Mr. Dan Thirlwell 



the trouble. We had to walk the horses about until they 

 had cooled down, and then dress them over. Eau de Vie 

 stood seventeen hands, and Athlacca kept breaking out. 

 However, we managed everything all right, and not a soul 

 was the wiser except ourselves." 



Of the many good horses ridden by him during his career, 

 Mr. Thirlwell describes The Sinner — on whom he won sixteen 

 races, flat, hurdle, and over a country, without being once 

 beaten — as the best. Eau de Vie was another good one, on 

 whom he won fourteen races of all sorts, including the Prix 

 de Dago and Prix de Cascades — in which race he beat Harry 

 Beasley a head ; "Farmer" Linde being so mortified by the 

 defeat of the Irish Champion that he shed tears after the race — 

 and the big steeplechase at Baden Baden. On The Captain 

 too, who was never known to fall, he won fifteen mixed races. 

 Other good ones ridden by him were Thornfield, Scots Guard, 

 Mark Athony, Frigate, The Bear, Friday, Sherbrook, Bolero, 

 Rigoletto, Zeus, and Ringlet ; whilst on Terrier, the only four- 

 year-old who ever completed the course, and whose first 

 steeplechase it was, he finished fifth in the Grand National 

 of 1884. Another cherished feat, too, was riding fourteen 

 winners without a break. In addition to these in his own 

 stable, Mr. Thirlwell rode, schooling at various times, such 

 celebrities as Seaman, Cyrus, The Scot, Regal, Prudholme, 

 and Cloister. 



The Duke of Hamilton had been asked to patronise a 

 meeting held at Clingendaal close to the Hague in Holland, 

 and as Mr. Thirlwell was on his way to Germany with eight 

 horses, three of them were entered there. The stakes were 

 small and the class bad, and the races comprised hurdle race, 

 steeplechases, and trotting. 



" I had been at the place a week before racing," said 



349 



