The Second Earl of Wilton 



It was no doubt to his perfect hands that Mr. " Clarke " 

 v;as indebted in no small measure for his great success as a 

 race rider on the flat ; Thomas Dawson, the famous trainer, 

 than whom there was no better judge, giving it as his opinion 

 there was not a professional jockey in existence to compare 

 with Lord Wilton in his handling of a queer-tempered horse 

 called Dr. Caius, belonging to Lord Eglinton, and the terror 

 of Middleham, where he was trained. With Mr. "Clarke" 

 on his back the Doctor was quite another animal, and as docile 

 as a sheep. Touchstone, the best horse his father ever owned, 

 was just the same. Not a jockey — including old John Day 

 — could hold him. Lord Wilton, on the other hand, could hold 

 and oruide Touchstone with a silken thread ; and but for his 

 breaking down, intended riding him in the Goodwood Cup 

 of 1837, won by Carow. 



Among the many horses owned by him during his sixty 

 years' connection with the turf, Lord Wilton only possessed 

 three of any worth, and none of these were bred by himself, viz. 

 Gladiator, by Partisan, who ran second to the Bay Middleton 

 for the Derby of 1836 ; See-saw, by Buccaneer, winner of the 

 Cambridgeshire in 1868 and the Hunt Cup at Ascot the 

 following year ; and Wenlock, by Lord Clifden, with whom 

 he won the St. Leger of 1872, and with it the largest sum 

 in bets that he had ever landed. 



In addition to hunting and racing, Lord Wilton was an 

 ardent yachtsman, and for many years before his death v/as 

 Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron. 



A well-known sporting writer alluding to his death, which 

 took place on the 7th March, 1882, brings his remarks to a 

 conclusion as follows : " Lord Wilton will live for many 

 generations as perhaps the best horseman that ever crossed 

 Leicestershire ; as a life-long and remarkably sagacious patron 



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