57 2 A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH TURF. 



a good authority has recorded, "fifty or sixty thousand pounds at 66 to i and 

 100 to i." Wild Oats, however, was so badly beaten for the Middle Park Plate 

 that the Dukes of Hamilton and Newcastle, whose good opinion of the colt 

 Stephenson had evidently discovered, were seriously annoyed ; and Mat Dawson, 

 very much on his dignity, told them to "try him themselves," adding that "If the 

 young 'un does not win, I will retire from Heath House and give up training." 

 He was quite right ; for " the young 'un " did all he was asked, and more, against 

 the three-year-old Leonie. He proceeded to win the Prendergast Stakes by ten 

 lengths against no less than Morna, who had not long before beaten Belladrnin. 

 Then came the fatal crisis. Against Pero Gomez in the Criterion Stakes he ran one 

 of the most remarkable two-year-old races ever witnessed, and scored a dead-heat 

 after a terribly punishing finish. He never got over it. The Duke of Newcastle 

 lost enormous sums of money, chiefly by trying to get back what he had originally 

 dropped. Soon afterwards the Duke of Hamilton landed at Marseilles to find 

 himself black-balled for the Jockey Club. Their studs were put up to auction. 

 Stephenson committed suicide. All this must have tried Matthew Dawson fairly 

 high. But the tide turned when he got Lord Falmouth's horses. 



" Mat's " first business visit to Epsom was with Lord Kelburne's (afterwards 

 Lord Glasgow's) Pathfinder^ who failed to win the Derby. It says much for the 

 Dawson family, by the way, that John and Joseph also trained for that eccentric 

 nobleman, as did Thomas of Middleham, who twice had his horses, and probably 

 understood him better than any other trainer. Matthew's first little stud, at 

 Compton, where he trained for Lord John Scott, contained such useful animals 

 as Miserrima ; The Reiver, whom West Australian beat for the Leger ; Catherine 

 Hayes, who won the Oaks ; Kihneny ; and Hobbie Noble, who was sold to Mr. James 

 Merry as a two-year-old for what was then the big price of 6500 guineas. It 

 was to Mr. Merry's quarters at Russley that Matthew moved, and the remainder 

 of Lord John Scott's stud was bought to go there for rather less than Hobbie Noble 

 had cost alone. Two years afterwards (in 1859) Prince resigned, and Matthew 

 ruled alone. It was by him that Thormanby (by Windhound] was bought for 

 Mr. Merry from a breeder named Plummer for "three fifty," and the son of Alice 

 Hawthorn credited his owner with nearly ,100,000 in bets over the first Derby 

 his trainer ever won. Custance rode him, after the jockey who had been brought 

 over from Russia for the purpose had failed to realise the responsibilities of his 

 situation. He won the Gold Cup at Ascot afterwards. In 1864 Scottish Chief was 



