AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 263 



won from the four-year-old Falcon, who was conceding 

 2 Ibs. only for the two years' difference in their respec- 

 tive ages. She completed her two-year-old work by 

 succumbing by a head to Shelah, who was in receipt 

 of 32 Ibs. in the Nursery over the Ditch Mile, her 

 impost being the steadier of 8 st. 10 Ibs. over that 

 trying course. We have heard from John Osborne's 

 own lips that it was his custom midway through the 

 " fifties " to go across to Mr. King's place at Ashby- 

 de-la-Launde on the mission of mixing a little hunting 

 with the equally congenial task of breaking in the 

 yearlings and handling the foals. On his return to 

 Ashgill in the spring of 1856, he found that Manganese 

 had developed two curbs and had been well blistered 

 in his absence, but " Old John's " careful nursing had 

 served to keep her sound. In the stable at the time 

 was a faithful "tale teller" in Cherry Brandy, who 

 rarely, if ever, led them astray. Lord Glasgow, 

 anxious to get a true gauge of Brother to Bird on the 

 Wing, a candidate for the Two Thousand, got the 

 services of Cherry Brandy with that object, the result 

 being that the latter was well beaten by the unnamed 

 one. Soon afterwards, Manganese was asked to give 

 Cherry Brandy 7 Ibs. more than had been conceded to 

 Lord Glasgow's fancy, and coming with flying colours 

 out of the trial, old John Osborne entertained rosy 

 dreams of winning the One Thousand of that year, in 

 which Mincepie was the heralded champion of Dane- 

 bury and John Day. Manganese's bad hocks led John 

 Day still more strongly to fancy his own; but as 

 Brother to Bird on the Wing had run very well in the 

 Two Thousand, and knowing that Manganese was 7 Ibs. 

 the better of the pair, the confidence of Ashgill was 

 confirmed rather than shaken. John Day had expressed 



