476 ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



of Fobert, of old John Osborne, of the I'Ansons, and 

 other notable members of their craft. We hear 

 repeatedly the charge made against North-country 

 horses and North-country trainers that the former have 

 deteriorated and the latter have lost the art of training. 

 Not so in fact. The cause lies deeper. Wealthy owners 

 buy all the best yearlings, or, at least, the best-looking 

 ones, and send them to Newmarket to be trained. The 

 cheaper drafts are left in the North to be trained for 

 less wealthy men ; hence our northern trainers have not 

 the good material to work upon that is sent under the 

 charge of their southern fellow-craftsmen. Again, if 

 ever anything out of the common is seen out in the 

 North, it is readily purchased and relegated, as a rule, 

 to Newmarket. Another cause of the migration to 

 Newmarket is the ready facility of the modern railway 

 service from all parts of the kingdom, and the nearness 

 of the headquarters to the metropolis. Much honour is 

 due to a sportsman like Mr. Vyner, who proved loyal to 

 the North by keeping out of the fashion, and by 

 breeding and training his horses north of the Humber. 

 A few more like him and the glories of the North would 

 be soon revived. 



Of late years the sudden rise to affluence of jockeys, 

 even of comparatively young jockeys, has alarmed 

 pure-minded sportsmen who have the true interests of 

 racing at heart. Lord Beaconsfield died, ripe in years 

 and full of honours, a comparatively poor man. Yet 

 he was premier of England, was never known to live 

 beyond his income, and had he been lacking in principle 

 might have been as wealthy as Croesus. We hear 

 nowadays of young jockeys, after a few years' service 

 in the profession, having wealth estimated not by 

 hundreds but by tens of thousands of pounds. Do they 



