598 



A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH TURF. 



he was leaving the paddock at Worcester, mounted on The Chandler. Davies, a 

 bookmaker, laid him .500 to 20 against The Chandler, and as he won the 

 race, as well as the Worcester Grand Annual, he felt himself on his legs again. 

 Being a lightweight he occasionally rode and won on the flat; while a goodly 

 number of cross-country races stood to his credit. About the year 1851 or 1852 

 Captain Little's name dropped out of the list of gentleman riders, and on the 

 1 7th of February, 1877, he died at the Hotel Clarendon, Paris, from a cold which 

 brought on sundry complications. Running as the nomination of Mr. Mason, junior, 

 the famous grey, Peter Simple, won in 1849, again in 1853, when he belonged 

 to Captain Little and was ridden by Tom Olliver, while he ran in the race 



up to 1855. In the 

 first-mentioned year 

 Peter Simple started 

 at 20 to i, as his 

 chance of success 

 was thought hopeless. 

 Captain D'Arcy rode 

 his own horse, The 

 Knight of Gwynne, 

 which he had backed 

 heavily, and when, 

 on coming into the 

 straight, the Captain 

 found that he could 

 not beat the grey, 



Cunningham declared that he was offered ,1,000, and subsequently ,4,000, to stop 

 his horse. The hero of 1850 and 1851 was the late Mr. Joseph Osborne's little 

 horse (he stood just under 15 '2) Abd-el-Kader, ridden on the former occasion by 

 Green, and on the second by T. Abbott. Abd-el-Kader s dam worked as near-side 

 leader in one of the Shrewsbury coaches, and Mr. Osborne, taking a fancy to 

 her, became her owner, it is said at the price of 50 guineas, a large sum then for 

 a "middle ground" horse; but Mr. Osborne always averred that her price was 

 no more than 25 guineas. She was discovered to be by Hit or Miss out of a 

 half-bred mare, and under the name of English Lass won some steeplechases for 

 Mr. Osborne, who then bred from her, and in 1842 she was put to Ishmael, a sire 



Sandoivn past and present. From left to right. 

 " Rathcannon " (Mr. Rashbottom), " Band of 

 Hope " (Captain Hon. R. Ward), " Carnroe " 

 (Captain R. H. Collis). 



