In the North Countree : annals & anecdotes of horse, hound & herd

Front matter

AGI ASG ILI

A he

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Preface

But few words are required by way of preface to a book of this kind. A collection of facts connected with Horse, Hound, and Herd, it does not pretend to be a continuous history, or to give an exhaustive account of either. The notes from which it is chiefly composed have been collected at long intervals, and the book itself has been written under somewhat similar circumstances. Portions of it have appeared in some of the leading Agricultural, Sporting. and Live Stock Journals; but these portions have beer thoroughly revised ; in some instances, entirely re-written. I have used every care to ensure the literal accuracy of the facts of which [ have treated, and in every case where racing is the topic, I have compared my notes with the Official Calendar and the General Stud Book.

To those gentlemen from whom I have received so much valuable information, and who have spared themselves no trouble to insure the accuracy of that information, I beg to tender my best thanks. I shall ever look back on the days spent in their company as amongst the

PREFACE, pleasantest of my life ; and if I am able to impart even a small proportion of the pleasure I received from their conversation to my readers, I shall have accomplished as much as I dared wish.

My thanks are also due to those gentlemen who so liberally placed their paintings at my disposal, and allowed me to reproduce whatever I thought would be of interest to the public.

WILLIAM SCARTH DIXON.

CLEVELAND HOUSE, SALTBURN-BY-THE-SEA,

November, 1888.

ever ik NORTH COUNTREE.

Contents

PAGE, CHAPTER I. MALTON TO WIT. Matton as a Sporting

CENTRE—AGNES AND HER DESCENDANTS—TuHE NEwsTEAD Stup FarmM—QvuEEN Mary—Haricor—Catuier Ou—Bu1nk Bonny’s LeGER—Buatr AtHou— BREADALBANE AND Broom- IELAW— PaANnDoORE—THE SALE oF THE Buinx Bonny Stup— DoncastER Purcuases—HicHrieLD TriumpHs—CasTor AND HamMBLEDON—SOME GOOD-LOOKING YEARLINGS. ee

CHAPTER IJ. ASHGILL AND THE OSBORNES. A Carpet SportsmMAN—MippLeHam Moor Races—Joun OsBoRNE— Mr. Kina — Mancanese — Manpracora — -Apotocy—Herr Race ror tHe St. Lecer—TRatninc OFF —EstTERLING—GRAND FLANEUR—THORN—SomE Famous Ripes—Lorp Cuirpen’s Lecer—Ture Asuoinn YEAR- LINGS. i. we ae a er a Yrtite

Chapter II. Ashgill And The Osbornes

A CARPET SPORTSMAN—MIDDLEHAM Moor RAacES— JOHN OSBORNE—Mr. KING—MANGANESE— MANDRA- GORA—APOLOGY—HER RACE FOR THE ST. LEGER— TRAINING OFF—ESTERLING—GRAND FLANEUR—THORN —SomeE Famous RipES—LORD CLIFDEN’S LEGER—THE ASHGILL YEARLINGS.

As he sits in the saddle a baby can tell He can hustle a sticker, a flyer can spare ; He has science and nerve, and decision as well, He knows where he’s going and means to be there. Whyte- Melville.

Aw anecdote is told of an enthusiastic punter, who, when asked why he never attended a race meeting, replied, that he dearly loved betting, but racing was a bore. It may be safely said that this man was not a Yorkshireman. With the denizens of the county of broad acres the horse and the race are of foremost importance ; and although they back their opinions freely enough when they fancy anything, betting with them is only a secondary consideration.

The love of sport for sport’s sake seems to be bred in a Yorkshireman, and the inconveniences that the tykes put up with, and the fatigue they underwent in pre-railway days in order that they might occasionally attend the York and Doncaster Meetings, would appear incredible in a less sporting county.

Men have been known to walk from Northallerton to York, and even Doncaster, to see the horse they fancied run, and that when they had no pecuniary interest in the race.

With the love of sport so strongly ingrained in the nature of the inhabitants it was only natural that race meetings should spring up in small country places; and although the abolition of these small meetings at the instance of the Jockey Club has undoubtedly been for the benefit of the Turf under its present altered conditions, one cannot but express some feeling of regret that their places knows them no more; and that the small owner, the man who owned one, or at the most, two horses, and who was the principal supporter of these meetings, can now no longer afford to own a racehorse, and has to satisfy his love of the sport by watching and probably betting on the horses owned by some big man and trained in some gigantic and palatial establishment.

It. was only to be looked for that such a natural racecourse as Middleham Moor should be utilised for the purpose of sport, and in the latter part of the last century, and early in the present one, meetings were held pretty regularly there, and some important stakes were run for. Naturally the competitors were principally trained in the neighbourhood, but the Marquis of Queensbury occasionally sent one from Newmarket, and the meeting was well patronised by the Duke of Hamilton, Lord Strathmore, Lord Darlington, Sir H. Williamson, Sir J. Lawson, and other north country sportsmen.*

In 1801 rather a curious event occurred in a £50 plate which was run in three mile heats. After running three heats Mr. Fletcher's Alleeranti won, but the horses had run another heat which the Stewards declared void. Three of the competitors had gone on the wrong side of a post, and the evidence was not very satisfactory as to whether the other two had not done so as well; and, consequently, Allegranti had twelve miles to gallop for his £50 plate.

A. similar circumstance happened twenty-one years later. Seven horses ran for a two-mile race, and five out of the seven went the wrong side of a post. Mr. Baker’s Jenny Horner came in first, and Mr. Ferguson’s Jem Horner was second. Then a dispute arose as to whether Jenny Horner had gone on the wrong side of a

* Amongst other good horses that ran at Middleham was Doctor Syntax, who won the Gold Cup, value 100 guineas, in 1815.

post also; and as there seemed some difficulty in arriving at the facts of the case, the race was treated as a dead heat, and the owners agreed to divide. Running at the wrong side of a post appears to have been of rather frequent occurrence, for two years later Mr. Ferguson’s Grey Middleham and Mr. Parkinson’s Jannette were both distanced on this account.

The enormity of yearling racing penetrated as far as Middleham, and the speedy Bedlamite, so nearly allied in blood to that strain of horses with which Ashgill will ever be associated, won his first race in the yearling stakes here.*

The meeting was discontinued after 1827, but was revived again in a half-hearted sort of way in 1834 ; and in 1836 the Middleham Dinner Stakes was the only race of which any record appears in the Calendar. There were fifteen subscribers, but what they subscribed history sayeth not, and Mr. Edmundson’s The Storm by Young Whisker beat his four opponets. In 18381 the date was altered from April to November, the date of Middleham Moor Fair, and four races were contested, one of them being in heats. The principal

* Bedlamite would be nearly two-years-old when he ran, as horses then took their age from May 1st instead of January 1st as at present, and only six weeks after we find Bedlamite running as a two-year-old. Bedlamite was by Welbeck out of Maniac by

Shuttle, and was half-brother to Lunatic by Prime Minster, the first brood mare the late Mr. King ever owned.

+ There were no races in 1885 and 1887.

event was a Sweepstakes for two-year-olds which was won by Lord Eglinton’s Malvolio, a useful horse in his day, and one that ran prominently in that St. Leger which was the wreck of poor Ridsdale’s fortunes.

There was no racing at Middleham for twenty years and then there was a revival, the date being altered to May 24th. The added money only amounted to £100, and there was also a silver mounted whip given to the winner of a Sweepstakes for. hunters ; but forty-four horses turned up to run for the five events on the card, and a very successful meeting took place. Some fair horses ran and amongst the winners was Kine of Scotland, a horse that afterwards won a useful race at Ascot.

The following year the date was again altered, and the meeting took place on November 14th. Again, from a racing point of view, there was a very successful meeting, but for some reason it was discontinued until 1871 when some racing took place, but it was of so insignificant a nature that only one race 1s mentioned in the Calendar, and since 1872 there has been no racing on Middleham Moor recognised by the Jockey Club.

But if racing is no longer carried on on the time-honoured Moor it is a famous training ground still, and from it many a good winner hails. With the name of Osborne, Middleham will always be associated, and at the small meetings

‘LON NOg that were so prevalent in his early days old John Osborne was a household word. He dearly loved going the rounds of these small meetings, running his horses for ‘‘ t’brass,” instead of gallopping them to death at home, and gradually getting them into form for some bigger event whilst they were earning their hay and corn. He was a capital judge of a racehorse, and understood the art of trying and placing them thoroughly. The stable was working its way steadily to the front when his son John began to ride, and his skill soon made it one of the leading stables in the north.

The present owner of Breckongill is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, jockey at present riding ; and it would not be too much to say that during the forty years which he has devoted to the exercise of his profession he has not made a single enemy, His kindly disposition and _ genial manners endear him to all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance, and there is not a more popular man on the Turf. He is a brilliant but careful horseman, his knowledge of pace is unsurpassed, and has been of immense value to him in many a trial.

His first winning mount in a big race was on Mr. Disney’s Bon Mot in the Liverpool Cup of 1849, when he rode 5st. and his bodily weight at the time was little over four. For the Rev. Mr. King, Sir Robert Jardine and Mr. Vyner he has ridden many good winners, and he is almost sure to be seen in the colours of one or both of the latter gentlemen at every race meeting of any importance. It was in the colours of these gentlemen that he won all the great weight-forage races, and he has also won the T'wo Thousand on Vedette, Prince Charlie, and Ayrshire, and the St. Leger on Lord St. Vincent’s Lord Clifden.

Mr. King’s connexion with the Ashgill stable was a long and a pleasant one, and many famous racehorses came from the small stud at Ashby. Mr. King’s stud commenced in a very small way. His father, Col. King, made him a present of Lunatic, a half-sister to Bedlamite, when she was done racing. He sent her to Filho da Puta, and the result was Bessy Bedlam, a very high-class mare. Mr. King gave the foal to his father, and she won him several good races and also was fairly successful at the stud. From Lunatic are descended the best of Mr. King’s racehorses, through her daughter, Moonbeam by Tomboy, a mare that won several races for Mr. Brook before he sold her back to Mr. King. She bred several winners, but it was not until she had been at the stud ten years that she produced Manganese by Birdcatcher, the mare on whom her reputation chiefly rests.

Manganese was the first racehorse of any note which Mr. King owned, and she ran in the nomination of Mr. W. H. Brook, a cousin of his, who,

ASHGILUL. 65 together with the late John Osborne, had a share in her. Pursuing his usual plan, Osborne started to run her in publicin good time. She first faced the starter in the Hopeful Stakes at Doncaster, where she was unplaced ; but on her next appearance she won the Bishop Burton Stakes at Beverley, Robert Osborne being in the saddle. She ran no fewer than sixteen times as a two-year-old, winning ten races. Her most remarkable performance was in the Portland Plate at Doncaster, which she won from the four-year-old Falcon at a difference only of 2lbs. in the weights.* She started at the useful price of fifteen to one, and altogether the stable had a very pleasant race. The last time she ran as a two-year-old she was beaten a head in the Nursery Stakes (first class) over the Ditch Mile, by Shelah, to whom she was giving 32lbs. She was carrying 8st. 10lb. the top weight in the handicap, a heavy one indeed to carry over this tiring course, and the performance was a very good one.

At that time “ Johnny” used to go over in the winter to Ashby de la Launde to break the yearlings and handle the foals, &c., and on his return in the March of 1856, he found that Manganese had put out two curbs during his absence and that her hocks had been well blistered. The

* Manganese, 2 yrs., 5st, 10lb....... Challoner 1. Falcon, 4 yrs., 5st. 12Ib............. Fordham 2. Flyaway, 2 yrs., 5st. 5lb..,.........Creswell 3.

mare was sound however, and had done a rattling good preparation, but of course the usual sinister rumours got afloat and were believed by some, oreatly to their loss. |

The party was in a capital position to try the mare for they had in their stable Cherry Brandy, not a high-class racehorse but a famous timeteller, and one of the most reliable trial horses they had at Ashgill. Lord Glasgow had been short of trying tackle, and wanting to get the measure of Brother to Bird on the Wing who was entered for the Two Thousand, he borrowed Cherry Brandy from Osborne for the purpose. His Lordship’s unnamed one easily beat the old horse, and some three or four days after his return to Ashgill Manganese was tried. They set her to give Cherry Brandy 7lbs. more than Lord Glasgow’s colt had done, and she won her trial handsomely ; and was backed for the One Thousand.

Mincepie was a hot favourite. Her two-year-old races had been won in grand style, she had wintered well, had won a good trial, and John Day thought nothing could beat her. With the Northern party equally confident, and with men like Jackson of Oran, who then had a few horses in traming at Ashgill, amongst the supporters of Mr. King’s filly, it may readily be imagined what the betting was like. Danebury aud Yorkshire were fairly on their mettle, both were in the humour, and the heavy betting on the two favourites was almost like a game at Brag. John Day thought that Manganese could not have had a thorough preparation owing to her suspicious hocks, and was confident his game mare would gallop her down, whilst Mr. Brook and his friends grew move and more confident as the day approached, and when Brother to Bird on the Wing made such a bold bid for the Two Thousand, relying on their mare being seven pounds better than him, were quite willing to go on. Even John Osborne who, like his son, was a most cautious bettor, backed her for what was for him a very big stake. There were only five starters, but the betting was entirely confined to the two favourites, not another mare being mentioned in the official return of the betting.

It had somehow got to Osborne’s ears that John Day was of opinion that his mare was only half trained, and that the Danebury orders were “Cut her down,” and as he went out of the Birdcage he whispered to his son, “They want a pace, let them have one.” ‘This he did with a vengeance, and brought them along such a cracker that the favourite was settled at the bottom of the hill, and Manganese won very easily by half a length. This was Osborne’s first victory in any of the Classical races, and he still speaks with great enthusiasm of what a pleasant ride he had.

Manganese won a few more races both as a three-year-old and afterwards, but she never performed so well as in the Portland Plate and the One Thousand, her splendid victories in which races earned her the epithet by which she is still fondly called in the north, “the flying” Manganese. Her pace must have been great indeed, for Mr. Osborne thinks she is about the fastest animal he ever rode.

It is interesting to note that she won the Brownlow Stakes at Lincoln in September, a subscription of 5 sovs. each with £25 added. What would be thought now of a One Thousand winner running in a race like that. —_ Still it was no uncommon occurrence in those days to see the highest class horses contesting for a £50 plate, and that there was as good or perhaps better sport than there is in these days of gate money meetings and colossal stakes few will be likely to deny.

Manganese went to the Stud farm at Ashby in 1858, but did not produce her first foal until 1860. This was Mandragora, a chesnut filly by Rataplan. She was only a little one, but was as handsome as a picture, and such a good bred one as she was, naturally raised great expectations ; expectations however which were doomed to be disappointed. She was tried as a two-year-old, and found so bad that it was determined not to run her; but it was thought desirable to give her another chance. She was tried again in the spring of 1863, and ‘‘not good enough to win a bridle at a fair” was the fiat. Mr. King, who was disgusted at this and had made up his mind to part with her, had nearly sold her for thirty pounds, and wrote Mr. Osborne, Senr., to that effect, but the latter replied that it would be a pity to part with such a bred one at such a price, and suggested that she should be sent to Weatherbit, a horse of his own which was standing at Mr. Jaques’ at Easby Abbey, offering to remit the service fee. Mr. King consented, and Mandrake was the result.

The colt was sold as a yeaaling to Sir R. Jardine for 450 guineas, and proved a useful racehorse. He ran well in his two-year-old races, but won nothing till the Newmarket Houghton Meeting, when he pulled off the Glasgow Stakes after running a dead heat with Sir R. Bulkeley’s Owain Glendwr. He ran prominently in two or three big Handicaps before he scored his first win as a three-year-old in the Great Ebor, where he had a good field behind him. The Liverpool Autumn Cup fell to his lot, but unfortunately his owner and his friends did not profit by his victory as they should have done.

In the Cambridgeshire of that year Sir Robert Jardine had a horse named The Corporal entered. He had run fairly in the early part of the season, had won the Edinburgh Handicap, and as his weight, penalty included, was only 7st. 8lb., he was thought to have a good chance of winning,

He was tried with Mandrake over the Cambridgeshire course a few days before the race, and The Dean and The Priest were put in the spin. The Corporal won his trial easily, but ran very badly in the race, in which he never showed prominently.

Mandrake and he were both entered for the Liverpool Cup, their respective weights being 6st. 10lbs. and 7st. 2lbs., and as there had been some disappointment in the Cambridgeshire, it was decided to try the horses again. This was accordingly done on Middleham Moor, and again The Corporal scored an easy win, and beat Mandrake by several lengths. A declaration was made to win with him, but he positively refused to gallop in the race which his owner won by a neck from Knight of the Garter with his second string. Mandrake’s four-year-old record was a good one, and shows him to have been nearly the best of his year, for he beat Achievement in the Ascot Triennial and Julius in the Doncaster Cup, and won both his races cleverly though with not much to spare.

Mandragora’s next foal was Skedaddler by Skirmisher, and this Mr. King determined to keep. He was a very bad horse, and was unplaced the only time he ever ran,

Misadventure by Adventurer was her foal in 1866, and was sold to Mr. Pryor, for whom she won a few races at two years old, but she did not train on, and was not possessed of much merit.

ASHGILL. ‘pl

Fortunately Mr. King determined to keep her own sister Agility. She was not a particularly good looking mare, was rather common about _ her quarters and had a drooping tail which much detracted from her appearance. She had capital shoulders and was a very deep girthed mare, and “handsome is that handsome does” applies remarkably well to her. She won several races as a two-year-old, amongst them the Seaton Delaval at Newcastle, in which race she had Lord Zetland’s Falkland and a good field of horses behind her. Falkland beat her a neck in the North Derby next year, but she turned the tables on him when they met in the Biennial at Stockton a few weeks later, and won very easily, Mr. A. de Montgomerys La Risle separating the pair. She ran a slashing race with Rosicrucian for the York Cup and beat him a head, but on returning to scale Wells laid an objection against her on the score of a jostle. There had unfortunately been a bit of bumping in the race, and although no blame was incurred by Platt, who rode her, the Stewards thought she had interfered with Rosicrucian’s chance, and disqualified her accordingly. This was naturally a sore disappointment for her owner, but she made up for it on the Friday in the Doncaster Meeting. She began by galloping away from Gamos, the Oaks winner, in the Park Hill ; and later on in the afternoon ran a dead heat with Enterprise in the Doncaster Stakes.

She wound up the season by winning a Free Handicap at the Newmarket Houghton Meeting, in which she gave Falkland 6lbs. and a length and a half beating, thus pretty clearly proving that she was unlucky not to win the North Derby at Newcastle.

She only won three races in 1871, but the following year she placed several Queen’s Plates to her owner's credit ; as well as the York Cup, in which she beat Albert Victor, on whom odds of four to one were betted, by a head. Her last race was in the Queen’s Plate at Edinburgh where she broke down hopelessly.

During the four years she was racing she won twenty-one races out of the fifty-three for which she started, and the aggregate amount of her winnings is £6382. She died after she had been at the stud four years, a great misfortune for Mr. Vyner, who had purchased her at Mr. Gee’s sale. Her daughter, Lizzie Lindsay, is the dam of Crowberry. ©

Muddle, by Moulsey, was a moderate animal, and could never win a race as a two-year-old. After she was beaten in a Nursery at the Houghton Meeting Mr. King grew tired of her, and parted with her to Mr. Osborne. She did not do much better for her new owner, and only won him two or three unimportant handicaps in the two years he raced her. She was third to Cremorne and King Lud in the

Great Yorkshire Stakes at York, and this, on the face of it, does not look such very bad form, but she was six lengths behind the winner, who won as he liked. She is now at the stud at Breckongill.

Apology was beaten in her earliest engagements, but she was beaten by good horses. Singularly enough, in her first race, in which only three started, she was beaten by Atlantic and Regal, the former destined to be Fred Archer’s first winning mount in a big race, and the latter to win the Grand National at Liverpool three years later, carrying 11st. 3lb., a wonderful performance for a five-year-old, and one that has only been equalled by Alcibiade, who won with 11st. 4lb. up.

When she ran at York she took the fancy of a lot of good judges. We remember talking her over with the late Tom Olliver, after she had been beaten by Sir William Wallace, and he expressed the opinion that she was well worth keeping in sight for her three-year-old engagements ; as was George Frederick, who had run unplaced in the same race.

Apology gradually trained on, and at the Newmarket Houghton Meeting beat Blanchefleur and Aventuriére in the Home-bred Produce Stakes.

She started favourite in the One Thousand Guineas and won easily by half-a-length from the French mare La Coureuse.

Curiously enough George Frederick won a race at the same meeting, and one morning Apology and he met as they were coming from exercise. A byestander, on whom the mantle of prophecy appeared to have fallen, said in tones of the deepest conviction, “There go the winners of the Derby and Oaks.”

Miss Toto was the favourite for the Oaks, a position to which her two-year-old runnning, as well as her victory over George Frederick at the Craven Meeting, fully entitled her, but Apology had no trouble with her, and won by three lengths with a lot in hand.

She was promptly installed a leading favourite for the St. Leger, dividing the favouritism with George Frederick, and at last passing him in the quotations. She ran in the Great Yorkshire Stakes, but was beaten a head by Trent, who had a little the best of the weights. ‘The ground was very hard, and she had her own running to make, a thing she never lhked; and Osborne is of opinion that had she been served by the pace she would have won easily enough.

When George Frederick was scratched she became first favourite for the Leger, which her Yorkshire and Lincolnshire supporters thought was a gift for her.

She arrived at Doncaster fresh and well, and did her usual quantity of work. On the Wednesday morning she went on to the Town Moor for a last canter, and walked away with the nice springy action, for which she was so famous, up to the Red House. She was sound enough in her walk, but no sooner had Osborne got up than he found something was wrong. She went decidedly lame in her trot, and when she was put into a slow canter she went short and ‘ proppy.’ Osborne’s feelings may be better imagined than described, but he wisely made up his mind to finish the gallop and get her quietly home and so avoid the panic which was sure to ensue if it came to the knowledge of the public that their favourite was lame. There were very few people about at the time, and he only noticed Mr. T. Jennings, Junr., and Mr. Linton, who were out with their string.

He cantered the mare steadily and pulled her well round the bend, pulling her up gradually so as to avoid as much as possible any strain upon her forelegs. He at once dismounted, but could see nothing wrong about her, so sent her to the stable with a message to the blacksmith that he was to be in attendance and await his arrival. Curiously enough the mare walked sound after her canter, and Osborne fancied that the fact of her going rather lame would not ooze out. He did not get very far up the road before he was undeceived on this point, for he met Mat. Dawson, who greeted him with “They say your mare’s lame, Jack! I’m very sorry.”

The blacksmith could find nothing the matter with her feet, and Mr. Osborne was fairly puzzled to find where she was lame. She had been lame in her shoulder when a two-year-old, but it was pretty evident the trouble was not there now. She also had an enlargement of the off fetlock joint, but this was of long standing. Osborne, however, thought he could feel a little heat in it and promptly had recourse to hot fomentations, which were kept up for some time. Then a hot bandage was put on covered by a hot dry one, and she was left till noon. Her legs were then put into a bucket of cold water until it was time for her to go to the course.

Of course all sorts of rumours had been flying over the town, and the bookmakers began to knock her out, a course of action they had cause to regret before they were many hours older. At one time it was stated that she had been scratched, and this reached the ears of Mrs. King, who was present at Doncaster. Mrs. King, however, was incredulous, and said she was sure her husband would run the mare if she only had three legs when all his Yorkshire and Lincolnshire friends had backed her so freely.*

* This is probably the origin of the commonly received story that when Osborne found Apology lame he telegraphed to Mr. King asking for instructions, and that Mr. King wired back, ‘‘Run her if she only has three legs.’”’ This is entirely wrong.

Mr. Kine’s confidential servant wired to him that the mare went short in her morning gallop, and the reply message was, ‘‘ Win