AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 273 



In '79 John Osborne nearly brought off a great 

 coup with Palmbearer, owned by Mr. Trotter and 

 trained at Ashgill, by riding him into second place 

 behind Sir Bevys, on whom Fordham gained his first 

 and only Derby. . That same Epsom Meeting he rode 

 Mr. I'Anson's Coromandel II. into second place behind 

 Lord Falmouth's beautiful filly Wheel of Fortune in 

 the Oaks. In Sir Bevys's Derby Lord Rosebery's 

 Visconti was third. The " Primrose Earl " betted in 

 those days, and his colt at one part of the race had an 

 even money chance of winning the 50,000 for which 

 he had backed him. With Sir Bevys out of the way, 

 John Osborne was heard to say after the race that 

 Visconti would, in all probability, have beaten him, for 

 he had Pahnbearer beaten a long way from home, and 

 staying on, as Mr. Trotter's colt did, it was open to 

 doubt whether singlehanded he would have been able 

 to make Visconti strike his colours. At Doncaster 

 Spring Meeting Palmbearer had displayed staying 

 powers which induced his owner to run him on the 

 off-chance for the Derby. The stable commission 

 amounted to 200 to 1 for a win, and 1000 to 30 for a 

 place. For Osborne to get second in the Derby with a 

 200 to 1 chance, and the same position on a filly that 

 started at 40 to 1 for the Oaks may fairly be said to 

 be provoking hard lines. 



Others of the team that did the stable yeoman 

 service in the season of 79 were Bargee, Hazelnut, Fairy 



tueen, Experiment, Lartington, Brown George, The 

 owan, Evening Chimes, Arne, Gildersbeck, Horizon, 

 Garterless, Fabius, Omega (a game good little horse), 

 Crookston, Skelmorlie, and Leven, all of whom 

 reached the winning post and paid their way. 



The Hardwicke Stakes at Ascot this season will 



