272 



ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



" Lartington won us a few races. He was 

 bred by Mr. Deighton, about Barnard Castle 

 way. Mr. Harry Bragg bought him as a 

 yearling, and he was the joint property of him 

 and Mr. John Martin. 



: ' Victor Emanuel was always a useful horse. 

 You remember he won the first Northumberland 

 Plate run at Gosforth Park in '82, that being the 

 first meeting held there, the Company leaving 

 the old Newcastle Town Moor, where the races 

 had been held for so many years. After Mr. 

 Bragg's death in '83, 'Victor' was bought at 

 the sale for 2000 guineas by Lord Zetland. His 

 best performance was at York, giving a lot of 

 weight to Baliol. I rode him in the Ebor at 

 York, and Billy Platt steered him in the 

 Northumberland Plate." 



Ashgill had a useful team of horses running in 

 1879. Notable amongst them was Mr. R. N. Batt's 

 Castlereagh, who gave our hero a comfortable winning 

 mount in the Great Northern Handicap at York 

 Spring, Grand Flaneur also carrying him to success in 

 the Lonsdale Plate at Doncaster Spring, with Palm- 

 bearer winning the Spring Handicap and the Chester- 

 field Handicap at the same meeting. Castlereagh did 

 not run in public as a two-year-old, but in 78 made 

 his mark as a stayer and a colt of good class. That 

 year he won the Lambton Stakes at Durham, the North 

 Derby at Newcastle, and the Great Yorkshire Stakes, 

 but failed to get a place in the St. Leger. When in 

 receipt of a stone he beat Touchet for the Edinburgh 

 Gold Cup; was second in the Great Metropolitan; 

 and finished up in brilliant form by taking the Great 

 Northern Handicap at York. 



