AYR TO ARDKOSSAN. 289 



grounds. Both his lordship and Cox are hght- 

 weights_, and the stud is in keeping, and principally- 

 made up of horses which Mr. Napier^ the stud 

 groom, purchased in Ireland. Warlock was there , 

 and he and Cox had been out thirty times already 

 that season. Conqueror was the first that the Earl 

 ever rode to hounds when he came back from sea 

 and the nice-topped Bloxham, The "Witch, the sweet - 

 headed Mutiny, and Shamrock, who is second horse 

 twice a week, were among his lordship^s especials ; 

 while Deceiver, Lyons by Yellow Jack, Eed Hart, 

 and the grey Chicken by Bantam, all take their turn 

 with Cox and the whips. 



No race-horses have been trained here since Mat 

 Dawson had Dr. Caius and The Potentate in charge. 

 It was here, too, that he bred and broke Aristides, 

 whom he sent to his brother Tom, when he had Blue 

 Bonnet and the other horses at Middleham, with an 

 assurance that he could ^' do what he liked if he 

 liked /^ Dr. Caius was a very perfect little fellow, 

 and there was never a finer finish up Snaker^s Hill, 

 the " Choak Jade^^ of Irvine, than when he beat St. 

 Lawrence a head for the EgUnton Park Cup. Mr. 

 William Hope Johnstone also won a great stake 

 here with his rare weight- carrier William Le Grros, 

 as he took all the money he could get about the 

 Irvine Cup and the Stewards' Cap, and landed the 

 double event. There was some rare gentleman-riding 

 at this Bibury of the North, and the neat and yet 

 vigorous finishes of Sir Frederick Johnstone, and the 



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