494 ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



connected with the Turf during the last fifty or sixty 

 years. Harry Hall, the Middleham trainer, was not 

 always a trainer of horses. He used to train greyhounds 

 for Mr. Wm. Sharp of Hoddom Castle, until that grand 

 Scottish sportsman gave up racing. I knew Mr. Sharp 

 very well, he used to ask me to dine with him when I 

 went to Kelso and other Scotch meetings. Ramsay of 

 Barnton was a grand chap. In those days I did an 

 immense deal of railway travelling. I once judged at 

 Chester, and travelled on to Edinburgh for the 

 Saturday. I used to judge two days at Carlisle and the 

 next two days at Chester; and then when I got to 

 Chester about five o'clock in the morning, I had perhaps 

 one or two handicaps to make before I got to bed. I 

 had a long ' teedy ' time of it, and it was hard work, I 

 can tell you. I used to handicap for Doncaster, but I 

 gave it up as they did not pay me for it. The first time 

 I was at Doncaster was in 1819, and the first Leger I 

 saw was in 1824. I have seen sixty St. Legers run for, 

 but missed last year (1895). 



" I have heard it said that it was old John Osborne 

 that put John Jackson on his legs by telling him what 

 a good horse The Flying Dutchman was. ' Old John ' 

 would know all about ' The Dutchman,' as he would see 

 Fobert giving him his work on Middleham Moor every 

 day. Jackson came from Catterick, and when he got 

 on in the world he established a stud at Fairfield, near 

 York. He was a man that betted a lot of money, and 

 was a well-to-do man at the finish. He won a lot of 

 money over Blair Athol for the Derby. He would have 

 many good wins in his time, and then he bought 

 Fairfield. He was a good sportsman all round, and a 

 very good-hearted fellow indeed. Lord Glasgow and 

 Jackson hit it wonderfully well. An extraordinary man 

 was Lord Glasgow. The first year I was appointed 



