecourse 

 seeing no more of him, as he broke his leg when taking 

 a gallop on Middleham Moor shortly afterwards. The 

 loss was a great one to Mr. Batt, as the son of King 

 of Trumps would have been of great value as a sire 

 to the generous-hearted Irish sportsman, whose love 

 for him was only surpassed by that of his wife. 



