Horse-racing in England : a synoptical review

JOHNA.SEAVERNS

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Webster Family Library of Veterinary Medicine

Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at

Tufts University

200 Westboro Road

NorthGrafton, MA 01536

Horse-racing in England

A SY NOPTICAL REVIEW

ROBERT BLACK

AUTHOR OF

HORSE-RACING IN FKANCE,' 'tHE JOCKEY CLUH AND ITS FOUNDERS,

ETC.

LONDON

RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON

publishers in (Oriiiiar)) to ^)cr ^itlajcstu the (S«c«n

1893

( A II rig li ti reset z 'ecf\

i~)

PREFACE.

Horse-racing in England, and the growth of the
institution which is commonly called the English
Turf, are subjects upon which information, both
general and particular, is requested intermittently,
whenever any great race is about to be decided,
by all sorts and conditions of men, as common ex-
perience proves. But the public interest in such
matters is not sufficiently absorbing or continuous
to secure a wide patronage for the ponderous
volumes, published at a correspondingly heavy
price, in which one or two attempts have been
made from time to time to satisfy what is a
constantly recurring, but nevertheless, with the
majority of mankind, a transient desire. It is
probable, however, that a single volume, neither
ponderous nor unduly expensive, and containing
not only a synoptical review, reign by reign, from
Charles II. to Victoria, of the development at-
tained by the turf and its accessories, with not an

vi PREFACE

inordinate amount of detail, but also an answer
to most, if not to all, questions which, ac-
cording to a pretty long experience, are asked
from year to year, whenever the great events of
the season are approaching, or are in actual pro-
gress, may meet with more favour and acceptance.
In one other point, besides the systematic divi-
sion into periods corresponding with the reigns of
successive sovereigns, the work will be found
unique ; for it concludes with a chronologically
arranged collection of certain matches (un-
doubtedly the most interesting and most conclu-
sive, if not the most striking and picturesque,
form of racing) which have been memorable for
the personages engaged, or the horses tried, or
the weights carried, or the distances run, or the
stakes risked, or the time occupied (as Americans
say, the ' clocking '), or, lastly, the cruelty (which,
to the shame of mankind, seems to be considered
almost a matter of course in matches ■ for en-
durance ') sometimes practised.

It can hardly be necessary to enumerate all the
calendars, stud-books, histories of the turf, publi-
cations dealing with the race-horse and horse-
racing, and newspapers, which have been ransacked

PREFACE vii

for the purposes of the work ; but special acknow-
ledgment must be made to Mr. J. B. Muir for
occasional help borrowed from his recent volume
(' Ye Okie Newmarkitt Calendar '), which must
have cost him an infinity of trouble. His name
is mentioned in nearly every case of indebtedness,
or an asterisk is employed to distinguish such
' matches ' as are recorded on his authority. Op-
portunity may be taken here for saying that,
though he seems to have detected an inaccuracy
both in ' Pick ' and in the ' Stud Book,' his own
suggestion that the Bonny Black was foaled in
1708 or 1709 is quite out of the question; for
there can be no doubt of her having won the
Hambleton Gold Cup both in 17 19 and 1720, and
that Cup, we read, was originally ' free for either
horse, mare, or gelding, provided they were no
more than five years old,' and the restriction as to
age was not touched when the Cup was ' made
for mares only.' Whereas, according to Mr.
Muir's suggestion, Bonny Black would have won
the Cup the first time when she was eleven or
ten years old, and the second when she was twelve
or eleven years old (for the race was run in
August), and there would have been no protest or

viii PREFACE

objection in either case ; which seems incredible,
even if it be admitted that the mare would liave
been running for all those years (which is not in
itself impossible, though improbable, for the period
at which she lived), and that she would have had
nothing recorded about her from 1713 to 1718.
On the other hand, there is nothing more likely
than that the Duke of Rutland should have named
a mare foaled in 1715 after another that had been
foaled in 1708, and, after winning a g'reat match
in 1 7 13, had died, or gone to the stud, and that
' Pick ' should have confounded the two. The
two would not necessarily have been running at
the same time, as Mr. Muir assumes would have
been the case ; and, indeed, the elder could not
have been the winner in 17 19 and 1720 of the
Hambleton Cup, which was for five-year-olds (or
under) ; whereas nothing was more common in
the old times than a repetition of names or the
continuance of a name from a senior to a junior.
Lastly, there is the possibility of a misprint in the
paper on which Mr. Muir relied, and ' Pick ' may
be right after all, for 17 13 is easily misprinted for
1718.

While this work was passing through the press,

PREFACE ix

a few incidents occurred which could not be
noticed at their proper place in the text. P'or
instance, the Jockey Club received an accession of
royalty in the person of the Duke of York ; and
Isinglass became entitled to be added to the
number of horses (p. 66) that have run the Derby
in 2 minutes 43 seconds, the shortest time on record.
Moreover, a subsequent personal examination of
the letter from Swift to Stella, referred to at
p. 14, has led me to doubt whether my authority
was right in assuming that the horse-race men-
tioned by the Dean took place at Ascot, which is
not expressly named in the letter. It strikes me
as more probable that the scene of the race was
Windsor Forest, where races seem to have been
run as early, certainly, as 1699, if not before.
Still, there appears to be no doubt whatever that
Queen Anne attended races at Ascot in 17 12, if
not in 171 1.

It may be well to add, lest anybody should not
see at once why stress has been laid upon the
ages of certain jockeys here and there, that the
' wasting ' which the jockey's vocation entails is
supposed very commonly to be injurious, and to
shorten life. But there is reason to think that

X PREFACE

the supposition is erroneous ; and that, if a jockey
escapes accident and avoids intemperance, his
' wasting ' and other hardships will not, as a rule —
though, of course, there may be exceptions —
prevent him from attaining, and even exceeding,
the average number of years.

R. B.

June 8, 1893.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II.

PAGE

Origin of the Turf — Charles II. and his Associates —
Statute of Charles 11.^ — James II. and the Turf — Rye
House Plot — William III. and the Turf — His As-
sociates— Captain Byerley's Turk — Old Merlin and
his Match — Queen Anne, Prince George of Denmark,
and the Turf — Mr. Tregonwell Frampton — Prominent
Personages at Newmarket in Queen Anne's Reign
—Statute of Anne — Mr. Brewster Darley and his
Arabian — George I. and the Turf^ — Flying Childers
— Bonny Black — Brocklesby and Brocklesby Betty
■ — Bartlett's Childers- — ^Mr. Alcock and his Arabian —
George II. and the Turf — The 'Culloden' Duke of
Cumberland — Royal Ascot — Statute of George II. —
Royal Plates : King's and Queen's — Lord Godolphin
and his Arabian — The Calendars of Mr. Nelson and
Mr. Cheney^ — The. 'Cracks' of George II. 's Reign —
Ladies on the Turf — Colours and Nomenclature of
Horses — Jockeys — Two Curious Races - - i — 55

CONTENTS

CHAPTER II.

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III.

George III. and the Turf — Royal Patronage of Horse-
racing — ■ Establishment of the ' Classic ' Races —
Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales, and Epsom Races
— Questions concerning the Derby and the other
' Classic ' Races — Ascot — Brighton — Lewes — Good-
wood—York— A Royal Duke pushed into a Fish-
pond— The Racing of Two-Year-Olds and of Yearlings
— The Story of Blacklock — The Collapse of the
Arabian — The Rise of the Betting Ring — -Foreigners
on the English Turf — The Tattersalls and the
Weatherbys — The Practice of 'Nobbling' — New-
market Meetings increased from Three to Eight —
Ladies on the Turf — Seven Notable Horses : Dr.
Syntax, Sir Joshua, Copenhagen, Beeswing, Selim,
Castrel, Rubens — Colours and Heights of Race-
horses— Nomenclature — American Importations of
English Horses — Castianira, Dam of Sir Archy —
Diamond or Duchess and Alice Carneal — Lexington
and Umpire — The Cub Mare, Dam of Old Slamer-
kin — A Sensitive Bookmaker — Some Celebrated
Jockeys ------- - 56 —

CHAPTER III.

THIRD PERIOD : GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV.

(ieorge IV. and the Turf — Virginia Water — Ascot —
George IV. 's Race-horses and Jockeys — Prominent
Turfites in his Reign — The Right of ' Warning-off ' —
Curious Plague at Petvvorth Stud-farm — Tatiersall's
and the Spread of 'Ring-worm ' — Three Great Horses
— The N.S.W. Sir Hercules — Jockeys in the Reign

CONTENTS

of George IV. — His Presentation of a Gold Whip to
the Irish Turf Club —Frank Buckle and his Whip,
presented to the Germans— Foreign Importations of
English Horses — Count and Prince Batthyany —
Galopin — Ladies and the Turf — Messrs. John Mytton,
Mellish, and Apperley — ' Peter ' — William IV. and
the Turf — ' Patron ' of the Jockey Club — His Race-
horses and Jockeys — The Fifth Duke of Richmond
— The King insulted at Ascot — Celebrities of the
Turf in the Reign of William IV. — Lord George
Bentinck — Change of Age-taking for Race-horses —
Foreigners on the English Turf — Their importation
of English Horses — A Lordly Ascot Cup Field —
Iroquois and Foxhall — ■' Antipodeans ' — Legislative
Enactments — Jockeys — Ladies — Nomenclature —
Attempts to revive the 'Arab' — Lord Cleveland con-
demns the Turf— Gate-money Meetings — The Hip-
podrome at Bayswater — The Bentinck Benevolent
Fund -------- 113 — 152

CHAPTER IV.

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA.

Queen Victoria and the Turf — Sale of the Palace at
Newmarket — The Royal Stud at Hampton Court —
Prince Albert — Her Majesty and the Prince at Epsom
— Ascot — The Prince of Wales and the Turf — His
Match with Lord Strathnairn — Conspicuous Owners
and Runners of Race-horses during the Reign of
Queen Victoria — Lord Palmerston, Lord Derby, Lord
G. Bentinck, Sir J. Hawley, Admiral Rous — Mr. C. D.
Rose and Mr. Blenkiron — 'Nobbling' — Running
Rein, Leander, Ratan, Old England, Bloodstone —
Messrs. Goodman, Lichtwald, W. Day, Bloodsworth,
Stebbings — Tontine and Herodias — Bend Or or

CONTENTS

Tadcaster ? — The Chetwynd-Durham Case — Madame
de Goncourt — Big Prices for Horses — Precarious-
ness of Horse-racing and Race-horse-breeding — Mr.
Brodrick-Cloete with Paradox and Mr. Chaplin with
Hermit — Distinguished Horses exported and re-
tained at Home — The Old Times and the New, as
regards Stud-horses and their Fees — Ladies on the
Turf — Ascendancy of the Jockey Club — Immunity of
the 'Tout' — The Betting Nuisance — The Sporting
Press — Tattersall's — The ' Jockey Ring ' — The Glori-
fication of the Trainer — -The Apotheosis of the Jockey
—'The Druid 'on Betting — Successful Bookmakers
— Fordham, Archer, and Charles Wood — Other noted
Jockeys of the Reign — The ' John Osborne Testi-
monial ' — Trainers of the Winners in the Great Races
— Colour, Height, and Nomenclature of Race-horses
— General Condition of the Turf — George IV.,
Escape, and Mr. John Kent - - - - 153 — 274

CHAPTER V.

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES.

Some Preliminary Remarks about ' Clocking ' — The Prince
of Wales (Richard II.), Charles II. and William HI.,
and their Matches — Messrs. Lepton, Calvert, and
Norden ?'. Time — Honeycomb Punch — Mr. Sinclair
and Mr. and Miss Pond ?'. Time — Prince George of
Denmark — Queen Anne — Mr. Frampton and Sir J.
Lade and Mule z'. Horse — First recorded ' Tipping '
of a Successful Jockey — First recorded ' Dead Heat '
— Long Distances — Big Wagers — Heavy Weights —
Epigrammatic Matches — Mr. Cooper Thornliill v.
Time — Lord March's Carriage-match — A Stupid and
Cruel Match — A Thousand Miles in a Thousand
Successive Hours on the same Horse — Two Thou-

CONTENTS

sand Nine Hundred Miles in Twenty-nine Successive
Days— Holcroft the Dramatist's Story — Gimcrack —
Two-year-Olds — A Mile in a Minute and Four and a
Half Seconds — A Cruel Match — The Race-horse as
a Trotter— The Prince of Wales (George IV.) —
Thirty Stone carried by each Rider in a Match —
Hambletonian and Diamond — Two Curious Matches
— Sir Solomon and Cockfighter — ' Mrs. Thornton's '
Matches — Sancho and Pavilion — Sir Joshua and
Filho da Puta — ^From Canterbury to London in
Three Hours — Tiresias and Merlin — Sharper and
the Cossack Horses — Mr. Osbaldeston's Match — The
Flying Dutchman and Voltigeur — Two Matches won
by Galopin — The Prince of Wales's 'Arab' Alep —
A Cruel Match between French Horses — St. Simon
and Duke of Richmond — James Selby v. Time —
Lord Lonsdale v. Time — Prince B. de Rohan's
Dangerous Feat — A Thousand Miles' Drive with
One Horse in Nineteen Days — The Long Distance
Military Match between Austro- Hungarian and
German Officers ------ 275 — 343

Index ---------- 344

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

CHAPTER I.

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II.

Origin of the Turf — ^Charles II. and his Associates — Statute of
Charles 11. — James II. and the Turf — Rye House Plot^ —
William III. and the Turf— His Associates — Captain
Byerley's Turk— Old Merlin and his Match — Queen
Anne, Prince George of Denmark, and the Turf — Mr.
Tregonwell Frampton — Prominent Personages at New-
market in Queen Anne's Reign — Statute of Anne— Mr.
Brewster Darley and his Arabian — George I. and the
Turf — Flying Childers — Bonny Black — Brocklesby and
Brocklesby Betty— Bartlett's Childers — Mr. Alcock and
his Arabian — George II. and the Turf — The ' CuUoden '
Duke of Cumberland — Royal Ascot — Statute of George II.
— Royal Plates : King's and Queen's — Lord Godolphin
and his Arabian — The Calendars of Mr. Nelson and
Mr. Cheney — -The 'Cracks' of George II. 's Reign-
Ladies on the Turf — Colours and Nomenclature of
Horses — Jockeys — Two Curious Races.

Whoever pleases may hunt up the meagre details
of sporadic horse-racing in various parts of Great
Britain and Ireland from the days of Roman

I

9

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

invasion, but it is hardly worth the pains. The
English turf, as it now exists, dates from no
earlier than the reign of King Charles II., of
merry memory, during which period the sport
grew so rapidly in favour with the people, both
high and low, that the horse-races at New-
market would attract as many as a thousand
horsemen, to say nothing of carriages and of
tlie rabble on foot. The turf, moreover, was
confined at that time, in the sense in which
the term is now used, almost entirely to New-
market ; and with the doings there it will, there-
fore, be proper to commence a synoptical review
of the development attained by the institution.
The simplest course will be to set out, reign by
reign, a few facts concerning the most prominent
personages, horses, and events connected with
the racing of each period.

Charles II., who reigned from 1660 to 1685,
set the fashion of two meetings at Newmarket —
one in the spring and the other in the autumn.
There were in those days, apparently, no profes-
sional jockeys of the kind with which we are now
familiar, though there were men called grooms
and boys called riders, who both of them rode

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 3

races occasionally, but were employed principally,
so far as their performances in the pigskin went,
in riding the horses for training purposes, and at
exercise. The races were nearly all matches, and
were usually ridden by gentlemen — by the King
himself, by his friends, companions, and courtiers,
and by other persons of quality. We hnd, for
instance, that the King rode in person against the
Duke of Monmouth, Mr. Elliot (of the Bed-
chamber), and Mr. Thynne (anciently spelt Thin —
short for 'at the Inn,' they say, without any idea
of meagreness), who was, no doubt, an ancestor
of the modern Marquises of Bath, as well as
against other persons unnamed, in matches and
also in Plates, ot which latter there were mighty
few. Of his contemporaries who ran and rode
horses at Newmarket, whether against the King
or against one another, the most notable names
and titles were those of the Earl of Suffolk (an-
cestor of the present Earl of Suffolk and Berk-
shire), the Duke of Buckingham, Lord Exeter,
Lord Oxford, Lord Mountgarret, Lord Thomond
(O'Brien), the Hon. Bernard Howard (of the
same house as the Earl of Suffolk, and the Ad-
miral Rous of the turf at that time). Lord Mon-

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

tague (of Cowdray, Sussex), who was renowned
for his breed of horses, and especially of mares,
the Duke of Albemarle (better known as General
Monk), Mr. W. Tregonwell Frampton (of whom
a probably untrue tale of horror is told, and who
was ' keeper of the running horses ' to the
Sovereign from 1695 ^o ^7~^)> ^^- Felton (a name
of historic, though sinister, memory), Lord Godol-
phin (whose son was to do so much for the
English breed of horses with his ' Godolphin
Arabian '), the free-spoken Mr. Tom Killigrew,
and, above all, the two royal bastards, the young
Dukes of Richmond and Grafton, whose names,
when they must have been mere children, are to
be found among the racers at Newmarket, and
whose descendants have been among the most
eminent patrons of the turf.

The horses that ran at Newmarket in Charles
II. 's reign, so far as can be discovered, did not set
their mark in very many cases upon the pedigrees
of the modern thoroughbred (though, perhaps,
Spanker and Brimmer were among them), and
consequently there is no reason why their names
should be recorded here. To satisfy curiosity,
however, it may be worth while to mention

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 5

some of the King's own horses, such as Wood-
cock, beaten by Mr. ElHot's Flatfoot, ' owners
up,' in 1671 ; Blew Capp, or Blue Cap (unless
the description of the rider's cap have been
mistaken for the name of the horse), Shuffler,
Tankot(?), Corke, Mouse, and Dragon. It is
well known, however, that by importation of
foreign horses, especially mares, from Tangier,
which was a portion of Catherine of Braganza's
dowry, the King did great service to the cause of
horse-breeding. For, to take but a single case,
from one of those mares, called Royal Mares,
not only came the valuable sire Dodsworth (a
'natural' Barb), and the valuable mare Vixen
(Mr. Child's) ; but from her descend, among
other distinguished horses, the noted Barbarian,
and that prince among French thorough-bred
sires, Fitz-Gladiator.

Charles II., then, not only took his pleasure,
and a great deal of it, on the turf, but he did his
duty by his country's breed of horses. He is
believed to have founded two Royal Plates to be
run for at Newmarket, one in the spring and the
other in the autumn ; and under his auspices was
founded, in 1666, the Town Plate, for which he

6 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

issued regulations, whereof one was that ' no
groom or serving--man ' was to ride ; and another
that it was ' to be rode for yearly the second
Thursday in October, for ever.' But — sic transit
gloria — the race in which the King himself would
ride has fallen into disrepute, if not into oblivion
and desuetude ; for who nowadays would look at
' twenty pounds ' as the reward for winning the
best of ' three heats ' over ' the New Round Geate
(course),' measuring something over three miles six
furlongs ? The King is stated, inoreover, though
it is difficult, if not impossible, to verify the state-
ment, to have presented the famous and once-
coveted ' Challenge Whip,' of which the Jockey
Club has obtained the guardianship, and to which
a lash and a wrist-band, both made from hair that
grew on the mane or tail of Eclipse, were attached
in the course of time ; but although Charles died
in 1685, the Duke of Devonshire's Dimple, a
horse that flourished about 1699- 1702, is the
earliest recorded winner of the trophy, so far as
accessible authorities can be depended upon.

Charles II.'s connection with the turf can never
fade from memory, so long as 'Rowley's Mile'
remains upon the list of 'courses* at Newmarket,

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 7

or ' The Merry Monarch ' continues to be regis-
tered as the winner of the Derby in 1845 ; and it
is worthy of remark that in the sixteenth year of
his reign was passed the first statutory enactment
intended to restrict the practice of betting on
horse-races and of gambling on sports and pas-
times in general. Oddly enough, the statute did
not interfere with the betting of ready money,
any amount of which might be lost and won, pro-
vided that it changed hands at the time ; but not
more than ^100 might be won and lost on credit.
Our latest legislation, on the contrary, has been
directed chiefly against ready-money transactions,
where a sum is paid over at once or deposited,
and has left undisturbed, if it has not actually
encouraged, the bettor ' on the nod '; that is, on
credit.

James II. had so short and so troubled a reign
that we could hardly expect to find him figuring,
during his brief tenure of active kingship, as a
very notable promoter of horse-racing and im-
prover of English horses ; but as Duke of York
he had displayed proclivities towards ' the sport
of kings/ had been with his brother King Charles
at Newmarket when the accidental fire at the

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

royal residence there sent the brothers prema-
turely away, and so defeated the concocters of
the Rye House Plot in 1682, and after his exile
is gazetted as having attended a horse-race held
in France ' au has du Pecq,' near Vesinet, in
1700, the year before his death. His illegitimate
son, however, the able and gallant James Fitz-
james, Duke of Berwick, whose name of Fitz-
james is distinguished in the annals of the French
turf even to this day, had introduced into
England, on returning from the siege of Buda
in 1687, a horse known indifferently as the
Stradling Turk or the Lister Turk, whose
influence upon the pedigrees is very noticeable ;
for he was the sire of the Hobby mare that was
the dam of Brocklesby and Brocklesby Betty,
and from her descended in the female line such
distinguished horses of the last half-century as
Chanticleer, Solon, Xenophon, and Barcaldine.

King William HI, not only held Court, like
Charles H,, though with a very notable differ-
ence, at Newmarket, but greatly promoted both
the sport of horse- racing and the business of
horse-breeding. The horses that he is known
to have run at Newmarket, between 1695 ^^^

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 9

his death in 1702, included Turk (whether a real
name or merely an indication of breed), Cricket,
Stiff Dick, and Cupid, as well as several un-
named ; and he did his duty towards the English
breed of horses by the introduction of his white
Barb, Chillaby (sire of Old Greyhound), his black
Barb ' without a tongue,' and the gray Barb that
he presented to Mr. Hutton, and that was known
as Button's Gray Barb, for all three have left their
mark on the pedigrees. The King would some-
times make a match for as much as 2,000 guineas,
as he did in 1698 with the Duke of Somerset.

Among the noblemen and gentlemen (including
Sir Roger Mostyn, a well-known name on the
turf) who ran with him at Newmarket, one of
the most remarkable was Thomas, Lord Wharton,
more or less ironically called ' Honest Tom,' who
was one of the famous ' Whig Junto ' (consisting
of Russell, Wharton, Somers, and Montague),
who became successively Viscount, Earl, and
Marquis, who was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland
1708- II, and whose son, Philip, Duke of
Wharton (with whom the family became extinct
in the male line in 1731), himself a great runner
of race-horses in his turn at Newmarket, was

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Pope's ' scorn and wonder of our days.' Thomas,
Lord Wharton, is said by Lord Macaulay to have
run race-horses chiefly for the pleasure of beating
any Tory that might be on the turf in those times,
and he certainly owned some excellent horses,
and among them Old Smithson, the famous
Old Careless (sire of the dam of Flying Childers
and Bartlett's Childers), and St. Martin (son of
the Duke of Buckingham's famous Spanker, by
Lord D'Arcy's Yellow Turk), whereof the last-
named won a great match at Newmarket in 1699
against the Duke of Devonshire's Dimple (reputed
holder of 'the Whip' at some period of his career).
But the glory, from a posthumous point of
view, of Dutch William's reign, so far as horses
are concerned, was the horse which had been
ridden by one of the King's officers, Captain
Byerley, at the Battle of the Boyne, and which,
though unknown upon the racecourse, was to be
renowned for ever, under the style and title of the
Byerley Turk, as the eldest of the three primitive
or principal sires, the Shem, Ham, and Japhet,
of all or nearly all English and Anglo-Arabian
thoroughbreds registered in the 'Stud Book,' in
direct male descent.

FIRST PERIOD: CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. ii

Meanwhile, in Yorkshire, where, it is reason-
ably believed, there had always been some kind
of horse-racing from the very earliest moment at
which there were two horses and two Yorkshire-
men in the county of Ridings, the turf had evi-
dently been growing apace. There had been
horse-racing on the frozen Ouse as early as 1607 ;
in Charles II. 's reign, in 1674, a Yorkshireman
had actually carried off ' the Plate ' at Newmarket
under the King's very nose ; and in William III.'s,
in 1698, when Peter the Great is said to have
visited Newmarket, a Yorkshire mare, belonging
to a Mr. Bowcher (? Bourchier), was matched
(though the match fell through) against the King's
own horse Turk ; and there is reason to think
that the Royal Gold Cup, or Royal Plate, at
Black Hambleton had been already established.
Else there seems to be no point in the informa-
tion vouchsafed to the effect that the Plate was
originally for horses as well as mares, and was
first won by Sir W. Strickland's Syphax, but had
its conditions altered ' in the reio^n of Oueen
Anne,' and was then confined to ' mares only.'

It may have been in this reign, if, as appears
from the first volume (new edition, p. 4) of the

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

'Stud Book,' Old Merlin was at the stud in 1703,
that there took place the legendary match be-
tween the North, represented by the Yorkshire
horse Old Merlin, and the South, represented by
the Newmarket horse, name unknown or unre-
corded, belonging to Mr. Tregonwell Frampton.
But as it is said to have been this match (which
inspired the late Sir Francis Doyle, Professor of
Poetry at Oxford, to sing a very spirited lay) that
ruined so many gentlemen of the South, who
betted both gold and land against Merlin, as to
call for a statute (9 Anne, c. 14) restrictive of
heavy wagering, it more probably took place in
the Queen's reign, but necessarily at the very
commencement. Even then, a long time elapsed
between the enactment of the statute and the
ruinous race which is said to have been the cause
of the enactment. However, we know from ex-
tant records that Mr. Bethell's Castaway, son of
Old Merlin, was at least five years old (for he is
written down 'horse,' and, indeed, 'colts' seldom
or never ran in those days) when he ran at York
in August, 171 1, so that he must have been
foaled in May, 1706, at the latest, and may very
well have been foaled, as stated in the ' Stud

FIRST PERIOD: CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 15

Book,' in 1704. In any case, whether the match
took place before or after Queen Anne came to
the throne, few details, chronological or other,
have come down to us, beyond the facts that Mr.
Tregonvvell Frampton, having tried to act the
part of ' biter,' was ' bit,' that Old Merlin (ridden
by Jerome Hare, of Cold Kirby, near Hambleton,
Yorks) was the winner, and Mr. Frampton's
' favourite horse ' (ridden by somebody unnamed,
but certainly not by Heseltine, who w^as the
groom in attendance on Old Merlin) the loser,
that Sir Matthew Peirson (breeder of Old Merlin)
and Sir William Strickland (chief backer of Old
Merlin) were triumphant, and ' the gentlemen of
the South ' very much out of pocket and of land.
(See the list of ' Memorable Matches ' at the end
of this volume, a.d. 1702.)

Queen Anne and her Prince Consort, better
known as Prince George of Denmark, patronized
Newmarket right royally, not only with their
presence, but with their own race-horses, and
with Gold Cups and Royal Plates. But after the
Prince's death, in 1708, her Majesty appeared no
more, it is said, at Newmarket, but she certainly
attended races at Ascot, as we know from various

14 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

sources, including Swift's letters (Swift to Stella,
date August lo, 171 1), and horses of hers, to wit.
Pepper, Mustard, and Star (afterwards Jacob),
ran at York in 171 2, 171 3, and 17 14 (a day or
two before her death in August). Her Majesty
was of oreat service to the turf and to horse-
breeding, as may be inferred from the single
instance of her Moonah Barb mare, from which
descended, ^rfr les fennues, Shuttle, Charles XII.,
Physician, The Doctor, and other celebrities, in-
cluding the American horse, Brown Prince. A
disinterested visitor to Newmarket in Queen
Anne's reign has left a by no means favourable
account cf what he witnessed there during the
races, mentioning especially ' Mr. Frampton, the
oldest and, as they say, the cunningest jockey in
England,' who ' made as light of throwing away
^500 or ^1,000 at a time as other men do of
their pocket-money,' and ' Sir Robert Fagg, of
Sussex' (a member of an enthusiastically Royalist
family), ' of whom fame says he has the most in
him and the least to show for it, relatinp; to
jockeyship, of any man there.'

To these two might have been added, as promi-
nent performers at Newmarket in Queen Anne's

FIRST PERIOD: CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 15

reign, Lord Godolphin (the Lord Treasurer, not the
owner of the Godolphin Arabian), the Duke of
Argyle, the Duke of Devonshire, the Duke of
Somerset, Lord Granby (Duke of Rutland), Lord
Hervey (or Harvey), the Duke of Grafton, Lord
Byron, Sir John Parsons (twice Lord Mayor of
London, and owner of the Thoulouse Barb and of
the famous Ryegate mare), the Duke of Bedford,
Lord Dorchester, the Duke of Bolton, Lord Howe,
Mr. Nowell, Sir Cecil Bishop, Lord Rialton (or
Ryalton), the Duke of Richmond, Lord Wharton
(of the 'Junto'), Lord Carlisle, Lady Gains-
borough, Lord Crawford, Mr. Pelham, Mr. Cole
(of the family, no doubt, which introduced the
Cole Arabian or Barb, sire of Old Smithson),
Lord Bridgeuater, Lord Lonsdale, and others,
many, if not most, of whom raced also in the
North, principally at York, in company with Mr.
Childers, Sir William Strickland, Mr. Place (a
relation, no doubt, of Oliver Cromwell's stud-
groom, owner of Place's White Turk), Lord
Molineux, Sir Matthew Peirson, Mr, Stapleton
(ancestor of the Lords Beaumont), Mr, Curwen
(owner of the famous Bay Barb), Lord Irwin,
Sir William Ramsden, Mr. Hutton, Sir Ralph

i6 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Milbank, Sir John Bland (whose namesake came
to such ruin and to suicide in Horace Walpole's
time), Sir WiiHam Blackett, Mr. Bethell (of Rise
in Holderness, a very great 'father of the turf
in the North), Mr. Darcy (of the D'Arcy ' White
and Yellow Turk ' family), Mr. Watson (of the
family to which the Marquis of Rockingham
belonged), Sir William St. Quintin (of the family
which bred Cypron, the dam of the famous
Herod or King Herod), Mr. Darley (owner of
the Darley Arabian), Mr. Hutton (whose family
bred Marsk, sire of Eclipse), Mr. Graeme (related,
probably, to the House of Montrose), Mr. William
Cecil (of the family that was to become so famous
on the turf in the person of the Marquis of
Exeter, who once owned the celebrated Stock-
well), and other notable racing men of the North.
In this reign was enacted the statute (9 Anne,
c. 14) already referred to, whereby, in conse-
quence, it is said, of the havoc wrought by betting
on the match won by Old Merlin, which had been
for a very large sum independently of the wagers,
the statute of 16 Car. H., c. 7, was made very
much more restrictive, and penalties were pro-
nounced against anybody who should win over

FIRST PERIOD: CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 17

^10 from any person or persons at one time (and
by 18 Geo., c. 34, the liability was extended to
the winning of ^20 within twenty-four hours).
The statute was held to apply to horse-racing, so
that a horse-race {cxceptis excipiendis, such as
Royal Plates, no doubt) for a prize of over £iq
was held to be illegal. The records of horse-
racing show that the statute either did not apply
to Matches and Plates at Newmarket and Plates
and Cups at York and elsewhere, or was dis-
regarded and unenforced ; but it appears, by
common consent and published testimony, to
have had the effect, as might have been exjoected,
of doing more harm than good, so far as the
breed of horses was concerned, and of converting
what had hitherto, from the value of the animals
employed, been ' the sport of kings ' into a game
of speculation for men of straw, who cared for
nothing but twopenny-halfpenny gambling with
twopenny-halfpenny instruments on four, or gene-
rally three, legs. In fact, as a legal publication
puts the matter : ' A large number of races
[unworthy of notice in the permanent records]
were started for small prizes under ^10, so as not
to infringe the Act, a practice which tended to

2

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

deteriorate rather than improve the breed of
horses.' For who was Hkely to import ' sons of
the desert ' at great cost, or to give the long
price required for good horses that could not win
more than ^lo at one time ? The mistake was
seen before long, insomuch that the Legislature
sought to apply a remedy by the statute of
13 Geo. II., c. 19, which 'prohibited any horse-
race being run except at Newmarket and Black
Hambleton in Yorkshire, for any prize of less
value than ^50,' Howbeit there had been
founded, as early as 1 681, at Farndon, Cheshire,
two annual prizes, which, whatever their amount,
were ' free from the influence of Parliament ' ;
and there were other annual prizes (notably one
of sixteen guineas only, founded by some fox-
hunting gentlemen, to be run for in March of
every year, and tlierefore regarded with interest
as an early test of ' form,' at Kipling-Coates,
Yorkshire) which also are understood to have
enjoyed the like immunity. It was in this reign
that Mr. Brewster Darley, of Aldby Park, near
York, became possessed of the Darley Arabian,
whose influence has become paramount among
the pedigrees.

FIRST PERIOD: CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 19

George I. is said to have put in an appearance
at Newmarket two or three times, in 1716,
1717, and 1718; he 'kept on' Mr. Tregonvvell
Frampton as ' keeper of the running-horses '
there, and he maintained the royal stud at
Hampton Court, with Mr. R. Marshall for stud-
groom, but his heart was not nearly so much set
upon the turf and horse-racing as upon feather-
ing his nest, and upon his German mistresses.
Indeed, it has been remarked, and even com-
plained, that our Hanoverian line of sovereigns,
before the coming of the ' first gentleman of
Europe,' were shamefully regardless of the turf
and of horse-breeding. Nevertheless, the reign
of George I. was the age of many noteworthy
horse-owners, horse-breeders, horse-runners, and
horses, including among the persons the out-
rageous Duke of Wharton, already mentioned,
who was conspicuous at Newmarket, when he
was quite a youth, for four or five years from
1 71 7; and among the horses, the Duke of
Devonshire's fabulous Flying Childers, the Duke
of Rutland's Bonny Black (the mare that not
even Flying Childers was thought capable of
tackling, apparently), Mr. Pelham's Brocklesby

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Betty, Mr. Bartlett's Childers (own brother to
Flying Childers, and never trained, but a very
king" among sires, as he was sire of Squirt, the
sire of Marsk, the sire of Eclipse), Mr. Panton's
invincible, indefatigable, and — as would now be
thought — cruelly murdered mare Molly (a daughter
of the Thoulouse Barb and a dam of ' suspected '
blood), General Honywood's famous Old True
Blue and Young True Blue, the Duke of Bolton's
Bay Bolton (ex Brown Lusty), and other celebri-
ties Vv'hose memory will never die.

To George I.'s reign, moreover, belongs mention
oi the Alcock Arabian (the property of Mr. Alcock,
a Yorkshireman), worthy to be commemorated as
a sire, because he is the only horse, besides the
Byerley, Darley, and Godolphin Eastern sires, to
which any winner of the Derby or any other of
the gre3,t ' classic ' races is to be traced back in
the male line. To him traces Aimwell (winner
of the Derby in 1785), by Marc Antony, by
Spectator, by Mr. Panton's Crab, by Mr. Alcock's
Arabian.

George II., whose weeping assurance of ' Non,
non ; j'aurai des maitresses,' addressed to his
dying wife, when she advised him to marry again,

FIRST PERIOD: CHARLES II. TO GEORGE 11. 21

has won for him a sort of immortality, had not
much (except the ' mistresses ') in common with
his not very excellent father, beyond neglect of
the turf and all that appertained to the practical
encouragement of it in his own person. But he,
like his father, had a ' keeper of the running horses
at Newmarket,' who was still, for a brief period,
Mr. Tregonwell Frampton, and afterwards Mr.
Thomas Panton, father of the ' polite Tommy
Panton ' (winner of the Derby with Noble in 1786,
a member of the Jockey Club, and brother of the
lady that became Duchess of Ancaster, and was
Mistress of the Robes to Queen Charlotte), and,
with Messrs. R. Marshall and T. Smith for stud-
grooms, tolerated rather than fostered the royal
stud at Hampton Court, which he (unless it were
his father, as is not unlikely) augmented, if he
did not greatly enhance in value, by the contribu-
tion of a 'one-eyed gray Arabian.'

Yet it was in this King's reign that the pro-
gress of the turf, and all that is connected with it,
began to show symptoms of extraordinary de-
velopment. In his reign (1750-51) was instituted
the Jockey Club, whereby the racing nobility and
gentry of North and South were brought into

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

closer communion and less acrimonious rivalry,
and whereby some sort of order was evolved out
of chaos, and the foundation was laid of that con-
trolling power which, whatever fault may be
found with it, has been, on the whole, of great
advantage to the cause of the turf and the
improvement of horse-breeding, not only in this
country, but in all parts of the inhabited world.
It was then that Royalty, personified by the
King's son, the ' Culloden ' Duke of Cumber-
land, who bred those famous sires King Herod
(commonly called Herod tottt court) and Eclipse,
became identified, unless we except a few years
in the earlier part of Queen Victoria's sovereignty,
with the Jockey Club, of which he was one of the
original members, and that the meetings at Royal
Ascot, which, as we have seen, had known a little
horse-racing in the time of Queen Anne, may be
said to have become a regular institution, under
the auspices of the ' Culloden ' Duke, when he
was appointed Ranger of Windsor Great Park
after ' the '45.'

At that date the mischievous statute of Anne,
in restriction of horse-races for prizes of more
than ^10 each, was first of all slightly extended,

I'IRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 23

and then completely reversed, In respect of its
most mischievous provision, as has been pointed
out already at p. 18 ; and it was then that certain
arbitrary rules as to the weights to be carried
were first imposed and then rescinded, and that
certain more or less useful and workable pro-
visions, as to the real owners of the horses, the
entrance-money, etc., were added. In the same
reign the number of Royal Plates, which had
hitherto been eleven in England (exclusive of
Scotland and Ireland) was raised to sixteen ; viz.,
three at Newmarket, one at York, one at Black
Hambleton, one at Nottingham, one at Lincoln,
one at Guildford, one at Winchester, one at Lewes,
one at Ipswich, one at Salisbury, one at Canter-
bury, one at Lichfield, one at Newcastle, and one
at Burford, which number in course of time was
doubled, or more than doubled, until, in our lavish
days, when thousands of guineas are daily offered
during the season by speculative companies bent
upon ultimate ruin, the Royal Plates in Eng-
land, having served and outlasted their pur-
pose, were first diminished in number, being
thereby insufficiently increased in value, and then
abolished.

24 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

In this reign of George II., moreover, the
second Lord Godolphin inaugurated the era
of the famous Godolphin Arabian (or Barb),
which sire he obtained from Mr. Coke, and
within three years, in 1732 and 1734, was pre-
sented by Roxana, the Godolphin's mate, with
the two brothers — Lath, the great runner, and
the cow-suckled Cade, the great sire (of Matchem
and Changeling among others). The Godolphin
came from France, whence also came to us such
celebrated and useful sires as St. Victor's Barb,
the Thoulouse Barb, the Curwen Bay Barb, and
the Belgrade Turk, whose influence is very note-
worthy among the pedigrees, so that, much as the
French have owed to us since they took seriously
to horse-racing and horse-breeding, we may be
said to have merely returned a Roland for an
Oliver — a comparatively large Roland perhaps for
a comparatively small OHver, but quand nihne.

The same king's reign, as was but natural, after
the legislative enactments already mentioned,
saw the commencement of the sweepstakes
and subscriptions, which afterwards became so
familiar ail over the country, though matches at
Newmarket and York, and Plates of ^50 both

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 25

there and elsewhere, were still either common or
general, to the paucification or exclusion of sweep-
stakes. The same reign, too, witnessed the per-
manent foundation of 'racing calendars' by Mr.
John Cheney, in 1727, who, however, had been
preceded, as early as 1670, it is said, by a Mr.
John Nelson with a temporary and apparendy
unexisting or unobtainable record, for which any-
body wishing to have it had to write to Mr.
Nelson, who apparently made copies as they were
required.

As the sweepstakes, the subscriptions, and the
like were in their infancy during the reign of
George II., the 'cracks' of the time among the
horses would be the winners of the Royal Plates
(for which the best match - horses and sweep-
stakes-horses would also run in those old days),
and the most prominent among the owners would
be the owners of those horses. Let us see, then,
who they were and with what horses they won
the Plates between 1727 (in the June of which
year George I. died) and 1760 (in October of
which year George II. died). The following list
contains the names and titles of the principal
proprietors (for it were tedious and superfluous to

26 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

give all), together with the names of the horses
with which they won :

Mr. William Aislabie (of Studley Royal,
Ripon, Yorks, son of Mr. John Aisiabie, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer who was sent to
the Tower in connection with the South Sea
Bubble), with Poor Robin (own brother to the
famous Bucephalus, afterwards Arthur O' Bradley,
by Robinson Crusoe).

Mr. Alcock (of Deuce Bank, North Cowton,
near Richmond, Yorks), with Spot (foaled 1722,
by Mr. Alcock's Arabian, dam apparently un-
known).

Two Dukes of Ancaster (both Peregrine Bertie,
the second and third in the line of the now extinct
dukedom), with Contest (son of Blank and Naylor,
daughter of Cade), Dismal (by Cinnamon), Dizzy
(daughter of the Ancaster Driver), Gentleman (by
Mr. Alcock's Arabian), Grasshopper (by Mr. Pan-
ton's Crab), Lottery (daughter of Blank and Look-
at-me-Lads, one of the first of Blank's progeny
that started). Starling (by the Duke of Bolton's
Starling), Tartar (by Mr. * Barforth ' Crofts'
Partner), Miss Romp (by Lord Walpole's Gray
Turk, alias the Earl of Orford's Gray Turk or

FIRST PERIOD: CHARLES 11. TO GEORGE II. 27

Barb), and the bay mare Music (foaled 1727)
of unrecorded pedigree.

Captain Appleyard (of Newbold, Market
Weighton, Yorks), with Bald Charlotte (Mr.
Henley's), Conqueror (a gelding, brother to
Quiet Cuddy and to the Duke of Devonshire's
Conqueror), Favourite (by Mr. Gallant's Smiling
Tom, son of the Conyers Arabian), and Quiet
Cuddy.

Mr. Bathurst, with Robinson Crusoe (Mr.
Robinson's, of Easby, Richmond, Yorks), by
Jigg, by the Byerley Turk.

The Duke of Beaufort, with Standard, ex
Bashaw (by Y. Belgrade), bred by Sir M.
Wyvill.

Mr. (the Hon.) Bertie, with Sobersides (by Lord
A. M anners' Doctor, son of the Cyprus Arabian).

Mr. Hugh Bethell (of Rise, in Holderness),
with Favourite (son of Mr. Bethell's own Arabian
and a daughter of Ruffler).

Mr. Bingham (ancestor, probably, of the Earls
of Lucan), with Blacklegs (son of Hampton Court
Childers and the Duke of Somerset's famous
Cullen Mare).

Mr. Andrew Blake (? father of the famous

28 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

racers Patrick and Christopher Blake, of Lang-
ham Hall, Suffolk), with Regulus (son of the
great Regulus and of Bald Partner's dam).

The Duke (antepenultimate) of Bolton, with
Beau (foaled 1731, by Partner), Goliah (by Lord
Portmore's Fox), Looby (by Bay Bolton), Merry
Andrew (by Sir Ralph Aston's Fox, son of
Clumsy, by Hautboy, and Bay Peg, by the Leedes
Arabian), Sourface (son of Bartlett's Childers, and
of a sister to the Bolton Starling, by Bay Bolton),
Starling, Sweepstakes (by the Oxford Bloody-
shouldered Arabian), so called, apparently, from
winning about the first sweepstakes ever run at
Newmarket (in 1727), Syphax (own brother to
Looby, by Bay Bolton), Foxhunter (by Bay
Bolton), and Mary Gray (by Almanzor, son of
the Darley Arabian, dam apparently unknown).

Mr. (afterwards Sir) George Bowes (of Gibside,
near Newcastle, ancestor of the famous Mr.
Bowes, of Streatlam Castle, Durham, connected
with the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne),
with Cato (by Regulus).

Lord Byron (who killed Mr. Chaworth), with
Osmar (Mr. Fenwick's, by Snip).

Lord CiiEDWORTii (of the racing family of

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 29

Howe), with Dormouse (son of Dormouse, son of
the Godolphin Arabian).

Mr. CoATESWORTH (of Yorkshire), with Traveller
(by Traveller, son of Partner).

Mr. CoCKERELL, with Freeholder (a horse of
unrecorded pedigree).

Mr. CoLviLLE (probably a progenitor of the
Lords Colville of Culross), with Smiling Molly
(by a son of the Darley Arabian), that got * the
wooden spoon' in a field of twenty-three for the
Royal Plate at Hambleton in 1731.

Mr. Constable (a descendant of whom is still
prominent among our breeders), with Cottingham
(son of Hartley's Blind Horse, dam by a son of
Snake).

Mr. John Crofts (better known as a breeder
than a runner, of Barforth, Yorks), with Forester
(by Hartley's Blind Horse), Legacy (daughter of
Old Greyhound), and Fly (grand-daughter of Old
Greyhound).

Mr. William Crofts (or Croft, of West Harling,
Norfolk), with Brilliant (by Mr. Panton's Crab).

Mr. (afterwards Sir) Nathaniel Curzon (from
whom come the Lords Scarsdale), with Brisk (by
the Bloody-shouldered Arabian),

30 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

The (third and fourth) Dukes of Devonshire,
with Atlas (by Babram), Fairy (the first of Mr.
Shepherd's Crab's progeny that started. Crab
himself never having run at all), Fleece'em (by
Flying Childers, dam the Duke of Rutland's
celebrated Miss Belvoir), Plasto or Plaistow (by
Flying Childers), Puff (by P^lying Childers),
Second (by Flying Childers), and Steady (own
brother to Fleece'em).

Mr. DoDswoRTH, with Midge (by Jigg ; whether
the son of the Byerley Turk or not is not stated).

Lord DowNE (of the racing Dawnays, of Danby
Lodge, Yorks), with Ferdinandinia (by Cade),

Mr, Thomas Duncombe (ancestor of the Earls
of Feversham, of Helmsley, Yorks), with Duchess
(by the Duke of Devonshire's Blacklegs), and Red
Rose (by the same, dam by General Honywood's
Young True Blue).

Mr. Durham, with Favourite (daughter of a
son of the Bald Gallowav, dam by Sir T. Gas-
coigne's Foreign Horse).

Mr. James Lenox Dutton (ancestor of the
Lords Sherborne), with Bessy Bell (by Mr.
Hutton's Spot), Juggler (Mr. Jenison Shafto's, by
Rib), the celebrated Old iMigland (sire of the

FIRST PERIOD: CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 31

Rev. Mr. Goodricke's famous Old England
Mare), by the Godolphin Arabian.

Sir Robert Eden (of Castle- Eden, Durham),
with Miss Western (by the famous Sedbury and
Mother Western), a mare that founded the fortunes
of the celebrated Mr. John Hutchinson (who had
been her stable-boy and became the breeder and
owner of Beningbrough, Hambletonian, and other
celebrities), of Shipton, near York.

Mr. John Egerton (of Cheshire), with Nanny
(by the Pigot Turk, alias Mostyn's Bay Barb,
dam Old Countrywench).

Sir Robert Fagg, with Goldenlocks (Mr. Pel-
ham's, by a son of Mr. Cur wen's Bay Barb).

Mr. William Fenwick (of Bywell, Northumber-
land, a member of the stanch Royalist family, of
whom a Sir John Fenwick had been stud-master
both to Charles I. and Charles II.), with Duchess
(daughter of Lord Portmore's Whitenose and the
famous Miss Slamerkin).

Mr. Fermor (of the family that supplied the
heroine of Pope's ' Rape of the Lock '), with
Scipio (son of the noted Miss Mayes, but of un-
known paternity), and Traveller (by Traveller,
^ son of Partner).

32 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Mr. FiGG (?of Bath), with Lady's Delight,
a/ms Trifle, by the noted galloway called Lowther.
(Mr. Figg was, no doubt, the owner of Figg's
Mare or Mare of Bath, dam of Mr. Brooke's
Lady Thigh).

Mr. Garthside, with Pamela (by his Fear-
nought, son of Doctor), dam by Manica, son of
Darley's Arabian.

Lord GoDOLPHiN, with Cade (by the Godolphin
Arabian), Dismal (by the same, dam by Alcock's
Arabian), Molotto (by Sir W. Ramsden's White-
foot, by Bay Bolton), and Morat (by Bay Bolton,
dam by the Duke of Newcastle's Turk),

Lord (the Earl of) Gower, with Little John (by
Mr. Crofts' Partner), Miss Vixen (by Fox-cub),
Tortoise (by Lord Godolphin's, formerly Sir W.
Ramsden's, Whitefoot, dam Captain Hartley's
Little Mare), Little Witch, a/ias Louisa (by the
celebrated Gower Stallion), Partner (by Partner),
foaled 1734.

Sir Henry Grey (of Howick, uncle to the Earl
Grey of that period), with Fox, by Locust.

Mr. George G rise wood, with Badger (by Crofts'
Partner), Diamond (bred by Mr. Curwen, of
Workington, Cumberland, by Jew Trump),

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 2,Z

Spanking Roger (bred by the Earl of Essex, by-
Flying Childers, dam a Cyprus Arabian mare),
Teazer (by Duke of Bolton's Sterling), Toy (by
Bartlett's Childers), Trifle (son of Trifle, by Lord
Portmore's Fox), Sly (the Duke of Bolton's, by
Partner), and Teazer (Mr. Hassell's, of Ripon,
Yorks, by Teazer, son of the Bolton Sterling).

Mr. Gr^me (probably of the Duke of Mont-
rose's family), with Whitelips, a bay mare by the
Bald Galloway, dam sister to Champion.

Lord Halifax, with Favourite, Sampson,
Goliah, all three by Old Greyhound (son of King
William's white barb Chillaby), and Barforth (Mr.
Crofts').

The (sixth) Duke of Hamilton (who married
the * beautiful Gunning '), with Victorious (sire of
Lord Portmore's famous Highlander), by Mr.
Bethell's Ruffler.

Mr., or Captain, Hartley (of Middleton-Tyas,
Richmond, Yorks), with Countess (by Hartley's
Blind Horse), and VVhitefoot (chestnut horse, by
Bloody Buttocks).

Mr. Hendry, with Miss Hendry (by Smith's
Son of Snake).

Mr. Henley, with Badger, alias Thunderbolt

3

34 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

(bred by Mr. Meynell, of Sowerby, Yorks, by Mr.
Ward's Counsellor and a Snake mare).

Mr. Holme, or Holmes (of Carlisle), with
Wildair (by Duke of Bolton's Starling, dam by
Partner).

Mr., or General, Honywood (who was des-
perately wounded at Dettingen, and married a
Miss Wastell, of a great Yorkshire horse-racing
family), with a Grey Mare by Young True Blue
(which mare was the dam of Lord Gower's cele-
brated mare Miss Vixen, or Vixon).

Mr., or Colonel, Howard (of the Earls of Car-
lisle's family), with a Chestnut Mare by Sir W.
Strickland's Turk (or Lord Carlisle's Barb) and
the famous Carlisle Gelding's dam.

Mr. HuGiiSON, or Hew^son, with Czarina (by
Sir M. Newton's Arabian).

Mr. HuMBERSTON, with Stump (by Mr. Barley's
Manica, dam by Snake, or by the Holderness
Turk).

Mr. Hunt (of Linton-upon-Ouse, Yorks), with
Spanker (own brother to Jigg, by the Duke of
Bolton's Goliah).

Mr. John Hutton (of Marsk Hall, Richmond,
Yorks), with Black Chance (by Mr. Hutton's

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 35

Bay Barb), Mab (dam of Silvio), Stately (daughter
of Mogul, son of the Godolphin Arabian), Phan-
tom (by Hobgoblin), and Aquilina (daughter of
Bartlett's Childers).

Mr. Jackson, with Favourite (daughter of Lord
Widdrington's Grey Arabian, and Miss or Mother
Neasham's dam) and Moll-in-the-Vale (of un-
recorded pedigree).

Mr. Ralph Jenison (of Walworth, Durham),
with Joseph Andrews (by Roundhead).

Mr. Anthony Tracy Keck, with Genius (own
brother to Juniper, by Babram) and Lady Char-
lotte (by Mr. Panton's Crab).

Mr. Kettle, with Diamond (by Potatoe, a
horse bred in Ireland).

The Duke of Kingston (the last, who married
Miss Chudleigh, the 'infamous' Duchess), with
Miner (Mr. Constable's and Mr. Robinson's, of
Malton, by Tartar) and Prince T'Ouafsaw (Mr.
Fenwick's, by Snip, son of Flying Childers).

Mr. Edward Leedes (of North Milford, Tad-
caster, Yorks), with Spinster (daughter of Panton's
Crab and the Widdrington Mare, also called
Spinster),

Lord (the Earl of) Lonsdale, with Monkey

36 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

(by the Lonsdale Bay Arabian, dam by Mr. Cur-
wen's Bay Barb).

Sir James Lowther (of Lowther Hall, West-
morland), with Jason (bred by Mr. Nathaniel
Curzon by Standard and a daughter of the Duke of
Beaufort's White Arabian), and Sophia (daughter
of Blank and Little Bowes).

Lord William Manners (Horace Walpole's
'groom'), with Chuff (by Flying Childers), own
brother to Poppet (colt), and half-brother to the
filly that was the dam in 1 759 of Granby, by Blank.

Mr. Marley, with Ragman (by Young Grey-
hound), that was sent to Ireland.

Mr. Martindale (a saddler in St. James's
Street), with Regulus (by the Godolphin Arabian),
that was bred by Lord Chedworth, was first called
Sweet-lips, won eight Royal Plates (at six years
of age), and was never beaten ; Adolphus (son of
Regulus), Sedbury (son of Crofts' Partner and the
famous Old Montague Mare), Shepherdess (by
the Godolphin Arabian), and Augustus (ex Archer,
by the Bolton Starling).

Mr. Thomas Meredith (of Easby, Richmond,
Yorks), with Bandy (by Cade), Shakspeare (by
Hobgoblin), believed, it is said, by Mr. Tattersall

FIRST PERIOD: CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 37

to have been the real sire of Edipse ; Stump (by
Merry Tom, son of Captain Rousby's Turk), and
Whittington (by Mr. Stamford's Whittington).

Mr. William Metcalfe (of Beverley, Yorks),
with Lady Betty (by the Duke of Devonshire's
Blacklegs) and Shepherdess (by the Grey Barb at
Hampton Court).

Sir William Middleton (of Belsea Castle,
Northumberland), with Camilla (own sister to
Squirrel, Midge, and Thwackum, by a son of Bay
Bolton and a daughter of Bartlett's Childers),
Squirrel (by a son of Bay Bolton, dam by Bart-
lett's Childers, grandam by Honywood's Arabian),
Thwackum (own brother to Squirrel), and Whistle-
jacket (by Mogul, by the Godolphin Arabian).

Sir Michael Newton, with Elephant (by the
Newton Grey Arabian and a daughter of Bay
Bolton) and the elegantly named Louse (by the
more elegantly named Bloody Buttocks).

The Countess of Northumberland, with Irene
(a brown mare by Cade).

The Earl (Sir Hugh Smithson, afterwards
Duke) of Northumberland, with Celadine (son
of Y. Cade) and Perseus (by the Duke of Bolton's
Starling and Coughing Polly).

38 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Sir George Oxendon (or Oxenden), with a
chestnut mare, foaled 1725, of unrecorded
pedigree.

Mr. Thomas Panton (the elder, Mr. Tregon-
well Frampton's successor at Newmarket), with
Bath (son of Sir W. Strickland's Turk), Blaze
(by Flying Childers), Bustard (by Crab), Cato
(by Crofts' Partner and a sister to the famous
Roxana), Crab (by Mr. Alcock's Arabian), John
Trott (by the Duke of Devonshire's Blacklegs),
Sloe (son of Mr. Panton's Crab and grandson of
Old Mermaid), Spinster (known as the Wid-
drington mare), Stadtholder (Mr. Routh's and
Lord Tankerville's), and Veteran (by Lord Lons-
dale's Bay Arabian).

Mr. William Parker, with Lady Thigh (by
Regulus).

Mr. Pembroke, with Dash (of unrecorded
pedigree).

Lord PoRTMORE, with Bosphorus (by Babram),
Crab (by Mr. Panton's Crab), Highlander (only
14 hands i inch high, by Victorious, dam by
Lord Chesterfield's Arabian), Lady Caroline (Mr.
Metcalfe's, by Flying Childers), Othello (by Mr.
Panton's Crab and Miss Slamerkin), a/ias Black-

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 39

and-all-Black ; Skin (by Panton's Crab), sent to
Ireland ; Spider (by Y. Cartouch), Tiney (gray
horse, by Skim, dam Grey Childers), Croke (son of
Aldby, or Alba, Jenny), Cumberland (Mr. Henry
Fletcher's, by Fletcher's Arabian), Rake (by
Lord Portmore's Whitenose, dam by Crab), and
Spectre (by Partner, dam by the Ancaster Turk).

Mr. George Prentice, with the gelding Trimmer
(Lord Godolphin's and Mr. James Lenox Button's,
by Hobgoblin),

Mr. William Preston (of Malton, Yorks), with
Hero (by Cade, dam a daughter of Lord Port-
more's Spinner), first called Slape.

Mr. Henry Proctor (of Yorkshire), with
Smallhopes (afterwards called Miss Proctor in
Ireland), by Mr. Bartlett's Childers.

Mr. Wilberforce Read (of Grimthorpe, near
Pocklington, Yorks, the first master of John
Singleton, the famous jockey), with a gray mare
of unrecorded pedigree.

Mr. Rich, with Caristina (a bay gelding, by a
foreign horse at Hampton Court) and Lowther
(bred by Sir W. Lowther, by Mr. Lister's Snake).

Mr. RicKABY (of York), with the black horse,
Kiss-in-a-Corner, of unrecorded pedigree.

40 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Mr. Robinson (of Malton, Yorks), with Mary-
Tartar, ex Magic, ex Moorpout, by Tartar (sire
of King Herod), and a dam, of uncertain pedi-
gree, that was bought for ' three pounds and a
noble and five shihings returned ' ; and the very
famous Sampson (sire of Bay Malton and
Engineer, and progenitor through Engineer, sire
of Mambrino, sire of Messenger, of the best breed
of American ' trotters '),

Lord (the Marquis of) Rockingham, with
Lisetta, or Lisette (known as the chestnut mare
by Regulus, dam by Lord Lonsdale's Bay
Arabian), and Scampston Cade (by Cade and the
famous Selima, daughter of Bethell's Arabian).

Mr. Benjamin Rogers (of Mickleham, Surrey),
with Jack of Newberry, or Newbury (afterwards
Lord Waldegrave's gelding Spot, by Babram), and
Pumpkin (by the Duke of Devonshire's Steady).

Mr. Cuthbert Routh (of Snape Hall, Bedale,
Yorks), with Looby (by the Duke of Bolton's
Looby), Othello (by Mr. Hawkswell's Oroonoko),
and Forfeit, own brother to Coughing Polly, by
Bartlett's Childers.

Miss Routh (daughter of Mr. Cuthbert Routh)
with Jenny-come-tye-me (by Bartlett's Childers).

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 41

Mr. Sanson (? of the family of ' Monsieur
de Paris'), with Sedgmoor, by Hampton Court
Childers, dam the dam of Mr. Kettle's (South
Country) Diamond (by the Irish horse Potatoe),
that was beaten by the North Country Diamond
in 1732.

Lord (the Earl of) Scarborough, with Cademus
or Cadenus (by Cade, dam by Crofts' Partner,
her dam by Bloody Buttocks).

Mr. ScouRFiELD (or Scurfield, of Hart-
Warren, near Hartlepool), with Dunkirk (by
Regulus).

Sir Charles Sedley (of Nuttall, near Not-
tingham), with Cadena (daughter of Cade).

Mr. Selby (of York), with Coughing Polly (by
Bartlett's Childers).

Mr., or Captain, Jenison Shafto (of York-
shire and Cambridgeshire), with Apollo (by
Regulus).

Mr. Shepherd (of Leberstone, near Scar-
borough, Yorks), with Tarran (a black horse by
the Rev. Mr. Tarran's Black Barb) and Dashwood
(by the Duke of Chandos' Turk).

Mr. James Shuttleworth (of Forcett Hall,
Richmond, Yorks), with Miss Wilkinson (bred by

42 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Mr. Lodge, of Richmond, by Regulus and Miss
Layton, commonly called Lodge's Roan Mare).

Mr. Simpson, with Mopping Jenny (by a son of
Mr. Darley's Almanzor, by the Darley Arabian)
and Mopsey(by Qaiet Caddy and Mopping Jenny's
dam).

The Duke of Somerset, with Greylegs (son of
Old Wyndham and a Barb Mare), Miss Wyndham
(daughter of Old Wyndham and grandam of Mr.
Stapleton's celebrated Beaufremont), Achilles (by
a full brother to the Duke of Bolton's Fear-
nought), the bay mare Chiddy (by Hampton
Court Childers and Bald Charlotte), and Quibble
(a chestnut horse by Old Wyndham).

Lord Strange (son and heir of the eleventh
and father of the wonderfully popular twelfth Earl
of Derby), with Sportsman (by Lord Derby's
Whitefoot), not to be confounded with Warren's
Sportsman (by Cade), sire of the celebrated
Sportsmistress, dam of Potatoes by Eclipse.

Mr. (Sir) William Swinburn (of Long Whitton,
Northumberland, and of the ' Northumberland
Confederacy '), with Belford (by Cade), and
Jessamy (Mr. Robert Shafto's, by Mr. Hutton's
Spot).

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 43

Mr. Try, with Surley Slouch (a chestnut horse,
winner of several Royal Plates, but apparently of
doubtful pedigree).

Mr. (the Hon.) Vane (ancestor of the Mar-
quises of Londonderry), with Little Partner (by
Mr. Crofts' Partner), and Miss Pert (Mr. New-
stead's, by the Thoulouse Barb).

Mr. Thomas Vavasour (of Yorkshire), with
Champion (by the Duke of Bolton's Goliah).

Mr., or Captain, Richard Vernon (Horace Wal-
pole's Mr. 'Jockey' Vernon, of Newmarket), with
Amelia (ex Duchess, by the Godolphin Arabian),
bred by Mr. William Crofts.

Mr. H. Vernon (a near relation of Mr. ' Jockey '
Vernon), with Lady Caroline (foaled 1 744, by
Mr. Panton's Crab).

Lord Walpole (father of the ' mad ' Earl of
Orford), with the famous Miss Slamerkin (bred
by General Philip Honyvvood, by Young True
Blue, dam by Lord Orford's Dun Arabian).

Mr. William Wanley, with Asmodius (by
Dormouse).

Mr. John Borlase Warren (of Stapleford,
Nottinghamshire), with Camillus (by Lord Cullen's
Arabian) and Careless (son of Regulus and Silver-

44 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

tail, that was the dam of Sportsman and Fear-
nought), winner of all the ^e7i Plates for which
he started.

Mr. Peregrine Wentworth (prince of sports-
men, of Towlstone Hall, Yorks), with Maria
(daughter of Second and Spinster).

Lord Weymouth (a Pulteney in those days),
with Scrutineer (by Aleppo, son of Mr. Darley's
Arabian), bred by Mr. Hassell. of Yorkshire,
and Miss of the Green (of unrecorded pedigree).

Mr. White, with Spot (by Mr. Alcock's Arabian,
dam apparently unknown).

Mr, Richard Williams (of Penbedw, Holywell,
Flintshire), with Almanzor (by Almanzor, son
of Mr. Darley's Arabian), Forester (son of Crofts'
Forester), and Mosco (by Lord Cullen's Arabian),
sent to America according to Colonel Bruce.

Mr. George Witty, of Yorkshire, owner at
one time of the famous Witty gelding, with
which Lord Hillsborough ran, but lost, a match
for 2,000 guineas against (Sir Ralph Ashton's) Old
Fox, with Grenadier (by Blaze).

Sir Marmaduke Wyvill (of Constable-Burton,
Bedale, Yorks), with Antelope (Marquis of
Hartington's, by Y. Belgrade), Primate (by Y.

FIRST PERIOD: CHARLES 11. TO GEORGE II. 45

Belgrade, son of the Belgrade Turk, which came
to Sir Marmaduke by way of France), and Volun-
teer (by Y. Belgrade).

Towards the close of this reign of George II.
were established the two Jockey Club Plates (in
1753) at Newmarket, and the Great Subscriptions
(in 1 751) at York, so that- if we cast our net
round the winners, human and equine, of those
races which were of the greatest account in those
days, from their establishment to the date of
George II.'s death (October, 1760), we shall have
immeshed pretty nearly all the chief celebrities,
human and equine, of the turf during that reign.

In the South, then, the winners were, among
the bipeds: Lord Gower, Mr. 'Jockey' Vernon,
the Duke of Cumberland, the (Duke of Devon-
shire) Marquis of Hartington, the Duke of
Ancaster, Mr. Fenwick, Lord Portmore, Lord
Chedworth, Sir James Lowther, Mr. Anthony
Langley Swymmer, Mr. Fulke Greville, Mr.
Naylor, Mr. Panton, and Mr. Gorge or Gorges
(for there is an irritating duplicity in the spell-
ing) ; and among the quadrupeds, omitting
such as have been mentioned already : Beau
Clincher (by the Gower Stallion), Marsk (sire

46 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

of Eclipse), Myrtle (a gray horse, by Ancaster
Starlincr, dam by Sir M. Newton's Bay Arabian),
Spectator (by Mr, Panton's Crab), a chestnut filly
by Blank, Standby (by Shepherd's Crab), Mirza
(by the Godolphin Arabian), Sally (by Blank),
yEsop (by Mr, Panton's Gray Arabian), and
Juniper (by Babram).

In the North, among the bipeds : Lord Port-
more, Mr, Hunt (of Linton-upon-Ouse), Sir W.
St, Quintin, Mr. Fenwick, Mr, Mann (of Borough-
bridge), Sir W, Middleton, Lord Sandwich, Mr.
William Swinburn, Sir John Ramsden, Mr.
Robinson (of Malton), Mr, William Preston, the
Duke of Devonshire, Mr, Hutton (of Marsk
Hall), Mr, Borlase Warren (of Stapleford, Notts),
Mr, Abraham Dixon (of Belford, Northumber-
land), and Mr. Fenton (of Glasshouse, Leeds) ;
and among the quadrupeds Skim (by the Bolton
Starling), the very distinguished Match'em
(whose services as a sire are said to have been
worth ;^i 7,000 to Mr, Fenwick in days when the
fee varied from ^5 to ^50 at the highest), Tan-
tivy (by Sedbury), Syphon (by Squirt, the sire of
Marsk), Romulus (by Regulus), Judgment (by
Snip, the sire of Snap), Brisk (by Cade, dam a

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE 11. 47

Lonsdale Arabian mare), Hambleton (by Snip),
Wildair (by Cade), a wonderfully good horse and
sire, imported for awhile into America by Mr.
James Delancey of New York, Silvio (by Cade,
dam Mab, by Hobgoblin), Panglos or Pangloss
(by Cade, dam by Bartlett's Childers), Engineer
(by Sampson), progenitor of American ' trotters,'
and Boreas (own brother to Panglos).

By this time, also, the 100 Guineas Sweep-
stakes, called the 1,200 Guineas Stakes at New-
market, had been for four years in existence, so
that it may be well to add the winners of that
great race also. They were Lord Godolphin's
Weasel (by the Godolphin Arabian), the Mar-
quis of Granby's Turpin (by Cade, dam the
Partner mare called Sister to Meynell), Mr. Dun-
combe's Indicus (by the Bolton Starling), and the
Duke of Devonshire's Foxhunter (by Blank, dam
Young Miss Bel voir, daughter of the very famous
Miss Belvoir, popularly known by a name which
' decency forbids ' to print in these days).

A glance through the foregoing names of bipeds
and quadrupeds will give a pretty correct idea of
the persons and the horses that were of most
service to the turf and to horse-racing and horse-

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

breeding in the reign of George II., who re-
sembled his father in liis negflect of horse-racino-
as well as in his dislike of ' boets and bainters/
If any surprise should be felt that no mention is
made of the ino-enious Earl of March and Ruolen
(better known as the notorious Duke of Queens-
bury, or ' Old O.'), who was certainly in full blast
at the time both on Newmarket Heath and in the
North, the reason is that the nobleman in ques-
tion was rather given to riding matches and using
the race-horse as an instrument of gambling than
to the winning of Royal Plates or to the breeding
of blood-stock, w'nich he seems to have preferred
to purchase for his purposes. Nor had the day of
Sir Richard Grosvenor (ancestor of the Marquises
and Duke of Westminster) and the Duke of Graf-
ton, and other celebrated persons of the early turf,
yet reached more than its dawn.

As for such renowned horses as Mr. Lameeo's
Little Driver (son of Mr. Beavors Driver), that
stood 14 hands 1 inch, and Mr. Benjamin
Rogers' Aaron (Lord Chedworth's, that 'gener-
ally measured under 14 hands'), they were not,
either in size or in anything else, among the giants
of the turf; they greatly affected give-and-take

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 49

Plates (weight for age and weight for inches,
under and over 14 hands) and provincial meet-
ings; and they have left no conspicuous mark
upon the pedigrees.

It is interesting to note the number of ladies
who raced in their own names, or nominated
horses to run in races, at this period, as well as
the colours and nomenclature of the horses.
Among the ladies we find (from 1727) Lady
Gainsborough, Lady Lovvther, Lady Chaplin,
Lady Astley, Mrs. Meeke, Mrs. Deighton, the
Duchess of Marlborough (who gives, as the great
Duke had given, a purse to be run for at Wood-
stock), the Misses Routh (Dolly, Betty, Judy,
and Jenny, daughters of Mr. Cuthbert Routh, of
Snape Hall, Bedale, Yorks), Mrs. Routh, Lady
Coningsby, Mrs. Puleston, Mrs. Rawson, Miss
Hale, the Duchess of Gordon, Miss Christiana
Fagg, Miss Martindale, Mrs. Figg (not to be
confounded with ' Figg's mare '), Miss Stuart,
Miss Mayes, Miss Nancy Spearman, Miss Kitty
Ferger, and Miss Leigh ; and, as if to show what
an innocent, domestic, family kind of sport is
horse-racing, there is a 'Master' Leigh several
times among the nominators of Charming Molly

4

50 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

(Lord Leigh's, own sister to his Diana). No
doubt the ladies had only followed the fashion —
as they would be sure to do — set by her Majesty
Queen Anne, who had already in the previous
reign been imitated by Lady Savile, Mrs. Lay ton,
and Mrs. Betty Savile, to say nothing of Lady
Gainsborough.

Nowadays, of the very {q\n ladies who race,
one or two seem to think it necessary to exhibit
ostrich-like precaution by adopting a style and
title sometimes as transparent as glass, such as
' Mrs. Manton ' (the Duchess of Montrose) or
' Mrs. Jersey ' (the ' Jersey Lily ').

As for the colours of the horses, which up to
1727 had frequently been nutmeg-gray, dun, sorrel
(which is only a particular shade of chestnut, the
term being sometimes used still, especially in
America), and yellow, with an occasional 'bald'
(whether 'pie* or 'skew'), and, with many a roan
and gray, they remained very much the same up to
1 760 ; for, at that date, we still find not only the
ordinary bay, black, chestnut, and gray, but white,
dun, sorrel, pied, yellow, mouse-coloured, cream-
coloured (such as is now confined principally to
the circus, and secondarily to the riding 'tailor'

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 51

of * the Row ') ; and it is recorded of the Go-
dolphin Arabian that he ' got 'em of all colours,'
but duns by preference, like Buffcoat (Lord Go-
dolphin's, dam Silverlocks), that was imported
into Virginia about 1750. Nor is it without
physiological interest to watch the gradual dis-
appearance of peculiarly coloured coats as the
breed of English racehorses improves.

In respect of the nomenclature, we have grown
so much more refined or varnished — though
Catch-'em-alive and Kill-'em-and-eat-'em show
little polish — that some of the names given to
racehorses in the olden times (from 1709 to 1760,
let us say) cannot now be so much as set down
on paper for the public eye, and others would
not be tolerated if they were now given for
use. Among the latter may be classed Lord
Drogheda's Hell - fire (which would have to
take the form of Gehenna or Gohanna, at least),
Louse, Bloody Buttocks, Dung - cart, Sweetest-
when-naked, Lady Thigh, and many another,
which it is curious that conventionality should not
have banished from a sport in which, as we have
seen, ladies personally participated to a noticeable
extent. But that ladies were not likely to be

52 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

too exacting in that respect formerly may be
inferred from the ingenuous simplicity with which
Miss Betty Routh appears to have run in her
own name (or nomination) at Durham (in 1734)
and elsewhere a horse called Tom-come-tickle-me-
But as Miss Betty might have been quite a little
girl at the time, and the horse her father's, nomi-
nated in her name to please her, no sinister con-
clusions can be drawn from the circumstance.

Jockeys have become persons of so much con-
sideration in these days that a few words about
their predecessors of old time may not be out of
place. In the reign of Henry VIII. there were
' riders of the running geldings' in the royal stud,
but their names cannot be fully ascertained ; and
it is a question whether there were any jockeys,
in the present sense of the word, before the reign
of Charles II., when, according to Mr. J. B.
Muir, the 'boy riders' to the royal stables were
Peter Allibond, George Horniblowe (or Hornbi-
lowe), William Bungany, and John Smith, of
whom none can be claimed as a historical char-
acter. Far more historical were the o-entlemen-
jockeys of that reign, who, as we have seen,
included King Charles himself, his son (the Duke

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 53

of Monmouth), and Mr. Elliot (a Gentleman of
the Bedchamber), besides a Mr. Osley (or Oxley),
Sir Robert Geere, Colonel Aslon (an ancestor, no
doubt, of the Sir Willoughby Aston of a later
reign), and Messrs. Staple (or Sheldon) and
Felton (a historic name enough). Among the
professional jockeys, mention is made of a certain
'Jack of Burford,' which is not very explicit. We
have already come across the decidedly historical
Jerome Hare, rider of Old Merlin in the famous
match which probably took place at the end of
King William III.'s reign, or at the beginning of
Queen Anne's, and is said to have led to the
statute (9th Anne) passed with a view of re-
pressing heavy betting on horse-races as well as
other sports ; and one Hague is recorded as
jockey to Queen Anne and Prince George of
Denmark up to 1 708. The principal professional
jockeys from that date to 1760 were Thomas
Ovington (said to have been the original breeder of
Mr. John Crofts' famous Bloody Buttocks), John
South, Stephen Jefferson, Thomas and William
Erratt, Robert and William Heseltine, Thomas
and Christopher Jackson, Edward Jackson and
John Peirson (who both died within a few weeks

54 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

of injuries sustained in riding the two favourites
for the King's Plate at York in 1721), the ilkis-
trious ' Match'em ' Tims (whose son, ' Young
Match'em,' when ' but eleven years and a half
old ' won a match at Hambleton in i J^'^), Thomas
and Christopher Duck, the 'great' John Single-
ton (who died at seventy-eight in 1793, and was
the progenitor of a galaxy of able professionals of
that surname), Thomas and Josiah Marshall,
Richard Marsh (or March, probably an ancestor
of the present trainer, Richard Marsh, of Lord-
ship Farm and Egerton House, Newmarket, him-
self once a great rider of steeplechases), Richard
Dyer, John Woodcock (rider of a great match
against time), Thomas Stamford, S. Arnull (a
name well known to this day), and others quos
nunc describe re lo72guui est.

In George II.'s reign, in 1738, a ^10 Plate
was run for at Maldon, Essex, by three com-
petitors, with the curious result that all three were
'distanced,' according to the rules of racing ; for
the horse that came in first ran on the wTong
side of a post, the rider of the second could
not draw his weight, and the other horse fell
and broke his leg. But perhaps a more curious

FIRST PERIOD : CHARLES II. TO GEORGE II. 55

race, or rather steeplechase, between three com-
petitors, took place at Plumpton in the Ovingdean
Steeplechase, on Saturday, December 17, 1892,
between Sea Wall (Mr. Atkinson), Arran (Mr.
Gale), and Covert Side (Mr. C. Thompson).
The odds were 5 to i o?i Sea Wall, 6 to i against
Arran, and 20 to i against Covert Side, whose
behaviour in the race was such that he was taken
back to the paddock. Meanwhile Arran fell, and
by his fall was put /lors de coinbat ; and Sea Wall,
having reached the ' open ditch,' pertinaciously
refused to ' take it.' Mr. C. Thompson, yielding
to repeated calls, brought out Covert Side, a little
improved in temper by this time, from the pad-
dock once more, mounted, and got the horse over
the ground as far as Sea Wall and the 'open
ditch.' It was generally thought that Sei Wall,
with a ' lead,' would take the jump and win ; but,
though Covert Side cleared the obstacle, Sea
Wall would not budge, and Mr. Thompson com-
pleted the course. The stewards declared it a
race, and as there was no second there was no
opening for an objection, unless the declaration of
the stewards were objected to, which does not
appear to have been the case.

[ 56 ]

CHAPTER II.

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III.

George III. and the Turf — Royal Patronage of Horse-racing —
Establishment of the ' Classic ' Races — Frederick Lewis,
Prince of Wales, and Epsom Races — Questions concern-
ing the Derby and the other ' Classic ' Races — Ascot —
Brighton — Lewes — Goodwood — York — A Royal Duke
pushed into a Fish-pond — The Racing of Two-Year-Olds
and of Yearlings — The Story of Blacklock — The Collapse
of the Arabian — The Rise of the Betting Ring — Foreigners
on the English Turf — The Tattersalls and the Weatherbys
— The Practice of ' Nobbling ' — Newmarket Meetings in-
creased from Three to Eight — Ladies on the Turf — Seven
Notable Horses : Dr. Syntax, Sir Joshua, Copenhagen,
Beeswing, Selim, Cashel, Rubens — Colours and Heights
of Race-horses — Nomenclature — American Importations
of English Horses — -Castianira, Dam of Sir Archy — ■
Diamond or Duchess and Alice Carneal — Lexington and
Umpire — The Cub Mare, Dam of Old Slamerkin — A
Sensitive Bookmaker — Some Celebrated Jockeys.

We have now reached the reign of George III.,
who was King from October 25, 1760, to January
29, 1820. Although 'Farmer George' did Httle
personally to encourage ' the sport of kings '
beyond riding, it is said, the blood-sire Sturdy at

SECOND PERIOD: GEORGE III. 57

exercise, instituting a Plate for hunters at Ascot,
and attending the races there with homely Queen
Charlotte and the family, quite without ceremony,
and thereby, unintentionally no doubt, exciting in
two of his sons, George, the ' first gentleman of
Europe,' and Frederick, the ' Bishop of Osna-
burgh,' an ardent desire to be conspicuous upon
the turf, yet it was in his reign that horse-racing,
both for good and for evil, was to attain a de-
velopment which was truly stupendous. The
Jockey Club had been some ten years in exist-
ence, and though the King himself was neither a
member of it nor titular ' patron ' of it, as Wil-
liam IV. was, yet the King's uncle (the ' Culloden '
Duke of Cumberland), the King's brother (Henry
Frederick, the next Duke of Cumberland, de-
scribed as ' the silly boy who disgraces the tide '
by a contemporary), and, in due course, two of
the King's sons, became very prominent members
of it, to say nothing of other uncles and sons, two
or more of whom certainly belonged to it.

Horse-racing, then, was well off for Royal patron-
age during this reign, in which flourished such great
horses as Herod {alias King Herod) and Eclipse
(both bred by the ' Culloden ' Duke of Cumber-
land), and, both before and after those two horses'

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

days of performance, Lord Ossory's Otho, Lord
Rockingham's Bay Malton, Lord Grosvenor's
Cardinal Puff, Mr. Fenwick's (Sir C. Bunbury's)
Dux and Le Sang, Sir J. Lister Kaye's famous
mare Perdita, Sir Thomas Gascoigne's famous
mare Tuberose, Lord Bolingbroke's Paymaster
(sire of Paragon), Messrs. Fox and Foley's Tren-
tham, Mr. Vernon's famous mare Coquette (by
Compton's Barb), Mr. Strode's (the Rev. Mr.
Hewgill's) famous mare Priestess (by Match 'em),
Lord Grosvenor's famous mare Maiden (Mr.
Pratt's, of Askrigg), Lord Ossory's Comus (sold
to Comte d'x^rtois), Messrs. Fox and Foley's
Pyrrhus (Mr. Vernon's, by Sprightly). Count
Lauraguais' and ever so many other persons'
famous little Gimcrack (that gave the name to the
Gimcrack Club, York, though he was a Southern
horse, bred in Hampshire), Lord Bolingbroke's
and Mr. Tattersall's Highflyer (that never was
beaten, never paid forfeit, and made the fortune
of the Tattersalls), Lord Grosvenor's and Lord
Abingdon's superlative Pot-8-os (sire of Waxy), as
well as Mr. Edward Crofts' Young Marsk (sire
of Mr. Bethell's Ruler), Mr. John St. Leger
Douglas's and Mr. Jenison Shafto's Goldfinder
(sire of Colonel Radcliffe's Serina), Mr. Wastell's

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III. 59

and Lord Bolingbroke's Alfred (sire of the Rev. Mr.
Goodricke's Imperatrix), Mr. or Captain Robert
Shafto's Tandem (sire of Sir F. Standish's famous
Yellow Mare), Lord Grosvenor's Sweet William
(sire of Ceres), the Duke of Grafton's Plunder
(sire of Mr. Burlton's Stella), Mr. Vernon's Flo-
rizel (sire of Sir T. C. Bunbury's Diomed), Mr.
Thomas Meredith's and Lord Grosvenor's Sweet-
briar (sire of Lord Egremont's Assassin), the Duke
of Ancaster's and Lord Clermont's Marc Antony
(sire of Aimwell), Sir Charles Davers' and Mr.
Vernon's Woodpecker (sire of Buzzard), Mr.
Wastell's and Lord Clermont's Conductor (sire of
Trumpator), Mr. O' Kelly's King Fergus (sire of
Beningbrough and Hambletonian, and grandsire
of Orville), Lord Egremont's Gohanna, and a
score or two more of ' cracks,' including, of course,
all winners of the ' classic ' races (the Doncastcr
St. Leger, the Oaks, the Derby, the Two Thou-
sand, and the One Thousand) from their institu-
tion to the end of the season of 1 8 1 9, a list whereof
is easily accessible.

For it was in this reign that all those great
races were established : the St. Leger, so called
after Colonel and General St. Leger, of Park
Hill, Doncaster, whence the Park Hill Stakes

6o HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

received that appellation, and founded in 1776,
though not named till 1778 ; the Oaks and Derby,
established under the auspices of the popular
twelfth Earl of Derby in 1779 and 1780 respec-
tively; the Two Thousand, established in 1809;
and the One Thousand in 18 14.

And here a little digression, perhaps, may be
allowed for the purpose of dealing with some small
questions which invariably recur, as often as the
anniversary of the Derby comes round. First of all,
there is no provision in Magna Charta (for reasons
which need not be discussed) for the ' adjournment
of the House ' over the Derby Day ; nor, if the
House fails to adjourn, is it likely (to judge from
past experience) either that the earth would open
and swallow up the sitting members, or that a
House would be obtained with which any import-
ant business could be done (unless, of course,
under very exceptional conditions). The fact is
that the adjournment of the House on the Derby
Day was first moved by Lord G. Bentinck, May
18, 1847 ; ^'^s moved b)' the Government from
i860, when Lord Palmerston declared that to
adjourn over that day was ' part of the unwritten
law of Parliament '; was abandoned as a Govern-
ment motion by Sir Stafford Northcote in 1879;

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III. 6i

and was rejected altogether, on the motion of
Viscount Wolmer, without an earthquake, but with
the result of an almost empty House, in 1892.

Secondly, it may not be generally known, or,
at any rate, remembered, that Frederick Lewis,
Prince of Wales, son of George II. and father of
George III., had some slight connection with
Epsom, though of course not with the Derby.
He was the Prince of Wales for whom some Jaco-
bite wrote the following bitter epitaph, now almost
forgotten, in doggerel verse :

' Here's lies Fred,

Who was alive and is dead :
Had it been his father, I had much rather ;
Had it been his brother, still better than another;
Had it been his sister, nobody would have missed her ;
Had it been the whole generation, still better for the nation ;

But, as 'tis only Fred,

Who was alive and is dead,

There's no more to be said.'

He does not seem to have been a sportsman,
as his brother, the ' Culloden ' Duke of Cumber-
land, was, or to have bred, owned, or run a single
race-horse, whatever else he may have done to
redeem himself and his memory from unpopu-
larity. Nevertheless, a diligent perusal of the
records reveals the fact that a Prince of Wales's

62 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Cup or Purse was given to be run for at Epsom
from 1 741 to 1747, both years included, and that
Prince must, of course, have been * Fred.' And
when we come to inquire why his patronage
should have been bestowed upon Epsom in par-
ticular, the interesting fact is disclosed that he
once resided at the Durdans, a place which,
since his time, has been associated with the names
of personages so different from ' Fred,' and so
much more popular, as the late Sir Gilbert
Heathcote and the present Earl of Rosebery.
Of course, the house is not the same, for that in
which ' Fred ' had lived — and which was said to
have been built with materials obtained from
Nonsuch Palace, demolished by the Duchess of
Cleveland- — was burnt down and replaced by
another, of which a Mr. Dalbiac appears to have
been either the architect or the owner.

In the next place it is by no means unusual for
the Derby to fall in June, as, to speak roughly,
all depends upon the incidence of Easter, which
guides the Jockey Club in the arrangement of the
race-meetings. The Derby was run on a day of June
in 1791, 1794, 1797, 1802, 1808, 1810, 1813, 1821,
1824, 1829, 1S32, 1835. 1840, 1859, 1862, 1870,
1874, 1878, 1881, 1885, 1889, 1890, and 1892.

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III. 63

Since 1838 (included) the race has been run in-
variably on a Wednesday ; up to that date (with
the single exception of a Wednesday in 1786) it
had always been run on a Thursday, though the
Oaks was always from the first run on the follow-
ing Friday, as now. The Derby has always been
open to fillies (three years old) as well as colts
(three years old), and was won by a filly in 1801
(Eleanor, winner of the Oaks also), in 1857 (by
Blink Bonny, winner of the Oaks also), and in
1882 (by Shotover, beaten for the Oaks, which
was won by Lord Stamford's Geheimniss), The
distance has varied from a mile (1780-83) to
about a mile and a half (1784, and ever since),
and the course has undergone several alterations,
though the distance remained as nearly as possible
the same), notably in 1848, when what was known
as the Old Derby Course — of horseshoe shape,
and exactly a mile and a half — was abandoned for
another, which ran into the old course at the
mile-post, and again in 1872, when the present
course was adopted. The subscription and forfeit
were always virtually the same — namely, 50 sovs.
(or guineas) and 'half forfeit' — until in 1890,
when, what with short races for fabulous sums
offered by competing companies, and what with

64 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

other considerations upon which it were tedious
to dwell, it was thought advisable, if not abso-
lutely necessary, to guarantee a lowest value for the
Derby and Oaks (^5,000 and ^4,000 respectively,
without prejudice), and to tempt subscribers by
instituting a second (earlier) forfeit of 10 sovs.,
though the original subscription and forfeit re-
mained the same. The weights for the Derby
have varied noticeably. In 1780, colts 8 St.,
fillies 7 St. II lb., altered in i 784 to colts 8 st. 3 lb.,
fillies 8 St. ; in 1801 to colts 8 st. 3 lb., fillies 7 st.
12 lb. ; in 1803 to colts 8 st. 5 lb., fillies 8 st. ; in
1807 to colts 8 St. 7 lb., fillies 8 st. 2 lb. ; in 1862
to colts 8 St. 10 lb., fillies 8 st. 5 lb. ; and lastly,
in 1884, to colts 9 St., fillies 8 st. 9 lb., all of
which goes to illustrate the 1 utility of drawing
comparisons from the timing or clocking of races
unless every particular can be taken into account.
The Derby was run in a snow-storm when
Bloomsbury won in 1839, and there was snow —
but not, it would seem, during the race — on the
day when Mr. Chaplin's famous Hermit won in
1867. There was a dead heat for the Derby in
1828 between the Duke of Rutland's Cadland and
the Hon. Edward Petre's The Colonel (which was
run off and won by the former), and in 1884

SECOND PERIOD .- GEORGE III. 65

between Mr. John Hammond's St. Gatien and Sir
John Willoughby's Harvester (which was not run
off; stakes divided). In 1825 Lord Jersey's (chest-
nut) Middleton, and in 18^,8 Sir Gilbert Heath-
cote's Amato, distinouished themselves by win-
ning the Derby, though they never ran in public
before or after; and in 1864 Blair Athol made his
first appearance in public when he won the Derby.

Only three foreign - bred horses have won
the Derby : Gladiateur, bred in France, in
1865 ; Kisber. bred in Hungary, 1876 ; Iroquois,
bred in America, in 1881. The richest Derby on
record, notwithstanding the recent subsidization
(of which mention has been made), is still that
which was won by Lord Lyon (^7,350) in 1866.
That the Derby will be won by the favourite in
any given year is — if we judge of the future by
the past — unlikely, in the proportion of about
I to 2, or, at the best, 2 to 3. The largest number
of runners for the Derby has hitherto been thirty-
four (in 1862, when Caractacus won, though there
were thirty-three in 1851, when Teddington was
hero of 'the Great Exhibition year'), and the
smallest four (in 1794, when Daedalus won).

It is to be feared that the days of very

5

66 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

large ' fields ' are over now, for reasons not
wholly unconnected with the increase in the
number of two-year-old races and ' monster stakes.'
Lastly, it may be well to add — so frequent are
inquiries upon the subject — that the notorious
Lady Elizabeth ran for the Derby won by Blue
Gown in [868, and started favourite at 7 to 4,
being so much more fancied than Blue Gown, as
7 to 4 is less odds than 7 to 2 ; that the shortest
(unofficial) time for running the race, dating from
1846, is 2 minutes 43 seconds (Kettledrum's,
Blair Athol's, Merry Hampton's, and Ayrshire's
time, but they did not all carry the same weight),
and the longest (unofficial) 3 minutes 4 seconds
(Ellington's 'record' in 1856); and that the
greatest of all favourites was Surefoot (95 to 40
on) when he lost in 1890.

Of the Oaks it may suffice to state that it has
always been for fillies only (three years old), that
it received its name from the twelfth Earl of
Derby's seat, called The Oaks (purchased from his
relative, General Burgoyne, and originally an inn
on Epsom or Banstead Downs) ; that it is a year
older than the Derby, as it dates from 1779 ; that it
has always been run on a Frida3% and over a dis-

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III. 67

tance (though the actual course has varied with that
of the Derby) of a mile and a half ; that the weight
of the runners has undergone alterations, more or
less in accordance with variations in the weights
carried for the Derby ; that the race has twice
produced a dead heat: in 1858, between Governess
and Gildermire, when the former won the decider,
and in 1876, between the two French fillies,
Camelia and Enguerrande, when the latter walked
over and the stakes were divided ; that the winner
of the race has only twice won the Derby (Eleanor
in 1801, and Blink Bonny in 1857), t>ut thrice the
Two Thousand (Pastille in 1822, Crucifix in 1840,
and Formosa, running a dead heat, however, with
Moslem, in 1868), and many times the St. Leger
(which is run in 'the mares' month') ; that it was the
sex of the runners which caused the ' Oaks Day '
to be known as ' the ladies' day '; that the greatest
number of runners has been twenty-six (when Mr.
* Bookmaker' Hill's Cymba won in 1848), and
the smallest, as with the Derby, four (in 1 799), when
Bellina won, and there were only five in 1882, when
Geheimniss won ; and that, according to very
fair though unofficial authority, with a long gap
from 1828 to 1846, the shortest time for the race

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

has been 2 minutes 40 seconds, ascribed to Tur-
quoise, when she won in 1828, which is four-
fifths of a second (an accuracy unknown in
Turquoise's day) less than the time unofficially
ascribed to Memoir in 1890, and the longest, as
with the Derby, 3 minutes 4 seconds (which was
the 'record' of Mr. 'Bookmaker' Hill's Mincepie
in 1856, the very year, oddly enough, in which
the Derby was also slowest). Four ' foreigners,'
all French, have won the Oaks — Fille de I'Air in
1864, Reine in 1872, and Camelia and Enguer-
rande (dead heat and stakes divided) in 1876.

Of the Two Thousand Guineas and the One
Thousand Guineas it should be observed, first
of all, that there seems to have been originally
more point than is now noticeable in the names
they bear ; for the former (always for fillies as
well as colts, and first run for in 1809) had twenty-
three subscribers at 100 guineas in the first year,
and that would be in round numbers 2,000 guineas;
and the latter (always for fillies only, and first run
for in 1 814) had exactly ten subscribers at 100
guineas in the first year, and that would be ex-
actly 1,000 guineas.

It should be observed, in the next place,
that, at the date of their establishment, race-

SECOND PERIOD: GEORGE III. 69

horses took their age from the ist of May,
so that the runners would be two-year-olds,
' rising ' three, and not, as now, three years old
die7i sounds. Again, the Two Thousand used to
be run on Tuesday and the One Thousand on
Thursday, instead of, as now, on Wednesday and
Friday respectively ; and, though the former has
always been run on the Rowley Mile, the latter
was run on the Ditch mile up to 1873. It is
worthy of notice, too, that though the Two Thou-
sand and Derby have been frequently won by the
same horse since 181 3, Sir Charles Bunbury, who
won the first Derby (with Diomed), and was the
first to win both Oaks and Derby with the same
mare (Eleanor, in 1801), was the first to win both
Two Thousand and Derby (with Smolensko in
1813) ; and that Mr. ' Kit' Wilson, ' Pater Ces-
pitis,' who was the first to win both Derby and
St. Leger with the same horse (with Champion in
1800), won not only the first Two Thousand
(with Wizard) but also the first One Thousand
(with Charlotte).

For the Two Thousand there has been
one dead heat (Moslem and Formosa in 1868)
recorded ; for the One Thousand not any.
The greatest number of runners for the Two

70 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Thousand has been nineteen (when Pretender
won in 1869), and the smallest two (in 1829 and
1830, when Patron and Augustus, both belonging
to Lord Exeter, won respectively). The largest
number for the One Thousand, as with the
Two Thousand, has been nineteen (in 1877, when
Lord Hartington's Belphoebe won) ; the smallest
in 1825, when the Duke of Grafton's Tontine
couriU seiile^ as the French put it, or ' walked
over,' as we say.

The Two Thousand and One Thousand
have been won by the same hlly three times
— by Crucifix in 1840, Formosa (dead heat
for the Two Thousand) in 1868, and Pilgrimage
in 1878 ; the One Thousand and the Oaks by
Neva in 1817, Corinne in 1818, Zinc in 1823,
Cobweb in 1824, Galata in 1832, Crucifix in 1840,
Mendicant in 1846, Governess in 1858, Formosa
in 1868, Hannah in 1871, Reine (French) in 1872,
Spinaway in 1875, Camelia (French, dead heat
for Oaks) in 1876, Wheel of Fortune in 1879,
Thebais in 1881, Busybody in 1884, Miss Jummy
in 1886, Reve d'Or in 1887, Mimiin 1891, and La
Fleche in 1892. The times tor the Two Thou-
sand and One Thousand have not been (even
unofficially) preserved.

SECOND PERIOD: GEORGE III. 71

The St. Leger, one year older than the Oaks,
if the date be taken from s.J'j'^, when the name
was given, or three years older, if from its insti-
tution without a special name, has always been
for fillies as well as colts (and was won in 1776,
when it was first run, but unnamed, by a filly after-
wards called Alabaculia), has, like the Derby, had
its distance and day of running altered, from the
original ' two miles ' to ' one mile six furlongs and
132 yards,' and from Monday, or (more frequently)
Tuesday, or sometimes Wednesday, to Wednes-
day permanently, commencing with 1845, when
The Baron won. Of course, fillies have always
received an alleviation of weight, as in the Derby,
but less than in the latter race, because the time
of year when the St, Leger is run is more favour-
able to them. The St. Leger, accordingly, has
been won by a filly very often indeed : (Alaba-
culia), Hollandaise, Serina, Imperatrix, Omphale,
Cowslip, Young Flora, Pewet (on a jostle, proved
against the rider of the black colt Zanga, by
Laurel and Moorpout), Paulina, Altisidora, The
Duchess (ex Duchess of Leven), Matilda, Queen
of Trumps (won the Oaks), Blue Bonnet^ Impe-
rieuse (won the One Thousand), Sunbeam, Caller
Ou (started at 1,000 to 15 against her), Achieve-

72 llORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

iiKMil (won the One 'J^housand), Formosa (won
lli<; Two Thousand, d(iad heat, the One
Thousand, and the Oaks), Hannah (won the One
Thousand and th(; Oaks). Marie Stuart (won the
Oaks), Ajjology (won the One Thousand and the
Oaks), Janncttte (won the Oaks), Dutcli Oven
(started at 40 to 1 against hv.r), Seabreeze (won
the Oaks), M(Miioir (won the Oaks), and La
Fleclie (won the One ddiousand and the Oaks).
Whence it is easy to conclude that the St. Leger
is truly said to be run in ' the mares' month '; but
another consideration is that a filly's chance for
the Oaks mit^ht be- endangered by running her
for the I )erby, whereas th(;re is no similar danger
at Doncaster, for the J^ark Hill Stakes, though
for fillies only, is a very different affair from the
Oaks, as regards both value and other things,
such as ' penalties.'

For the St. Leger, as for the 1 )erby, there
have been two d(?ad h(;ats, but with a differ-
ence, for they wcn-e bc^th run off — in 1839,
when Charles XH. got the better of Euclid
in the d(;cidcr, and in 1S50, when Voltigeur, at
the second time of asking, juslifu^d the odds of
6 U) 4 that weR! laid on him against Russborough.
The largest number of runners for the St. Leger

SECOND PERIOD: GEORGE III. 73

has been thirty (in 1825, when Memnon won),
and the smallest four (in 1783 and 1785, when
Phenomenon — by only ' half a head ' in front of
the gray Pacolet — and Cowslip won, respectively,
and in the latter of which years there were but
^ve subscribers. The shortest (unofficially re-
corded) time for the race, dating from 18 10, has
been 3 minutes ii-| seconds (Seabreeze's, in 1888),
and the longest 3 minutes 45 seconds, in 1839,
when Charles XII. won, af/cj" the dead heat. But
the dead heat, though slow, was run many seconds
faster (3 minutes 27 seconds is the ' clocking'), and
the slowness of the decider is readily accounted
for, when we read that ' at starting they both
walked from the post for a short distance, when
Euclid went away at a slow pace.' Whence the ab-
surdity of drawing any conclusion from ' clock-
ing,' unless every single circumstance is known
and taken into account, is once more to be
inferred.

It remains to be added that in 18 19 (when An-
tonio was the winner, and there were fourteen
starters, according to the records) nineteen horses
came to the post ; only fourteen got off In the
race which Antonio won, and which was declared
by the stewards of Doncaster races to have been

74 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

a false start ; another race was accordingly run,
for which only ten, not including Antonio, ran ;
and, the whole case having been referred to the
stewards of the Jockey Club, they condemned the
second race, on evidence given by the starter, and
pronounced Antonio the winner; and that in 1823
(when Barefoot won and there were but twelve
starters, according to the records) twenty-seven
horses came to the post ; there were three false
starts and three recalls, which were obeyed; twenty-
three horses then started and ran the whole course,
when Carnival came in first and Barefoot second,
but the starter having declared that he had not
given the word, the race was pronounced by the
authorities to have been a false start ; whereupon
fifteen horses were withdrawn, and the remaining
twelve ran, with the result that Barefoot, second
in the other race, won ; Carnival, first in the other
race, was nowhere ; and Conite d'Artois, oddly
enough, third both times.

It was in the reign of George III. that Ascot,
which the King would patronize with all his
family, from George P. to the little Princess
Amelia, grew from small beginnings to the
dignity of a Gold Cup (in 1807); that Brighton

SECOND PERIOD .■ GEORGE III. 75

came to the front, with Lewes in tow, and seemed
little likely to be eclipsed by Goodwood, which, at
Lord Eofremont's cessation of racincj at Petworth
(in 1802), had come to the birth, but remained a
very poor weakling until the advent of Lord
George Bentinck ; that York August meeting was
honoured and encouraged by the presence (1789)
of George P. (afterwards George IV.) and his
brother ' the Bishop,' a/zas Duke of York ; and
that these two royal brothers, with the eloquent
but extravagant Charles James Fox and other
distinguished worthies to aid and abet them, held
'high jinks' at Newmarket, before the unfortu-
nate 'Escape affair,' and pushed a royal Duke
and a member of the English Jockey Club (the
Due d'Orleans, a/ias Egalite) into the fish-
pond.

In the reign of Georj^e III. were established,
whether for good or for evil, those two-year-old
races about the usefulness or mischievousness
whereof the very highest authorities differ ; and,
as if to test Nature to the utmost, those yearling
races which, though condemned in course of time
by general opinion, were in vogue from 1786 to
1859, in which latter year the last race of the

76 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

kind in this country (though the racing of year-
Hngs has recently been introduced, but not
officially, in the United States) was run at
Shrewsbury, when Lord Stamford, a member of
the Jockey Club, and Mr. William Day, the once
eminent trainer, ran first and second for the
Anglesey Stakes. After this the racing of year-
lings ior pziblic stakes was prohibited, but it was
not until 1S76 that 'yearlings shall not run for
any race ' was inserted in the rules.

Who was or were responsible for the institution
of two-year-old racing has been disputed. The
responsibility seems to have been attributed, with-
out sufficient evidence, to Sir Charles Bunbury,who
appeared upon the turf for the first time in 1763, at
the age of twenty-three, and died in 182 1 (one year
after George III.), having acquired the title,
whether actually conferred by his compeers or popu-
larly bestowed on mere hypothesis, of ' perpetual
President of the Jockey Club,' and having occupied
for many years the prominent position on the turf
ascribed before him to the Hon. Bernard Howard
in the days of Charles H., and after him to Lord
George Bentinck and to the never - to - be -
forgotten Admiral Rous. Two-year-old racing

SECOND PERIOD: GEORGE III. 77

under the auspices of the Jockey Club un-
doubtedly 'caught on' in the South (at New-
market) some years before it was openly practised
in the North, inasmuch as two-year-olds appear in
the public records of matches run at Newmarket
in 1769-70, and by 1771 there was established the
Craven Stakes, in which two-year-olds were ex-
pressly authorized to run, whereas no public race
in which a two-year-old took part in the North
can be discovered in the records before 1779. In
that year Mr. Burden's (or Mr. Coates's) Czarina,
two years old, defeated Mr. John Hutchinson's
bay colt (foaled three months later than the filly)
in a race over the trying distance for their age
of two miles at Hambleton, the filly carrying
8 St. 7 lb. and the colt 8 st. ; but there is very good
reason for thinkincr that the account is true which
says that two-year-old racing originated among
the Yorkshiremen in a match or in matches, prob-
ably private, between the aforesaid Mr. John
Hutchinson, ex-stable-boy, of Shipton, near York,
and the Rev. Henry Goodricke (uncle of the last
baronet of that name, of Ribstone Hall, Yorks),
a Prebendary of York Minster and Rector of
Sutton-in-the-Forest.

78 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

However all this may be, two -year -old
racing and yearling racing seem to have been
far more in favour at Newmarket than in the
North, and led, no doubt, to that multiplica-
tion of short races which has been so much
deplored in later times. The chief among the
earliest patrons of the 'young' racing appear to
have been, as was only to be expected, the
wilder, more extravagant, experimental, specu-
lative, gambling spirits, together with the older
' knowing hands,' and they included the Prince of
Wales, Lord Clermont (his tutor ad hoc\ the
Duke of York and his ' chum ' (Mr. Ladbroke,
the banker, whose name is perpetuated in Bays-
water), the reckless Lord Barrymore, the Right
Hon. and right gamblesome C. J. Fox, Mr.
'Jockey Vernon,' the cock-fighting Lord Derby,
the Duke of Oueensberry ('old O.'), Lords
Grosvenor, Foley, Orford, and Egremont, Sir
Willoughby Aston, Mr. Panton, and hoc gemts
omne.

It was in the reign of George HI. that 'the
first gentleman,' who was to be George IV., won
his only Derby (in 1788, with Sir Thomas, by
Pontac), and that the Duke of York, who was

SECOND PERIOD: GEORGE III 79

'the hope of the family' (and justified the hope
by bequeathing to the nation a mountain of debt),
won the first of his two Derbys with Prince
Leopold (by Hedley, the name of Mr. Ladbroke's
country-place), the second having been won in
1822 with Moses (by Seymour or Whalebone).

It was in the reign of George III. that the
now highly esteemed progenitor Blacklock, whose
character the late Dr. Shorthouse spent several
years in attempting to blacken, lost the St. Leger,
which he should have won (in 18 17), and so
missed inscription among the winners of the great
races and his proper place in the memory of
mankind.

There is a story to the effect that Blacklock —
whose fate it was to drop down dead immediately
after performing his duty as a stud-horse, Feb-
ruary 24, 1 83 1, when he was 'rising' seventeen —
was dug up, about six years after his death, from
his grave under the lawn at Bishop Burton Hall,
the seat of his owner, Mr. Richard Watt, and
'put together by an anatomist'; that Mr. Watt
paid ^10 for a 'skeleton-rider, that yapped his
teeth when a string was pulled'; and that this
spectral combination was exhibited to the yokels

8o HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

(at so much a head, no doubt) at Beverley during
the agricultural meetings. The interesting spec-
tacle may still be open to the curious, for all that
can be discovered to the contrary ; but no posi-
tive assurance upon that point can be given
here.

It was a little before this reign, in 1756, that there
was run at Black Hambleton, Yorks, a race (the
Royal Plate for five-year-old mares) which deserves
notice for the singular fact that every one of the
runners bore the name of iMary, reminding one of
'the Queen's Marys' and the doggerel about 'Mary
Beaton and Mary Seaton and Mary Carmichsel
and me ' (Mary, Queen of Scots), for the mares
in the order of finishing were Mary Tartar (Mr.
Robinson's), Mary Scott (Mr, Swinburne's), Mary
Grey (Mr. Sotheron's), Mary Regulus (Mr. Os-
baldeston's), and Mary Andrew (Mr. Umpleby's),
which looks very much as if some of the runners
had been started merely in the sportive vein
more characteristic of the olden than of the
modern horse-racing.

It was early in this same reign that the ' Arab
blood,' which had undoubtedly done a great deal
for the English thoroughbred, began to fall under

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE HI. 8t

a suspicion gradually ripening into the open
contempt with which the 'son of the desert'
is now regarded from certain important points
of view, though he still maintains his claim to
admiration in others. For in 1782 was estab-
lished at Newmarket the Cumberland Stakes for
two-year-olds, whereof one of the conditions was
that an allowance of weight should be made to
the immediate progeny of 'Arabians' and some
other horses specially mentioned ; and it is
worthy of notice that since the foundation of
the St. Leger, Oaks, and Derby, no great race
has been won by the immediate offspring of
' Arabians,' though importation of the breed has
never entirely ceased even to this day.

The reign of George III., during which the
turf had rest from legislation, witnessed a great
change in the aspect presented by what had been
' the sport of kings,' the birth of what is now
familiar as that overgrown monster, the ' ring,'
and the descent upon our shores of the now
annual and habitual foreigner as a competitor on
our race-courses.

It has been observed already that the mischie-
vous statute of Queen Anne had tended to put

6

82 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

horse-racing, and the ownership of race-horses —
which {exceptis excipiendis, and the exceptions
were very few) had, up to the date of that statute,
been confined to ' kings,' nobihty, and gentry, for
the most part — within the conception and the
reach of httle men and men of straw, who pre-
viously would almost as soon have thought of
keeping a white elephant as of possessing and
running a race-horse of their own. Such persons,
having been induced by Queen Anne's statute to
run so-called race-horses, mostly tripeds, all over
the country, as instruments, there is reason to
suppose, of more or less paltry gambling, and as
a means of carrying out more or less sinister
designs, gradually increased the scope and scale
of their operations, when the remedial statutes
of George II. came into force.

So that early in the reign of George III.
we find, not only among the ' legs,' as the
members of the betting proletariat were de-
nominated, but among purchasers, owners,
and runners of great race-horses, with dis-
tinguished pedigrees and four sound legs, such
gentry as Messrs. Quick and Castle, who are
among the earliest instances of ' warning off' (by

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III. 83

advertisement from provincial meetings, not by
the recently-established Jockey Club from New-
market Heath), Mr. Wildman (a meat salesman
of sporting proclivities and of great astuteness),
Mr., or Captain, O'Kelly (an Irish adventurer,
whose vocation was gambling of every descrip-
tion, and whose delight was a * cross and jostle '),
Mr., or Captain, England (commonly called Dick
England, another Irishman, a bully, a ruffian, and
a gamester, a frequenter of the notorious Jack
Munday's coffee-house. Round Court, in the
Strand, with the aforesaid O'Kelly, and Jack
Tetherington, Bob Weir, Tom Hull, the Clarkes,
and, in fact, ' the most noted black-legs on the
town '), and other birds of the like feather. In-
somuch that Mr. Denis O'Kelly, by becoming the
owner of Eclipse, overshadowed, as a runner and
breeder of race-horses, all the nobility and gentry
addicted to the turf, and set an example, which
was speedily and frequently followed, of supre-
macy, so far as horse-racing and horse-breeding
are concerned, attained by a man of a very different
class from his predecessors in that position. Mr.
John Pratt, of Askrigg, had been a special case,
and a member of the Jockey Club to boot; and

84 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Mr. Martindale, the owner of Regulus, had not
been a mere adventurer, though he was but a
saddler.

After O'Kelly the precedence was taken for
awhile by Mr. Tattersall (ultimate owner of the
famous Highflyer, bred by Sir Charles Bun-
bury, and owned during the greater part of a
short but brilliant racing career by Lord Boling-
broke) ; and he, originally a wool-comber (like
Shakespeare's father), then a sort of stud-master to
the Duke of Kingston, and lastly an auctioneer, a
newspaper-proprietor, a breeder of race-horses,
and founder of the toast ' The hammer and High-
flyer,' though not belonging to ' the quality,' was
a nobleman in comparison with the adventurous
O'Kelly. However, it was on the suburban and
provincial race-courses principally that the new
style of race-horse owners prevailed as yet ; the
only ' common feller ' that we hnd among the
winners of the Derby up to 1820 is Mr. O'Kelly,
with Young Eclipse and with Sergeant, though
Mr. Tattersall, who himself seldom or never raced,
must be considered, as the owner of Highflyer, to
have had a finger in the pie which contained Mr.
Panton's Noble, the Duke of Bedford's noted

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III. 85

Skyscraper, and Lord Derby's famous Sir Peter
(Teazle).

In the North, too, the St. Leger had been
won by Mr. Hutchinson (ex-stable-boy) with
Young Traveller and Beningbrough ; and he
had bred Sir C. Turner's Hambletonian, a third
winner of that great race at Doncaster.

Some other names (such as that of Mr.
Ferguson, who won the St. Leger of 18 19 with
Antonio, and is said to have been a publican)
might be added ; but enough has been said to
show that less aristocratic persons had begun
to assert themselves as active and successful
participators in what had been * the sport of
kings,' and not merely as envious spectators,
humble bettors among equally ' common ' friends
and acquaintances, or adventurous 'legs,' lay-
ing the odds to their social superiors.

Between 1760 and 1820, the extent of the
reign of George III. (with interregna and a titular
regency), there also struggled into existence the
betting ring. Of course there had always been
betting, as we have seen, but it was chiefly,
though by no means entirely, confined to com-

86 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

petitive owners of horses among themselves, and
the public among themselves.

There had afterwards sprung up the ' legs ' and
the ' bettors round,' who formed, In the days when
the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., was
in his heyday, the fraternity which would assemble
on the Steyne at Brighton, and await the coming
of the ' plungers,' headed by Lord Foley and
Colonel Mellish, of lavish memory, when a cer-
tain Jerry Cloves, as pontifex tiuxximus, would
address the Colonel in the seductive words :
' Now, Mr. Mellish, will you light the candle
and set us a-going i*'

But, though an eye-witness describes the
'legs' and bettors as 'shoals,' Mr. Cloves and
his brethren were but a handful compared with
the ' bookmakers ' of to-day, who can scarcely be
said to have had a corporate existence before the
year 1818, when there were built at Tattersalls'
the Subscription Rooms, which have since been
removed from Hyde Park Corner to another
convenient site at Albert Gate, Knightsbridge.

The singularity of Tattersalls' is that it
was established by a family one of the heads

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III. 87

whereof regarded with abhorrence the practice of
systematic betting, and was of opinion that it
could only lead to the ruin of young gentlemen
who backed horses. Which shows how difficult
it is sometimes, if not generally, in this world to
reconcile one's interests with one's moral convic-
tion. Similarly it is understood that the late
famous proprietor of the ' hell ' at Monte Carlo,
who is said to have been known as ' the Old
Gentleman,' as much from his proprietorship as
from his position of paterfamilias, and in any case
' for emphasis or distinction's sake,' as the Eton
Latin Grammar has it, had a very low opinion of
the persons who indulged in the vice which his
tables encouraged, and, under new auspices, do
still encourage. But whether or no, the reign of
George III. saw the institution of the betting
ring in the form with which we are now familiar.
The same reign witnessed the descent upon
our race-courses of the foreigner, represented by
Philippe Egalite (the site of whose stables is still
pointed out at Newmarket), the Comte de Laur-
aguais (who, having earned but little credit
under that tide, died at the great age of ninety-
one, in 1823, as the highly respected Due de

88 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Brancas), the Marquis de Conflans, the Comte
de Guerchy, the Due de Lauzun, and as spec-
tator, if nothing more, the Marquis de Fitz-James
(of EngHsh descent from James II., through the
Duke of Berwick), not to mention, as a describer
and critic, the celebrated Comte de Mirabeau,
under the style and title of 'Monsieur' or 'Mr.
Grossley.'

These were all Frenchmen, and, to judge
from them, it would seem likely that the French
Revolution retarded for some fifty years the
progress in horse - racing and horse - breeding
which France began at the period under con-
sideration, resumed in 1833 after a long check,
and from that time to the present has continued
by leaps and bounds. An American, Mr. or
Colonel Hoomes, ran an English horse called
Horns (imported into America, and there re-
named Escape, by Precipitate, dam by Wood-
pecker) for the Derby of 1801 ; but it was to
be eighty years before the American dog was to
have his day on the English turf with Iroquois
and Foxhall.

Many other foreign names, both before and
during this period, occur among the runners of

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III. 89

race-horses upon English courses ; but they were
mostly, no doubt, the names of persons settled in
England, and, to all intents and purposes, Eng-
lish, such as Baron Blombergh (who is found
running in races at York as early as 1719, and is
believed to have been an equerry to George I.,
who 'imported him' from Hanover), Baron Suasso,
Signor Guadagni, and Mr. (Aaron) Lamego, whose
names point to a foreign origin. But they are not
of any consequence as regards the turf in Eng-
land, though Mr. Lamego owned some good
horses, including the celebrated Little Driver.

As of the Tattersalls, so of the Weatherbys,
the reign of George IIL saw the rise and per-
manent establishment; for it was in 1774 that
Mr. James Weatherby, the father of the dynasty,
became master of the situation and of ' the
calendar,' having apparently slain by a lawsuit
Mr. Fawconer, who, in conjunction with Mr.
Tuting, had worsted Mr. Walker, who had tried
to succeed Mr. Heber, who had stepped into the
shoes of Mr. Cheney, who had been the first
recognised publisher of a calendar since Mr. John
Nelson had set up a temporary one (by request)
as early as 1670.

90 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

It was in the reign of George III. that notice
is first taken in the records of the horrid practice
of ' nobbhng.' It had probably existed, from what
we know of horse-racing, as long as horse-racing
itself ; but we find no mention of it even at the
very likely time of the famous match which Old
Merlin won against Mr. Tregonwell Frampton's
horse at Newmarket, in the reign either of
William III. or of Anne; and the earliest in-
stance given is in 1772, when, on the eve of a
sweepstakes at York, for which a Mr. Barlow's
gelding, named Rosebud, was favourite in the
betting, ' some villains broke into the stable where
Rosebud stood, and gave him a dose of poison.'

This was in the merry month of May. And
in September of the same year occurred the
next recorded instance (again in Yorkshire), when
'some malicious persons got into the stable where
Tosspot [Mr. Pratt's, of Askrigg] stood, and gave
him a dose of physick the night before he was to
run ' in a race at Scarborough, according to the
Racing Calendar (Tuting and Fawconer's) of that
day. Then came the case (once more in York-
shire) of Mr. Bethell's excellent mare. Miss
Nightingale (by Match'em), that was to have run

SECOND PERIOD: GEORGE III. 91

at Boroiighbridge in October, i 778, but died the
Sunday before the appointed race - day, was
opened, and was found to have ' in her stomach
about two pounds of duck-shot, made up with
putty into balls ' ; and in the same year, still in
Yorkshire, Sir Thomas Gascoigne's and Mr. Staple-
ton's fine horse Magog (also by Match'em) was ren-
dered unfit to run for the Gold Cup at Doncaster
by some diabolically cruel villains, who, not con-
tent with giving him a dose, cut the poor creature's
tongue nearly out, but, nevertheless, did not pre-
vent him from winning one or two races after-
wards and from becoming a sire of some note.

But the climax was to be reached at Newmarket,
when a scoundrel named Daniel Dawson, and
deservedly denominated ' king of the nobblers,'
with the assistance of an unspeakable blackguard.
Bishop by name, who had been a dispenser at
Guy's Hospital, and, as was only to be expected
of such a miscreant, turned King's evidence for a
* consideration ' (which it would be pleasant to be
able to think, as is reported, that he did not get,
though the report may seem to reflect upon the
Jockey Club, the reputed offerers of the reward),
took to wholesale poisoning of race-horses, and

92 HORSE.RACING IN ENGLAND

was most righteously hanged on August 8, 1812.
' N'obbHnof' and rumours of 'nobbHncj' we have
had always with us from that date, even until
now, but not on so gigantic a scale ; and it may
be said that the abominable practice reached its
climacteric, if it did not commence, in the reign of
George III.

It was in this reign that the meetings at New-
markttt, which had been but two since the time of
Charles II., were increased to seven by the addi-
tion, under the auspices of the Jockey Club, which
had already introduced a Second Spring Meeting
(at which the two Jockey Club Plates were run
for) in 1753, of a Second October Meeting in
1762, of a July Meeting in 1765 (at which the
seal was set upon two-year-old racing by the
institution of the now famous July Stakes in
1786), of the Houghton Meeting in 1770, and of
the Craven Meeting (at which, in the eponymous
Craven Stakes, two-year-olds were first officially
authorized to compete with older horses), making
up altogether the seven annual meetings, which
became the usual number for very many years,
though it was for awhile reduced to six (the
Second Spring having been wisely abandoned for

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III. 93

some dozen or more seasons), and then aug-
mented to eight by the undesirable addition of a
Second July in 1890.

Durine the reien of Georore III. there were
still a goodly number of ladies 'on the turf,' in-
cluding the Countess of Northumberland, Mrs.
Bigland, Miss Longueville, Miss Nancy Forster,
Mrs. Anderson, Mrs. Harrison, Mrs. Egerton,
Miss Chamberlaine, Miss and Miss Betty Pearson,
Miss Dolly Jackson, Mrs. Carter, Miss Benton,
Mrs. Anne Jackson, Miss Thistlethwaite, Miss
Steward, Miss Martindale, Mrs. Ellis, Mrs. R.
Lambert, Miss Vevers, Miss Walker, Mrs. (the
Hon.) Fettyplace, Miss Cornwall, Mrs. Deighton,
the Duchess of Kingston (the notorious Miss
Chudleigh), Mrs. Manton (at Barnet in 1765,
though we are more accustomed to ' Mr.' in our
days), Miss Lloyd, Mrs. Johnson, Miss Garret,
Miss Hale, Mrs. (Erie) Drax, Mrs. Martindale,
Lady Craven (the notorious Margravine of
Anspach), Mrs. Binfield, Lady Catherine Powlett,
Miss Simpson, Lady Bampfylde (ancestress of
the Lords Poltimore), Mrs. (the Hon.) Brand
(Gertrude Roper, Baroness Dacre, ancestress of
the respected Speaker of the House of Commons),

94 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Mrs. and Miss Stuart, Miss Polly Hickman, the
Duchess of Rutland, Lady A. M. Stanhope, Lady
Essex (daughter of Colonel Bladen, owner of 'the
Bladen stallion '), and Lady Monson ; and, as if
once more to testify to the ' family ' nature of
the sport, there is a ' Master' Boyes running or
nominating Merry Tom for the King's Plate at
Burford in 1777.

All this is up to 1779, after which the number
of ladies who gniced the national pastime by
actually running or nominating horses seems
to have fallen off considerably (foreshadow-
ing the present state of things), as it is diffi-
cult to discover more than the Duchess of
Grafton, Mrs. Price, Lady Haggerstone, Miss
Tunnicliffe, the beautiful Georgiana, Duchess of
Devonshire, and her sister Lady Duncannon (and
then only in a sort of private affair at Newmarket),
Mrs. Wentworth (of the great Northern family),
Mrs. Goodricke (wife of the Rev. Henry Good-
ricke, Prebendar}' of York Minster, proprietor of
the celebrated ' Old England mare,' and suspected
co-introducer of two-year-old racing), Mrs. Hut-
chinson (wife, probably, of the famous John
Hutchinson, ex-stable-boy and 'pal' of the Rev.

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III. 95

Henry Goodricke), Lady Williamson (wife, no
doubt, of the memorable Sir Hedworth, who won
the Derby 'in a trot' with Ditto in 1803), Lady
Milner (of the great Northern family), Miss Le
Clerc (at Goodwood in 1805), Miss Saunders (at
Knighton in 1805), the Margravine of Anspach
(ex-Lady Craven, who ran third for the Derby in
1806 with Hector), Lady Shelley (in 1809), ^^^
perhaps some half-dozen others, among whom
was the so-called Mrs. Thornton (really Miss
Alicia Meynell, a fascinating young woman^ about
twenty-two years of age, living under the pro-
tection of the celebrated Colonel Thornton, of
Thornton Royal, Yorkshire), rider of two matches
at York, one in 1804 against Mr. or Captain
William Flint, and the other in 1805 against the
famous jockey Frank Buckle. After this date
lady-patronesses of the turf became pretty much,
as regards number and active participation, what
they are now.

The reign of George III., moreover, produced
three remarkable horses, whose names have
become household words, though the bearers of
the names never won any of the ' classic ' races,
and are, therefore, not noticed in the ordinary

96 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

lists. They were Dr. Syntax, Sir Joshua, and
Copenhagen. The Doctor was a very wonderful
horse ; he was said to be ' shod with Gold Cups '
(the number of which was increased during
George III.'s reign, just after the time that one
had been instituted at Richmond, Yorks, in 1759,
to as many almost as there were race-meetings).
He began to 'practise' at two years of age in
1814, and he did not 'retire' until 1823, when
he was certainly ' aged,' being eleven years old,
well sounded. He was a ' provincial ' horse, and
' practised ' almost entirely among the Gold Cups
at Richmond (Yorks), Preston, Lancaster, and
other country places, and he generally gave his
opponents 'gruel,' He was never more than
barely 15 hands high, and, as a )earling, was
so small that his owner, Mr. Riddell, of Felton
Park, Alnwick, Northumberland, thought of turn-
ing him Into a hack for young Master Riddell.
He was of a singular colour, officially described
as ' brown,' but said to have been rather ' mouse-
coloured ' (after the ancient style), and was so
short and fine in his coat that, after a single
canter, all his veins would stand out ' as if he
were covered with network.' He would not brook

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III. 97

either whip or spur, it is said, and yet, by simple
strokine and talking" and an occasional hiss, he
could always be made to do his best, even to
falling from exhaustion, as he is said to have
done in his last race, when he broke down in
winning the Gold Cup at Richmond, Yorks, in
1823 (which raises the question whether more
might not be done by gentle treatment than is
dreamt of in jockeys' philosophy). He became
paralyzed in 1838, and in July or August of that
year was mercifully shot behind the Palace at
Newmarket (in the presence of several trainers
and jockeys, who had been invited to do him the
last honours, and who, having given ' three times
three ' over his grave, toasted his memory in a
bumper). But already he had * illustrated himself
at the stud by begetting the ill-fated Ralph (winner
of the Two Thousand and Ascot Cup, and victim
of the murderous * nobbier,' who poisoned him),
and, above all, Mr. Orde's famous Beeswing
(winner of Cups, and dam of Nunnykirk and
Newminster), ' the pride of Northumberland.'

Mr. Ralph Neville's (Lord Braybooke's) Sir
Joshua, son of Rubens, was the hero of the
famous match in which (at Newmarket Craven,

7

98 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

1816), Filho da Puta was defeated by him, and
was remarkable in his death, which was so
mysterious that a post-viortem was ordered, when
it was discovered that the horse must have met
with an unsuspected accident (probably from
antics or hasty movements in his box), whereby
' his near pelvis-bone was fractured, just where
the head of the thigh is re-curved into the socket,
and a portion of the fractured bone had forced
its way into the abdomen, and, by tearing the
bloodvessels, made an immense wound, which
caused the fatal hemorrhage.' As for Copen-
hagen, he was, of course, the famous charger
ridden by the Duke of Wellington at the battle
of Waterloo, after running with some little success
on the turf, and, though half-bred, admitted into
Mr. Weatherby's ' Stud Book ' (first published in
George III.'s reign, in 1793) on account, no
doubt, of distinction gained ' in the wars.' To
these three must be added the three famous
brothers — Selim, Castrel, and Rubens (sire of
Sir Joshua), more renowned as sires than runners
(one of them, Castrel, having been a noted
' roarer ').

By the close of George III.'s reign the colours

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III. 99

and heicrhts of race-horses had become, on the
whole, pretty much what we are now accustomed
to, though grays and roans were rather more
plentiful ; but in the earlier half of the reign
there were still some ' funny ' colours, as the
famous Yellow Filly, by Tandem, and a piebald
filly (also, however, called roan) by Highflyer,
and duns in abundance will testify, though, with
the exception of the Yellow Filly (frequently
designated the Perdita Filly), they are not found
among winners of the great races, and were pro-
bably traceable to the various Arabians, whereof
the Vernon (Mr. 'Jockey' Vernon's) Arabian
alone has left any notable mark in the pedigrees.

The nomenclature of race-horses during the
long reign of ' Farmer George ' seems to have
shown a tendency towards gradual improvement
in point of decency, or at any rate a disposition to
wrap up impropriety * sandwich-like,' as an ex-
pert once observed, in a foreign and even dead
language (witness Cul Blanc, Melampygus, Pu-
denda, and Filho da Puta, which worthy Mr.
Crofts would most certainly have expressed in
plainer and blunter terms of unmistakable Eng-
lish), and to have taken a turn rather towards

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

eccentricity than obscenity ; for though we still
come across names which have an uncanny look
or sound, or both, the inclination is much more
towards apparently idiotic appellations, such as
Abomelique, Cumberhzapha, Fogram, Fox-
huntoribus, Fal-de-ral-tit, Ploughator, Pot-8-os,
and Titanoteratophyton, some of which would
drive many a bookmaker of to-day to imitate the
vocabulary of Mr. Crofts, of Barforth, Yorks.

To come back, however, from the mere con-
sideration of the names, to the animals them-
selves, it remains to be noted that in George II I. 's
reign two-year-olds, under the auspices of the
Jockey Club, were called upon to run three miles
(carrying a 'feather,' it is true), at the Houghton
Meeting (a sort of burning of the candle at both
ends, running youngsters at long distances), a
practice which continued from 1782 to 1869-70.

To change the topic once more, we may mention
that in the same reign was left the curious Perram
bequest (by a grateful gentleman of that name, in
Hertfordshire, who had made his fortune by horse-
racing and cock-fighting) to increase the value of
certain Plates at Newmarket, York, and Don-
caster, and to provide marriage-portions for cer-

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III.

tain young women (of Newmarket, or elsewhere) ;
and it was in the same reign that the new-born
or newly-organized United States of America,
with which country we had always maintained
horse-dealing, interrupted only by the Revolution
brought on by the obstinacy of ' Farmer George,'
began to buy our best thorough-breds more busily
than they had bought when they were loyal
British colonists.

They took, among many others, Archduke
(by Sir Peter), winner of the Derby in 1789;
Arra Kooker (by Drone), second to Squirrel
for the Great Subscription at York in 1792 ;
the Prince of Wales's famous Baronet (by Ver-
tumnus), winner of the Oatlands Stakes at Ascot
in 1 79 1 (when a riotous scene took place, it
is said, causing the transfer of the race for the
future to Newmarket, and ^100,000 changed
hands) ; Brilliant (by the celebrated Phenomenon),
third for the St. Leger of 1794 ; Citizen (by
Pacolet), first sent to the West Indies, and then
imported by General Stephen Carney into North
Carolina or Virginia, in 1803 ; Sir John Lade's
Clifden (by Alfred), and the Duke of Bedford's
Dragon (by Woodpecker), runners of the cele-

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

brated match at 15 st. each, over the Beacon
course, owners up, and won by the Duke, in 1792 ;
Lord A. (ninth Dul<e of) Hamilton's Creeper (by
Tandem), that belonged to the Prince of Wales
in 1 79 1, and was second for the Great Subscrip-
tion at York in that year, being ridden by Chifney
senior, whose riding of him and of Traveller at
the same meeting, combined with the same jockey's
riding of Escape in the South, threw suspicion on
Chifney, and brought about the quarrel between
the Prince and the Jockey Club, which induced his
Royai Highness to forswear Newmarket for ever.
The Duke of Grafton's Dare Devil (by
Magnet), was imported by Colonel Hoomes
in 1795; Sir C. Turner's De Bash (by King
Fergus), foaled 1792, into Massachusetts by
a Mr. Jones after 1796; and Sir Charles Bun-
bury's Diomed, winner of the first Derby in
1780, into Virginia at the age of twenty-two
in 1799, where he died, the property of Colonel
Hoomes, in 1808, aged thirty-one, having begotten
the famous American sire Sir Archy, among other
good horses. The Prince of Wales's Don Quixote
(bred by Mr. Taylor in 1784, dam Grecian Prin-
cess), and afterwards Mr. 'Counsellor' Lade's, is

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III. 103

stated in both Colonel S. D. Bruce's and Colonel
Wallace's American 'Stud Book' to have been im-
ported into America (Virginia), but, if so, it can
only have been temporarily in 1792-94, for a most
circumstantial account of the horse (sire of Colonel
Mellish's Sancho, winner of the St. Legerin 1804)
is given in ' Pick,' where (as well as in the English
' Stud Book ') he is said to have been shot in 1806,
without any hint of expatriation.

Sir John Pennington's Dotterel (by Change-
ling), was imported into Westmoreland County,
Virginia, where he stood in 1766, by Mr. P. N.
Lee ; Mr. Panton's noted Drone (by Herod) into
Massachusetts or Connecticut ; Lord Grosvenor's
The Druid (by Pot-8-os) ; Sir F. Standish's Eagle
(by Volunteer), by Mr. Bell in 181 1 into Vir-
ginia, where the horse died, aged thirty, in 1826 ;
Sir J. Shelley's chestnut colt (foaled 1778, by
Eclipse), into Maryland by Mr. Richard B. Hall,
and there known as ' Hall's Eclipse '; Escape,
a/i'as Horns (by Precipitate), by Colonel Hoomes,
as already mentioned ; and Mr. Tattersall's Escape
(by Highflyer), in 1792 by Mr. John Craggs,
having been known in England as * Fenelly's
Highflyer.'

I04 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Lord Egremont's Active colt (bred 1795, by
Pegasus), known in England as Mr. Blagrave's
Ballinamuck and Mr. Whalley's Expedition, was
imported into New York and removed to New
Jersey; Mr. Barton's Express (foaled 1785, by
Postmaster, dam a Syphon mare), a good four-
mile-heats horse ; Mr. Addy's Exton (foaled i 791,
by Highflyer) ; the Duke of Grafton's brother to
Antinous (by Blank, dam sister to Spinster, by
Partner, foaled 1739), by Mr. Fenwick into South
Carolina in 1766, and called Fallower ; Mr. War-
ren's famous Fearnaught (own brother to Careless,
by Regulus), into Virginia in March, 1764, by
Colonel John Baylor ; Mr. Hudson's Fellow
(foaled 1757, by Cade, dam a Bolton Goliah
mare), by somebody unknown at some date after
1762 ; Mr. Cookson's Firetail (by Phenomenon,
dam Espersykes mare), into Orange County, N.C.,
in 1 801 ; Sir J. Moore's Flimnap (foaled 1765,
by South), into South Carolina; and Mr. Hall's
Gabriel (by Dorimant), that won a King's Plate
against the prodigious Waxy, in 1796, at New-
market First Spring, and, having been imported
into Virginia by Colonel Tayloe in 1799, died
there at the early age of ten in 1800.

SECOND PERIOD: GEORGE HI. 105

Mr. Lord's Gift (by Cadormus), was imported
into Kent County, Virginia, by Colonel Danger-
field ; Sir F. Standish's Gouty (by Sir Peter),
into Nelson County, Virginia, in 1806, by Mr.
Robert Rives ; Lord W. Manners' and Mr.
' Meat-salesman ' Wildman's Granby, alias Mar-
quis of Granby (by Blank), some time after 1765 ;
Mr. (ex- stable-boy) John Hutchinson's Hamble-
ton (foaled 1791, by Dungannon), by Mr. William
Lightfoot, of Sandy Point, Virginia; Mr. Douglas's
gray Highlander (by Bourdeaux) into New York
in 1704 by Mr. John Harriot; Lord Grosvenor's
John Bull (by Fortitude), winner of the Derby in
1792 ; Lord March's (' Old O.') Kouli Khan (by
Mr. ' Jockey ' Vernon's Arabian) ; Mr. Medley's
Medley (by Gimcrack), into Virginia about
1783-4 by Mr. Malcolm Hart, was known as
* Hart's Medley,' became the property of Mr.
James Wilkinson, of Southampton, Virginia, and
died of colic in 1792, aged sixteen ; Mr. Bullock's
Messenger (by Mambrino), the ' father of trotters'
(died in 1808, aged twenty-eight, the property of
Mr. Cornelius W. Van Rantz, of New York) ;
and Mr. Turner's Oscar (foaled 1795. by Saltram),
into Virginia by Mr. W. Lightfoot.

io6 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Sir J. Lister Kaye's famous Phenomenon (by
Herod), winner of the St. Leger in 1783, was
imported in 1803 (died immediately after landing,
but was the sire of the afterwards imported Rest-
less and Wonder) ; Mr. Bullock's Royalist (by
Saltram), died in Tennessee, in 18 14. aged
twenty-four years ; Mr. Parker's (Lord Boring-
don's) Saltram (by Eclipse), winner of the Derby
in 1783, beating Phenomenon (unnamed at the
time), was imported in 1800; and Mr. Charles
Pigott's (the author of the 'Jockey Club') grand
horse Shark (by Marsk), died in Virginia in
i795'6- Mr. Cookson's Sir Harry (by Sir Peter),
winner of the Derby in 1798 ; Mr. Panton's Sea-
gull (by Woodpecker), winner of the July Stakes
in 1788 ; and Lord A. Hamilton's (ninth Duke of
Hamilton) Spadille (by Highflyer), winner of the
St. Leger in 1787, were also imported; Sir F.
Standish's Spread Eagle (by Volunteer), winner
of the Derby in 1795, imported by Colonel
Hoomes, died in 1805 in Kentucky, aged thirteen
only ; Mr. Wastell's celebrated ' distance horse,'
Tickle Toby (by Alfred), was imported by Mr.
Caleb Boush, of Princess Anne County, Virginia,
some time after 1790; Sir C. Bunbury's Wrangler

SECOND PERIOD: GEORGE III. 107

(by Diomed) into Virginia in 1802 ; and, very con-
spicuous indeed, was Mr. Bullock's great horse
Buzzard (by Woodpecker), that was imported by
Colonel Hoomes and died in Kentucky in 181 1,
aged twenty-four.

Among the imported mares special mention is
due to Mr. Popham's brown filly by Rocking-
ham (her dam Tabitha, by Trentham), that was
purchased by Colonel Tayloe, was called Castia-
nira in America, and became the dam of Sir
Archy ; a Cullen Arabian mare said to have
been bred by the ' Culloden ' Duke of Cumber-
land from Grisewood's Lady Thigh, to have
been imported (probably at the Duke's death)
by General Spotswood, of Virginia, into America
(mde English 'Stud Book,' vol, x., p. 444),
to have been owned there by a Mr. John
Bland, to have been known by the name of
Duchess or Diamond indifferently, and to have
been * eighth dam ' (that is, g.g-g-g-g-g.g- dam)
of the famous American brood-mare Alice Carneal
(dam of the incomparable Lexington and of Mr.
R. Ten Broeck's noted Umpire) ; and to the Cub
Mare (bred by the famous Mr. Leeds, of York-
shire, in 1762, and purchased by the celebrated

io8 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

American breeder Colonel Delancey, of New-
York), of which Colonel S. D. Bruce, in his
American ' Stud Book/ says : ' This was one of
the most valuable mares ever imported to this
country, nearly all of the best horses in America
tracing to her either on the dam or sire's side.'
Her very first recorded produce was the noted
mare called Old Slamerkin, or Maria Slamerkin,
or Miss Slamerkin indifferently, that was the
'third dam' (that is, g.g. dam) of Sumpter (by
Sir Archy), sire of Rowena, dam of Alice Carneal.

To this reign of George III. belongs the melan-
choly suicide of poor Mr. Brograve, a 'bettor
round ' or ' bookmaker,' so honourably sensitive
that he shot himself rather than face wath but
^4,000 the creditors to whom he owed ^8,000,
through losses on Smolensko's Derby in 1813.

This reign finally saw the decease, advent, and
rise of jockevs whose names and fame have
endured to this day. Such were Isaac Cape
(who lived to be seventy-eight), Joseph Rose
(lived to be eighty), Charles Dawson, Leonard
Jewison (lived to be seventy-seven), John Hoyle
(though more celebrated as a trainer), John Kirton
(lived to be ninety-three), Richard Rumball (killed

SECOND PERIOD : GEORGE III. 109

at Epsom in 1770 by a fall when riding Young
Gimcrack in a Give-and-Take Plate), Christopher
Scaife, William South, John Coates (senior and
junior), John Oakley (who rode the famous
Eclipse * the first time of asking ' at Epsom,
May 3, 1769), Anthony Wheatley, John Mangle,
John Cade (lived to be seventy-five), George
Searle (lived to be seventy-one), and the three
Goodissons (' Hell-fire Dick,' the father, who rode
for 'Old O.,' and his two sons, Charles, cut off at
the age of twenty-seven in 181 3, and Thomas,
who eclipsed the ' old un ').

Add to these Denis Fitzpatrick (who rode
Diamond in the famous match with Hamble-
tonian), Frank Buckle, the elder Sam Chifney
(the very celebrated author of ' Genius Genuine,'
jockey ' for life ' to the Prince of Wales, which
should have been up to 1807, when that life
ceased, and the hero of ' the slack rein ' in
riding), the younger Sam Chifney (won the Oaks
in 1807 ^^^ the Derby in 1818, 'the first time of
asking ' in each case, and was the hero of the
' Chifney rush/ which is sometimes wrongly attri-
buted to the elder, the father of the other),
W. Clift (who lived to seventy-eight, and won the

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Derby 'in a trot' in 1803), the several Arnulls
and Arnolds (reasonably suspected of having been
the same name, spelt phonetically, at a time when
there were no School Boards and the schoolmaster
was not so much abroad as he now is), ' Bob '
Johnson (identified with Dr. Syntax, and especially
with Mr. Orde and 'the old mare' Beeswing), the
Edwardses (whose multitudinousness at New-
market led George P. to imagine that it was an
appellation of jockeys similar to the Pharaoh of
Egyptian kings), John Jackson (who lived to the
age of sixty-four or seventy-one, according to
different authorities, won the St. Leger no fewer
than eight times, and was destined to ride Theo-
dore, winner of the most sensational St. Leger on
record, except, perhaps, that which was lost by
Plenipotentiary), and the Spartan-like Ben Smith
(who met with every kind of accident, and in 1796
rode Ironsides, and won the race — -four miles — for
the Great Subscription at York after he had been
kicked at the starting-post by Mr. Garforth's
Brilliant and had his leg broken, so that after the
race he had to be carried off his horse to the
weighing-room).

There were also William Peirse (who lived to the

SECOND PERIOD: GEORGE III. m

age of seventy-five, and then died from a chemist's
mistake in preparing his medicine), the two Col-
linsons (of whom one died of illness produced by
sleeping in a damp bed, after winning the Derby
on Pan in 1808 by masterly riding, and the other
of an accident while breaking a horse at Middle-
ham), John Pratt (who died at the age of eighty-
nine at Newmarket in 1829), James Garbutt (who
seems to have committed suicide in 1841), Samuel
Burden or Burdon (who is said to have been
killed in riding a match at Newmarket, in April,
1770), George Herring (jockey to the stable of
the celebrated trainer, John Lowther, known as
' Black Jack,' of Bramham Moor, Tadcaster), who
was three times thrown off, and the third time
killed by Mr. John Hutchinson's Gipsy, sister to
the famous Hambletonian, at Hull races, in 1796
(after, and it is supposed in consequence of, which
accident racing was put a stop to at Hull), F. or
J. Boynton (who rode Filho da Puta in the
memorable race for the Richmond Cup in 181 5),
Thomas Fields, John Tesseyman, C. Hindley,
and, above all, the celebrated Jem Robinson,
whose bright light had just begun to dawn, and
of whom it is recorded — probably in his epitaph —

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

that his ' left-hand whipping ' was a treat to see,
though perhaps not to feel, and that ' he could
punish most in least time ' of all jockeys known
to fame.

Altogether, then, the reign of George III. must
be considered to have brought the turf to a pitch
of development proportionate to the length of the
period.

CHAPTER III.

THIRD PERIOD : GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV.

George IV. and the Turf — Virginia Water — Ascot — George IV.'s
Race-horses and Jockeys — Prominent Turfites in his Reign
— The Right of 'Warning-off'— Curious Plague at Petworth
Stud-farm — Tattersall's and the Spread of ' Ring-worm ' —
Three Great Horses — The N.S.W. Sir Hercules — Jockeys
in the Reign of George IV. — Plis Presentation of a Gold
Whip to the Irish Turf Club —Frank Buckle and his
Whip, presented to the Germans — Foreign Importations
of English Horses — Count and Prince Batthyany —
Galopin — Ladies and the Turf — Messrs. John Mytton,
Mellish, and Apperley — ' Peter ' — William IV. and the
Turf — ' Patron ' of the Jockey Club — His Race-horses
and Jockeys — The Fifth Duke of Richmond — ^The King
insulted at Ascot — Celebrities of the Turf in the Reign of
William IV. — Lord George Bentinck — Change of Age-
taking for Race-horses — Foreigners on the English Turf —
Their importation of English Horses — A Lordly Ascot
Cup Field — Iroquois and Foxhall — ' Antipodeans '—
Legislative Enactments — Jockeys — Ladies — Nomenclature
— Attempts to revive the ' Arab ' — Lord Cleveland con-
demns the Turf — Gate-money Meetings — The Hippodrome
at Bayswater — The Bentinck Benevolent Fund.

We now come to the reign of George IV., alias
the Magnificent, who had been Prince Regent

8

114 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

from February 5, 181 1, to January 29, 1820, and
was King from the latter date up to June 26,
1830, when he died. During his kingship the
turf still had rest from legislation, and betting
throve apace. The doctors, as well as laymen,
discovered that the King had horse on the brain ;
he would give any price {so far as signing a
cheque went, but as for coin, he was like Horace's
' Nasicae metuentis reddere soldum ') for hunter or
racer, and is said to have had at the Royal Lodge
— the building of which at Virginia Water had
roused the indignation of the people, the press,
and Mr. Whitbread, M.P.— a Norwegian dun pony
running all over the rooms, and at times lying like
a dog on the rug before the fire. However, from
1807 to the end of his life the Prince (and after-
wards King) ran his horses, when he did run any, in
the names of Mr. Warwick Lake and Mr. Charles
Greville up to 1827, and in Mr. Delme Radcliffe's
afterwards, for the most part, if not entirely.

Ascot was his favourite ground at the end
of his life, as Brighton and Lewes had been
in the earlier days. He instituted the highly
appreciated 'royal procession,' headed by the
Master of the Buckhounds, Lord Maryborough

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 115

(a title now extinct, but borne by the Long-
Tilney-Pole-Wellesley family), in 1825 ; and on
Ascot Heath, where, towards the close of his life,
he must needs have two race- meetings in each
season, he ran, in the name of his friend, ' private
jockey,' and 'stud-master,' Mr. Delme-Radcliffe,
such horses as Dervise, Mortgage, the beautiful
Maria (whose portrait, with Jem Robinson ' up,'
is said to have caused the royal gentleman trans-
ports of delight), the famous mare Fleur-de-lis
(though she was not at all at her best when he
owned her), the expensive horse — as a 4,000
guineas purchase was considered in those days —
The Colonel, and the deceptive Zinganee (the
news of whose performance in the Ascot Cup of
1830 the King is understood to have ordered to
be sent to him as he lay upon the bed from which
he would never get up). His chief jockeys were
Jem Robinson, George Dockeray, George Nelson,
Arthur Pavis, and the ' rusher,' Sam Chifney,
jun. (with Jack Ratford, who had been pad-
groom to 'Old O.,' for 'factotum'), in his kingly
days ; and William South, Sam Chifney, sen. (of
' slack-rein ' notoriety), and William Edwards, in
his princely, besides Mr. D. Radcliffe and Mr.

ii6 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

T. Panton, jun., when a 'gentleman-jock' was re-
quired.

The most prominent ' turfites ' of the reign
were the Duke of York, of course, who died in
1827, Mr. Thornhill (of Riddlesworth), Mr.
Hunter (who had the unique privilege of winning
the Derby with a o-7'ay horse in 182 1), Mr. or
Colonel Udney, and the venerable (in point of
age) Earl of Egremont (who won the Derby for
the first time with Assassin in 1782, and for his
fifth and last time in 1826 with Lapdog).

There were also Sir John Shelley (of Phantom
and Cedric celebrity), the 'Cadland' Duke of
Rutland, the Lord Jersey (so famous with
his two Middletons, with Mameluke, and with
Glenartney), Mr. Gratwicke (with Frederick),
the Duke of Portland (who had won the Derby
with Tiresias in 1819, and was the father of
Lord G. Bentinck), Lord Exeter (who was to
become the owner of the great Stockwell), the
fourth Duke of Grafton (who, by means of his
father's famous mares, Prunella and Penelope,
surpassed the paternal success, great as that had
been, on the turf), General and Field-Marshal
Grosvenor (breeder of Copenhagen), the filth

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. in

Duke of Richmond (winner of the Oaks with
Gulnare in 1827), Mr. Scott Stonehewer (winner
of the Oaks with Variation in 1830), and the Earl
of Darlington (afterwards Duke of Cleveland, said
to have been at one time in racing confederacy
with ' the true Prince ').

Add to these the Hon. Mr. Petre (four times
winner of the St. Leger, and yet brought to
ruin), Mr. T. Orde Powlett (of 'Jack Spigot'
memory), Mr. Richard Watt (of Bishop Burton,
Yorks), Lord Scarborough (who won the St.
Leger with Tarrare), Mr. Christopher Wilson (of
Oxton Hall, near Tadcaster, Yorks), and, among
more or less ' common fellers,' Mr. Rogers (whose
unique fortune it has been to win a great race —
and, in fact, two great races, the Two Thousand
and the Newmarket Stakes — with a ^zm7i, as he did
with Nicolo, by Selim, in 1823), and the brothers
William and Samuel Chifney, jun. (who won the
Derby with Priam in 1830. and would undoubtedly
have got the 3,500 guineas they wanted for the
horse from the King had he lived, or, perhaps
more correctly, from the nation against its will).

There was also Mr. Forth, jockey and trainer,
who actually won the Derby of 1829, riding Fred-

Ti8 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

erick for Mr, Gratwicke, when his own horse, The
Exquisite, was second, and won — not as jockey,
but as owner — the Oaks of 1826 with LiHas,
afterwards called Babel, whose peculiarity it was
that she, being a daughter by Interpreter of Fair
Ellen, by the Wellesley Grey Arabian, was, with
her relatives, Dandizette and The Exquisite,
about the last instance on record of any good
coming out of near ' Arabian ' relationship, though,
in point of fact, the Wellesley, it is said, was no
' Arabian,' but a ' Persian.'

It was in the reign of George IV. that, by the
instrumentality of the ' Tiresias ' Duke of Port-
land, the right of the Jockey Club to ' warn off'
people from Newmarket Heath was established
by extant legal decision (in 1827) ; that the once
famous Chester Cup was first run for (in 1824) ;
and that the Goodwood Cup (which is said to have
been instituted in 18 12, when and for some suc-
ceeding years there certainly was a Gold Cup at
Goodwood, but apparently a precarious fixture,
of no stability until 1825, when it was won by
Lord Egremont, and when the star of young
Lord George Bentinck began to rise upon Good-
wood) may be said to have become permanent, as

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 119

well as the Goodwood Stakes (in the form which
has become familiar).

Then, too, it was that the curious plague
(whether due to an attempt at ' nobbling ' or not)
occurred at the Petworth Stud Farm (Lord Egre-
mont's) in 1825, when fourteen blood-mares and
cart-mares, and all the she-asses, produced dead
or death-struck foals ; and that, thanks (or the
contrary) to Messrs. Tattersall's subscription
rooms, opened in 18 18 (and shifted to a larger
building in 1842, as 'business' increased), the
' ring-worm ' spread from Messrs. Greaves and
'Gendeman' Ogden, Mr. (ex-ostler) Jerry Cloves
and his merry men, to some two or three hundred
more of like kidney (such as Crockford, the
Blands — acquainted with but one of the three
' R's — Ridsdale, Mat Milton, Holliday, Gully,
Justice, 'Crutch' Robinson, 'Short Odds' Richards,
and company), though even then, and for many
years afterwards, their number was to that of our
day (when highly respectable graduates of the
universities are said to enter the ' profession,' as
they would go to the Bar) no more than a drop
to the ocean, to adopt a slight exaggeration.

It was in the same reign that there flourished

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

three great horses, not so well known as
they ought to be, not having won any of the
'classic' races, namely, Mr. 'Hell-keeper' (ex-
* fish-salesman ') Crockford's Sultan (sire of the
superb Bay Middleton, and himself second for the
Derby of 1819); Mr. Armitage's Northern horse
Velocipede (son of Blacklock and sire of the
famous Queen of Trumps), described by a good
authority as a 'king of horses,' but, like his sire,
unable to win the St. Leger (in 1828) ; and Lord
Langford's splendid horse Sir Hercules (third for
the St. Leger of 1829), son of Whalebone, and
sire both of the famous Irish Birdcatcher and of
his brother the scarcely less famous Faugh-a-
Ballagh, as well as of a lot of mares that were
sent to Australia and did good service there (such
as Paraguay, dam of the famous New South
Wales Sir Hercules).

Other celebrated jockeys of the reign, besides
those already mentioned, were H. and G. Edwards
(of whom one is said to have disliked ' fair ' riding
as much as Quintiis Horatius Flaccus disliked the
profane vulgar, but was delighted to ride 'booty'),
' honest' Jemmy Chappie, W. Wheatley, F. Boyce,
P. Conolly, S. Day, sen., J. Day, sen.. Tommy

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV.

Lye (whose figure and ' finish ' moved spectators
and writers to ribaldry, as they hkened him to a
vision of ' breeches and boots in convulsions '),
and, beyond all, the eccentric, humorous, and
foul-mouthed Bill Scott (brother of John Scott,
the famous trainer of Whitewall), who rode Jack
Spigot and Memnon, memorable winners of the
St, Leger in 1821 and 1825, and whose stories
over a bottle, rather than his prowess in the pig-
skin, won him his epithet of ' glorious' Bill.

George IV,, in 1821, when he paid his visit of
acknowledgment to Ireland, presented to the Turf
Club the Gold Whip, to be run for annually at
the Curragh ; and in his reign the celebrated
jockey, Frank Buckle, sent over to Germany by
the hands of Mr. Tattersall in 1826, to be to the
Teutons what the whip of Charles II. (if the
Merry Monarch had anything whatever to do
with it) is to us Anglo-Saxons, his own particular
whip, bearing on its silver handle a list of five
Derbies, two St. Legers, and nine ' Oakses,'
which it had probably been instrumental in
enabling him to win. For the Germans (whose
country was then divided for stud-book purposes
into North Germany and South Germany, when,

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

as yet, there had been no Sadowa and no Sedan,
no distinct German Empire on the one hand and
Austro-Hungarian on the other) had begun to
turn their attention already, in the reign of
George IV., to ' Pferderennung und Pferdezucht,
in plain EngHsh ' horse-racing and horse-breed-
ing.'

They acquired from us during that reign (or
just before and just after as well), by the agency
of various companies, of the chiefs who presided
over the royal Prussian and Hanoverian and
certain ducal or grand-ducal studs, of Count
Hahn-Basedow, Baron Maltzahn-Cumerow, Count
Bassewitz-Schlitz, the Dukeof Schleswig-Holstein,
Counts Alvensleben and Gneisenau, the Grand
Duke of Mecklenburg - Schwerin, Baron Biel-
Zierow, Baron Hertefeld-Liebenberg, Count Hol-
stein-Waterneverstorff, and other noblemen and
gentlemen in the North ; and, in the South, of
Count Zichy, Prince Trauttmannsdorff, Count
Szechenyi, Baron Wesselenyi, the Siebenburg
and other companies. Count Joseph Hunyadi (of
' aperient ' memory), Count G. Karolyi, Baron
Baldacci, Herr Bronenberg (who raced in Eng-
land), and Counts Esterhazy and Batthyany, a

GEORGE IV, AND WILLIAM IV. 123

fair number of well-bred horses (to say nothing
of mares, notably Fay, second for the Oaks to
Corinne in 18 18).

They included Mr. Richard Watt's (Mr.
Clifton's) Brutandorf (son of Blacklock), winner
of the Chester Cup in 1826, Mr. Payne's
(uncle of the famous George Payne) Plumper
(bred at the Royal Stud, Hampton Court, by
Election), and Sir J. Shelley's Phantom (son of
Walton), winner of the Derby in 181 1 and sire
of two successive winners of the Derby (Cedric
in 1824 and chestnut Middleton in 1825), though
Germany had but a short enjoyment of him.
Moreover, about the first among the foreigners to
compete upon our race-courses after ' the French
Revolution and the subsequent wars ' (including,
of course, the battle of Waterloo) was that Count
Batthyany who won a sweepstakes at Newmarket
Houghton with Wilhelmina (daugliter of Nicolo,
the unique twin) in 1829, and, after a career of
fifty-three years on the English turf, died, as Prince
Batthyany, suddenly at Newmarket on the Two
Thousand day, 1883, having once (in 1875)
accomplished the wish of his heart and won the
Derby with Galopin (Mr. Taylor Sharpe's), one

124 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

of the best English horses ever foaled, retained
(for a wonder) as yet in England.

Nor were the French, who had now begun
to heal them of their grievous wounds, and
had already imported, in 1818, among many other
horses, Tigris, winner of the Two Thousand
in 181 5, and been purchasing fitfully for some
years, or the Americans, who had suffered
but a short check, or the Russians, who had
suffered no interruption, backward in importing
our blood -sires, and mares as well, to a certain
extent. No good purpose would be served by
attempting to submit a full list, but of the
French importations should be mentioned Doge
of Venice (winner of the first Chester Cup
in 1824, imported in 1825), and Rowlston (by
Camillus), imported in 1827 (by M. de Guiche
for the royal stud at Meudon), Holbein (by
Rubens), imported in 1826, and Rainbow (by
Walton), imported in 1823 (by M. Rieussec, who
occupied the time-honoured Viroflay Stud, and
was killed by the infernal machine intended by
Fieschi for the destruction of Louis Philippe in
1835). For the performances of their progeny,
Volante, Corysandre, F^lix, Franck, and Lydia,

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 125

belong to the extant records of early horse-racing
in France under the rules of the French Jockey
Club.

Among the American importations were Abjer
(son of Old Truffle), second to Sailor for
the tempestuous Derby of 1820; Barefoot (son
of Tramp), winner of the St. Leger in 1823 ;
Serab (son of Phantom), that cost the Duke of
Cleveland (Lord Darlington) 3,000 guineas, won
the Newmarket Stakes in 1824, and won the
King's Plate at York in 1826 against the great
Lottery (ex Tinker, by Tramp) ; but our American
cousins found him ' impotent,' and have inscribed
the fact on his escutcheon ; and Valentine, alias
Tommy Longlegs, son of Magistrate.

The conspicuous Russian importations (which
had already included black Trophonius, winner of
the Two Thousand, Moscow, and Segany, all by
Sorcerer, to say nothing of Symmetry, winner of
the St. Leger in 1798) took Nectar and Inter-
preter, winners of the Two Thousand, as well as,
according to some authorities, Antar, and Mr.
Astley's Magic (son of Sorcerer) in 1820, besides
Lord Lowther's Bourbon (son of Sorcerer), and
Mr. Tibbits's Pericles (sonof Evander) in 182 1, and

126 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

sundry others. So that the editor of the EngHsh
' Stud Book,' judging of the future from the past
and present, in 1821, had good reason to be
joyous over our exportations, as 'an object of
some importance in a commercial view '; and
events have justified his sanguine expectation
that the foreigners would not soon turn the
tables upon us, as they believed that they would,
so that we should have to go to them ' if not for
speed, at least for sound horses,' He acknow-
ledged, even at that distant date, that ' the hint
about soundness may be worth attention '; but,
in any case, the foreigners still come to us, and
(witness the great Ormonde) take our unsound
horses.

As for ladies' patronage of horse-racing during
the reign of George IV., it is curious that their
open and active participation, apart from spec-
tatress-ship, should have waned to its present
condition almost under the auspices of ' the First
Gentleman,' but such seems to have been the
fact ; and as for the nomenclature of horses,
though it was not yet perhaps all that Mrs.
Grundy (if she had yet appeared upon the scene)
might have desired, it was approximating more

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 127

and more to the phase or phases which it has
now assumed, though there was a greater tendency,
one would say, towards idiotcy and towards a
choice of such names as do not so much connect
sireship and damship in the form of appellation as
recall some personage or event or published work
or novelty of any kind, leading to such slangy
designations, in course of time, as ' All-my-eye,' for
a son of Betty Martin, or the ' All-round-my-hat,'
and * Here-I-go-with-my-eye-out ' of the elegant
Lord George Bentinck, who was ' the glass of
fashion and the mould of form ' in the early years
of Queen Victoria.

To the reign of George IV. belongs the story,
which has been too often told to need or to bear
circumstantial evolution, of Mr. John Mytton,
commonly called Jack Mytton, of Halston, Salop,
who in that reign reached the zenith of his fame,
as a sportsman, racer, athlete, and general mad-
man, and dropped from it like a falling star, not
upon ' Lemnos the ^gean isle,' but into the
debtors' prison, where he lived (in drink, when he
could get it) for the short remainder of his days,
and died in misery at the early age of thirty-eight.
This was very nearly the same age at which the

128 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

somewhat similar, and yet exceedingly dissimilar,
Colonel Mellish had died (after a brilliant career
on the turf and everywhere else) ' magnas inter
opes inops ' — that is, on a comparatively small farm
that was left to him among the great estates
which he had converted, like a conjurer, into
'ducks and drakes.'

The reign also saw a good deal of the sports-
manlike Mr. Apperley (Mr. Mytton's close friend
and very friendly biographer), who was so great
as ' Nimrod,' under which name he wrote a series
of articles in the Quai'terly on racing matters ;
and it witnessed the coming upon the turf of
Viscount Kelburne, who was to be much better
known afterwards as the sterlino- but extravag^ant
and eccentric Karl of Glasgow, the ' Peter ' of his
intimates, such as General Peel, who was to give
the familiar name to a famous colt that should
have won the Derby of 1879, but for the death of
the owner and nominator, the General himself.

As for William IV. and his reign (from June 27,
1830, to June 20, 1837), his period of kingship,
thouofh he himself cared for no horses but the
white horses of Neptune, and is said to have
chosen George Nelson for his chief jockey more

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 129

from the heroic naval memories associated with
the name than from any cause connected with per-
formances in the pigskin, was a very notable and
brilliant period in the history of the English turf
and of horse-breeding. It had been feared that
the new King, who was well known not to share
his late brothers' (George IV.'s and the Duke of
York's) predilections, so far as horse-racing was
concerned, would withdraw the light of kingly
countenance from the turf altogether. It was,
therefore, a pleasant surprise to turfites in general
when, far from turning his back upon ' the sport
of kings ' and the national pastime, and far from
dropping his membership of the Jockey Club, he
allowed himself to be advertised as titular ' patron '
of the club ; took over the late King's horses ;
started ' the whole fleet ' (in his own sailor-like
words) of such as were entered for the Goodwood
Cup, the race for which followed hard upon the
death of ' the First Gentleman,' and ran first,
second, and third with those expensive purchases.
Fleur-de-lis (the famous mare), Zinganee (the
* best horse in England,' at certain times), and
The Colonel (a winner of the St. Leger). He is
said to have established (or continued, probably,

9

130 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

in remembrance of what his brother had done, or
is understood to have done) an annual ante-Derby
dinner for members of the Jockey Club, and at
that of 1832 he presented to the club the Eclipse
Foot, set in silver, to be run for annually at Ascot
by horses belonging to members of the club only,
though the race was soon unfortunately discon-
tinued, and the ' foot ' has become a snuff-box at
the Jockey Club Rooms. He improved the
Royal stud at Hampton Court, and increased the
number of Royal Plates.

William IV., however, though he began so
well, and though he was very attentive to the
counsels and exhortations of his trusted and
honoured friend, the fifth Duke of Richmond (a
great patron of horse-racing), did not continue for
more than two or three years ' upon the turf,' as
a personal participator in the racing ; and his re-
tirement was very likely hastened by the death,
on February 26, 1832, of his Master of the Horse,
Mr. Delme Radcliffe (who had been gentleman
jockey. Master of the Horse, and 'alter ego' on
the turf to the King's late brother), and by an
untoward incident which happened at Ascot and
was supposed to have some connection with the

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 131

lately-passed Reform Bill (June 7, 1832), when
the King, having stepped into the balcony of the
grand stand to show himself, was promptly hit in
the eye (like Mr. Gladstone at another place
during the ' Home Rule ' General Election of
1892) or on the forehead, whether with a ginger-
bread nut or a stone, by an apparently disloyal
subject.

It was in the reign of the Sailor King (though
not he, but his brother, was responsible for the
innovation), that ' common fellers ' were pro-
hibited, it is said, for awhile from running for the
Ascot Cup, which trophy was reserved for horses
belonging to members of the Jockey Club,
Brooks's, and White's, so that the great Priam,
the property of the brothers William and Samuel
Chifney, jun., when he was entered for the Ascot
Cup of 1 83 1, was only nominated by those astute
owners partly as a mild protest and partly as an
enhancing advertisement whereby Lord Chester-
field may have been induced to give 3,000 guineas
(a small price enough for such a ' crack/ as prices
are now) for him, though, in the result, the horse
never completed his glories by winning the great
Ascot event, and indeed never ran for it.

132 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Among the most conspicuous figures upon the
turf in the reign of WilHam IV. were the fourth
Duke of Grafton (died in 1844), who won the Oaks
of 1831 with Oxygen; the fifth Earl of Jersey
(succeeded 1809, died 1859), who won the Two
Thousand with Riddlesworth, Glencoe, Ibrahim,
Bay Middleton, and Achmet, and the Derby with
Bay Middleton ; Colonel (afterwards General)
Jonathan Peel, who was to be the liero of the
' Running Rein ' Derby, and at a later period to
be Minister of War, and who won the Two
Thousand in 1832 with Archibald ; the third Earl
of Orford (of the new creation in 1806, the former
having expired with Horace Walpole of the
famous ' Letters '), who won the Two Thousand
with the g7'ay Clearwell in 1833 ; and the much
regretted Sir Mark Wood, of the Hare Park,
Newmarket, who was owner of the two pro-
digious mares, Camarine and Lucetta, and won
the Ascot Cup in 1830-31-32, the One Thousand
with Galantine in 1831, and the Oaks in 1833
with Vespa.

The eccentric Lord Berners, previously known
on the turf as Major Wilson, won the One
Thousand in 1834 with the unfortunate May-

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 133

day (for she broke her near fore-leg in running
for the Oaks), and the Derby in 1837 with the
extreme outsider and cripple, Phosphorus, both
by Lamplighter (among the runners for which
Derby was a horse called Pegasus, that was
ridden, not by a professional jockey, but by
one Mr. Bartley, an amateur, a son of Crispin,
being a bootmaker by trade) ; the Marquis of
Exeter won the One Thousand and the Oaks with
the 'Hying' Galata in 1832 ; Mr. C. Greville (the
celebrated Clerk of the Council, and cousin to
the still more celebrated Lord George Bentinck)
won the One Thousand with Preserve in 1835,
and had som.etimes 'represented' George IV. on
the turf; Mr, Cookes won the One Thousand
with Tarantella in 1833, and supplied the
Germans with the horse Incubus (by Phantom)
and the mare Barcarolle (by .Stumps), both bred
from Katherine, dam of Taurus (himself imported
into Germany) ; and Mr. Houldsworth (owner of
Filho da Puta at the time of the match with Sir
Joshua in 18 16) won the One Thousand in 1836
with Destinj^

There were also Lord Lowther (second Earl
of Lonsdale in 1844, ^^^ President of the

T34 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Council ill 1852), who won the sensational
Derby of 1831 with the outsider Spaniel,
at 50 to I, beating the favourite, Lord Jersey's
much fancied Riddlesworth, at 6 to 4 on; Mr.
Batson, who won the Derby of 1834 with the
'f^reat' Plenipotentiary (whose unaccountable de-
feat in the St. Leger created so much uproar and
scandal, but has since been explained by Lord
Suffollv and Berkshire in the 'Badminton Library'
to have been due to an unrevealed accident) ; Mr.
John Bowes (of Streatlam, Durham), who began
his golden number of ' four Derbies' with Miindig
in 1835 ; Mr. Cosby, who won the Oaks in 1834
with Pussy ; Mr, (afterwards Lord) Mostyn, who
won the Oaks and St. Leger in 1835 with the
famous Queen of Trumps, daughter of the royal
Velocipede ; Lord (afterwards Duke of) Cleve-
land (Lord Darlington), who won the St. Leger
in 1 83 1 with Chorister; and Mr. Richard Watt,
who won the St. Leger of 1833 with Rockingham.
Add to these Lord (the first Marquis of) West-
minster, known also on the turf as Lord Belgrave
and as (the second) Earl Grosvenor, who won the
startling St. Leger of 1834 with Touchstone, des-
tined to complete the vindication of 'first foals' —

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 135

though they are still regarded not uncommonly
with suspicion — and to be a sire of sires ; Mr. T.
Orde Powlett, who won the Oaks of 1837 with
Miss Letty (by Priam) ; Lord Chesterfield (the
sixth Earl of), who won the Eclipse Foot as well
as the Ascot Cup, both with Glaucus, in 1834;
and, above all, the Agamemnon or king of men (of
the turf), Lord George Bentinck, who won the
One Thousand with Chapeau d'Espagne (by the
celebrated Dr. Syntax) in 1837, having already,
in Lord Lichfield's name, won the St. Leger of
1836 with Elis (after teaching unaristocratic
owners to follow the example of an aristocrat in
'putting on the screw' — to the tune of ^12,000).
Lord George's zenith, however, was not to be
attained until the reign of Queen Victoria and the
advent of Crucifix, either as a racer or as a
reformer of abuses, or a detective, or a dictator of
the turf, notwithstanding the improvements he
had already introduced.

But, besides these nobility and gentry, the
number of more or less 'common fellers' among
the stars of the turf had greatly increased, and
included, not Pulwar Craven (for he belonged to
the aristocratic family of that name, though he did

136 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

resent the putting of any titular prefix or affix or
suffix to his plain name), but Mr. Ridsdale (ex-
footman, it is said), who won the Derby of 1832
with St. Giles; Mr. Sadler (ex - livery - stable
keeper at Oxford, it is said), who won the Derby
of 1833 with Dangerous, the fastest Derby, it is
stated, though the ' time ' is not given, up to that
date; Mr. John Scott (brother of 'glorious' Bill,
the jockey), who won the Oaks of 1836 with
Cyprian; Mr. Beardsworth (of 'Repository'
memory), who won the St. Leger, beating the
great Priam, with Birmingham (named after the
site of the 'Repository'); and Mr. Gully, M.P.,
ex-butcher (at Bristol), ex-pugilist, and ex-publican,
who, having been at one time in partnership with
Ridsdale, won the St. Leger of 1832 with Mar-
grave of the 'coffin head.' This is a brilliant
score for the ' common fellers,' and shows how
the ' bookmakers ' were coming to the front.

This, as has been intimated, was the era of the
celebrated mares, Camarine and Lucetta, and, to
a considerable extent, of the still more celebrated
Beeswing, so that the reign of William IV. saw
the turf at the very height of glory. In the same
reign, too, there took place (in calculating the

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 137

age of race-horses) that change which, affecting
only Newmarket and horses that ran there in the
first instance, at last became of universal applica-
tion wherever the rules and regulations of the
English Jockey Club were observed. It was to
the effect that race-horses, which had, up to that
date, had their age reckoned from May i in the
year of their birth, should have it reckoned for all
future time from January i in the year of their
birth. It is easy to see how many inconveniences
—to say nothing of opportunities for falsification
— might arise from an alteration of age taking
place after the season had once commenced ; and
an additional reason for the change seems to have
been suggested by the fact that, in consequence
of the loose wording of the old accepted rule,
astute trainers — as Mr. T. Hornby Morland (a
breeder himself) seems to suggest in his little
tract published in the last century — might steal a
march upon their fellows by breeding to January
instead of May, and thus sell with impunity as
yearlings foals that were three or four months
older than they were supposed to be.

It is curious to note that in our day an agita-
tion has been set on foot for the purpose of restor-

1 38 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

ing the old time of age-taking in clearly defined
terms, but the proposal was so coldly received by
breeders in general and by other authorities that
it was abandoned by General Owen Williams,
who was to have submitted it to the Jockey Club.
Nor is it easy to see why its advocates were so
hot upon it ; for one of their main arguments —
though the argument may not be supported alto-
gether by facts — was that late-born foals pick up
with wonderful rapidity what they may be thought
to lose in point of time, and, indeed, are found by
experience to be better performers than the early-
born ; and, if that be their opinion, one would be
disposed to bid them have the corresponding
courage, for there is no compulsion whereby
breeders can be forced to breed to January, or
as early as possible In the year, and the very
diversity of opinion Is calculated to prevent an
undesirable rush and scramble for the earliest
months. At any rate, the new rule was promptly
adopted by the French Jockey Club (or, rather,
Societe d' Encouragement), the foundation whereof
In 1833, under the auspices of the French- Eng-
lishman, Lord Henry Seymour (reputed father of
the late Sir Richard Wallace) and the ill-starred

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 139

young Due d'Orleans (who should have been the
French ' Marcellus '), was one of the most im-
portant events of the reign of WiUiam IV., so far
as the EngHsh turf is concerned.

For as early as 1835 or 1836 we find the
French, represented by Lord H. Seymour or by
Mr. Thomas Carter (whom he had imported as
his trainer, and who launched the famous trainer-
brothers, Henry and Thomas Jennings), running
horses, not necessarily 'bred in France,' upon our
race-courses, and commencing that vigorous but
friendly rivalry with us which threatened at one
time to deprive us of our supremacy. The same
reign also saw a Russian, apparently — to judge
of his nationality by his name — the Count
Matuschevitz, not only running freely upon our
race-courses, but actually giving * a piece of Gold
Plate,' which the famous Touchstone, ridden by
the almost equally famous (in his day) Lord
Wilton, condescended to win in 1835 at Heaton
Park. Germans, too, whether in the form of a
Baron Bronenberg, or a Baron Maltzahn, or
Messrs. Lichtwald (who had the misfortune in
course of time to be 'warned off'), at least
' throw their shadows before.'

l4o HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

The reign, so far as horse-racing and betting
go, was clouded by the distressing suicide of the
Hon. Mr. Berkeley Craven (a member of the
Jockey Club, and winner of the Oaks with Bronze
in 1806), who shot himself (like poor Mr. Bro-
grave, the 'bookmaker,' in 18 13) on the night of
the Derby of 1836, in consequence of losses in
betting against Bay Middleton, though it is stated
that he would certainly have 'got round' had he
awaited the result of the Oaks (run the very next
day, for the Derby was then run on Thursday).
On the other hand, it was brightened by the
alacrity with which the foreigners (including Lord
H. Seymour) were buying our best blood-stock,
though perhaps the brightness was destined to be
succeeded in years to come by the gloom of deep
regret at having allowed so much good blood
to go.

The French took, among other purchases,
Cadland, winner of the Derby in 1828, and hero
of the first dead heat for that 'classic' race;
Dangerous, winner of the fast Derby of 1833 ;
the celebrated Lottery (ex Tinker, son of Tramp),
described as ' an eccentric genius,' a starter and
first favourite in the false race for the St. Leger

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 141

of 1823, but not among the runners in the true
race, and said to have run the two miles of the
course for the Gold Cup at York (1824) in
3 minutes 50 seconds (which would be slow in
America, but 'clocking' is seldom trustworthy);
Mameluke, a famous winner of the Derby in
1827; Ibrahim, winner of the Two Thousand
in 1835, imported by Lord Henry Seymour);
Pickpocket (son of St. Patrick), winner of the
Chester Cup in 1833 ; and, above all. Royal
Oak (imported by Lord Henry Seymour), son of
Catton, because, though he did nothing much
upon the turf, he was sire of a great many
French winners, and especially of the renowned
French mare Poetess, dam of Monarque, sire of
Gladiateur.

The Germans took, among the rest, Mr.
Hunter's gray Gustavus, winner of the Derby
in 1 82 1, though, according to the German Stud
Book, he must have turned black with age ; for a
short time only The Colonel, that ran a dead heat
for the Derby and won the St. Leger in 1828 ;
the historic Riddlesworth (whose 'pot' was so
completely 'upset' for the Derby of 1831 by the
outsider Spaniel), but only for awhile, as he re-

142 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

turned to England in 1839, and was afterwards
' taken on ' by the Americans ; the first and second
for the Derby of 1822 — to wit, the Duke of York's
Moses (son of Whalebone or Seymour) and Mr.
Farquharson's Figaro (bred by Lord Lowther, by
Haphazard), but the former died very soon after ;
General Grosvenor's (Mr. Ridsdale's) Glaucus,
favourite for the Derby of 1833; the notorious
'Jack' Mytton's (Mr. Beardsworth's) Halston (so
called after Mr. Mytton's own property, by the
Duke of York's Banker), winner of the Chester
Cup in 1829; Mr. C. Day's (Fulwar Craven's)
Helcnus, by Soothsayer ; Mr. Vansittart's (after-
wards Lord Uxbridge's, which ran in the name of
his trainer, Mr. John Kent, sen.) Rubini (son of
St. Patrick), winner of the Goodwood Cup in 1833,
though the English Stud Book says he was sent
to Sweden (perhaps in the first instance) ; Woful,
sire of Theodore, the historic winner of the St.
Leger in 1822 ; Mr. Meynell's Comrade (son of
Gulliver), imported by Count Gustav Batthyany
by the agency of the late Prince Batthyany in 1829 ;
Mr. Riddell's Galopade, by Dr. Syntax ; and the
Duke of York's (Mr. Sowerby's) Lionel Lincoln
(son of Whalebone), winner of several matches.

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 143

The Russians took, among the rest, Lord
Jersey's chestnut Middleton, the legendary winner
of the Derby in 1825 (by Phantom) ; Mr. An-
drew's (Lord G. H. Cavendish's) Nectar (son of
Wahon), winner of the Two Thousand in 1816;
Sir Mark Masterman Sykes's Prime Minister (by
Sancho), that ran the historic race with Mr.
Richard Watt's celebrated Tramp at York in
1 8 14, when the two horses seemed to respond to
the cries of ' Now, Tramp,' and ' Now, Minister,'
to which their respective partizans gave utter-
ance, and when the enterprising Mr. Thomas
Kirby, of York, was in the thick of his horse-
dealing and his curious adventures among Russian
bullies and potentates ; but it was not until
William IV. had been some months in his grave
that they received (and welcome), at the price of
2,500 guineas, the illustrious 'savage,' Sir James
Boswell's General Chasse, the ' destroyer of Cos-
sacks,' as rumour reports.

As for the Americans, they purchased freely,
taking, among the rest, Mr. Dilly's Cetus (son of
Whalebone), winner of the Ascot Cup in 1831 ;
Mr. Wyndham's Chateau-Margaux (son of Whale-
bone), winner of the Ascot Cup in 1826; Mr.

144 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Riddell's Emancipation (son of Whisker), third to
Birmingham and Priam for the St. Leger of 1830 ;
Lord SHgo's (Lord Derby's) Felt (son of Langar),
winner of the Chester Cup in 1830 ; Sir Mark
Wood's Flatterer (son of Muley), second to
Glencoe for the Two Thousand of 1834; Mr.
Clifton's Fylde (son of Antonio), winner of the
Chester Cup in 1828 ; and Lord Jersey's famous
Glencoe (son of Sultan), winner of the Two
Thousand, third to Plenipotentiary and Shille-
lagh for the Derby in 1834, winner of the Ascot
Cup in 1835, and a great loss to this country, but
a great gain to America, where he became king
of the stud.

They also took Lord Egremont's Lapdog (son
of Whalebone), winner of the Derby in 1826 ;
Lord Palmerston's Luzborough (son of William-
son's Ditto) ; Mr. Dilly's (Mr. Gully's) Margrave
(son of Muley), winner of the St. Leger in 1832 ;
Mr. Payne's Merman (son of Whalebone), winner
of the Oatlands Stakes at Ascot in 1830; Mr. W.
Armitage's (Mr. Petre's and Lord Cleveland's)
Nonplus (son of Catton), third to Jerry and
Tarrare in a tremendous race (two miles in
3 minutes 36 seconds, if only there were anything

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 145

in 'clocking') at York in 1827, and winner of the
Doncaster Stakes against an illustrious field in
1828 ; the renowned Priam, winner of the Derby
in 1830; Mr. Petre's (Mr. Chifney's) 'elegant
little' Rowton (the gentle son of the demented
Oiseau), winner of the St. Leger in 1829 (beating
the subsequently great sires Voltaire and Sir
Hercules), and runner of the exciting dead heat
for the Ascot Cup in 1832 with Camarine, the
ultimate winner.

To them also went Mr. West's Shakespeare
(son of Smolensko), second to Lapdog for the
Derby; Mr. (ex-footman) Ridsdale's St. Giles (son
of Tramp), winner of the Derby in 1832, having
started favourite ; Colonel Cradock's Swiss (son
of Whisker), winner of the Champagne Stakes in
1823 ; Mr. (ex-pugilist) Gully's Tranby (son of
Blacklock), the best stayer of all the horses
ridden by ' Squire ' Osbaldeston in his celebrated
match; Mr. Ridsdale's Trustee (son of Catton),
third to St. Giles and Mr. Vansittart's Perion for
the Derby ; Mr. Greville's Whale (son of Whale-
bone) ; the Duke of Rutland's (Mr. Davidson's)
Victory, by Waterloo ; and, to conclude with
a bonne boucke, Lord Exeter's (Messrs. Chif-

10

146 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

neys', Lord Chesterfield's, George IV.'s, and
William IV.'s) Zinganee (son of Tramp), third
to Cadland and The Colonel in the dead heat
year 1828 for the Derby, and winner of the most
lordly Ascot Cup ever run for up to that date
(1829), and perhaps since then. For the 'field'
contained two winners of the Derby (Mameluke
and Cadland), a winner of the St. Leger (The
Colonel), a horse (Lamplighter) that was to be
sire of a Derby-winner (Phosphorus) and of two
winners of the One Thousand (Mayday in 1834
and Firebrand in 1842), a winner of the Oaks
(Green Mantle), and two others of less renown.
And yet one of these two — namely, Mr. Molony's
(Lord Sefton's) Bobadilla (winner, however, of
the Ascot Cup, and of the Drawing-room Stakes
at Goodwood, the year before, 1828) — is prob-
ably the most interesting of the whole bunch.
For she became (by her co-competitor Mameluke)
the dam of a filly that was foaled in 1834, was
imported by the Americans at the period of which
we are now treating (in 1836), and (called Myrtle)
was the dam (by Glencoe) of Magnolia, dam of
Madeline (by Boston), dam of Maggie B. B. (by
Imported Australian), dam of IROQUOIS.

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 147

[N.B. — The nearest 'imported' mare in the
pedigree of FOXHALL is (Tasker's) Selima
(foaled 1746, by the Godolphin Arabian); and
that pedigree is so suspicious that it is appended
herewith. The mark placed against the name of
Pandora signifies that the pedigree begins to be
' dicky ' from there.

FoXHALL.

First dam (American) Jamaica {alias Thankful),
daughter of (American) Fanny Ludlow {alias Sue
Morrisson), daughter of (American) Mollie Jack-
son, daughter of (American) Emma Wright,
daughter of (American) Fanny Wright, daughter
of (American) Aurora, daughter of (American)
*Pandora (by Grey Diomed), daughter of (Ameri-
can) (Hall's) Union mare, daughter of (American)
Leonidas mare, daughter of (American) Othello
mare, daughter of (American) Juniper mare,
daughter of (American) Moreton's Traveller mare,
daughter of imported Selima,]

In the reign of William IV., moreover, our
Australian colonies, which had kept up a fitful
traffic in thorough-breds with us from about the
year 1823, seem to have been 'getting into their
stride ' in the race for English thorough-bred sires

148 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

and dams, though It was not until the very year
of the Sailor King's death that there was foaled
Cap-a-pie (by The Colonel, son of Whisker, dam
a Sultan mare), imported into New South Wales,
where he became the sire of the famous home-
bred N.S.W. Sir Hercules, sire of Yattendon,
sire of Chester, sire of Kirkham and Narellan,
with which pair of * Antipodeans ' the late Mr.
White so pluckily came to defy us on our own
dung-hill or dung-hills.

As for legislative enactments, the turf may be
said to have had complete rest during the reign
of William IV., although there was a little altera-
tion made in parts of the statutes of Charles II.
and Anne for the purpose apparently of setting
learned judges and counsel a - nagging, which
purpose was of course fulfilled to admiration ; but
the ' parts affected ' had no more connection with
horse-racing than with other pursuits of a very
different character.

The jockeys (besides those that have been
already mentioned) who, during the short reign
of William IV., became most worthy of remem-
brance (though some of them, of course, had been
riding for years, and some were only just coming

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 149

out), were Jack Holmes (who had many a san-
guinary ride, so far as the spurred horse was con-
cerned, on the ' savage ' General Chasse), Sam
Darling, George Calloway (who rode Touchstone
for the St. Leger), J. Day, jun., and S. Day, jun.,
and Edgar Pavis (who was brother to the more
celebrated Arthur, and was taken into the service
of the short-lived Due d'Orleans).

To these we may add E. Edwards, John,
Edward, and Henry Wright, Elnathan Flatman
(commonly called ' Nat '), Sim Templeman, Mar-
low (of ' Flying Dutchman ' renown), Wintring-
ham, J. Gray, F. Buckle, jun., Norman, Forth
(trainer and owner), W. Day (the ' author ' of
these latter days), J. Cartwright, G. Boast (owner
and trainer), C. Wakefield, T. Nicholson, W.
Weatherill, Thomas Greathead, T. Shepherd, W.
Macdonald, R. Bowes, J. Jaques, Noble (Mark,
William, and George), R. Heseltine (owner and
trainer, and an echo from the past, when a Hesel-
tine was ' groom-in-waiting ' to the legendary Old
Merlin), Job Marson (of ' Nutwith ' fame), S.
Mann, S. Rogers (who had the misfortune to be
'warned off'), and notably Job Marson's contem-
porary and rival (if not superior), the accomplished

ISO HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

rider Frank Butler (nephew to William and
Samuel Chifney, jun.), of whom it was said in
after-times that he could have won the Derby of
1852 with any one of the first three (Daniel
O'Rourke, Barbarian, and Chief Baron Nicholson)
and that he, and not the horse he rode, should be
recorded as the winner of that race.

As for the ladies — who, as we have seen, lent a
peculiar grace to the sport of horse-racing by
running or allowing to be run in their names
their own or others' horses, or by giving a plate
out of their own purses or out of collections made
by them — almost the last flash of the brilliancy
which they communicated was seen at the
Houghton Meeting at Newmarket in 1833, when,
for the appropriately named Boudoir Stakes, the
Hon. Mrs. Grosvenor, Lady Alice Peel, and the
Countess of Chesterfield ran each, appropriately
enough, a filly, pour encourager les autres. And,
as for the nomenclature of horses, there was little
or nothing by this time that ' would make a door-
plate blush for shame, if door-plates were not so
brazen,' as Thomas Hood wrote, though purists
and puritans might still find some term that savours
of impropriety or profanity. This has been the

GEORGE IV. AND WILLIAM IV. 151

case ever since in occasional instances, a filly
named Redemption (foaled 1852, by Orlando and
Stamp) having been put down to the account even
of ' Her Majesty ' (z*/^^ ' Stud-Book,' Vol. VIII.,
P- 399)> though, of course, her Majesty knew
nothing about it.

The period was notable for some futile attempts,
especially on the part of an enthusiastic Mr.
Attwood, with his Grey Arabian and Chestnut
Arabian, of King William himself (or his repre-
sentative at Hampton Court) with a Black Arab
and a Bay Arab, both ' of the purest caste, pre-
sented by the Imaum of Muscat,' and Mr. Astley
with his Black Barb, to restore the prestige of the
' Son of the Desert,' with his ' arch ' and his
' flag '; and for the speech made by Lord (after-
wards the Duke of) Cleveland at Doncaster, when,
taking for text the purchase of Ludlow for 5,000
guineas by Mr. Ephraim Bond, ' hell-keeper,'
from Mr. Beardsworth, keeper of a 'repository'
at Birmingham, just before the St. Leger of 1832,
he preached that ' thenceforth no gentleman could
have anything more to do with the turf, at Don-
caster at any rate': and certainly Lord Cleveland
ought to have known, if anybody. ^\i\. gentlemen

152 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

still have to do with the turf, even at Doncaster ;
so that, let us hope, matters must have improved,
or Lord Cleveland must have made that remark
in his haste, as King David made his about the
universality of lying.

It was in the reign of William IV., moreover,
on June 3, 1837, that the now common, though
not yet universal, ' gate-money ' meetings began
to loom upon the vision of the race-goer, and the
'sport of kings' began to lose the charm, which
had hitherto been one of its greatest attractions,
of being perfectly open to the poorest of the poor.
For at that date was opened the short-lived
' hippodrome ' at Bayswater, the proprietor where-
of, by the way, a Mr. John Whyte, is said to
have been the inventor of the invaluable ' tan-
gallop ' and the projector of the Benevolent Fund
which has become identified with the name of
Lord George Bentinck, who provided it with a
very handsome ' nest-egg,' laid by a testimonial
proffered in acknowledgment of his own services.

[ 153]

CHAPTER IV.

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA.

Queen Victoria and the Turf — Sale of the Palace at New-
market— The Royal Stud at Hampton Court — Prince
Albert — Her Majesty and the Prince at Epsom — Ascot —
The Prince of Wales and the Turf — His Match with Lord
Strathnairn — Conspicuous Owners and Runners of Race-
horses during the Reign of Queen Victoria — Lord Palmer-
ston, Lord Derby, Lord G. Bentinck, Sir J. Hawley,
Admiral Rous — ^Mr. C. D. Rose and Mr. Blenkiron —
'Nobbling' — Running Rein, Leander, Ratan, Old
England, Bloodstone — Messrs. Goodman, Lichtwald,
W. Day, Bloodsworth, Stebbings — Tontine and Herodias
— Bend Or or Tadcaster ? — The Chetwynd-Durham Case
— Madame de Goncourt — Big Prices for Horses — Pre-
cariousness of Horse-racing and Race-horse-breeding —
Mr. Brodrick - Cloete with Paradox and Mr. Chaplin
with Hermit — Distinguished Horses exported and re-
tained at Home — The Old Times and the New, as
regards Stud-horses and their Fees — Ladies on the Turf
— Ascendency of the Jockey Club — Lnmunity of the
'Tout' — The Betting Nuisance — The Sporting Press —
Tattersall's — The ' Jockey Ring ' — The Glorification of
the Trainer — The Apotheosis of the Jockey — ' The Druid '
on Betting — Successful Bookmakers — Fordham, Archer,
and Charles Wood — Other noted Jockeys of the Reign
— The ' John Osborne Testimonial ' — Trainers of the

154 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Winners in the Great Races — Colour, Height, and
Nomenclature of Race-horses — General Condition of the
Turf — George IV,, Escape, and Mr. John Kent.

The reign of her Most Gracious Majesty Queen
Victoria opened in a manner which did not look
well for the future of the turf, so far as royal
patronage was concerned ; and yet, during that
reign, which has already been almost as long as
that of her Majesty's grandfather, George III.,
who reigned longer than any English monarch
up to his date, and whose two sons between them
did not attain to a third of his ' record,' the turf,
though it has undergone in many respects a
complete transformation, has reached — in point
of the royal, imperial, and general patronage
bestowed upon it, at home and abroad, of the
stupendous sums of money spent, lost, and gained
upon it, of the thousands who live, and of the
tens of thousands who are ruined or crippled by
it, of the ' monster ' prizes offered, of the im-
portance arrogated to themselves by successful
members of the betting ring, who claim to be
regarded as plying a perfectly legitimate and
respectable * business,' of the impetus given to
blood-horse-breeding, and of the wonderful in-
crease in the number, if not the excellence, of the

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 155

race-horses bred, and in the quantity, if not the
quality, of the horse -racing itself — a pitch of
development in comparison with which that ol
George III.'s time, wonderful as it was, sinks,
unless perhaps as regards the style of horses bred,
the ' form ' exhibited, and the sort of races run,
into absolute insignificance.

George IV., we are told, had left the palace
stables at Newmarket to his trainer, William
Edwards, ' for life '; but, however that may be,
it was not long after her Majesty's marriage that
the Royal Palace at Newmarket, which had
been the scene of 'high jinks' in the days of
' the First Gentleman ' and the ' Bishop of Osna-
burgh ' and ' Egalite,' was sold by order of her
Majesty and by advice, it has been surmised, of
the Prince Consort, lest a return of the ' good
old times ' should be witnessed, and was knocked
down by Mr. Driver, the auctioneer, to a building
speculator for ^100 over the reserve, after half
an hour had elapsed without a bid on the part of
any one among the few persons present. Before
that time, on the very morrow of her Majesty's
accession, or, more literally, on Wednesday,
October 25, 1837, the splendid stud at Hampton
Court, in the teeth of remonstrances made by

156 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

members of both Houses of Parliament, without
distinction of politics, and in spite of a memorial
presented by the most eminent personages of the
Jockey Club, had been sold, to be restored, how-
ever, at a future date (memory says, about 1848,
under the auspices of the celebrated clerk of the
Council, Mr. C. C. Greville), to such purpose at
last that a filly foaled there, by name La Fleche,
would be sold as a yearling for the unprecedented
pr:ce of 5,500 guineas. The sale was to the
benefit of foreigners mostly, especially French,
represented by M. Lupin, and Germans, repre-
sented by Baron Maltzahn, but also Russians
and Americans. Nor did her Majesty become
* patroness ' of the Jockey Club, nor did Prince
Albert (though his name appears once in the
Calendar, that of 1848, as breeder of a colt by
Sir Hercules and an Elis mare) figure either as sub-
stantive or honorary member of it. In fact, that
august body, after having been altogether without
a royal figurehead for a few years, had to import
its royalty from Holland, to which happy land
several bettinof ' firms ' have been driven to retire.
Moreover, Newmarket fell into disrepute as a
training-ground, and it seemed as if the days of
Robert Robson, who had been ' the emperor of

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 157

trainers,' and of Neale and of Prince and Company,
would never come back to it. Of course it was
not to be expected that her Majesty in person
would patronize Newmarket after the fashion of
her late uncles, who had cost the country so much
money by their horse-racing and gambling ; nor
could the wildest imagination conceive such a
spectacle as Prince Albert riding, In the style of
George P., one of the horses of a post-chaise
bound for the Heath, with Lord Melbourne, in
the style of the Right Hon. C. J. Fox, riding
another behind him ; or having such a henchman
as Jack Ratford at his elbow, or ' taking the odds '
to a ' monkey ' from a blatant ' leviathan.'

Nevertheless her Majesty did, as she always
has done, as much as loyalty towards her people,
even as regards their pastimes, required ; for she
and the Prince Consort saw Little Wonder win
the Derby of 1840, and presented Macdonald, the
rider of that winner (a very much maligned animal,
if he were only three years old), with ' an elegant
riding-whip' as a memento. Her Majesty, more-
over, most loyally maintained the prestige of
Royal Ascot, with the imposing spectacle of the
state procession, until the advent of that black
cloud which darkened her life for ever. Strange

158 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

to say, however, notwithstanding the less active
encouragement of royalty, the turf and its ruling
body, the Jockey Club, have reached, during the
reign of Queen Victoria, an astounding height, if
not of durable prosperity, at any rate of temporary
and apparent success, though the spirit of sport
may have departed from it noticeably, and the
virtue, if there were ever any in it, may have
crone out of it.

The Jockey Club may be said positively to
wallow at present in royalty and imperialty, to
say nothing of representatives of America, France,
and Australia ; and never before could the turf
boast so many race - horses, owners, breeders,
trainers, jockeys, * bookies,' welshers, ticket-
snatchers, and ' talent,' which is the cumulative
term bestowed with a more or less pleasing irony
upon the ' backers ' who, for the most part, fall
as certain victims to ' the ring ' as the adven-
turous punters at Monte Carlo to ' the old gentle-
man ' (if there be but one) at the head of that
' infernal ' establishment. This growth of the turf
is due, no doubt, mainly to railways and the con-
sequent facility of locomotion.

Durinor the reicrn of Oueen Victoria, the turf
must be allowed in one sense to have had rest

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 159

from legislation ; in another, not. On the one
hand horse-racing (unless within ten miles of the
Metropolis, in which case a license is required)
has been legalized, the old qui tain actions (em-
ployed by common informers for the purpose of
levying blackmail on the strength of clauses in
obsolete but not repealed statutes) have been
rendered impossible, vexatious restrictions have
been removed, and wagering, in a general way, is
not now declared illegal, but treated as a low sort
of proceeding which no respectable legislature
can condescend to so much as notice. On the
other hand, keepers of list-houses and all other
places where betting on deposit is permitted, or
where a person or persons habitually attend to bet
with all and sundry resorting thereto, and com-
mission-agents (who cannot recover what they
may have disbursed on behalf of a principal,
though a principal can recover winnings from
them), though they consider themselves, for some
inexplicable reason, a body essential to the turf,
have been roughly handled and driven from pillar
to post, and even to Holland, and yet are more
difficult to squelch than the heads of the hydra,
and rather increase than diminish after every
' scotching.' Such a phenomenon Is by no means

i6o HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

rare when intermittent attacks are made upon
mere excrescences instead of an unremitting eftort
against the centre of vitality.

Reasons unconnected with horse-racing make
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, of course, the most
conspicuous among the personages of the turf
during the present reign. As everybody knows,
he has his rooms at Newmarket (which, by the
way, has so far recovered from the neglect expe-
rienced by it at the commencement of Queen
Victoria's sovereignty, that now nearly all the
'dons' of the turf and nearly all the principal
trainers have residences either there or in the
vicinity, and make the place more a ' private con-
cern ' than Kempton Park or Sandown Park), hard
by the Club, in the red-brick building in which so
many other members find accommodation during
the race-meetings ; and he keeps up the practice
of his great-uncles, George and William, with his
annual Derby-dinner to his comrades of the Jockey
Club, of which he has been a member since 1864.
His colours first appeared at Newmarket — to trust
to memory — in 1877, when, at the July Meeting,
he ran his hitherto or thitherto unbeaten Arab,
Alep (age unknown), in a match of four miles,

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA i6i

9 St. each, against Lord Strathnalrn's gray horse
Avowal (by Confessor, dam the gray mare
Rocket, whose dam was an Arab mare of the
Nejdi breed), six years old, and, at an expense
of 500 sovs., did us the service of demonstrating
once more the superiority of a very moderate
horse, by an English sire and a half-Arab dam,
over a pure Arab of the best breed and of un-
beaten record ; for Alep, the favourite at 2 to i ,
and even 4 to i, was beaten by thirty lengths.
His Royal Highness is now a constant runner,
but his success, unfortunately, has not been as yet
equal to that of his two great-uncles, George and
Frederick, of whom the former won the Derby
once and the latter twice, and would have to be
very great indeed to correspond with his en-
thusiasm and enterprise or with the desires of his
countrymen.

Of the other most conspicuous owners and
runners of race-horses, during the present reign,
the chief places must be assigned, as winners of
the Derby, to Sir Gilbert Heathcote (predecessor
of Lord Rosebery at the Durdans, Epsom, and
perpetual steward of Epsom races). Colonel
Anson (afterwards General, Commander-in-chief
* II

i62 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

in India, where he died in 1857), Mr. John
Bowes (of Streatlam Castle, Durham), Colonel
(afterwards General) Jonathan Peel (of beautiful
Marble Hill, Twickenham), Mr. Gratwicke (the
pride of Sussex), Lord Clifden (who purchased
Lord G. Bentinck's stud, or part of it, from Mr.
Most) n, when it was transferred from Goodwood
to Newmarket), Lord Eglinton (the thirteenth
Earl, and Lord of the * Tournament '), Lord Zet-
land (of the famous 'spots'), Sir Joseph Hawley
(known as ' the lucky baronet ').

Besides these were Mr. F. L. Popham (of
Littlecote, who was a great cricketer, and a fellow
of All Souls', Oxford), Admiral Harcourt (one of
the several admirals who have made their mark
upon the turf), Colonel Towneley (of Towneley
Place. Lancashire, and of the family connected
with the 'Towneley Marbles'), and Mr. R. C.
Naylor (of Hooton Stud Farm, Chester).

After these cameComte de Lagrange(the French
' champion ' on the English, as well as the French,
turf), Mr. (afterwards Sir Richard) Sutton (who
'owned all Piccadilly 'and betted proportionately),
Mr. Henry Chaplin (of Blankney, whose ' best
friend ' was Hermit, and who was lately a Cabinet

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 163

Minister), Mr. J. Johnstone (the 'alter ego' of Sir
Robert Jardine), Lord Fahiiouth (who began racing
as ' Mr. T. Valentine,' who never betted but once,
to the tune, it is said, of sixpence, or, as others
have it, half a sovereign, bred all the best horses
for many years, and 'won everything'), two Barons
Rothschild (he of Mentmore, and he of Gunners-
bury, alias ' Mr. Acton '), Mr. Savile (of Rufford
Abbey, Notts, and Ryshworth, Ripponden, Yorks),
Prince Batthyany (who, as already mentioned, died
suddenly at Newmarket on the Two Thousand day,
1883), ^^- Stirling Crawfurd (whose relict was
* Mr. Manton,' the Duchess of Montrose), the
Duke of Westminster (descendant of Sir Richard,
afterwards Lord, Grosvenor, who is said to have
left ^300,000 upon the turf as a tribute to ' Tom
Tiddler '), Sir F. Johnstone (of general sporting
renown, and the only case known of a ' twin '
winning the Derby), Sir J. Willoughby (who
shared the Derby of 1883 with Mr. John Ham-
mond— an ex-stable-boy, like the famous York-
shireman, John Hutchinson — of Newmarket),
Lord Hastings (of the Astleys), the Duke of
Portland (who won a fortune, for anybody but a
duke or the like, with Donovan alone), Sir James

1 64 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Miller (of Manderston, Duns, Berwickshire, son of
a Lord Provost of Edinburgh), and Lord Bradford
(who, ' in spite of all his care, for all his pains,
poor man ! for all his pains,' could not win the
Derby until he was seventy-two, though he
began racing betimes as Viscount Newport).
Among less aristocratic or less celebrated owners
were Messrs. Ridsdale (ex-footman and after-
wards bookmaker), Robertson (the well-known
Scottish gentleman - sportsman of Lady Kirk),
Rawlinson, Gully (ex - pugilist), Pedley (book-
maker, and connected by marriage with Gully),
W. I'Anson (trainer). Merry (James, M.P., the
famous ' Glasgie body ' and ironmaster), C. Snew-
ing (veterinary surgeon and bookmaker), A. Bal-
tazzi (an Austro-Hungarian financial gentleman,
who won with Kisber the only English Derby
won as yet by his countrymen), P. Lorillard (an
American gentleman, 'in business,' who won with
Iroquois the only English Derby won as yet for
the 'stars and stripes'), and Mr. ' Abington '
(Mr. G. A. Baird, the noted gentleman-jocke}',
lately deceased).

To these must be added, as winners of some-
thing 'classic,' Lord Chesterfield, Fulwar Craven

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 165

(who would have resented the 'Mister'), Mr. G.
Dawson, Mr. Ford (jockey and trainer), the
Duke of Richmond, Mr. Rudston Read (co-
executor with Mr. Baron Martin of John Scott's
will), Mr. Harry Hill (bookmaker), Mr. Joseph
Saxon (collier and bookmaker), Mr. W. Graham
(of 'Nicholson's gin'), Mr. Dunbar, M. Lefevre
(*Mr. Lombard,' a French financier, of Chamant,
Chantilly), and Mr. ' Launde ' (the Rev. Mr.
King, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford,
who was ' pulled over the coals ' by the Bishop
of Lincoln). Also M. Lupin (the doyen of the
French Jockey Club), Mr. Fulteney, Mr. (' Chit-
tabob ') Perkins, Lord Stamford (the ' all-round '
sportsman). Lord Rosebery (well known to fame
in divers ways, especially as a Minister of
Foreign Affairs), Lord Cadogan, K.G. (a Cabinet
Minister, and greatly opposed to betting), the
Duke of Hamilton (one of the most enterprising
and pertinacious patrons ever known on the
turf), the Duke of Beaufort (a prince of owners
and runners), Lord Calthorpe (a millionaire
and great promoter of the cause, not at all op-
posed to betting), Lord Randolph Churchill (a
Cabinet Minister, and confederate on the turf

i66 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

with Lord Dunraven), Mr. Noel Fenwick (whose
name carries us back to the horse-racing in the
days of Charles I. and Charles II., if not earlier,
and, in later days, to the breeder of the famous
Match'em), and, finally, the philanthropic Baron
Hirsch (the friend of hospitals, who, as the York-
shiremen say, has * money for ever ').

Nor are those all. For, during this reign, have
flourished more or less (some considerably less)
upon the turf the following nobles and ignobles :
the (fourth) Earl of Albemarle (who, as Master of
the Buckhounds, felt bound to run for the Ascot
Cup, though he cared little for racing) ; Mr. John
Day (jockey and trainer, of Danesbury) ; the
(second) Earl of Stradbroke (better remembered
as a courser than as a racer, elder brother of the
famous Admiral Rous); Mr. W. Scott (' glorious
Bill,' the jockey, brother of the trainer) ; Mr.
John Scott (the ' Wizard of the North ') ; Sir
Robert Pigot (of Patshull, who died in June, 1891,
at the age of ninety, a descendant of the family of
the historical Lord Pigot, Governor of Madras) ;
Mr. B. Green (who is said to have been a com-
mercial traveller and bookmaker) ; Mr. Anthony
Nichol (twice Mayor of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and

FOURTH PERIOD: VICTORIA 167

confederated for awhile upon the turf with the
Earl of Durham of his day); Lord Enfield (George
Stevens Byng, a Lord of the Treasury, and after-
wards second Earl of Strafford) ; the (second)
Marquis of Exeter (owner of Stockwell) ; the
(fourteenth) Earl of Derby (the ' Rupert of de-
bate,' owner of Camzou and Toxophilite) ; Mr. W.
Day (jockey, trainer, and author) ; and Mr. Stan-
hope Hawke (the Hon., brother of Lord Hawke,
of a great Yorkshire ' all-round ' sporting family,
to which the celebrated Admiral Hawke belonged).
Add to them the (fifth) Earl of Glasgow (who,
as already said, began his career upon the turf
as Viscount Kelburne, and was known to his
intimates by the name of ' Peter ') ; Mr. Joseph
Dawson (a famous trainer, owner of the ' roar-
ing ' Prince Charlie, the horse that was known
as ' the King of the T.Y.C.') ; Mr. Henry Clare
Vyner (died 1882, elder brother of the better-
known racing celebrity Mr. R. C. Vyner, who
purchased Fairfield, which had belonged to the
successful bookmaker and ardent sportsman
John Jackson, called 'Jock o' Fairfield'); the
short-lived Lord Dupplin (eldest son of the
eleventh Earl of Kinnoul) ; the (fourth) short-

1 68 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

lived Earl of Lonsdale (owner of Pilgrimage) ;
Mr., or Captain, (the Hon.) R. Grosvenor (whose
Peregrine dropped from the clouds just In time
to prevent the American-bred Iroquois from
being added to the number of horses that have
won ' the triple crown,' that is, the Two Thousand,
Derby, and St. Leger of any given year) ; Mr.
Foy (who won the Two Thousand of 1884 with
Scot Free) ; Mr. Brodrick-Cloete (whose family,
whether Brodricks or Cloetes, have been racing
either here or at the Cape for generations, whose
ancestors owned the district called after them
Kluthenland, for they were originally named
Kluthe, German, transmogrified into Cloete, Dutch,
and who owned the illustrious but unfortunate
Paradox) ; Mr. Douglas Baird (who won the Two
Thousand with Enterprise and Enthusiast, un-
expectedly in both cases) ; Mr. A. W. Merry (of
'Surefoot' celebrity, a son of the famous Mr.
James Merry, of ' Thormanby,' ' Doncaster,' and
' Marie Stuart ' memory) ; and Mr. Richard Watt
(the ancient, of Bishop Burton, Yorks, who was
owner of the famous Blacklock, and during the
present reign won the One Thousand of 1839
with Cara).

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 169

Also Mr. Stanlake Batson (the last holder of
the ' Eclipse Foot ') ; the celebrated ' Squire '
Thornhill (of Riddlesworth, who won the One
Thousand with Extempore in 1843, and died in
1844); the renowned 'Squire' Osbaldeston (who
won the One Thousand with Sorella in 1844);
Mr. George Payne (the ' King of the Gamblers,'
who won the One Thousand with Clementina in
1847, and had little more to show for his lavish
expenditure upon horseflesh) ; Mr. F. Clarke (who
won the One Thousand with that elegantly-
named filly The Flea, in 1849) ; the (third of the
new creation) Earl of Orford (who won the One
Thousand in 1850 with a filly afterwards named
Lady Orford, and died in 1858, at the age of
seventy-eight) ; Mr. Sargent (winner of the One
Thousand in 1852 with Kate, by Auckland) ; and
Mr. ' Howard ' (Mr. Padwick, the money-lender,
' spider ' to the Marquis of Hastings's ' fly ').

Add the (seventh) Duke of Bedford (at whose
death in 1861 his ' managing man,' Admiral Rous,
became by will possessed of the Duke's celebrated
Asteroid, by Stockwell); Mr. W. H. Brook (winner
of the One Thousand in 1856 with Manganese) ;
Mr. Fleming (winner of the One Thousand with

lyo HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Nemesis in 1861) ; the (fourth and last) Marquis
of Hastings (who began ' Hfe ' in 1862, and ended
Hfe in 1868, at the age of twenty-six, and the
story of whose romantic marriage, extravagant
career, and deplorable end have been repeated
iLsqiic ad nmiseaiii) ; Colonel (afterwards General)
Pearson (who died at the great age of eighty-five,
on April 29, 1892, who had bred Lord Lyon and
Achievement, and whose formula for breeding a
great race-horse is said to have been ' winner of the
Derby mated with winner of the St. Leger,' curt,
simple, soldier-like, and imposing) ; Lord Hart-
ington (the eighth Duke of Devonshire, of * Bel-
phcebe ' and ' Morion ' memory) ; Mr. T, E.
Walker (of New Cavendish Street, and Studley
Castle, Warwickshire) ; Lord Alington (the first
Baron of the new creation, 1876) ; Mr. C. D.
Rose (encourager of long-distance races) ; and
Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Blundell Maple (espe-
cially as the purchaser of Common for the pro-
digious price of ^15,000, and of the yearling,
Childwick, at 6,000 guineas, and as the bidder of
^27,000 for Ormonde).

Nor have we yet quite done. There are to be
added certain winners of the St. Leg^er and of the

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 171

Ascot Cup : Mr. C. C. Greville (the Clerk of the
Council, and owner of Mango and Alarm) ; Major
Yarbrugh (whose horse Charles XI I. ran the
famous dead heat with ' Squire ' Thornhill's Euclid
for the St. Leger of 1839) ; Mr. Wrather (whose
Nutwith defeated the great Cotherstone for the
St. Leger of 1843) ! Mr. E. J. Irwin and Mr.
Watts (the Irish heroes, whose horses, Faugh-a-
ballagh and The Baron, have had scandal spoken
of them and their age, whether from English
jealousy or some more reasonable cause) ; Mr.
Morris (bookmaker, owner of the eccentric Knight
of St. George) ; Mr. T. Parr (jockey, trainer, and
owner, the ' Talleyrand of the turf,' of ' Fisher-
man ' renown) ; Sir Charles Monck (who died at
nearly ninety, and won the St. Leger at the age
at which Cato is fabled to have begun Greek) ;
the (second) Marquis of Ailesbury (a Master of the
Horse, owner of the famous brothers St. Albans
and Savernake) ; and the (third) Viscount St.
Vincent (another of Mr. Padwick's 'flies,' and
owner of Lord Clifden and part-owner — ^10,000
worth, by report — of the unfortunate Klarikoff,
that met with the fate of Phaethon).

Also Mr. T. V. Morgan (a sometime clerk in

172 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

the War Office, it is said) ; the accompHshed
(second) Earl of Wilton (of Heaton Park, a
great ' gentleman jockey,' a yachtsman, his own
' domestic chaplain,' an organist, a surgeon, and
a ' Christian,' as well as a ' Mr. Worldly Wise-
man'); Mr. C. Brewer (bookmaker, joint owner,
with Mr. C. Blanton, the trainer, of Robert
the Devil) ; Lord Rodney (of ' Kilwarlin ' me-
mory) ; Mr. Isaac Day (of ' Caravan ' memory,
no relation to the Days of Danesbury, but ' always
the best of friends ') ; Mr. Pettit, or Petit (of ' St.
Francis ' memory) ; and Mr. Ramsay (the famous
Scottish sportsman, who ' belonged to ' Lanercost,
and who gave rise to the common toast in Mid-
Lothian, before the days of Mr. Gladstone and
Home Rule, of ' Mr. Ramsay and the hounds ').

Then there were Mr. Orde (' of Northumber-
land,' the owner of Beeswing) ; Mr. Campbell
(owner of Woolwich) ; Mr. Farrance (owner of
the marvellous little Joe Miller) ; Lord Lon-
desborough (the first Baron, who had both
West Australian and Stockwell as sires in his
stud at the same time) ; Mr. W. S. Cartwright
(a gentleman in some business on a large scale,
and owner of ' the beautiful ' Ely) ; Messrs,

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 173

Gretton (the distillers, owners of Isonomy); Lord
W. Powlett (whose Tim Whiffler ran a dead
heat for the Ascot Cup with Mr. Merry's Buck-
stone in 1863); M. Delamarre (member of the
French Jockey Club, and winner of the Ascot Cup
with Boiard in 1874) : Mr. Keene (an Ameri-
can gentleman ' in business,' but not in the way
of mustard, who won the Ascot Cup in 1882,
which was detained by the New York Custom
House for an unconscionable time on a question
as to payment of the 1,100 dols. duty); the
English-Russian, or Russian-Englishman, Prince
Soltykoff; and the (fifth) Earl of Rosslyn, who
won the Ascot Cup of 1892 with Buccaneer.

Even so, one does not manage to include the
names of the celebrated Lord Palmerston (who
thought to have won the Derby with Mainstone,
and whose mare Iliona caused a controversy re-
specting the pronunciation of Greek words and the
effect of quantity and accent, and elicited a surpris-
ing amount of ignorance under the guise of learn-
ing), of Lord Portsmouth, of Admiral Rous (who
did not affect the big races at all), of Colonel
North (the 'Nitrate King'), of Captain Machell,
of General Byrne (of ' Amphion ' memory), and of

174 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

other ' moderns,' including ' Mr. Jersey ' (which,
being interpreted, is Mrs. Langtry, the ' Jersey
Hly '), to say nothing of such cases as owed their
conspicuousness to disaster more than to anything
else, like the ' Julius ' Duke of Newcastle (the
sixth) and the Lord Courtenay who became
thirteenth Earl of Devon, was rather a bettor
tlian a racer, and died in 1891.

Of these nobles, gentles, and ignobles, there
stand out, head and shoulders above the rest,
Lord George Bentinck, Sir Joseph Hawley, Lord
Derby, and Admiral Rous, as patrons who, ac-
cording to their lights, did their best to cleanse
the Augean stable of the turf. Of the four. Lord
George Bentinck and Admiral Rous were known
as ' dictators '; but the ' dictatorship ' of the former
lasted but a very short time compared with that
of the latter, and was of a different kind. It was
the Admiral who, so far as the Jockey Club was
concerned, attained a supremacy resembling and
even transcending in some respects that which
had been wielded by Sir Charles Bunbury ; it
was Lord George who, without dominating, for
all that appears to the contrary, the other members
of the club, gradually extended the paramount

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 175

power which he had acquired at Goodwood, where
he was allowed by the Duke of Richmond to be-
come ' everybody,' to nearly all other race-courses,
and exercised it partly, no doubt, in restraint of evil-
doing, but partly, one would say, in the spirit of a
Whiteley, v^hose ' business ' happened to be horse-
racing and betting thereupon, and who, in the
pursuit of his ow^n interests, did all he could to
* push ' the said ' business ' by making it popular,
studying to attract the public by all sorts of spec-
tacular improvements and inventions.

Admiral Rous, however, if he was less attentive
to the requirements of the public, set by far the
better example. He never betted beyond the
moderate amount which could not cripple him,
and which testified that his object was merely to
give an emphatic proof of his confidence in his
own judgment, and not to ' make a haul '; but
Lord George was as keen after the ' shekels ' as
if he had been a denizen of Houndsditch, betted
sums which frightened and incensed his excellent
father and which might very well have brought
him to ruin, preached the mischievous doctrine
that a man was to pay for his horse-racing out of
the pockets of the public by gambling, taught

176 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

owners, even if they were gentlemen and even
noblemen, how to ' put on the screw ' when they
considered themselves ' forestalled ' in the gam-
bling market, and actually condescended, for
betting's sake, to carry on, in conjunction with
his trainer, Mr. John Kent (who relates the cir-
cumstances, with apparent admiration, in his
'Racing Life of Lord George Bentinck'), a
system of espionage in order to outwit a miser-
able stable-boy, who had been detected in ' letting
the cat out of the bag,' instead of dismissing the
traitor on the spot, as a ' fine old English gentle-
man ' should have done at all risks. Lord George,
moreover, was fond of making questionable and
even rather revolting experiments with his horses ;
as, for instance, when he put a filly less than a
year old to the stud, and when (if, which is
doubtful, Mr. W. Day's ' Reminiscences ' are to
be taken as unimpeachable evidence) he used his
horse Naworth not much more humanely than
the notorious Mr. Tregonwell Frampton is sup-
posed (unjustly, there is some reason to believe)
to have treated his horse Dragon.

That Lord George, nevertheless, conferred
many benefits upon the race-going public must

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 177

be cordially and gratefully admitted, if only as the
originator of the ' telegraph-board ' and of the
'parade' and 'preliminary canter'; that he was
an excellent ' detective,' and spared no pains and
expense in thwarting villains, though his motives
may have been a little vitiated by an intermixture
of regard for his own and his friends' pecuniary
interests, nobody would dream of denying ; that
he behaved as a nobleman might have been
expected to behave in refusing the public sub-
scription of ^2,100 collected for a testimonial in
acknowledgment of his services, and in requesting
that the money might be used as a nest-egg for
the ' Bentinck Benevolent Fund,' everybody will
agree; and that his presentation (in 1837) of the
Waterloo Shield (value ^1,000) for a long-
distance race at Goodwood was a munificent and
a praiseworthy act, for the much-needed encourage-
ment of ' stayers ' (which was even more needed
when Mr. C. D. Rose followed suit with three
Plates of ^1,000 each at a later time), and far
more laudable and desirable than Mr. Blenkiron's
later munificent gift of ^1,000 for the Middle
Park Plate, there can be no question. Honour
to his memory and peace to his ashes for all the

12

178 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

good he did ; though regret for his untimely end
on September 21, 1848, may be more than a little
modified by the reflection that he was happy,
perhaps, in the time of his death, inasmuch as
he contemplated returning to the turf, and there
is no saying what the result might have been.
He could not very well have added to the reputa-
tion he had gained by leaving it, and he might
very well have met with disaster and with loss
both of substance and of fame.

Sir Joseph Hawley, the ' lucky baronet ' (though
indeed he had some very bad luck sometimes) was
a curious mixture of the reformer and the bad
example. How he proposed but failed to reform
both horse-racing and the Jockey Club is an old
story and needs no repetition ; and how, though
he would denounce ' plunging ' with the fervour
of Ecclesiastes, when he was in a reforming mood,
he would bet on a scale that made Admiral Rous's
hair stand on end, is to be read in biographical
sketches. He began racing when he was quite
a young man, at Florence ; but cannot be said to
have come to the front in England, though he
was well known as an astute match-maker, much
before the death of Lord George Bentinck. He

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 179

was never a dictator, though he would fain have
been a reformer ; and his title to be called the
' lucky baronet ' rests principally upon his success
in four Derbies with Teddington, Beadsman,
Musjid, and Blue Gown, and upon his possession
of three such good horses as Rosicrucian, Green
Sleeve, and Blue Gown, to put them in his own
order of excellence and precedence, all three of
the same age, in one year.

Lord Derby, again, was never a dictator ; but
his influence was great, and he did good service
in the cause of reform by writing in 1857 to the
Stewards of the Jockey Club the famous letter,
in which he called the attention of his co-members
to the censurable inactivity of the Club, whose
authority was not exerted for the purpose of pre-
venting the appearance on the turf of notorious,
and even convicted, swindlers and scoundrels.

And assuredly in turf-scandals her Majesty's
reign has been remarkably prolific. Cases of un-
doubted or suspected ' nobbling ' or attempts at
' nobbling ' dot the period from first to last, or
from very early to very late, from 1841 certainly
to 1892. Lanercost, Ralph, Attila, Cotherstone,
Old England, SurpHce, Newminster, Blair Athol,

i8o HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Hester, Bend Or (though in his case there was
nothing more than an accident or inadvertence),
and Orme, were all either ' got at ' or supposed to
have had nefarious plots laid against them ; and
the first two seem to have been undoubtedly
poisoned (as was also said of Mr. Harvey
Combe's Cobham in 1838), Lanercost ineffectually,
but Ralph fatally.

The principal iniquity was, of course, that of
1844, when Lord George Bentinck exposed the
villainy which had been perpetrated with the
four-year-old, Running Rein (imported, by-the-
way, into Russia, where he was much esteemed
under the name of Zanoni, but is said to have
been very shy ever afterwards of having his
mouth examined), by whose righteous disquali-
fication Lord George's friend. Colonel Peel, be-
came winner of the Derby with Orlando.

Two other horses (Leander and Ratan) that ran
for that same Derby gave rise to investigations
which revealed other enormities. Leander, be-
longing to our German patrons, Messrs. Licht-
wald, who did so much to improve the horses, if
not the morals, of the Teuton, had been objected to
before the race on the ground of being ' much more

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA i8i

elder' than he should have been, broke his leg in
running^, was shot the same afternoon, had his
lower jaw removed before, and his upper jaw
after, his burial (having been dug up for the
purpose), and was declared by two different
' vets.,' who had each a jaw submitted to him,
to have been four years old if he was a day.
Whereupon the race-courses of England, wherever
the rules and regulations of the English Jockey
Club prevailed, were declared laboo ' for ever ' to
our open-handed German friends and customers,
the ingenious but over-ambitious Messrs. Licht-
wald.

Nor were Running Rein and Leander the
only horses suspected of superannuation that ran
for that memorable Derby of 1844, but the
suspicions led to no noteworthy action.

At Ascot, however, a horse called Bloodstone,
professedly a two-year-old, came in first for the
New Stakes, was objected to, examined, declared
to be a three-year-old, and of course disqualified,
though the Master of the Buckhounds and two
Stewards of the Jockey Club, who conducted the
investigation, very properly complimented the
horse's jockey, Bell by name, for coming in first,

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

having received orders from the horse's manager
to * take a back seat.' An action against the stake-
holder resulted in the defeat of Bloodstone's owner.

As for Ratan, Mr. (ex-fishmonger) Crockford's
horse, ridden by S. Rogers, he ran so inexplicably
that, after a tardily held inquiry, Messrs. S. Rogers
and Braham were ' warned off,' chiefly through
the detective abilities of Lord G. Bentinck.

The shadow of the coming event of which
Running Rein was to be the hero had been
'cast before' quite recently, of all places in the
world, in France, where horse-racing was still
almost in its infancy, and where, nevertheless, as
early as 1840, the French Derby haa been won
by a ' supposititious Tontine ' (of French extrac-
tion), which (according to the decision of the
French ' Stud Book ') was not the French Ton-
tine at all, but the Enalish Herodias, though
the substitution was not suf^ciently established at
the time of objection.

There was in that case, however, no question, it
would seem, of the age ; and, of course, we could
show a precedent, if only in a small way, long
anterior to that date, as, for instance when, in
1 8 10, the Royal Plate at Warwick was thouo^ht to

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 183

have been won by a Mr, C. Browne's * b. g. by
Worthy,' but ' on an investigation before the
Jockey Club at Newmarket, it was ascertained
that the horse entered by the description of a
" b. g. by Worthy, four years old," was the bay
gelding Hylas, six years old.'

Another case occurred in 1825, at York, when
a stop was put to a match that should have been
run between Mr. Rowlay's professedly half-bred
Tom Paine and (? Mr. Longden's) Bogtrotter, on
the ground that the former horse was — as it
turned out on investigation that he certainly was
— a thoroughbred horse, whose proper name was
Tybalt.

And no doubt there had been many other
instances of ' personation,' but they all sank into
utter insignificance before the variety of swindles
detected and suspected in connection with the
Derby in which Running Rein and Leander
(Messrs. Goodman and Lichtwald) were so very
conspicuously concerned.

The next little article in the way of scandal
was what is known as 'the Old England case,' in
the very next year after ' the Running Rein case,'
and, as it has lately been revived by the Duke of

1 84 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Portland in a controversy with Mr. William Day,
there is reason for a short account of it. The
Stewards of the Jockey Club, after examination,
ordered Messrs. J. F. Bloodsworth, William Steb-
bings and William Day to be "warned off,' for a
conspiracy to make money out of Mr. Gully's
horse Old England by betting against the horse
for the Derby and to prevent the horse from
running for that race, whether by maiming or
otherwise. As a matter of fact, Old England did
run for the Derby, and was third to Annandale
and The Merry Monarch (winner) ; and it is
only fair to remark that if the Stewards of the
Jockey Club had clear proof of the atrocity
charged against Mr. W. Day (who declares that
he was unjustly dealt with, and who does not
appear to have entertained the suggestion as to
maiming the horse), their subsequent leniency
towards him, after only about two years' suspen-
sion, notwithstanding what they still, in 1847,
called ' the enormity of his offence,' is incompre-
hensible and most blameworthy ; and that, if they
had, on the other hand, convinced themselves
that they were mistaken, they owed Mr. Day a
handsome apology.

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 185

Other scandals there have been, including
the (justifiable by racing law) ' pulling ' of
Maroon to allow Launcelot to win the
St. Leger of 1840; the murder of the racing
man, Mr. Cook, by his racing friend, Mr. William
Palmer ; the establishment of ' betting houses '
(not too speedily suppressed) ; the apparition of
' leviathans,' of whom the first was Mr. William
Davis, ex-journeyman carpenter ; the disturbances
at Doncaster Races, in 1857, which caused a
letter to be written by the Stewards of the Jockey
Club to the Corporation of Doncaster ; the extra-
ordinary circumstances, it really must be said,
under which the immaculate Lord Stanley (four-
teenth Earl of Derby) himself won the Goodwood
Cup with Canezou ; the unsportsmanlike spirit
(with pain be it written) in which the first im-
portant successes of foreigners were received,
when objections were raised in the case of Mr.
Ten Broeck's Umpire, Comte Lagrange's Fille
de I'Air and Gladiateur, and Mr. Baltazzi's Kisber;
the troubles about ' reciprocity ' ; the objection
made to the Duke of Westminster's Bend Or, on
the ground that he was Tadcaster ; the case of
the ' millionaire-jockey,' Charles Wood (to whom,

i86 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

it was said, 'all Newmarket belonged'); the
therewith closely connected ' Chetwynd-Durham
case ' (which led to the retirement of a member,
who had been a steward, from the Jockey Club) ;
the sad death, by his own hand, of the horse-
breeding Mr. Hume Webster, who would fain
have mended his fortunes by the aid of Ormonde ;
the uproar created by the sale of that illustrious
'roarer,' an unbeaten horse (for he never raced,
as was incorrectly reported of him, in the land of
his importation) and wearer of the 'triple crown,'
but very wisely sold for ^12,000 to Sefior Boucau
by the Duke of Westminster, to the advantage,
most probably, of English thoroughbreds ; the
unpleasantness attending the sporting match be-
tween Colonel North's Nunthorpe and Lord
Rosslyn's Buccaneer, when 'each spake words of
high disdain,' and one hinted very broadly at
' sharp practice ' on the part of the other ; and, to
omit the remaining score or two, the melancholy
misfortune of Professor Loeffler, and the mystery,
not yet cleared up and not altogether unconnected,
no doubt, with that melancholy misfortune, of the
Orme that was to have surpassed his unsur-
passable sire.

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 187

Nothing has come of the offer made of a
thousand pounds for the ' nobbier' of Orme ; and,
if Orme's friends have found cause to reconsider
their expressed opinion that there was ' nobbHng '
in the case, the pubHc — and especially the Kings-
clere stable, on which a cloud, however slight, of
suspicion could scarcely fail to rest — would no
doubt be glad to hear of the reconsideration.

What changes have been produced in the aspect
of the turf during her Majesty's reign, may be
inferred from the following considerations.

At her Majesty's accession not a single foreigner
had ever won a race, at any rate a race of any
account, upon any English race-course, with a
horse bred in any foreign country. Now there
is scarcely an English race of any importance
which has not been won, once at least, and perhaps
twice or thrice, by some horse bred in a foreign
country. When Louis Philippe's son, the Due
d'Orleans, won the Goodwood Cup with Beggar-
man in 1840, the winner was an English horse.
Nor, though the French naturally, from their
greater contiguity to our shores, to say nothing
of other reasons, swooped down upon us in the
greatest numbers, and have eventually run us

1 88 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

hardest in the arena of horse-racing, were they
the first, after the wars which culminated in the
decisive affair of Waterloo, either to run for or
to win, whether with English or foreign horse,
any English race, whether of small or any other
account. Count Batthyany (a Hungarian), Count
Matustchevitz (a Russian), Herr Broenenburg (a
German), M. Dulewski (a Pole), Count Hunyadi
(a Hungarian), and probably the notorious Messrs.
Lichtwald, preceded by some few years Lord
Henry Seymour (who, for racing purposes, was
a Frenchman), Comte de Courcy, Messrs. Aumont
(who bought the notable Mr. Wags and ran him
at Canterbury in 1839), the Due d'Orleans, and
the whole French brigade, for Baron de Teissier,
though he was a ' perpetual steward of Epsom
races,' in conjunction with the popular Sir Gilbert
Heathcote, and a member of our Jockey Club,
and though he nominated a filly for the Durdans
Stakes in 1833, does not seem to have raced at
all ; and, moreover, was a naturalized English-
man.

The French, no doubt, soon outnumbered the
other foreigners, and made incessant attacks
with horses ' bred in France ' (such as the Due

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 189

d'Orleans's Nautilus, Lord Henry Seymour's
Oakstick, M. Latache de Fay's Dansomanie,
Baron N. de Rothschild's Drummer, and M. A.
Aumont's Fitz-EmiHus) upon our Goodwood Cup
especially, and for very good and obvious reasons,
if the conditions of that race be perused ; but, for
all that, the honour of having been the first
foreigner to win a notable English race with a
foreign-bred horse must be assigned to the German
Count Hahn, who won both the Stewards' Cup and
the Chesterfield Cup, in 1850, with Turnus, bred in
Germany. This was three years before M. A. Lupin
won the Goodwood Cup for France, in ]853, with
the French-bred Jouvence, and set going that
series of French successes on English race-courses
which not only caused Lord Falmouth and other
members of our Jockey Club, among whom Mr.
W. G. Craven was one of the most conspicuous,
in 1877 and some subsequent years, to cry aloud
for ' reciprocity,' and to put all sorts of obstacles,
though they turned out to be rather advantages, in
the way of French horses that should compete in
our handicaps, but also made the Gallic cock to
crow lustily over what seemed to be an acknow-
ledgment on the part of perfidious Albion that

I90 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

France had not only equalled but surpassed her
in horse-racing- and horse-breeding. 1 he crow
was a little premature, as events have shown, for
the French still come to us for ' tap-roots.'

The reign of Queen Victoria, nevertheless, has
seen the foreigner, especially the Frenchman,
pressing to the front, and the English racing-man
has now to take into serious account a number of
horses bred in other countries. After the French
came the Americans, represented by Mr. Ten
Broeck single-handed, who did little more than
threaten great things which were unaccomplished,
until Mr. Sandford's Brown Prince had made a
fair bid, and had been followed by Mr. Lorillard's
Iroquois and Mr. Keene's Foxhall, both in the
same year, and the two best horses of that year.
It is curious that the Germans, who began so
well, and who, in 1854, won the Cambridgeshire,
which has so often fallen to the Frenchmen, with
Baron Williamowitz-Mollendorf (Gadow)'s Scherz
(bred in Germany), long before the French won
it for the first time (with Palestro in 1861), should
have remained, as it were, in the second class,
and should have been out-run by the Austro-
Hungarians with Kisber, a performer of the first

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 191

class. But such is one of the phenomena of this
reign, during which a stray competitor from the
most unHkely regions has occasionally put in an
appearance.

As long ago as 1S57, Baron Petroffski (who was
a walking Racing Calendar and Stud Book) had
run the brown colt Vision (by Signal and Vest, by
Henriade), 'bred in Russia/ unsuccessfully, how-
ever, at Newmarket Second October and Hough-
ton Meetings; and ' bred in Jamaica ' was Portland
(by the American horse Rodney and the Jamaica-
bred mare Wee Pet), a horse that was running
' all over the shop ' at five and six years of age, in
1862 and 1863, and derived considerable celebrity
and lustre from having belonged, among his many
owners, to the ' Benicia Boy,' the famous pugilist,
J. C. Heenan, the antagonist of Tom Sayers and
Tom King, and the Hercules to the Omphale of
the fair Ada Isaacs Menken. ' Bred in Den-
mark ' and ' bred in Poland ' (whose king, when
she had one, tried to purchase the famous King
Herod for ^2,000 more than 100 years ago),
and ' bred in Roumania ' have been appended to
the names of horses that have been entered, if
not run, for our races, and Signor Ginestrelli,

192 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

owner of Star of Portici (dam of the once incom-
parable Signorina) has made us famiHar with
' bred in Italy.' In course of time there came,
in 1876, King of the West (by Imported Kingston,
son of England's Beauty), Commodore (by the
famous Australian -bred Yattendon), and quite
recently (1890-91) Ringmaster, Lady Betty, Mons
Meg (winner of the Gold Vase at Ascot), and
Kirkham and Narellan. all ' bred in Australia.'
Since their importation there have been entries
of colts or fillies or both ' bred in Argentina ' and
' bred in New Zealand.'

In fact, the reign of Queen Victoria has seen
what was once called the ' national ' pastime
transformed into something ' international,' and
what was regarded as 'the sport of kings' into
what Lord Falmouth pronounced, in i^JJ, to be
a mere matter of ' business,' of which the members
of ' the Ring ' have the effrontery to profess that
they are the backbone, instead of a mere para-
sitical excrescence, and for the benefit of which
they claim to be thought to pursue as legitimate
a calling as that of a registered member of the
Stock Exchange or of Lloyd's, and to be recog-
nised by the Legislature and Society accordingly.

FOURTH PERIOD: VICTORIA 193

It may be remembered that the worthies who
swindled Madame de Goncourt, in 1876, out of
about ^10,000, to be invested in bets on horse-
races, seemed to have adopted this same view of
their profession, since they described themselves as
' sworn bookmakers,' in imitation, no doubt, of
' sworn brokers.'

Her Majesty's reign may or may not have been
as remarkable as any other for the excellence of
its thoroughbreds, but it has certainly been more
remarkable than any other for the prices paid.
Lunacy was believed to be obviously on the in-
crease when 1,000 guineas were paid for the
Flying Dutchman, and the same sum for his half-
brother, Kirkleatham, as foals, and for Priam and
Zuyder Zee, each, as yearlings ; but that is nothing
to what we have arrived at. Sidonia, as a year-
ling, fetches 2,000 guineas, and wins his first race,
the Batthyany Stakes at Lincoln, not a very
valuable affair, at six years of age, in 1880;
Maximilian fetches ^4,100 as a yearling, and,
after winning next to nothing, is sold at a sale of
the Duke of Westminster's horses, in 1880, at five
years of age, for 410 guineas, just a tenth of the
original price; Mr. Brodrick-Cloete, in 1884, gave

104 iioh'si-: icACiNc; in ICNCLANJ)

.\,ooo ouini'iis \ov \ .owl I'';ilnunith's Koiiisboiiro^
(so hhuuhI Ikmu ihc scene i^i a naval victt^ry gained
hy Aduiiral Boscawcn), luii ilu- niaj;iiili<.H'iU-K)ok-
iui; iinjHislor (.ollapstxl aiul died {he inoiiUMU his
preparation bi-oan ; aiul so \vc> inii^lu coiuimic at
consiJ(-ral>!o lon^th.

C >n iho tUluM' haiul Miiiuur. piirchastnl at; the
1 lampion Court stinl in i SSo 1)\' ttu- Pukc^ oi
TcM'tlanil tor a coniparatixcK sniail sum. amply
ropaiil tho purrhasor, and tlu^ sanu' may he said
lor hor sistta', La I'doclu'. purrhasod at iho saiiu'
stud in 1 St)o h)' Haron llirsrh Km' thr lar^-o sum
ol 5,500 i^uincMS. tin- Iimil^csI pru'o o\or paid lor a
Nt\irlini4' in haiL^land until Mr. (altcrwards Sir |.)
lUundoU MapU^ i^ayo d.ooo guineas [ov Ldiild-
wick (by St. SinuMi and tlu> famous h'riMu-h marc
riaisantcaat\ purciiascxl Irom tho I'lnMU-h In' Sir
V. S\kos). Hut whotlua' Cdiildw ick and C lion-
wood (arrus(.\l ol hoiui^ a ' roaror,' and purchased
h\ Mr. Sinoc-r lor 5.000 i^uinoas) will hrini;"
siniihu" protil [o their ' plui~k\' " purchasers (as the
euphemistie lashi(.)n is to eall suoh purchasers) re-
mains to he st-en.

And then, .is [o stud horses, George 1\ . was
thou;,d\t h\ many pta'sons (who cc>nceaK\l their

FOURTH PERIOD: VICTORIA. 195

thouj^hts) to have shown symptoms of his
father's malady in givini^ 4,000 guineas for The,
Colonel (before the horse had done racing, how-
ever) ; but the subjects of Queen Victoria were
to see the ^12,000, or more, given for Blair
Athol followed by the / 14,000 given by the
Duke of Westminster for Doncaster, and the
^15,000 given for Common (winner of Two
Thousand, Derby, and Leger, in 1891), ^iHpoo,
it is said, for Kendal, by Mr. Piatt, and ^27,000
offered for Ormonde by Sir J. l^lundell Maple.

Americans, however (who were unknown to
Hamlet), are even madder than Englishmen in
these matters, and carry out their principle of
American 'bigness' in everything, from a goose-
berry to the price of a thoroughbred ; for an
American gave 40,000 dollars, according to the
published reports, or about ^8,000, for King
Thomas (? brother to King Fox and 13an Fox) at
Madison Square Gardens, New York, in 1888.
Now, King Thomas won his first race at five
years of age in 1892, at Brighton l^each, and it was
worth just a hundredth part of the sum paid for
him. Moreover, an American, Mr. Reed, gave
;/^20,ooo (at an American snle) for St. P)laise

196 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

(winner of the English Derby in 1883), according
to the accounts ; and at last a young Californian, a
Mr. Macdonough, sanus utrisque auribus atque
oculis (as Horace says), was found to relieve
Senor Boucau, the Argentine, of the * roaring '
Ormonde, and to pay ^30,000, or more, for the
privilege. It is to be hoped that the ' plucky '
(that is the word generally used) — that the
' plucky ' Californian will have no reason to regret
the purchase.

But to show how precarious a possession is
even a sound stud-horse, it will suffice to mention
that Mr. Brodrick-Cloete, of Ecchinswell Stud
Farm, Newbury, Berks, lost his splendid horse,
Paradox (not to have been bought of the owner
for ^20,000, much less for the ^14,000 actually
offered), before the unfortunate sire had been four
years at the stud ; whereas, on the other hand,
Mr. Chaplin's Hermit lived to beget sons and
daughters for a period of nearly twenty years, and
must have been worth something like ^200,000
to his owner, what with his fee, which was for
some years at the unprecedented figure of 250
guineas, and the high prices paid for the produce of
Mr. Chaplin's own mares, with which he was mated.

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 197

For the most excellent among the race-horses
of her Majesty's reign one would naturally look,
as usual, at the lists containing the names of those
that won what are called the ' classic ' races ; but
this would be to miss several that, whether from
want of entry, or from some other cause, are not
included among those winners.

Such are Mr. John Plummer's almost legendary
Alice Hawthorne, who was nearly as dear as
Yorkshire Jenny or Beeswing to the Northern
heart, rivalled Fisherman in the number of her
Queen's Plates, and was the dam of Oulston and
Thormanby ; Mr. Ferguson's (the Hibernian
attorney's) Harkaway (known as ' the Irish
Eclipse,' sire of Baron Rothschild's celebrated
horse King Tom), whose wonderful performances
on the Curragh are said to have almost out-
Childersed the great Flying Childers.

To come to more recent times, the eccentric
Peter, who (like Slane and Phlegon in their exer-
cise gallops) would stop to kick in the middle of
his work, as he did in the race for the Royal
Hunt Cup, and after this relief would go on again,
catch, and beat his field ; the unbeaten St. Simon,
and unconquered Barcaldine ; and lastly, Lord

198 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Wilton's Wisdom (by Blinkhoolie and Aline, the
dam of Grand Coup, by Gladiateur), a horse that
deserves particular notice, because, though he
ran a dozen times or more, for the Derby as
well as for other less important stakes, he never
once won, and yet has turned out an excellent
sire.

Amongst his progeny were Mr. John Ham-
mond's famous mare Florence and Mr. A. W.
Merry's splendid horse Surefoot, as well as
several others, as was to be expected from his
high connections, illustrating the truth of the
saying that bon sang 7ie ment pas.

Of the distinguished horses that have been
exported during her Majesty's reign the chief
are : To America, Leamington, of course, as sire
of Iroquois, and, though a very indifferent per-
former. Phaeton, of course, as sire of King Alfonso
(sire of Foxhall) ; Australian (a great sire in
America, by West Australian), first called Mil-
lington ; Balrownie, that had cost Mr. Padwick
^4,000 ; Belshazzar, son of Blacklock ; Bonnie
Scotland (a great sire in America), ran a dead
heat for second in the St. Leger of 1856 with

FOURTH PERIOD: VICTORIA. 199

Artillery ; Canwell, winner of the Newmarket
Stakes, 1862; the notorious 'savage' Cruiser,
second for the Criterion Stakes, 1854 (imported
by the celebrated ' tamer,' Mr. Rarey) ; Eclipse,
winner of the Clearwell Stakes, 1857, by Orlando ;
Fly-by-night, a winner at Ascot in 1855 and 1856,
by The Flying Dutchman ; and Glenelg, a noted
American sire, by Citadel, son of Stockwell.

Add to these Haddington, winner of the Great
Metropolitan Stakes in 1863 (went first to China
and thence to California) ; Hartington, winner of
the Cesarewitch in 1S62 ; Hibiscus, winner of the
Epsom Gold Cup in 1 838, by Sultan ; Knight of St.
George, winner of the St. Leger in 1854 ; Mickey
Free, a winner of Queen's Plates in England and
Ireland, by Ishmael or I. Birdcatcher ; Scythian,
winner of the Chester Cup in 1855 ; True Blue,
winner of the Great Eastern Handicap, imported
into Quebec, by Vedette ; and Don John, winner
of the St. Leger in 1838, said to have been pur-
chased for ^200 and imported, but to have been
neglected, so that he died within a few months
leaving not a single foal.

Also Glen Athol, a noted American sire, by
Blair Athol ; Buckden, a noted American sire.

200 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

by Lord CHfden ; Saxon, a noted American
sire, by Beadsman ; Hurrah, a noted American
sire, by Newminster ; Blue Gown, winner
of the Derby in 1868, but he died on the
passage (as Wenlock afterwards in 1891), in
the winter of 1880-81, after sojourning a long
while in Germany ; Blue Mantle, fourth for the
Derby of 1863, by Kingston ; St. Mungo, son of
St. Albans ; St. Blaise, winner of the Derby in
1883, imported by Mr. Auguste Belmont, and
purchased at the sale of Mr. Belmont's stud in
America for ^20,000 ; and, above all, the ' prince
of roarers ' (unless that should be the title of the
late illustrious son of Blair Athol, Prince Charlie,
whose latter end came upon him at Eldmerndorf
Farm, Lafayette County, U.S., on November 11,
1886, whilst engaged in the propagation of his
species, whether ' roarers ' or not), the renowned
Ormonde, at the prodigious cost of ^30,000 or
more.

Besides, of course, very many mares ; although,
as regards that sex, Brother Jonathan seems
to have formed an opinion, for which there
is weighty authority, that brilliant achievements
are a matter of little consequence, if not a posi-

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA. 201

tive drawback, and that good blood and little
work are the main desiderata. In fact, Brother
Jonathan was rather disposed to lend us a mare
or two, witness Maggiore (by Lecompte), Myrtle
(by Lexington), Prioress (by Imported Sovereign),
Summerside (by Lexington), and even the halt-
bred mares Cincinnati and Desdemona, that found
their way ' unbeknown ' into Mr. Savile's stud and
into the sacred English * Stud Book ' {vide vols, ix.,
X., and xi.).

To France : Gladiator (second to Bay Middle-
ton for the Derby, and perhaps the best sire the
French ever obtained from us) in 1846 ; The
Prime Warden (by Cadland) and Sting (by Slane)
in 1847 ; the unfortunate Ion (second for the July
Stakes, second for the Chesterfield Stakes, second
for the Derby, and second for the St. Leger, as if
he inherited a curse from his sire Cain), an excel-
lent stud-horse ; Nuncio, son of Plenipotentiary ;
The Baron, winner of the St. Leger, and sire of
Stockwell ; Faugh-a-ballagh, winner of the St.
Leger, and sire of Fille de I'Air ; the laborious
Lanercost ; The Nabob, the unfortunate Lord
Ribblesdale's ill-starred but * terribly high-bred '
horse, the sire of the famous Vermout and Bois-

202 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Roussel ; and The Emperor, twice winner of the
Ascot Cup, and co-sire, with The Baron and
Sting (or, as the greatest authorities declare, the
true sire), of the celebrated French horse Mon-
arque, sire of the unapproachable Gladiateur.

Also Heir of Linne, an esteemed sire ; Pyrrhus
the First, winner of the Derby ; The Flying Dutch-
man, winner of the Derby and St. Leger ; The
Cossack, winner of the Derby ; West Australian,
winner of the Two Thousand, Derby, and St.
Leger, first winner of all these three races, and of
what is thence called ' the triple crown,' pace the
Pope of Rome ; Silvio, winner of the Derby and
St. Leger, sold to the Due de Castries just before
Lord Falmouth's sale in 1884 for about ^7,000,
it was said ; Plutus, a great sire, by Trumpeter ;
Tournament, another great sire, by Touchstone ;
Weathergage ; Womersley ; Saucebox, winner of
the St. Leger of 1855 ; Nunnykirk, Hernandez,
Atlantic, and Peregrine, all winners of the Two
Thousand ; Ceylon, winner of the Grand Prix ;
the American horse Optimist, imported by the
Duke of Hamilton, who is also the Due de
Chatelherault ; Blinkhoolie, Elland, Lozenge,
V\ilcan, Wingrave, and the very memorable

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA.

Wellingtonia (sire of Plaisanterie) ; to say nothing
of Scottish Chief (in 'the sere, the yellow leaf),
and, after him, Energy (the short-lived sire of
Gouverneur, Reverend, Rueil et Cie).

We may add a perfect galaxy of ' well per-
formed' mares, including such winners of the
Oaks as Fulwar Craven's Deception (won in
1839), the Duke of Richmond's Refraction
(won in 1845), Mr. John Scott's Songstress
(won in 1852), Mr. Wauchope's Catherine
Hayes (won in 1853) temporarily, Lord Londes-
borough's Summerside (won in 1859), Mr. R.
C. Naylor's Feu de Joie (won in 1862), and
Mr. W. Graham's Regalia (dam of the magnifi-
cent Verneuil, won in 1865) and Formosa (won
in 1868); such winners of the One Thousand as
Mr. Cookes' (Mr. Thornhill's) Tarantella (won in
1833, sold at fourteen years of age to M. A.
Lupin at the death of ' Squire ' Thornhill in
1844), Mr. Houldsworth's Destiny (won in 1836)
temporarily, Mr. Batson's Potentia (won in 1841,
purchased by Comte de Hedouville in 1854),
Mr. John Scott's Imperieuse (won the St. Leger
also in 1857), and such ' toffesses ' as Sir J.
Hawley's Green Sleeve and Morna. Vivid (with

204 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

which English mare the French ran third for the
Oaks of 1S63), and Mr. W. G. Craven's Woman in
Red (ex-Jessie Brown), that became the dam of
the redoubtable brothers, Revigny and Montargis
(winner of the Cambridgeshire of 1873), by the
well -named, romantic, short-lived, meritorious
Orphelin. Of these importations the venerable
M. A. Lupin bore the brunt in point of expense,
but Messrs. Lefevre and Aumont had a share in
them ; and certainly the French cannot be accused
of going a-warfare on English race-grounds with-
out calculatinof the cost thereof

To Germany : winners of the Derby — Milndig,
Phosphorus, Bloomsbury, Attila (though he died
en i^ozUe, at the early age of seven, in 1846, after
a curious career, having cost but 120 guineas at
two years of age, and having been, on several
occasions, an object of villainous attempts on the
part of the 'nobbier'), Daniel O'Rourke, Blue
Gown (afterwards died on his way to New York),
and St. Gatien (for ^14,000).

Winners of the Two Thousand — Augustus (pur-
chased through Lieut. Ficker in 1839), Riddles-
worth (purchased by Messrs. Lichtwald for a Berlin
Company, but sent back to England in 1839, and

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA. 205

thence to America), Grey Momus (purchased by-
Count Hahn of Basedow in 1 839), The Corsair (pur-
chased through Messrs. Lichtwald in 1843), Fazzo-
letto (purchased for the Graditz Stud in 1863 by
Baron von Kotze), Fitz-Roland (purchased in
1872 by Count John Renard), and The Wizard
(purchased at a cost of 3,000 guineas in 1862, but
a great failure at the Graditz Stud).

Winners of the St. Le^er — Rockingham (im-
ported in 1 841), EHs (in 1844), and Satirist (pur-
chased by Baron Maltzahn-Cumerow, then sold
to Herr Homeyer-Murchin, and afterwards to
Baron Seckendorf), besides Euclid (though he
died en route), that ran the famous dead-heat with
Charles XII. in 1839, and a host of other more or
less distinguished horses, including Loutherbourg,
Sweetmeat, the unlucky War Eagle, the historic
Old England, Saunterer (temporarily), Sheet
Anchor (the son of Lottery), Breadalbane, Rustic,
Savernake, Chief Baron Nicholson, Sittingbourne,
Fandango, The Palmer, and others (though, of
course, Kisber and Chamant were obtained from
Hungary and France), and countless mares,
including Our Nell, Poison, Iris, and Brown
Duchess (all winners of the Oaks), and Galantine,

2o6 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

by Reveller (purchased as early as 1832, the year
after her success), Firebrand, Sagitta, and Scottish
Queen (all winners of the One Thousand).

To Austria-Hungary : among winners of the
Derby — Teddington, Kettledrum, and Doncaster
(obtained for ^5,000 from the Duke of West-
minster, who is said to have paid ^14,000 for
him) ; and among winners of the Two Thousand —
Conyngham and Diophantus, besides such noted
horses as Clincher, Buccaneer (sire of Kisber and
of the many excellent ' Buccaneerids '), Cambuscan
(sire of the legendary Kincsem), Carnival, Coast-
guard, Ostreger, Rama, and a host more, and
almost alone to be mentioned among the imported
mares (because she became the dam of Kisber,
winner of the Derby in 1876), Mineral, bred by
the Rev. Mr. ' Launde ' (that is, the Rev. Mr.
King, breeder and owner of Apology), and, with
the usual short-sightedness of prophetic souls,
originally called ' Rubbish.'

To Russia, which has not deserted us, though
perhaps a little coolness may have been displayed
by her since the early days of her Majesty's
reign, when the comparatively old-established
Grand Duke Michael Stakes (dating froni 1821),

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA. 207

reinforced by the Cesarewitch or Czarewitch (in
1839), and by the Emperor's Plate (from 1845 to
1853, in lieu of the Ascot Cup), testified of a ' cordial
understanding,' which was doomed to be interrupted
by a difference of opinion about the ' Sick Man '
of Turkey, there went, among winners of the
Derby, Coronation, Running Rein (afterwards
Zanoni, disqualified, to the disgust of his friends,
who asked, ' What's the good of winning a Derby
when they won't let you have it ?'), Andover, and
Caractacus ; and among winners of the St. Leger,
the sensational Ebor (stated to have been pur-
chased for 500 guineas by the Czar from Mr.
W. Barton of Fulford, near York, in 1835, at
which time the horse must have been twenty-one
years old, having begun life with a cart-mare for
foster-dam, and having ' fluked ' the great Black-
lock out of the St. Leger of 181 7), and the very
notable Van Tromp, together with a long string
of more or less distinguished horses, such as Lord
Caledon's and Lord Clifden's Wanota (by Simoom),
Uriel, Peep-o'-Day Boy, Jereed, and Ithuriel.

So much for our old friends and customers, whose
purchases are noted with the greatest frequency
in the earlier volumes of the ' Stud Book ' in the

2o8 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

years before her Majesty came to the throne
and commenced that reign during which foreign
purchasers have increased in number, difference
of nationahty, and extent of business, to a degree
that can be best imagined from the statement
that, whereas the exportations expressly notified
in the hst (though others are dotted about the
textual pages) appended to the first volume pub-
lished after the commencement of her Majesty's
reign amounted to but eighty (all horses, as it
does not seem to have been worth while to specify
the mares), and, therefore, there was no necessity,
when they were so few, to collect them under the
heads of the various countries to which they were
exported, the similar list to the sixteenth volume,
published in 1889, contained an account of no
fewer than some 939 horses and 1,330 mares,
of all ages ; and the specification of the countries
to which they were exported showed that we
have customers for our thorough-bred stock in
British North America, in South America
(whence — for this time only, the holders of
Argentine bonds will, no doubt, prophesy — came
the most numerous 'deals,' to the tune of about
381 horses and 438 mares), in the United States

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 209

of America, in Australia, in Austria- Hungary, in
Belgium, at the Cape of Good Hope, in Natal
and in South Africa, in Denmark, in France, in
Germany (on a large scale in both countries), in
Holland, in India, in Italy, in Japan, in Java, in
Mexico, in Poland, in Portugal, in Russia, in
Spain, and in Sweden ; to which may be added,
from the evidence of preceding volumes, China,
Egypt, Jamaica, Mauritius, New Zealand, and
Roumania, which, let us hope, have only recuU
pour mieux sauter.

This, of course, looks cheerful for breeders
of blood-stock and for the turf, inasmuch as
horse-racing follows blood-stock-breeding as a
corollary a proposition. There is, however,
another side to the question. It has been
calculated that during the years 1881-92 the
winnings of 266 race-horses, which had cost up-
wards of ^460,000 between them as yearlings,
amounted to not more than ^160,000 in stakes.
This is not an encouragement to pay between
1,000 and 2,000 guineas for a yearling, in the
hope of winning some of the huge sums of money
offered as prizes by the majority of those ' gate-
money meetings ' which (with the exception of

14

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Epsom, York, Doncaster, Ascot, and Goodwood,
for Newmarket has become almost as ' private ' as
Sandown or Kempton) are now the rule, and
which, with the companies that ' run them,' and
the stud companies (with shareholders to satisfy)
that breed thoroughbreds for sale all over the
country, are among the distinctive growths of the
present reign, when, at last, ' the sport of kings '
has reached the point towards which it had been
constantly tending more and more, as ' the ring '
expanded and put the temptation of betting
within the reach of the little and the great,
with an ease before unknown, and on a scale
both smaller and larger than would otherwise
have been readily attainable, and has become,
for the most part, a mere matter of money-
making or money-losing, whether in the course
of legitimate business or by sheer gambling.

It is all very well to tell us that something like
half a million of money is offered to be run for in
a year ; but that is not a permanent fund ; the
greater part of it comes out of the pockets of the
very men who enter their horses for it, and a
very considerable part out of the pockets of ' the
ring ' and of the public, whether ' backers ' or

FOURTH PERIOD: VICTORIA

mere spectators, and about a quarter of it is won
by some dozen owners with a score or so of
horses, leaving the other three-quarters to be
divided among the owners of more than 2,000
horses : an average of less than ^200 apiece,
which would not pay for a horse's keep and
travelling expenses, to say nothing of entrance-
money and forfeits, even if the owner had no
other horses utterly useless on his hands. The
cure for this, we are told, is to bet ; that is, in
most cases, to throw good money after bad, or,
at the very least, to make the public pay expenses
for which the public is in no way responsible.

On the whole, one would say that, notwith-
standing the wholesale manner in which foreign
countries at present patronize our blood-stock-
market, and notwithstanding the vast sum offered
in public stakes, both the breeding and the
running of race-horses are more precarious than
ever, and on the whole more unprofitable, for
few breeders can hope to get the prices paid
for none but very ' fashionable ' yearlings (and
' fashionable ' sires mean exorbitant fees), and few
runners can count upon winning enough to cover
expenses. Moreover, the late sales at New-

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

market and Doncaster, followed by the exporta-
tion of stock to be sold by auction abroad, are
very disheartening for breeders in this country,
where the alternative seems to be an extravagant
price or next to nothing. And if the foreign
customers, as is not improbable, find themselves
over-stocked before long, or begin to feel con-
fidence in their native produce, the look-out will
be very black indeed. Especially as the object
both at home and abroad appears to be, not the
general improvement of horses, but rather the
production of a phenomenon and the performance
of some wonderful deed.

But to return to a brighter theme, namely, the
importation of our ' crack ' horses by countries
which were in a comparatively benighted condition
up to the commencement of the present reign.

Australia really began to progress when she im-
ported, about 1838, at a very early age, Cap-a-pie
(son of The Colonel, son of Whisker) into New
South Wales (where, as already stated, he became
the sire of the New South Wales Sir Hercules, sire
of Yattendon, sire of Chester, now so well known
in this country), laying the foundation of the cele-
brated ' Waler ' of the present day. She afterwards

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 213

reinforced her importations with New Warrior,
Pitsford (winner of the Two Thousand), Boiardo,
Dolo, the redoubtable Fisherman (the 'farmer' of
Queen's Plates), Hermit (Mr. Gully's winner of the
Two Thousand in 1854, not Mr. Chaplin's winner
of the Derby in 1867), Indian Warrior, War Hawk,
The Marquis (winner of the Two Thousand and
the St. Leger), Tim Whiffler (that ran a dead
heat for the Ascot Cup with Buckstone in 1863),
Hawthornden (a winner of the St. Leger), and
Gang Forward (a winner of the Two Thousand).
Also a great many mares, including such good
ones as Marchioness (by Melbourne), winner of
the Oaks in 1855, Gildermore (ran a dead heat for
the Oaks with Governess in 1858), Pate (third to
Gamos and Sunshine for the Oaks in 1870, when
Hester was 'got at'). La Princesse and Princess
Maud (dams of our Australian visitors in 1 890-1,
Kirkhamand Narellan). Her sister. New Zealand,
distinguished herself by importing Musket (one
of the best sires ever known in any country,
leased for ninety-nine years, as he was ' not to be
sold ' according to his owner's testamentary direc-
tions, sire of the splendid horses Carbine and
Martini-Henry, and of Nordenfeldt, the horse

214 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

for which Mr. Hordern, of Sydney, is said to have
refused ^20,000), and the mare Atlantis (so
famous as a two-year-old) by Thormanby. So
that we may expect to see Australia some day
carrying everything before her on the turf of the
'Old Country.'

To the Cape have gone a number of horses, of
which not the least remarkable was Brian Boru
(foaled i860, by Gemma di Vergy and Wild Irish
Girl), because it is recorded of him that ' he was
a bad "roarer" when he left England, but re-
covered at the Cape and ran well there ;' but Mr.
W. Day, who ought to know, as he was the
trainer of the mare, vouches for the occurrence,
even in England, of a similar recovery in the case
of Sir E. Johnstone's famous mare Brigantine
(winner of the Oaks and Ascot Cup in 1869), as
well as in the case of the celebrated Mr. Osbaldes-
ton's The Devil among the Tailors. Thither, too,
went another ' roarer,' Mr. Merry's famous Bella-
drum (by Stockwell), but whether he recovered
or not cannot be stated, and thither went Mr.
Merry's excellent horse The Student (by Oxford).

To China, where he died, went in the very year,
1863, in which he ran his historic dead heat with

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 215

Tim Whiffler, Mr. Merry's Buckstone (by Vol-
tigeur), whose curious fate it was — though he was
wholly English — to be foaled in France (like Prince
Charlie) and to die in the Flowery Land.

To Denmark went Baron Rothschild's King
Alfred (by King Tom), that ran second to Blue
Gown for the Derby ; and as for Italy, for whom
Andred and Scobell have done so much as sires, and
whose first Derby was run so recently as April 24,
1884, did not her Government only the other day
(in November, 1889) give ^10,000 for Melton
(winner of our Derby and St. Leger in 1885), or
the equivalent for that sum in (paper) lire ^

As for Poland, whether her son, Count Krasinski,
has a prophetic soul of more than ordinary trust-
worthiness or not, he at any rate became pos-
sessor of the colt (son of Isonomy) which Reate
(by Vespasian) was to foal after her importa-
tion into that country, named it Ruler, and
with it won the Russian Derby at Moscow in
1887.

Having thus sown the wind broadcast, can we
wonder if we now and then reap the whirlwind ?
Can we be surprised if once in a while there
descend upon us, from east or west, or north or

2i6 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

south, from the Podes or the Antipodes, a giant
of a horse, such as the wonderful Gladiateur, to
sweep our race-courses of all the principal prizes ?
But we can always lay this flattering unction to
our souls, we can always apply this relief to our
overwrung withers : it is, to all intents and pur-
poses, an English horse that has done these great
things- — we English made the breed from which
he sprang.

Although her Majesty's reign has witnessed
such a wholesale exportation and disposal of our
best blood-stock, we did not part with all that was
best. Of the horses that have been famous in
this reign, we retained — at any rate until old age
— among winners of the Derby, Cotherstone, Or-
lando, Surplice, Voltigeur, Wild Dayrell, Beads-
man, Thormanby, Macaroni, Blair Athol, Lord
Lyon, Hermit (said to have cost only i,ooo
guineas as a yearling, and to have been a 'gold-
mine ' to his owner). Pretender, Kingcraft (till he
died at sea on his way to America in 1886),
Favonius, Cremorne, Doncaster (long enough to
beget Bend Or), George Frederick (sold for 65
guineas at poor Mr. Hume Webster's death on
the compulsory sale of the Marden stud, and then

FOURTH PERIOD: VICTORIA 217

by Mr. Guy Bethell for 3C0 guineas to go to
Canada, at twenty-two years of age), Galopin
(sire of St. Simon), Sir Bevys (sold at Mr. Hume
Webster's death for 500 guineas), and Bend Or
(sire of Ormonde).

Among winners of the St. Leger, Charles XII.,
Launcelot, Nutwith (at Lord Exeter's Burghley
Paddocks, Stamford), Sir Tatton Sykes (died in
i860), Newminster, Stockwell, Lord Clifden,
Petrarch, Robert the Devil, etc. ; and, among
winners of neither of these two ' classic ' races,
such predominant sires as Saunterer, Rataplan,
King Tom, Parmesan, Vedette (first called West
Hartlepool, and a winner of the Two Thousand),
Sterling, Isonomy (said to have cost but 360
guineas as a yearling), the speedy Springfield,
the ' Royal ' Marsyas, the very useful Speculum,
the eccentric Peter, the incomparable St. Simon,
and the unique Wisdom.

Nor did we part with such mares as Crucifix
(died in 1857, the dam of Surplice), Blue
Bonnet (died 1859, dam of the Claverhouse
that was to have won the Derby of 1852), Alice
Hawthorne (died about 1861, the dam of Thor-
manby), Queen Mary (not a performer of any

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

account, but dam of Haricot, Braxey, Balrownie,
Blooming Heather, Bonnie Scotland, Broomielaw,
Bertie, and Blinkhoolie, never saying die until
1872, when she was twenty-nine years of age),
the short-lived Blink Bonny (died in 1862, the
dam of Borealis, Blair Athol, and Breadalbane),
Paradigm (shot in 1872, at twenty years of age,
the dam of Lord Lyon and Achievement), Marie
Stuart, Shotover, St. Marguerite (dam of Sea
Breeze, and of the ill-starred Riviera), etc.

Of these mares, the most popular, in point of
remembrance, is probably Blink Bonny, as the only
mare, besides Eleanor in 1801, that ever won both
Derby and Oaks (for Shotover did not win the
Oaks in 18S2), and it is, therefore, all the more
noteworthy that probably she owes her double
success to the fact that Vedette (winner of the
Two Thousand in 1857, and afterwards sire of
the magnificent Galopin, popularly pronounced
' Gallop-in,' as indeed he invariably did with a
vengeance) could not run for the Derby any more
than for the St. Leger, else both she and Impe-
rieuse, winner of the latter in that year, almost
certainly would have had their glory diminished.

Among the great sires that have died (for

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 219

there is no saying what the Hving may come to)
during Queen Victoria's reign, two are noticeable
beyond all the rest, Stockwell and Hermit. It
has been calculated, though the calculations are
somewhat shaky, that the former (whose stud-fee
could not be maintained at the 200 guineas which
it reached for awhile) sired, during his fourteen
years at the stud (from 1856 to May, 1870),
428 winners (reduced, by allowance for repetitions
of the same winner, to 228), in England, of 1,148
races, worth about ^353,741 ; and the latter
(whose stud-fee rose to 250 guineas in 1886 and
so remained to his death) sired (during twenty
years, from 1870 to April, 1890) an unrecorded
number of winners, whose aggregate winnings in
England amounted to ^315,968.

It may be interesting, for the sake of a rough
comparison between old and new times, to append
some calculations of a similar kind (to be accepted
with similar caution) made by men of old time, as
regards the sums won by the progeny of dis-
tinguished sires in former days, when there were
no ' monster ' stakes, when the Derby and the
Oaks and the St. Leger were of comparatively
small value, and when most money was to be

220 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

won by matches, sometimes for very considerable
* figures.'

Match'em (sire of the first winner of the
St. Leger proper), whose stud-fee varied from
5 guineas to 50 guineas, sired, during twenty-
three years of stud-Hfe (from 1758 to 1781, when
he died, aged thirty-three), according to the calcu-
lators, 354 winners (several, no doubt, being
repeated in the calculations) of about .;!^i5i,097,
exclusive of divers ' Cups ' and ' Subscriptions '
(including the Jockey Club Challenge Cup twice
with Pumpkin and Circe), whereof the value could
not be ascertained. And it is stated that ' Mr.
Fenwick cleared by Match'em, as a stallion,
upwards of ^17,000, which was about ^16,000
more than Mr. Martindale .... gained by the
celebrated Regulus.' In our day Mr. Chaplin is
supposed to have cleared about ^200,000 by
Hermit.

Herod, alms King Herod (sire of the first
winner of the Oaks), whose stud-fee varied from
10 guineas to 25^ guineas, sired, during thirteen
years of stud-life (from 1767 to 1780, when he
died, aged twenty-two) 497 winners of ;i^20i,505,
exclusive of forty-four hogsheads of claret, the

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 221

Clermont Cup and Challenge Whip at New-
market, and the City Silver Bowl twice at Salis-
bury.

Florizel (sire of the first winner of the Derby),
whose stud-fee varied from 10 guineas to 21
guineas, sired, during sixteen years of stud-liie
(from 1775 to 1 791, when he died, aged twenty-
three), 175 winners of about ^75,901, exclusive
of three Jockey Club Plates and the Ladies' Plate
at York.

Eclipse, whose stud-fee fluctuated between
50 guineas, 30 guineas, 25 guineas, and 20 guineas,
and whose services were stated by his owner,
Mr. O'Kelly, to have been worth upwards of
;^25,ooo, sired, during eighteen years of stud-
life (from 1 77 1 to 1789, when he died, aged
twenty-five), some 344 winners of about ^158,047,
exclusive of the Clermont Cup thrice at New-
market, six Jockey Club Plates, the Jockey Club
Challenge Cup twice (w.o.), the Newmarket
Challenge Whip thrice, and the City Silver Bowl
at Salisbury, to say nothing of ' forfeit ' and
'compromise.'

P0T-8-OS (the best son of Eclipse), whose stud-
fee varied from 5 guineas to 21 guineas, sired,

222 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

during seventeen years of stud-life (1783 to 1800,
when he died, aged twenty-seven, having been
racing from three to ten years of age), some 172
winners of about ^^6 1,971, exclusive of two Jockey
Club Plates (called also Purses), the Newmarket
Challenge Whip, the Ladies' Purse at York, and
the Silver Whip at Carlisle (won by Sir H. Vane-
Tempest's Lord Mushroom, by Pot-8-os, in 1797).

Highflyer (the most illustrious, if not the best,
son of King Herod, a/zas Herod), whose stud-fee
varied from 15 guineas to 50 guineas, sired, during
thirteen years of stud-life (from 1 780 to 1 793,
when he died, aged nineteen, having begun to
race at three years of age, and never started after
he was five), some 470 winners (repetitions, no
doubt, to be allowed for) of about ^170,407,
exclusive of Jockey Club Plates, Silver Bowls
and Cups (but neither the Jockey Club Challenge
Cup nor the Newmarket Challenge Whip), and
matches both in England and at the Curragh.
He was worth a fortune and Highflyer Hall, near
Ely, to his owner, Mr. Tattersall.

Sir Peter Teazle (the most illustrious, if not
the best, son of Highflyer), commonly called Sir
Peter, whose stud-fee varied from loj guineas to

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 223

25 guineas, sired, during twenty-one years of stud-
life (from 1790 to 181 1, when he died at twenty-
seven years of age), some 352 winners (repetitions,
no doubt, to be allowed for) of about ^141,018.

Waxy (the best son of Pot-8-os and sometimes
called the ' Ace of Trumps ' of the whole pack),
whose stud-fee varied from lo^ guineas to 26
guineas, sired, during twenty years of stud-life
(from 1798 to 18 1 8, when he died, aged twenty-
eight, within three weeks), a vast number of
winners, out of which only ninety-one are specified
(which the usual repetitions would, of course, in-
crease to double or treble), and they are calculated
to have won 'no less a sum than 66,481 guineas
(from 1802 to 1826) besides ten Gold Cups and
one Silver Cup.'

From these data it will probably be concluded
that the average amount won by the progeny of
' crack ' sires from the time of Eclipse to the time
of Stockwell and Hermit did not increase — and
even now has not increased — in anything like the
proportion in which the value of a ' crack ' sire
(if he only lives for a decent number of years)
has been augmented, when stud-fees have risen
from 50 guineas (which was about the highest

2 24 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

' honorarium ' in old times, though Marsk, as sire
of Eclipse, reached lOO guineas for a little while)
to lOO guineas quite commonly, 150 guineas not
rarely, 200 guineas sometimes, 250 guineas now
and then, and 300 guineas for a prodigious
' roarer ' like Ormonde ; and when their progeny
fetch, as yearlings, from 1,000 to 5,000 and even
6,000 guineas, or 8,000 guineas in the United
States, like the American failure, King Thomas.

Her Majesty's reign has not been so con-
spicuous as the reigns of her predecessors for the
personal participation of ' lady turfites ' in horse-
racing (the betting is quite another thing), though
we, no doubt, have still the Duchess of Montrose
and Mrs. Langtry racing under pseudonyms ; and
perhaps there are as many more as there are
thumbs upon two hands.

True, at Eglinton Park (which, however, was a
'private ' meeting) there was for a few years the
Atalanta Challenge Whip ' for horses the property
of ladies or that have been in the habit of carry-
ing ladies,' where Lady Scott, Lady Waterford,
Lady Eglinton, Mrs. Ramsay, Miss Boswell, and
other ' quality ' would run against one another ;
Lady Adeliza Manners just once (in 1844) ran

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 225

her bay mare Gazelle at Croxton Park ; and we
from time to time have seen the sforgfeous colours
of a Mrs. Snewing (reminding us of him who
won the Derby with Caractacus), and the less
imposing livery of Mrs. Osbaldeston (recalling
memories of the hard-riding ' Squire '), and a few
other meteoric appearances of horse-owning and
horse-running persons of the more admirable and
ornamental sex ; still the present reign, on the
whole, has been deficient in examples of the ' lady
turfite,' however prolific it may have been, for a
certain period, in the matter of ' pretty horse-
breakers.'

Besides, a Mrs, Massey, in 1839 and in sub-
sequent years, ran vigorously all over the country
— at Worcester, Shrewsbury, Chester, Warwick,
etc. — with Tubalcain and Naamah, and perhaps
with other and better animals. But one swallow
does not make a summer, nor does one Mrs.
Massey suffice to restore entirely an evanescent
feature of the 'good old times.'

Her Majesty's reign has witnessed the complete
ascendancy and, in one or two respects, the self-
stultification of the Jockey Club, the prodigious
extension of the betting nuisance, the augmenta-

15

226 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

tion of the sporting press (as regards the number,
the diurnality, the voluminousness, the self-asser-
tion, and the accepted authority of newspapers),
the all but absolute immunity of the ' tout '
under the patronage and the segis of the said
press, the glorification of the 'gambling hell/
the institution of elective handicapping (first
tried for the Babraham Plate at Newmarket,
1892, when a choice was made between three
separate handicaps), the final and utter collapse
of ' the Arabian ' (exemplified by the poor
performances and poor sale of Mr. Wilfrid
Blunt's breed of Arabs), the abolition of Royal
Plates (1887) in England, the competition
of nobility and gentry for the post of paid
'starter,' the mystery of the 'Jockey Ring,' the
elevation of the trainer (who is now but a very
little lower than the angels, is ' interviewed ' by
' Society papers ' and has long biographical articles
written about him, sees the weddings of his sons
and daughters, with ' full choral service ' and pre-
sents of diamonds and rubies, recorded in the
' fashionable intelligence,' as if he were a
' Royalty,' or at the very least a Duke, and has

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 227

attained the dignity of a 'literary gent'), and the
apotheosis of the overpaid jockey.

It was in the twenty- first year of her Majesty's
reign (in 1857) that the complete ascendancy of
the Jockey Club may be said to have attained
accomplishment, by a sort of coiip d^dtat, as a
committee was then appointed to draw up a new
code for the regulation of racing, which code was
published in the next year without the usual
limitation of this, that, or the other 'to New-
market only.' From that time to this the Club
has exercised the mastery, without any modest
reservation and without any opposition, all over
the country ; binding and loosing whom it will,
licensing race-courses and jockeys and all and
sundry, imposing fines and charging fees, ' warn-
ing off' and anon remitting punishments and pro-
hibitions, altering rules from time to time, and
fixing dates for race-meetings, not only at New-
market, but everywhere else in Great Britain.

The self-stultification of the Club is twofold,
and is made apparent thus : in 1838 it passed a
resolution expressing its extreme disapprobation
of horses beingr started that were not intended to

228 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

win, yet ever afterwards it winked — notwithstand-
ing the protests of Admiral Rous and others — at
the 'declaration to win,' which has now been
expressly sanctioned by a rule, and which means
neither more nor less than that you 7nay start
horses without intending to win with them ; and
in 1842 it made an announcement (still in force)
that ' the Jockey Club and the Stewards thereof
will henceforth take no cognizance of any dispute
or claims in respect to bets,' This is a very
different thing from ' ignoring betting ' (which is
the popular interpretation of the rule), and very
difficult to reconcile with che obligation, which the
Club has deliberately taken upon itself, to ' warn
off' persons who are reported to it by the heads
of the gambling department as being defaulters.
Most people would think that this is taking very
great notice indeed of betting and the disputes
connected therewith.

The spread of the betting nuisance (if anything
beyond the daily reports of the newspapers, the
daily lamentations of wives and mothers, and
sorrowing friends and relatives, and the piteous
appeals sometimes addressed to gentlemen as

FOURTH PERIOD: VICTORIA 229

they issue from their clubs by jaunty but seedy
' Montague Tiggs/ who have evidently ' seen
better days,' and who back their appeals by a
laughing but bitter remark that they ' belonged
to the clubs only the other day ' themselves, were
required to prove it) might be inferred from the
fact that some of the more successful, rather than
the more respectable, ' layers of odds,' popularly
known as ' bookies ' (though there is no reason
why a ' backer ' should not be, as, indeed, he
frequently is, a maker of a ' book '), have been
agitating for protection from themselves — that is
to say, from the less successful, and therefore
more disreputable, of their fraternity — and have
expressed a desire to be reo^istered, or licensed, or
certificated, or distinguished and discriminated by
some easily recognisable sign or badge. As if,
like Dogberry, one should desire to be written
down an ass (though that would apply to the
* backer ' only or chiefly), or to bear * the mark
of the beast ' as plain as a pikestaff.

For it cannot be too often pointed out or too
persistently urged that to speak of the dealings of
'the betting ring' as legitimate 'business' is a

230 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

mere abuse of language. Such operations are no
more legitimate business than the gambling at
Monte Carlo is. Nor does it matter, as regards
the foundation of the so-called business, whether
the member of the ring commences with appre-
ciable capital or not. He either increases that
capital by nefarious means, or he loses that capital
in trying to increase it by nefarious means, for
in both cases his object is to enrich himself by
impoverishing his neighbour ; and that object is
nefarious. Mutual advantage, or a possibility of
mutual advantage, is the basis of all legitimate
business. But in betting there is no such pos-
sibility. Nor by betting is the aggregate wealth
of the community augmented ; the result is merely
a transference of property from Peter to Paul, and
Paul may be even a w >rse proprietor than Peter.
Of course the ' backer,' if he bets for a livelihood,
or is fired with the noble ambition to ' break the
ring,' is just as bad as the ' bookie.'

Nor should another point be omitted. The
' bookie ' is not unfrequently a ruined * backer,'
who has discovered by sad experience how hope-
less it is to contend with those who have the

FOURTH PERIOD: VICTORIA 231

command of the odds, and has to desert to the
enemy in order to gain his bread.

Mark how dangerous is the professional ' layer
of odds,' whether he calls himself an * accountant,'
or a ' commissioner,' or a ' bookie,' or a ' man
and a brother.' He makes it easy for the young
' backer ' (whether young in years or in experi-
ence) to do systematically what might otherwise,
because of the difficulties in the way of obtain-
ing 'odds,' never become habitual, and might be
perfectly or comparatively innocuous. Here is
what the ' Druid,' a sporting writer whom even
the ' bookie ' professes to read, mark, learn, and
inwardly digest, has written on the subject of
betting : ' Not five men in twenty can afford to
lose, and certainly not one in twenty afford to
win. ... A young man drawing his first winnings
is like a tiger tasting his first blood ; he seldom
stops again till he is brought to a dead-lock as a
defaulter. ... It may be a very Arcadian notion,
but still we hold that, to really enjoy sport, a
man should never go on to a racecourse more
than thirteen or fourteen picked afternoons in
the course of the year, and never bet a penny.'

2 32 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

And who is it that enables the young tiger to
indulge his thirst for blood ? The professional
* layer of odds,' who not only belongs to ' the
ring,' and is a member of Tattersall's, and of the
Subscription Rooms at Newmarket, but keeps a
body of clerks and an office, into which dribble
from the North and the South and the East and
the West, by postal and various means of transit,
what he is pleased to call 'commissions,' sent by
all sorts of persons, from the 'toff' to the 'tinker,
tailor, soldier, sailor, apothecary, ploughboy, thief,'
and (sometimes) detective policeman.

Apropos, it would be curious if the proposal
to register or license ' bookies ' should lead to
something which would bring ' Tattersall's ' (at
the various race-meetings), and the Subscription
Rooms at Newmarket, without any shadow of
that doubt which at present prevails or seems
to prevail upon the subject, under the operation
of i6 and 17 Vict., c. 119, and should render the
Stewards of the august Jockey Club itself, as
owners or managers of certain premises, liable
to be indicted for a nuisance, after a more and
more brilliant existence for about 150 )ears.

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 233

But as long as the practice endures of keeping a
sound lawyer upon its books, as Messrs, Moses
and Sons and other great firms keep or used to
keep a poet, the club will always have the advice
of a Baron Martin, or a Justice Hawkins, or some
other legal luminary to steer it clear of legislative
rocks.

Of course, some 'bookies,' like some jockeys
(such as the Chifneys, or Chiffneys — Sam the
father, and Will and Sam the sons), however
successful they may be, offer examples of the
catastrophe which sometimes occurs to the
beggar on horseback, and, after rolling in gold
and affluence for some years, come to bankruptcy
and misery ; but her Majesty's reign has pre-
sented many cases of fortunes, from moderate to
large, made chiefly by the ' laying of odds,' with
a ' coup ' now and then in the department of
' backing.' Mr. Gully, for instance, is said to
have left behind him between ^240,000 and
;^2 50,000, though his former 'friend and pardner,'
Mr. Ridsdale, died with no more than three-
halfpence in his pocket, which probably even
the good bishop of whom we have all read would

234 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

have considered ' parum viatici ad coelum.' The
' Leviathan ' Davis is asserted by some authorities
to have left ^150,000, but by others a modest
^50,000 only. Yet surely that was pretty well
for one who had been a journeyman carpenter.
Then there was a Mr. Swindell or Swindells (a
most unfortunate name, it must be allowed, under
the circumstances, though no imputation rests
upon his memory, apparently), who is credited
with a personalty of ^146,000. To these might
be added a score more, though they might not
include the celebrated John Jackson, or 'Jock o'
Fairfield,' who is understood to have been worth
less than had been supposed, and whose property
of Fairfield was purchased, as already mentioned,
by Mr. R. C. Vyner. Among the 'pencillers ' (as
the ' bookies ' are also called) of to-day, whose
* nod ' is good for thousands of pounds, Mr. R. H.
Fry is considered to hold the foremost place, and
he is the champion of ' registration of book-
makers,' but he is strongly opposed by ' imported '
Mr. Joseph Thompson, a leading Australian
bookmaker, who has had experience of the
practice in Melbourne, New South Wales,

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 235

and other Antipodean centres of horse-racing
and betting, and therefore speaks as one having
authority, and not as the scribes of the news-
papers.

The glorification of ' Tattersall's ' culminated
in the year 1865, when Messrs. Tattersall, at the
expiration of a ninety-nine years' lease — which
the Duke (then Marquis) of Westminster,
actuated, no doubt, by the sentiment displayed
by him at Chester in respect of the betting-ring,
refused to renew — removed, on April 10, from
Hyde Park Corner to the present establish-
ment at Knightsbridge. On April 1 1 Messrs.
Richard and Edmund Tattersall, cousins, pro-
prietors of the said establishment, were en-
tertained at a complimentary dinner, whereof
Willis's Rooms supplied the scene, and were
honoured by the presence of some three hundred
celebrants, comprising, in the words of Mr.
Edmund himself, ' the highest and the noblest
of the land ' (with Admiral Rous in the chair), as
well as ' those gentlemen whose names are so
well known to the world as the great spirits of
the sporting Stock Exchange, who will lay you

2 36 HORSERACING IN ENGLAND

the odds to any amount, and are safe as the bank
to pay.'

As regards the 'jockey ring,' its existence
seems to be problematical at present, if it ever
really existed at all. However, Sir G. Chetwynd,
in 1890, wrote an article in which he referred to
the subject — to the allegation of a ' confederacy
between certain jockeys, " professional backers,"
and one or two bookmakers ' — and seemed to
think that there was ' something in it' But,
according to his own evidence in a certain
notorious case, he is placed in a somewhat
awkward dilemma if he accepts the statement of
the bookmaker whom he quotes, to the effect
that ' all the money goes into the pockets of a
few jockeys and their friends,' inasmuch as his
evidence seemed to show that he had made a
considerable annual income in his capacity of
' backer,'

To mere lovers of horse-racing as a sport,
however, the bare possibility of a 'jockey
ring' causes intolerable uneasiness, because such
a combination renders it doubtful whether the
result of a race ever shows what it is intended to

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 237

show, and whether many a horse may not have
achieved an undeserved celebrity, or incurred
undeserved obloquy. It Is scarcely credible,
fortunately, that such a sinister confederacy as a
'jockey ring' could endure for long without
detection, as the thieves would be sure to fall
out over the ' swag ' ; and there is reasonable
hope, consequently, that, if such a conspiracy
ever existed, it has been ' blown upon,' and exists
no longer.

As for the apotheosis attained by the jockey
during her Majesty's reign, there can be no doubt
about that. The sporting newspapers went into
deep mourning and launched forth into pages of
obituary notice at the death of George Fordhafn,
known to fame as ' the demon ' and ' the kid ' (not
so much from anything infantile about him as from
his propensity towards ' kidding,' otherwise simu-
lation, when he would pretend to be beaten and
would use his whip on his boot instead of his
horse's hide), who died at Villa Montrose,
Slough, October 12, 1887; and of the still more
celebrated Fred Archer, who died November 8,
1886, by his own hand, sad to relate, in a

238 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

paroxysm of delirium, at his house in New-
market, and left personalty valued at upwards of
^60,000.

Interest is still so keenly felt in the career of
both Fordham and Archer that editors of sporting
newspapers are almost daily plied with questions
concerning the two jockeys, especially as regards
the following facts : that Fordham rode 2,369
winners, and Archer (who died a much younger
man, only twenty-nine to fifty-one), 2,748; that
Fordham never rode a winner of the Doncaster
St. Leger, and only one, Sir Bevys, of the Derby ;
that the last horse ridden by Fordham was Mr.
Leopold Rothschild's Aladdin, at Windsor August
Meeting, 1884, and the last winner ridden by
him was the same gentleman's Brag for the
Brighton Autumn Cup in 1883 ; and that the
last horse ridden by F. Archer was the evergreen
Tommy Tittlemouse, and the last winner Blanch-
land.

Moreover, it was only the other day that the
veteran jockey, John Osborne, was the 'hero of a
presentation and a compliment unprecedented in
the history of jockeydom and the British turf. The

FOURTH PERIOD: VICTORIA 239

jockey, on retiring (whether as a prima donna
from the stage, with many reappearances in petto,
or strictly bond fide) from his ' profession,' was
presented at Newmarket, by the senior Steward
of the Jockey Club, assisted (as they say in the
announcements of fashionable weddings) by
another Steward of the club (a ' belted Earl '), and
two other members (one a British judge, and the
other a British Attorney-General), with an ' ad-
dress ' and a cheque for ^3,600 (subscribed by
admirers all over the country) in acknowledgment
of the jockey's ' fidelity and rectitude ' during a
period of ' well-nigh half a century.'

Nobody will question the qualities ascribed to
Mr. Osborne, or grudge him either the honour 'or
the substantial recognition ; but the same qualities
are not so rare in other walks (or rides) of life,
whether of the postman, or of the groom, or of
another, wherein old age is equally encountered,
that one can avoid wondering whether the chief
actors in the interesting ceremony were or were
not aware of the reflection which their amiable
proceeding might be considered to cast upon the
body whereof the excellent recipient of their grace

2 40 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

was a prominent member. Fidelity and rectitude,
combined with long service, are unquestionably
good reasons why an individual or a corporation
that may have been so well served should make a
handsome provision, accompanied by words of
appreciation and thanks, for a superannuated ser-
vant on retirement ; but they do not seem to call
for a public and pointed, and even invidious, notice,
attended with pecuniary emolument, upon ordinary
relinquishment of an exceedingly lucrative and
profitably exercised vocation. Else every man
who makes a competence, without cheating, in
any line of life, should be publicly complimented
and substantially rewarded by all and sundry,
high and low, whom his manner of life may
concern. But, at any rate, the 'John Osborne
Testimonial ' has undoubtedly tended to set the
jockey's horn on high.

There was, on the other hand, the dissimilar
public appearance of Charles Wood, the jockey,
who, though he did not come in for any compli-
mentary address, figured as the possessor of wealth
beyond the dreams of avarice, of archbishops, or
even of brewers, as the Lord of Newmarket (with

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 241

certain modifications), as the master, to all intents
and purposes, of the training stable for which he
was nominally the titular jockey, and as being on
such terms with one member at least of the Jockey
Club, and with two born and bred gentlemen at
least, who were owners and runners of race-horses,
as could not fail to raise jockeys in their own, if
not in the general, estimation, and to tend towards
the exaltation of the fraternity. Add to this the
increase, the perfectly unauthorized increase, in
the scale of fees paid for riding even the paltriest
races, the retainers of from ^500 to ;^ 1,000 a
year, the presents which have risen in value from
' two ten-pound -notes ' (as a rare piece of liberality)
to the ' whole Derby stakes ' (it has been not in-
disputably asserted), as an acknowledgment of a
very successful gambling venture (meaning an
equally heavy loss to somebody or somebodies
else, without any advantage to the community),
and a good idea will be gained of the golden pros-
pect opened to the successful jockey during the
present reign. But only to the successful jockey,
and of him it may be said still, though perhaps,
thanks to Turkish baths and other inventions, the

16

242 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

discipline is not quite so severe as it was In
former reigns :

' Qui cupit optatam cursu contendere metam,
Multa tulit fecitque puer, sudavit et alsit.'

And not ovAy ptier, hut j'ttvatis, and even senex,
when weight increases and Is more and more diffi-
cult to ' get off.'

The most noted jockeys, besides those already-
mentioned, who have been constrained by death
or by some other cause to give up the wearing of
racing colours, are the following : Tom Aldcroft,
who died May 4, 1883, and had won the Two
Thousand on Lord of the Isles, when he smashed
his whip in the effort, and on General Peel, the
One Thousand on Sagltta, the Derby on Ellington,
the Oaks on Oueen Bertha, and the St. Lep-er on
Gamester. Ashmall, who won the Two Thousand
on The Wizard and The Marquis, the One
Thousand on Governess and Hurricane, the
Derby never, the Oaks on Governess, and the
St. Leger never. T. Chaloner, who won the
Two Thousand on Macaroni, Moslem (a dead
heat with Formosa), and Gang Forward, the One
Thousand never, the Derby on Macaroni, the Oaks
on Feu de Joie, and the memorable St. Leger on

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 243

Caller Ou, as well as four other St. Legers on
The Marquis, Achievement, Formosa, and Craig-
millar. Arthur Edwards (identified with the
pretty colours of Lord Stamford for awhile), who
won the Two Thousand on Diophantus, the One
Thousand on Lady Augusta, the Derby never,
the Oaks on Fille de I'Air, the St. Leger never,
and rode Gladiateur in his two-year-old races.
The brothers Harry and Jemmy Grimshaw, of
whom the former was the invariable rider of
Gladiateur in all his greatest races, and died of
injuries received through being thrown from a
dog-cart on October 3, 1866 ; and the latter, after
being a fashionable light-weight, and after having
won the One Thousand on Hester and the St.
Leger on Hawthornden, emigrated to Germany,
where he became a trainer, and died not long
ago at Pardubitz.

Sim Templeman, who died March 12, 1884,
aged seventy-nine, at Heworth, near York, having
retired from the turf and taken to farming, first of
all, at Burnley, near Pocklington ; but for the last
year or two of his life he was in poor health,
and was ultimately afflicted with blindness, which,
however, did not prevent him from pondering

244 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

upon pleasant memories of how he had ridden
Bloomsbury to victory in the famous ' snowstorm '
Derby, had won the Derby on The Cossack and
SurpHce, the Oaks on Miami, Cymba, and Mar-
chioness, and the St. Leger on the great New-
minster, sire of Hermit. H. Custance, who won
the Derby on Thormanby and George Frederick,
was prevented by a provoking broken arm or
collar-bone from riding Lord Lyon in the Two
Thousand (in which his place was taken by
Thomas, a stable-boy), as well as in the Derby
and the Leger, and retired from jockeyship to
other functions connected with the turf. ' Tiny '
Wells, whose proper Christian name was John,
who won the St. Leger on Saucebox as early
as 1855, was so long identified with Sir Joseph
Hawley's successes, In the days of Fitz-Roland,
Beadsman, Musjid, Blue Gown, and Pero Gomez,
and their Two Thousand, Derbies, and St. Leger;
whom memory still recalls sitting like Patience
on a monument upon Count Batthyany's Tam-
bour Major (that refused for three-quarters of an
hour to start for the Derby of 1863, answered
every bit of ' persuasion ' by a firm planting of the
fore-feet in the ground and a vigorous tilt of the

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 245

hind-feet into the air, and was ultimately left at
the post, whence he returned to his stable with
alacrity) ; who won the One Thousand on Mr.
* Howard's ' {alias Mr, Pad wick's, alias ' the
Spider's ') Virago ; and who, * tiny ' as he was,
is credibly reported to have fallen a victim to the
dire necessity of ' wasting,' akin to ' phthisis.'

John Norman (almost the * sole property ' of the
Marquis of Exeter), who won the Two Thousand
and the St. Leger on Stockwell, the king of the
stud (which alone is enough for fame), and the
Oaks on Regalia ; and, after being in the employ-
ment of E. Martin, the trainer, died and was
buried in Newmarket Cemetery, February 5, 1886.
The famous John Day, who became a trainer, and
died at the age of sixty-eight in 1883. Henry
Constable, who won the Derby on Sefton, and
died at the early age of twenty-eight at Epsom,
February 16, 1881. Luke Snowden, who died at
the youthful age of twenty-two in 1862, having
won already the Oaks on Mr. Saxon's Brown
Duchess and two St. Legers, one on Mr. Merry's
Sunbeam, and the other on Lord Ailesbury's
St. Albans, besides being twice second for the
St. Leger, with Defender in 1859 and with

246 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Kettledrum in iS6i ; and James Snowden, whose
privilege it was to ride Blair Athol at the horse's
first appearance in public, and to win the Derby
then and there.

To these should be added Charlton, J. Daley,
J, Mann, T. French (' eques ipso melior Bellero-
phonte'), Maidment, J. Parsons (for the reason
that he was only a stable-lad when he unex-
pectedly had to ride the outsider Caractacus for
the Derby, and won it, and because ridiculously
untrue stories were told about the remuneration
he received for the feat), and the lately deceased
James Goater, who died at Park Lane, New-
market, on April 6, 1892, aged fifty-four. He
proved (especially in France) that he was ' haud
ulli veterum virtute secundus ' (though he never
won either Derby or Oaks or One Thousand
in England), by his many victories. He won
with Joe Miller and the feather-weight of 4 st.
10 lb. the Chester Cup of 1852, when there were
forty-three runners ; and he continued through
many years, with Lord Portsmouth's horses for
awhile, and then with Comte Lagrange's for
a much longer while (to say nothing of Lord
Dupplin's Petrarch), to win a number of races,

FOURTH PERIOD: VICTORIA 247

including a Two Thousand with Chamant, two
St. Legers with Petrarch and Rayon d'Or, the
first Grand Prix with The Ranger, and three
French Derbies and a half, with Insulaire in 1878,
with Zut in 1879, with Albion (on the rider's
forty-third birthday) in 1881, and with Dandin
(a dead-heat with St. James) in 1882. His light
weight and his riding in France call to mind
another jockey, Kitchener, whose bodily weight,
when he won the Chester Cup on the Duke of
Richmond's Red Deer (3 years, 4 stone) in 1844,
is a constant subject of curiosity on the part of
the public, to judge from the sporting papers'
' Answers to Correspondents,' and is invariably
stated by a great authority to have been 2 st.
12 lb. On the other hand, Mr. John Kent, in
his ' Racing Life of Lord George Bentinck,'
p. 122, mentions ' the tiny jockey, Kitchener, who
weighed only 3 st. 4 lb.;' and, as Mr. Kent had
the boy under his charge, one would suppose that
this estimate is the more trustworthy.

Mr. J. B. Muir, who seems to think that the
excellent rule ' palmam qui meruit ferat ' has been
neglected grossly in the case of the men who
have trained from time to time the winners of our

248 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

greatest races, and whose names deserve to be
handed down to posterity quite as much as those
of the horses themselves, or, at any rate, of the
riders, and even more, has been at infinite pains
to discover who those trainers were in the case of
the Derby, the Oaks, and the St. Leger, and has
pubHshed his discoveries in the book already
referred to. With his assistance, therefore, when-
ever it was necessary, the following information
has been gleaned for the benefit of all whom it
may concern.

Of the winners of the Derby, Diomed, Eleanor,
and Smolensko were trained ' privately ' (which
appears to mean that the trainer's name has not
been recorded) at Sir C. Bunbury's, Great Barton,
Suffolk, though Crouch is said to have trained
Smolensko ; Young Eclipse and Serjeant ' pri-
vately ' at Epsom ; Assassin, Saltram, Noble, Sir
Thomas (sold, after running once and winning at
two years of age, to the Prince of Wales for
2,000 guineas), Sir Harry, Hannibal, Cardinal
Beaufort, and Election, at Newmarket, by F.
Neale ; Aimwell, Rhadamanthus, John Bull, and
Daedalus, at Newmarket, by J. Pratt; Sir Peter
(Teazle) at Tarporley, Cheshire, by the elder

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 249

Saunders ; Skyscraper, Eager, and the Sister to
Pharamond colt, at Newmarket, by M. Stephen-
son ; Waxy at Lewes, and Tyrant, Pope, Whale-
bone, Whisker, Azor, and Emilius, at Newmarket,
by Robert Robson, ' the trainer-king.'

Spread Eagle, Didelot, Archduke, Paris, Blucher,
and Tiresias, at Newmarket, by Richard Prince,
whose drinking -troughs were poisoned by the
notorious Daniel Dawson in 181 1; Champion,
Octavius, and Cadland, at Newmarket (in every
case, most likely), by R. D. Boyce ; (Williamson's)
Ditto and Pan at Middleham, Yorks, either by
Christopher Jackson or J. Lonsdale (Lord Strath-
more's trainer) ; Phantom, Cedric, Middleton,
Mameluke, and Bay Middleton, at Newmarket,
by James Edwards ; Prince Leopold and Moses
(both the property of H.R.H. the Duke of
York), at Newmarket, by William Butler ; Sam,
by James Perrin, and Sailor and Priam, by W.
Chiffney, at Newmarket ; the £-ray Gustavus, at
Newmarket (Six Mile Bottom), by Crouch ; Lap-
dog, at Newmarket, by R. Stephenson.

Frederick (ridden by his trainer, whose own
£-ray horse, The Exquisite, ran second), Little
Wonder (said to have been sold for 65 guineas)

250 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

and The Merry Monarch, at Michel Grove,
Sussex, by J. Forth ; Spaniel (said to have been
sold for ^150), at Newmarket, by J. Rogers ;
St. Giles and Bloomsbury, at Newmarket, by
J. Webb ; Dangerous, at Stockbridge, Houghton,
Hants, by the owner, J. Sadler, former keeper,
it is said, of a livery-stable at Oxford ; Pleni-
potentiary, at Newmarket (Horseheath), by George
Pain ; Mundig, AttiLi (said to have cost but /^,i20
at two years of age), Cotherstone, Daniel O'Rourke,
West Australian, and Ellington, at Langton Wold,
Yorks, by John Scott ; Phosphorus, at Newmarket,
by J. Doe (without the help of Richard Roe) ;
Amato, at Epsom, by R, Sherwood ; Coronation,
whose training-ground is doubtful, by Isaac Day,
of Northleach, Gloucestershire ; Orlando, at New-
market, by W. Cooper ; Pyrrhus the First (said
to have cost but ^300), The Cossack (said to
have cost but 200 guineas), and Andover, at
Danebury, Stockbridge, Hants, by John Barham
Day.

Surplice, at Goodwood, by John Kent, jun.
The Flying Dutchman, at Middleham, by Fobert
Voltigeur, at Richmond, Yorks, by Robert Hill
Teddington (purchased, as a foal, vi^/i his dam.

FOURTH PERIOD: VICTORIA 251

Miss Twickenham, for ^150, and as much again
if he won the Derby, from a blacksmith named
Tomlinson, of Huntingdon) and Sefton, at Fyfield,
Marlborough, Wilts, by A. Taylor ; Wild Dayrell
(by Rickaby, father of the father of the present
well-known jockey), Tnormanby (by Matthew
Dawson), and Doncaster and Bend Or (both by
R. Peck), at Lambourne, Berks ; Blink Bonny
and Blair Athol, at Malton, Yorks, by their
owner, W. I'Anson, jockey and trainer ; Beads-
man and Musjid (said to have cost but 150
guineas at two years of age), by G. Manning, and
Blue Gown, Shotover, St, Blaise, Ormonde, Sain-
foin, and Common, all by J. Porter, at Kingsclere,
Hants.

Kettledrum, by G. Oates, and Pretender, by T.
Dawson, at Middleham ; Caractacus (said to have
cost but 300 guineas as a yearling), at Harpenden,
Herts, by R. Smith ; Lord Lyon, at Ilsley, Berks,
by J. Dover ; Macaroni (by Godding), Gladiateur
(by T. Jennings), Hermit (by G. Bloss), Kingcraft
and Silvio and Melton (all three by M. Dawson),
Favonius and Kisber and Sir Bevys (by one or
other of the Hay hoes), Cremorne (by W. Gilbert),
Galopin (by John Dawson), Iroquois (by the

2 52 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

American, J. Pincus, of Hermit House), St. Gatien
(by R, Sherwood). Harvester and Isinglass (by J.
Jewitt), Merry Hampton (by Gurry), and Ayrshire
and Donovan (both by G. Dawson), all at New-
market ; George Frederick, at Wroughton, Wilts,
by T. Leader; and Sir Hugo, at Stanton, Salop,
by T. Wadlow.

Of the winners of the Oaks, Bridget and Her-
mione were trained by the elder Saunders at
Tarporley; Teetotum (by some unrecorded hero),
at Newmarket; Faith and Ceres and Maid of the
Oaks, by John Pratt, perhaps, at Newmarket, but
perhaps at Langdon Wold, Yorks, by John Hutch-
inson ; Stella, by a great unknown, at Newmarket ;
Trifle, Volante, Nike, Bellina, and Meteora, by
J. Pratt, at Newmarket ; the Yellow Filly, Parisot
(the name of a French she-dancer), Bellissima,
and Augusta, by R. Prince, at Newmarket ;
Nightshade, Tag, Platina, and Ephemera, by J.
Bird or F. Neale, at Newmarket ; Hippolyta,
Portia, and Caelia, by M. Stephenson, at New-
market ; Eleanor, as for the Derby ; the gray
Scotia, by an unknown, probably at Newmarket,
as it was there that she ran on the only other
occasion on which she did run, and her owner,

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 253

though a Yorkshireman, was better known at
Newmarket than ' at home.'

Theophania, by Samuel King, at Padington,
Yorks ; Pelisse, Briseis, Morel, Maid of Orleans,
Music, Minuet, Landscape, Corinne, Pastille, and
Zinc, by R. Robson, at Newmarket ; Bronze,
Sorcery, Medora, and Neva, by R. D. Boyce, at
Newmarket ; Oriana, by W. Peirse, at Belleisle,
Richmond, Yorks ; Manuella, undetermined ;
Shoveller, by S. Chiffney, jun., at Newmarket ;
Caroline, Turquoise, and Oxygen, by (? R.)
Stephenson, at Newmarket ; Cobweb, by J. Ed-
wards, at Newmarket; Wings, by J. Hart, at
Newmarket ; Lilias (daughter of Fair Ellen,
daughter of the Wellesley Grey Arabian), by her
owner, J. Forth, at Michel Grove; Gulnare (by
J. Kent, sen.) and Refraction (by J. Kent, jun.),
at Goodwood ; Green Mantle and Galata, by C.
Marson, at Newmarket ; Variation, by R. Pettit,
at Newmarket ; Vespa, by H. Scott, at New-
market ; Pussy, by W. (? Walter) Day, at Ascot ;
Queen of Trumps, by Blenkhorn, at Holywell,
Flintshire; Cyprian, Industry, Ghuznee, The
Princess (the heroine of that ghastly story about
Crockford, who died on the very day on which

254 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

she won), Iris, Songstress, Marchioness, Summer-
side, and Queen Bertha, by John Scott (the owner
of Cyprian and Songstress), at Langton Wold,
Yorks.

Miss Letty, by John Howe, at Newmarket ;
Deception, by W. Treen, at Lambourne ; Crucifix
(said to have cost, as a foal, wz^/i her dam, then
twenty-two years old, but 65 guineas), Mendicant
(cost but 300 or 400 guineas as a yearling),
Cymba, Mincepie, and Placida, by J. B. Day and
J. Day between them at Danebury ; Our Nell,
by T. Dawson, at Middleham ; Poison, by R.
Fisher, at Newmarket; Miami, by G. Manning,
at Kingsclere ; Lady Evelyn, by T. Taylor, at
Bretby Park, Ashby-de-la-Zouch ; Rhedycina and
Mincemeat, by W. Goodwin, at Newmarket ;
Catherine Hayes, by Matthew Dawson, at Lam-
bourne ; Blink Bonny, as for the Derby ; Gover-
ness, by T. Eskritt, at Michel Grove; Butterfly,
by G. Gates, at Middleham ; Brown Duchess, by
Barber and Saxon, at Lambourne ; Feu de Joie,
by Godding, at Newmarket ; Fille de I'Air,
Reine, and Camelia (d. h.), by T. Jennings, at
Newmarket ; Regalia, by W. Harlock, at New-
market ; Tormentor, by C. Blanton, at New-

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 255

market ; Hippia and Hannah, by J. Hayhoe, at
Newmarket ; Formosa and Games, by H. Walcot,
at Beckhampton, Wilts.

Brigantine, by W. Day (the author), at Wood-
yeates, SaHsbury, Wilts ; Marie Stuart, by R. Peck,
at Russley, Lambourne, Berks ; Apology, by the
Osbornes, at Middleham ; Spinaway, Jannette,
Wheel of Fortune, and Mimi, by Matthew
Dawson, at Newmarket; Enguerrande (d. h,),
by Wetherall, at Newmarket; Jenny Howlett,
by W. I'Anson, at Malton ; Thebais and Reve
d'Or, by A. Taylor, at Manton, Wilts ; Geheim-
niss, by James Hopper, at Newmarket ; Bonny
Jean, by Joseph Cannon, at Newmarket ; Busy-
bod)', by Thomas Cannon, at Danebury ; Lonely,
by W. Gilbert, at Newmarket ; Miss Jummy, by
R. Marsh, at Newmarket ; Seabreeze, by J. Jewitt,
at Newmarket ; L'Abbesse de Jouarre (said to
have cost but ^300, which is notable in these
days of high-priced foals, yearlings, and two-
year-olds), by R. Sherwood, at Newmarket ;
Memoir, by G. Dawson, at Newmarket ; and La
Fleche (cost ^5,500 as a yearling), by J. Porter,
at Kingsclere, but removed to R. Marsh's, at
Newmarket, at the end of the season.

256 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Of the winners of the St. Leger (counted from
1776), AlabacuHa (at Swinton or Malton) and
Pewet, Orville, and Paulina (all three at Pigburn,
Doncaster) were trained by Christopher Scaife ;
Bourbon (but perhaps by J. Hoyle) and Pheno-
menon, by Isaac Cape at Tupgill. Middleham ;
HoUandaise and Tommy, by J. Rose at Hamble-
ton, Yorks ; Ruler and Imperatrix, by C. Jackson
at Middleham ; Serina, by * Black Jack ' Lowther
at Bramham Moor, Yorks ; Omphale (? by C.
Jackson at Middleham, or M. Mason at H amble-
ton) ; Cowslip, Ambidexter, Lounger, and Quiz,
by G. Searle at Norton, near Malton ; Paragon,
Spadille, Young Flora, and Tartar, by John
Mangle at Middleham ; Young Traveller, Bening-
brough, and (?) Hambletonian, byjohn Hutchinson
(the original owner of all three) at Langton Wold ;
Ninety-three and Fyldener (uncertain) ; Ambrosio
(Mr. Muir says by F. Neale, at Newmarket) ;
Symmetry, by S. King at Parlington, Yorks ; Cock-
fighter, by T. Fields at Hambleton ; Champion,
presumably by R. D. Boyce at Newmarket ;
Remembrancer by J. Smith at Streatlam, Dur-
ham ; Sancho and Stavely by B. Atkinson at
Richmond, Yorks.

FOURTH PERIOD: VICTORIA 257

Petronius, Ashton, and William, by W. Threak-
stone at Ashton, Lancashire ; Octavian, Sooth-
sayer (? by J. Croft), and Otterington (uncertain) ;
Altisidora, by Thomas Sykes at Langton Wold ;
Filho da Puta, Duchess, Theodore, and Jerry, by
J. Croft at Middleham ; Ebor, Reveller, Antonio,
and St. Patrick, by J. Lonsdale at Middleham ;
Barefoot, by Joseph Dixon (place unknown) ;
Jack Spigot, by J. Blades at Middleham ;
Memnon and Rockingham, by R. Shepherd at
Langton Wold ; Tarrare, by S. King at Tick-
hill (Doncaster) ; Matilda, The Colonel, Rowton,
Touchstone, Don John (cost ^100 as a yearling),
Charles XIL, Launcelot, Satirist, The Baron,
Newminster, West Australian, Saucebox, the roan
Warlock, Imperieuse (the trainer's own property),
Gamester, and The Marquis, all by John Scott
(called ' The Wizard of the North,' for obvious
reasons) at Langton Wold.

Birmingham, by T. Flintoff at Hednesford
(Cannock, Staffs) ; Chorister, by John Smith at
Raby (Durham) ; Margrave, by J. Webb at
Newmarket ; Queen of Trumps (as for the Oaks) ;
Elis (nominally Lord Lichfield's, really Lord G.
Bentinck's), by John Doe at Goodwood ; Mango,

17

258 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

by M. Dilly at Littleton ; Blue Bonnet (by
Thomas Dawson) and Nutwith (by Robert John-
son) at Middleham ; Faugh-a-ballagh, by J. Forth
at Michel Grove ; Sir Tatton Sykes, by W. Oates
at Langton Wold ; Van Tromp and The Flying
Dutchman, by J. Fobert at Middleham ; Surplice,
by Robert Stephenson at Newmarket ; Voltigeur
(as for the Derby) ; Stockwell, by J. Harlock at
Newmarket ; Knight of St. George, by R. Long-
staff at Hambleton ; Sunbeam, by J. Prince at
Lambourne ; St. Albans and Craigmillar, by A.
Taylor at Fyfield ; Caller Ou and Blair Athol, by
W. IWnson (their owner) at Malton.

Lord Clifden, by E. Parr at Telscombe (Sussex);
Gladiateur, Lord Lyon, Silvio, Iroquois, Melton,
Ormonde, Donovan, and Common (as for the
Derby) ; Achievement, by J. Dover at Ilsley ;
Formosa, Hannah, Marie Stuart, Apology, Jan-
nette, Seabreeze, Memoir, and La Fleche (as for
the Oaks) ; Pero Gomez, by J. Porter at Kings-
clere ; Hawthornden, by Joseph Dawson at New-
market ; Wenlock, by T. Wadlow at Stanton
(Shifnal, Salop) ; Petrarch (by John Dawson) ;
Rayon d'Or (by T. Jennings), Robert the Devil
(by C. Blanton), Dutch Oven (by M. Dawson),

FOURTH PERIOD: VICTORIA 259

Ossian (by Richard Marsh), and Kilvvarlin (by
J. Jewett), all at Newmarket ; and The Lambkin,
by the Osbornes at Middleham.

The breeders of these and other distinguished
horses may seem equally entitled to commemora-
tion ; but their names for the most part can be
discovered from the ' Stud Book.'

A few words in conclusion must be devoted to
the questions of colour, height, and nomenclature.
Her Majesty's reign has witnessed the almost
total disappearance, so far as horses of note are
concerned, of all colours except bay, brown, and
chestnut, though there have been one or two
good blacks, such as Saunterer ; grays, such as
Chanticleer and Strathconan ; and roans, such as
Warlock and Rapid Rhone. As for height,
16 hands, which was thought marvellous in the
old days, when a horse that stood 15.2 was named
Sampson, is a common height nowadays, even
for two-year-olds, and race-horses have been
known to reach 18 hands. Of such was a horse
well named Magog ; but, as he is reported to
have been unequal to running more than half a
mile, and that certainly not at the rate of a mile
a minute, or even a minute and a half, his sort

26o HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

are not to be encouraged, especially as they are
said to take kindly to ' roaring,' after the fashion
of Ormonde, without Ormonde's less objectionable
qualities.

In respect of nomenclature, a marvellous condi-
tion of things has been established in these latter
days. We find breeders and owners, at their
wits' end, making plaintive appeals in the columns
of the daily papers (of sporting tendency) to the
public for help in elaborating appropriate appella-
tions for foals, and yearlings, and two-year-olds,
and thoroughbreds in general, and the public
responding by dozens almost as eagerly as in a
* missing word ' competition. A Sir Tatton
Sykes, with countless Sleight-of-hand mares,
and a Lord Glasgow, with unnamed ' wretches '
running all over the country, would have a worse
time of it in these days than ever they had before.
There is quite a Parliamentary roar of ' Name !
name !' when some unhappy owner is under the
impression that his horse is his own property,
and that he can do as he likes with it, even to
leaving it nameless, if he please. The increase
in the number of horses that are bred and run
in any given year, and especially the propagation

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 261

of the betting plague, have brought things to
this pretty pass.

The pubHc, out of whose pockets all the
money necessarily comes in the end for keeping
up the speculative meetings, the monster prizes
given thereat, the studs of such owners as
depend upon bets for the maintenance thereof,
and a very considerable portion of the huge
donations won by those princely patrons of the
turf who, whether they bet or not, do not depend
upon bets in the least for the defrayment of their
expenses, but take up horse-racing in the spirit
of old times, when it was truly ' the sport of
kings,' have now to be reckoned with. The
public, as payers of the piper, claim to call the
tune. It is, of course, convenient to the public
(and particularly to the writers who cater for the
public) that any colt or filly in which any member
of the public may be pleased to take an interest,
and even to make an investment, though it be
to the amount of but half a crown, whether
honestly come by or quocumque inodo, should cease
forthwith to be at its owner's discretion, and
should be distinguished as soon as possible in
some way that will render its career as easy as
possible to be followed by the public.

262 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

The sporting newspapers, therefore, which
exist solely through and for the public, have
taken in hand the breeders and owners of race-
horses, and by preaching and bullying and inter-
viewing and employing horse - watchers, and
issuing 'training reports,' and by various other
means, have, as representatives of the public,
usurped, as it were, a position which enables
them to coerce more or less gently the owner or
breeder, or both, of race-horses, until he wonders
whether he can call his soul his own, and until,
though he be a Hamar Bass, he is constrained at
last to yield, even in a matter of mere nomen-
clature.

Nor is it only as regards the absolute necessity
of giving some kind of name that a sort of
revolution has been effected ; but there now seems
to be an accepted opinion among the competitive
name-givers — that the appellation conferred must
tell a tale of breeding, and reveal something
indicative of the paternal and maternal origin, as
in such a happy instance as St. Blaise (by Hermit
and Fusee). It would be a pity if this opinion
and the practice founded upon it were to prevail
so far as to rob the * Stud Book's ' index of the

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 263

character which, to judge from some of the
volumes, belongs to it, of being an epitome, as it
were, of historical, social, literary, commercial,
theological, theatrical, legal, and scandalous re-
cords (as in the very recent name of L'Abbesse
de Jouarre, which appertains to both literature
and scandal, and was happily bestowed upon a
daughter of Trappist and Festive).

Take, for instance, such horses' names as Pot-
tinger. General Sale, Lady Sale, and Jellalabad,
Lee, Longstreet, Stonewall Jackson, Merrimac,
Monitor, and Kearsage, mtermingled with Sir
James Graham, Admiral Lyons, Sir Colin Camp-
bell, Nana Sahib, and the like, to remind us of
memorable historic events; Exhibition, Kohinoor,
and the like, to recall a great social and inter-
national movement ; Dickens and Anti-Dickens,,
with Nickleby, Nicholas, Pickwick, Oliver Twist,
Nancy, Dolly Varden, Barnaby Rudge, Mark
Tapley, Miss Miggs, Florence Dombey, Adam
Bede, and the like literary reminders ; Dr. Pusey,
Miss Sellon, and A. D. Wagner, to call to mind,
not very respectfully, theological controversies ;
and George Stephenson, George Hudson, and
Mrs. Hudson, to carry us back to the infancy of

264 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

railroads and the ' leaps and bounds ' of com-
merce.

Jenny Lind, Jetty TrefTz, Yaller Gal, Coal
Black Rose, Sich-a-gettin'-up-stairs, La Polka,
Polka, and The Polka, testify to popular favourites
and novelties in the upper and lower musical
world. Qui Tam and Sauter-la-Coupe, recall
vexatious law-suits and a cmtse cHebre in 1837 ;
and Baron Martin testifies of the connection which
existed (and still exists) between the Bench and
the Bar on the one hand, and the turf and the
Jockey Club on the other.

To return to the fair sex, we find Helen Faucit,
to do honour to the great lights of the stage ;
Clara Webster (the unfortunate opera-dancer, who
was burnt to death, and whose fate created quite
an uproar at the time), to commemorate a sad
catastrophe of the ballet ; and Baccelli, Delpini (a
he-dancer), Violante, Parisot, and scores besides
before Pitteri, to show the attachment between
the turf and Terpsichore ; and Lola Montez,
Skittles, Laura Bell, and a host more, to celebrate
the heroines of scandal.

There can be no desire, however, to see a

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 265

repetition of such foolish names as Ginnums,
Kittums, Oddums, and the like ; far less can
anyone wish for a return to the apparent irrever-
ence of Crucifix (which Lord G. Bentinck de-
clined to alter at the instance of Lady Grosvenor),
Bethphage (another of Lord George's queer
fancies, but the name was changed by the Duke
of Bedford to Villiers), Crucifixion, Vera Cruz,
Redemption, Atonement, and the brothers Elijah
and Elisha, though no irreverence may have been
intended, and though probably nobody would
object to Huz and Buz as the names of two
brother-horses, or to Mesopotamia for the name
of a mare, notwithstanding that these names also
occur in Scripture. It is all a question of the
associations connected with certain words, and
that should be the guide.

At the same time, it may not always strike
the giver of a name that any suggestion of
irreverence can occur to anybody therefrom.
Take D. V., for instance, a colt (foaled 1863)
by Voltigeur and Rosa Bonheur ; it might
shock pious souls, who smell a rat where there
is not so much as a mouse, and they would

266 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

assuredly conclude that some irreverence was
meant. But when they were informed that (Sir
Henry) Des Voeux was the breeder and owner
of the colt, whose body-clothes would bear the
initials ' D. V.,' they would probably see that
there was ' nothing in it.'

While there is reason to object to names occa-
sionally adopted, either on the score of inanity, or
even sometimes, in former days, of indecency,
one would desire to encourage originality, and
not too closely to limit the field of selection.
Allusions to passing events which might other-
wise be forgotten, or indications of the pedigree
of a horse, or of the stable it came from, are
valuable, and a distinctive name not merely
assists anyone in searching the records of the
turf, but is also said to be sometimes of financial
advantage when a horse is changing owners.

To return, however, to the Victorian era.
Never, of course, was there a reign when the
turf seemed to be so flourishing. Never were
prices higher, or nearly so high, for 'crack' sires
(though they may ' roar you as gently as any
sucking dove,' or ' an 'twere any nightingale '), for
horses in training, or for fashionably bred year-

FOURTH PERIOD: VICTORIA 267

lings. Never were there so many owners, breeders,
and runners of race-horses ; never so many horses
to run, never so many thousands of pounds in
' public money ' to be won upon the turf. The
question is whether this is likely to continue. Let
us consult the instructive statistics collected by a
gentleman who writes in the Illustrated Sporting
and Dramatic News in the noni de gtterre of
' Rapier.' According to his calculations, then, in
1892, 2,559 horses ran flat-races for ^486,556
(and a few shillings), which sum was won by 947
competitors, leaving 1,612 to go empty away,
without winning a single race, though many of
them ran many times. Of the ' monster prizes,'
moreover, the Eclipse Stakes (which has already
twice fallen through) has decreased in value from
^11,165 in 1889 to ;^9,405 ; the Lancashire Plate
from ^10,131 to ^7,930 ; the Kempton Park
Great Breeders' Foal Stakes from ^6,177 to
;^4,937 (and even some ^600 less in 1891) ; the
Newmarket Stakes (a newly subsidized affair)
from ^6,000 to ^3,795 ; the Whitsuntide Plate
(now Stakes) from ^3,400 to ^1,194; ^^^^ the
Prince of Wales's Stakes (now Plate) at Leicester
from ^11,000 to {})£(^2j. At the same time

268 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Mr. ' Rapier ' rejoices in the fact that the Derby
and the Oaks had increased in value from ^4,050
to ^6,960, and from ^2,600 to ^5,270, and the
St. Leger from ^4,800 (and ^4,300 in 1891) to
^5.400 (and ^5,125 in 1890), but omits to
point out that the stewards of the Jockey Club
had been obliged (as ex -officio stewards of
Epsom Races) to come to the rescue of the
Derby and the Oaks by obtaining a guarantee
of a certain minimum (^5,000 to the former
and ^4,000 to the latter) to each, whereby
subscribers were encouraged and the number of
subscriptions was increased. So that if we add
to this the evidence afforded by the July sales at
Newmarket, and the later sales at Doncaster, the
condition of the turf seems to be at present a
state of unwholesome and temporary inflation
rather than of natural, healthy, permanent embon-
point ; and, perhaps, the sooner a needle is ap-
plied, an aperture effected, and the swelling
reduced by the outflow and disappearance of dele-
terious secretion, the better in the long run for
the sport of horse-racing and the business of
horse-breeding.

No doubt the system of gate-money meetings,

FO UR TH PERIOD : VIC TORI A 2 6 9

competing- race-course companies, and the con-
sequent gigantic Stakes or Plates (exhibiting a
tendency to dwindle, however, as we have seen),
may enable a few owners of race-horses to win
prodigious sums in sheer stakes, without betting ;
but that makes the chances of the rest more hope-
less, and it is obvious that horse-racing, as a sport,
can only be practised by ' kings ' and others who
can afford to pay for their hobby and look for no
return, and, as a profitable business, only by
persons who combine horse-breeding with horse-
racing, and are content with a few successes at
the ' post ' to enhance the value of what they offer
for sale in the ' paddock.' As for betting, who-
ever looks to that to recoup him for his expenses
or to keep him in clover, might just as well, so
far as true sport is concerned, deal with the dice-
box or the roulette -table as with race -horses.
At the same time he helps to the best of his
ability to perpetuate the evils of * nobbling,' and
' touting,' and ' welshing,' and ' ticket-snatching,'
and ' runners,' and ' all-right-men,' and other
abominations which the very ' bookie,' as long as
he is successfu., abhors, and to which may be
added the/ons et origo mali, the ' bookie ' himself.

2 70 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

The largest amount of 'public money' ever
won, without betting-, by an owner in a single
season, is the ^73,858 los. won by the Duke of
Portland in 1889 ; and the largest sum ever won
by a single horse, in ' public money,' during his
career, is the ^55,154 los. won by Donovan.
Lord Falmouth, who did not bet, and hardly lived
into the era of ' monster stakes,' having retired
from the turf in 1884, won nearly ,^212,000, in-
credible as it may appear, in eleven years, from
1873 to 1883 (both included), and in that way and
by the sale of his horses (when he had quite done
with them, for he seldom or never sold yearlings),
such as Atlantic and Silvio, and of his whole stud
in 1884 for at least ^150,000, must have made a
rare good thing of his racing and breeding. On
the other hand, that very astute gambler, Comte
F. de Lagrange, who not only often stood at the
head of ' winning owners ' in this country (where
he won upwards of ^73,000 of 'public money' in
the course of five consecutive years, from 1876 to
1880) and in his own, but betted heavily, and as
successfully as a ' backer ' very well can, into the
bargain, made anything but a fortune for himself
and his ' confederacy ' by his Gargantuan style of

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 271

horse-racing, insomuch that his executors had
very Httle to show for his horse-racing and
betting at his death in November, 1883, and his
favourite nephew and right-hand man, Comte
Gouy D'Arsy, was said in the newspapers to have
died, not so very long after his uncle, in a state of
impoverishment bordering upon destitution.

So much for racing-^?^;^-gambling and racing-
sans-gdiTwhYmg.

There are symptoms, too, of a panic among the
members of the betting ring ; the voice of the
'bookie' is heard complaining that the 'gentle-
man welsher,' that is, the ' backer' who pays the
entrance -money at the so-called ' Tattersall's
rings ' and bets on credit, but does not ' part,' is
becoming more and more common, having never
been so rare as a blue moon, and that many
' book-makers ' consequently are overtaken, and
many more are pursued, by ruin. The fact being
that ' the ring,' like every other ' profession,' is
overstocked, and this leads to competition among
the members, who are only too glad to trade with
anybody whom they have reason to consider able
(if not willing) to pay ; the persons who are im-
portuned to bet find it pleasant to take the

2 72 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

odds ' on the nod ' (which the Legislature permits
or at any rate does not forbid) ; and the descent
to Avernus is proverbially easy, so that the
' backer ' often finds himself landed very soon in
'default.' And it is said, by authorities who ought
to know what they are talking about, that nobility
and gentry will go on in default unblushingly from
year to year, and that the long-suffering ' bookie '
will go on betting with them and refrain from
taking such steps as it is in his power to take to
protect himself, for fear of offending the defaulters'
' high connections ' who not only bet with him
but * part.'

What will be the end of it all nobody of course
can say ; but perhaps the storm will come and the
crash will take place some day, after which the
prices paid for thorough-bred horses, old and
young, the 'public money' given by competing
race-course companies, and the ' betting mania,'
will be reduced within as reasonable limits as can
ever be considered to bound a mania, to the great
advantage of a fine sport and to the great im-
provement of the English thorough-bred, eman-
cipated from the use to which he is now too often
put, partly as a mere instrument of gambling.

FOURTH PERIOD : VICTORIA 273

partly as a runner of short distances for prodigious
stakes, and partly as a (sometimes premature)
stud-horse at exorbitant fees, before his progeny
have done anything to justify the sum, and ex-
orbitant even when they have.

It will have been observed that the retirement
of the Prince of Wales (George IV.) from the turf
in 1791-92, in consequence of a quarrel with the
Jockey Club, has been attributed, as usual, to the
' Escape ' affair. Mr. John Kent, in his lately
published and, in many respects, very admirable
'Racing Life of Lord George Bentinck,' says
(p. 50): 'It is not generally known that H.R.H.
the Prince Regent was not driven away from
Newmarket by the ' Escape ' affair, but by another
race, in which his horse Sultan was supposed to
have been foully ridden.'

Without stopping to inquire whether Prince
Regent was the Prince's proper title before
February, 181 1, though, no doubt, a Regency
Bill had been passed as early as 1788, be it
remarked that Mr. Kent does not support his
bare statement by any sort of authority, and that
no such horse or misadventure can be traced to
the Prince (unless it has been overlooked in

18

2 74 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

* Weatherby ') in several works of reference, in-
cluding 'Pick' and ' Baily.' It has, therefore,
been thought better to stick to the old story
handed down from generation to generation in
the absence of any documentary proof on the part
of Mr. Kent.

[ 275 ]

CHAPTER V.

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES.

Some Preliminary Remarks about ' Clocking ' — The Prince of
Wales (Richard II.), Charles 11. and William III., and
their Matches — Messrs. Lepton, Calvert and Norden v.
Time — Honeycomb Punch — Mr. Sinclair and Mr. and
Miss Pond v. Time — Prince George of Denmark — Queen
Anne — Mr. Frampton and Sir J. Lade and Mule v. Horse
— First recorded ' Tipping ' of a Successful Jockey — First
recorded ' Dead Heat ' — Long Distances — Big Wagers —
Heavy Weights — Epigrammatic Matches — Mr. Cooper
Thornhill v. Time — Lord March's Carriage-match — A
Stupid and Cruel Match — A Thousand Miles in a
Thousand Successive Hours on the same Horse — Two
Thousand Nine Hundred Miles in Twenty-nine Succes-
sive Days — Holcroft the Dramatist's Story — Gimcrack —
Two-year-Olds — A Mile in a Minute and Four and a Half
Seconds — A Cruel Match — The Race-horse as a Trotter
— The Prince of Wales (George W.)— Thirty Stojie
carried by each Rider in a Match — Hambletonian and
Diamond — Two Curious Matches — Sir Solomon and
Cockfighter — ' Mrs. Thornton's ' Matches — Sancho and
Pavilion — Sir Joshua and Filho da Puta — From Canter-
bury to London in Three Hours — Tiresias and Merlin —
Sharper and the Cossack Horses — Mr. Osbaldeston's
Match — The Flying Dutchman and Voltigeur — Two
Matches won by Galopin — The Prince of Wales's ' Arab '

2 76 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Alep — A Cruel Match between French Horses — St. Simon
and Duke of Richmond — James Selby v. Time — Lord
Lonsdale ?'. Time — Prince B. de Rohan's Dangerous Feat
— A Thousand Miles' Drive with One Horse in Nineteen
Days — The Long Distance Military Match between
Austro-Hungarian and German Officers.

Matches were the form of racing most in vogue
among the men of old time on the accepted
race-courses, especially at Newmarket. It would
obviously, therefore, be ridiculous to do more than
pick out of them a few that, for some reason or
other, were and are memorable beyond the rest.
Moreover, some of the most remarkable matches,
especially against time, have not been run on a
race -course at all, or by race -horses. Still, as
they, for the most part, grew out of horse-racing
in general, and are of cognate interest, they, too,
have not been neglected altogether.

Be it premised that details respecting ages,
weights, and times, and sometimes distances, are
occasionally omitted in the most provoking manner
in the records, and that it is now impossible to
supply the defect ; and let a few preliminary
remarks be added for the assistance of the ordi-
nary reader who has not been accustomed to try
and realize what is meant by the announcement
that a certain race, whether match or other, was

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 277

won in a certain time, or by a certain distance, or
both.

First of all, as regards 'timing' or 'clocking'
(as it is called in America). Nothing is more
perplexing or untrustworthy than this mode,
though it has its uses, of measuring the merit of
an achievement. So many accessories have to be
taken into consideration — age, weight, weather,
the natural formation of the race-ground, condition
of the ground, initial pace, and other little items,
including the accuracy of the time-piece depended
upon and of the person or persons using it, and
the rider's or driver's skill and knowledge of the
horse or horses ridden or driven. Evidently,
however, from the nature of the case, in a match
against time the ' clocking ' is likely to be more
trustworthy than in any other race.

But, whether or no, it is curious to note that in
America, where ' clocking ' is thought much more
of than among ourselves (and also in France and
Australia), the horses bred there, though they are
unable, as a rule, to hold their own with our
horses in this country, perform given distances in
shorter times (according to the foreign records)
than our horses at home, or than those same
horses in this country. It may be that the

278 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

American time-piece is a little slower than the
English, and therefore more favourable to short
times, or there may be (and, indeed, there are)
some other reasons ; but the fact remains.

The fastest times for the American race-horse
(not the 'trotter,' but the 'galloper') at home are
(or were a few years ago) : for half a mile,
47f seconds ; a mile, i minute 39! seconds ; a
mile and a half, 2 minutes 34f seconds ; two
miles, 3 minutes 27^ seconds ; three miles, 5
minutes 26^ seconds ; and four miles, 7 minutes
i5f seconds. These times appear to be gene-
rally admitted as official by Americans,

Unfortunately we have few, if any, officially
certified ' clockings,' unless in matches run against
time, and it is difficult to discover any such match
wherein the time within which a certain feat had
to be done was less than an hour. However,
'The Druid' relates that Semiseria and Queen of
the Gipsies ' are said ' to have done half a mile
'in 37 seconds,' and this would, of course, be
I of seconds less than the American 'record,'
which seems preposterous ; but he (ignoring,
naturally, the ' mile in a minute ' ascribed by
Baron Munchausen's descendants and the children
of the Jew Apella to Childers, as well as the

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 279

'mile in one minute, four seconds and a half*
to Firetail and Pumpkin) assures us, neverthe-
less, that ' I minute 46 seconds is a good general
average for a mile, 2 minutes 46 seconds for a
mile and a half, and 3 minutes 46 seconds for two
miles.'

Our usual authorities give us i minute 42*-
seconds (Amphion), i minute 43 seconds (Galo-
pin), and i minute 45 seconds (Diophantus) as
the best times for the Rowley Mile, which has
varied from a mile and seventeen yards to a mile
and one yard (perhaps by a misprint for one mile
eleven yards, the present distance), and instances
could be quoted of horses that have been

* clocked ' at shorter times for a mile at Lincoln
and elsewhere in England ; but, unfortunately, we
have no * clocking' which appears to be ' officially'
recognised.

The reader, however, will be pretty safe in
striking an average between the times given by

* The Druid ' (unless, perhaps, in the very ques-
tionable case of the 'half a mile in 37 seconds')
and by the American record (which seems to be
' official '), and, as regards the distances not timed
by *The Druid,' in taking the American 'clock-
ings ' as certainly ' favourable '; and, if he finds

2So HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

these latter slower than those submitted for the
corresponding distances run by English horses in
England, will be perfectly entitled to suspect that
there may be a mistake somewhere, either of dis-
tance or time, in the English record. For
instance, if the very shortest 'clocking' for four
miles in America — where ' clockings ' are noto-
riously shorter than in England — be Ten Broeck's
7 minutes 15 seconds and a fraction 'against
time,' anything under that time in England for the
same distance may well be regarded with a certain
amount of doubt, for the odd fifteen seconds or a
quarter of a minute represent more than a furlong
in distance for a horse that is reputed to run (as
Filho da Puta for the Gold Cup at Richmond,
after meeting with an accident too, in 18 15) four
miles in 7 minutes. Else a Filho da Puta could
have more than ' distanced ' a Ten Broeck or
a Lexington (four miles in 7 minutes igf seconds
in 1855), which is either absurd or a terrible
reflection upon the race-horse of the latter half
of this century, for even in the short distances
we have apparently made no headway, though we
are accused of * sacrificing everything to speed.'

And now for a word to the reader as to another
little matter. There may be many to whom the

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES

ordinary comment 'won by a head,' or 'won by a
length,' and so on, conveys no particular meaning
and offers no guidance, such as would be desirable
if they were called upon to appreciate, from a
handicapper's point of view, the relative capabili-
ties of the horse that wins and the horse that
loses. For them it may be useful to remark that
there is a rough-and-ready method of calculation,
widely but by no means universally accepted,
whereby distance is converted into representative
pounds avoirdupois, so that ' a head ' is regarded
as representing (it being supposed, of course, that
there is a genuine close struggle) a difference of
'one pound ' between winner and loser ; * a neck,'
of ' three pounds'; ' half a length,' of 'five pounds ';
' a length,' of 'seven pounds'; and ' two lengths,'
of ' ten pounds.'

But that this corresponsive mensuration is arbi-
trary and disputable is to be inferred from the
practice of professional handicappers. Admiral
Rous, for instance, who was a great handicapper,
estimated the difference (if memory may be
trusted) between Lord Lyon and Savernake at
three pounds, when the former had beaten the
latter both for the Derby and for the St. Leger,
in each case by a head, after an undoubted genuine

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

struggle. However, the rough rule given above
will serve sufficiently well.

With these preliminaries we may now proceed
to the matter in hand, having just noticed one
extreme case of the absurditv to which 'clockinof'
may reach when the accompaniments are not
accurately weighed. In 1850, at York, the Ebor
St. Leger was won by a head after a slashing
finish between William the Conqueror (winner)
and Mark Tapley (second), with Pilgrim a bad
third ; the distance was tivo miles, and, according
to ' The Druid,' the time was foiLrteen viinutes
and seventeen seconds, which is ' slower than a
man.' Of course, the explanation is that the
jockeys of the three ' runners ' (and there were
only three) had ' waiting orders ' in each case, and
did not really 'run' more than a few yards. In
fact, it is never safe to assume, even in a race
' against time,' that the ' clocking ' of a horse in a
race is conclusive of anything at all beyond the
fact that he does or does not do, on a particular
occasion, what he was required to do. For
example, we sliall see that Galopin, carrying
8 St. 2 lb, only, was 8^ seconds longer over the
Rowley Mile than when he carried 8 st. 10 lb.

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 283

at the same age ; and we find such horses as
Merry Hampton and Ayrshire (at a slight dis-
advantage in point of weight too) running the
Derby in less time than The Flying Dutchman
and West Australian ; in the same time, in fact, as
Isinglass this year ( 1 893). Moreover, ' The Dutch-
man ' was all but beaten by the half-bred Hotspur
We must * look at the clock ' circumspectly.

Memorable Matches.
A.D. 1377 : In this year the Prince of Wales,
afterwards Richard the Second, was beaten ap-
parently in a match, ' owners up ' (but other par-
ticulars of time, place, weight, etc., are unknown),
by the Earl of Arundel. (See Mr. J. P. Hore's
' History of Newmarket,' vol. i., p. 23, where
some doggerel French verse, written by the con-
temporary Marquis de Saluces, alias Marchese di
Saluzzo, are quoted as referring to such a match.
The Prince of Wales could not have been more
than eleven years of age at the time. He seems
to have afterwards purchased the Earl of Arundel's
horse for a large sum of money, equal to ^4,000
of ours, according to Mr. Hore, who quotes a
writ of Privy Seal, April 5, 1378, in attestation.

284 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

The French verses do not make it clear whether
there was a match between two or a race between
more.)

A.D. 1604 : John Lepton, Esq., of (?) Kenwick,
Yorks, groom of the chamber to James I., under-
took (for a wager, no doubt), as is narrated in
Fuller's ' Worthies,' to ride five times between
London and York (which are nearly 200 miles
apart) within a week of six days, from a given
Monday to the Saturday of the same week. He
performed his task in five days ; starting from
St. Martin's Le Grand, London, on a certain
Monday and finishing ' his appointed journey to
the admiration of all men ' at York on the evening
of the following Friday. The next Monday 'he
went from York, and came to the court at Green-
wich upon Tuesday .... to his Majestic, in as
fresh and cheerful a manner as when he first
began,' though ' many gentlemen, who were good
horsemen, and divers physicians did affirm it was
impossible for him to do (the feat) without apparent
danger to his life.' This account would, of course,
be more interesting if the conditions as to the
weight carried and the number of horses ridden
were forthcoming.

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 285

A.D. 161 9 (according to Pierce Egan's ' Sporting
Anecdotes') : ' On July 17, one Bernard Calvert,
of Andover, rode from St. George's Church,
Southwark, to Dover, from thence passed by
barge to Calais, in France, and from thence back
to St. George's Church the same day ; setting out
about three o'clock in the morning, and returning
about eight in the evening, fresh and hearty.'

*A.D. 1671 : Mr, Elliot's Flatfoot, ridden by
the owner, beat King Charles II.'s Woodcock,
ridden by the owner, October 12, at Newmarket,
distance and weights unknown. (Notable as an
instance of the King's own performances ' in the
pigskin.')

A.D. 1692 : A Mr. Norden undertook to ride
on the high road (between Ware and London, as
it turned out) 180 miles in 20 hours, having as
many horses, apparently, as he pleased. He
started on Thursday, September 22, 'at eleven
at night by moonshine ' from Ware, and rode
100 miles to and fro between Johnny Gilpin's
town and London by seven o'clock the next
morning ; then rested and slept two hours, and
set out again a little after nine o'clock, and finished
his task by two o'clock in the afternoon, ' in the

286 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

whole, fifteen hours.' He * used six horses and
won, for 200 guineas, ;^2,ooo himself, and many
wagers more.' (Luttrell's ' Correspondence,' quoted
by Mr. J. P. Hore. It appears that the betting
was 10 to I against the feat, which it will be
instructive to compare with Mr. Osbaldeston's,
A.D. 1 83 1. Particulars as to Mr. Norden's weight
and the sort of horses he rode are unfortunately not
given.)

*A.D. 1698 : King William III. ran a horse
(rider unknown) against a horse of the Duke of
Somerset's (rider unknown), April 9, at New-
market, for two tkotisand g\i\n^2iS (? a side), distance
and weights unknown. (Notable as an instance
of heavy betting on the part of the austere King
William.)

*A.D. 1699 : Lord Wharton's Careless (sire of
the dam of Flying Childers and of the dam of
Hobgoblin) won a match (six miles) against an
unnamed horse, weights unknown, for ^1,900
a side. (Notable for the distance, the stakes, and
the fact that the named horse is mentioned in
Lord Macaulay's ' History of England.')

*A.D. 1699 • Honeycomb Punch (by the Taffolet
[Tafilet], alias the Morocco, Barb) won a match

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 287

(four miles), 300 sovs. a side, against an unnamed
horse, in April, weights unknown, at Newmarket.
N.B. — H. P. was own brother to the dam of the
Duke of Devonshire's Makeless mare (dam of
Old Mermaid), ancestress in direct female line
of the celebrated Dungannon, son of Eclipse.
(Notable as an authentic case of a match won
by a horse, of whose performances little is
known, though his name is conspicuous in the
pedigrees.)

^'A.D. 1 701 : Lord (the Marquis of) Wharton's
St. Martin (by Spanker and Mr. Burton's natural
Barb mare) won ' an extraordinary fine ' match
(distance and weights unknown) in April at New-
market, for ' a good deal of money,' against the
Duke of Devonshire's Dimple (first recorded
holder of the famous Newmarket Challenge Whip,
said to have been presented by Charles II.).

A.D. 1 701 : ' Mr. Sinclair, a gentleman of Kirby
Lonsdale, in Cumberland, for a wager of 500
guineas, rode a galloway of his on The Swift, at
Carlisle, a thousand miles in a thousand succes-
sive hours.' (The same feat, incredible as it may
appear, Miss Pond was said to have performed —
and her father, Mr. John Pond, of ' Kalendar '

2 88 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

celebrity, zvas said to have performed the same
distance in two-thirds of the time, though that is
really, perhaps, a less remarkable thing — some
fifty or sixty years later, in 1758 ; but some decep-
tion seems to have been practised by one or both
of these worthy relatives.)

A.D. ? 1 702- 1 703: Sir Matthew Peirson's (Sir
William Strickland's) (Old) Merlin, ridden by
Jerome Hare, of Cold Kirby, Hambleton, Yorks,
beat (? B. C.) at Newmarket Mr. Tregonwell
Frampton's favourite horse, ridden by (? Mr.
Frampton's ' groom '), and caused the gentlemen
of the South to lose so much property to the
gentlemen of the North that the statute of Queen
Anne (9 Anne, c. 14) to restrict betting was
enacted. (It is, of course, absurd to suppose, as
is assumed by some authorities, that Frampton's
horse was ridden by Heseltine ; for Heseltine
was a northern groom, in charge of Merlin and
in the employment of Sir. W. Strickland.)

*A.D. 1702 : Lord Godolphin's (the Lord
Treasurer's) horse (weights and distance un-
known) won a match in April at Newmarket,
against Mr. Harvey's horse, for ^3,000 (? a side).
(Notable as an instance of the first Lord Godol-

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 289

phin's scale of betting. It was the second who
owned the * Arabian.')

''^A.D. 1705 : The Prince Consort's (Prince
George of Denmark's) gray Barb won a match
(conditions and stake unknown) at Newmarket,
April 12, ac>ainst Mr. Tregonwell Frampton's
Thiller. (Notable because authentic cases of the
Prince's horse-racing are rare, though the general
fact that he did race at Newmarket is well known ;
and also because a ' Son of the Desert ' won the
match.)

"^'a.d. 1709 : Her Majesty Queen Anne's Gray
Peg was beaten at Newmarket on October 7 by
Lord Ryalton's unnamed mare, 10 st. each, four
miles, 200 guineas. (Notable as the only dis-
coverable recorded instance in which Queen
Anne ran a horse in her own name ai Newmarket,
though there are several instances of her so
running at York.)

A.D. 1713, 1715, 1723, and 1726 saw Mr.
Tregonwell Frampton running matches at New-
market with mules, sometimes a ' lesser ' and
sometimes a * bigger ' mule, against horses, distance
six miles (the mules not always obtaining any
allowance) ; a style of racing which was revived

19

290 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

by Dr. Johnson's friend, the spendthrift Sir John
Lade (who would ride his own mule in the days
of ' the first gentleman '), but would now be re-
garded, no doubt, as desecration of the Heath.

*A.D. 1 71 8: The Duke of Wharton's Chanter
won a match on April 8 at Newmarket against
Mr. Brodrick's mare, 8 st. 7 lb. each, four miles
(a noteworthy match, because ' the scorn and
wonder of the age,' Philip, Duke of Wharton, is
stated to have given the successful jockey, whose
name has not been preserved from oblivion, ^50
for winning — about the earliest recorded example
of the excessive * tipping ' which has been carried
to a ridiculous pitch in modern times).

On October 8 in the same year, and at the same
place, there was a match between the Duke of
Wharton's Chance and Lord Hillsborough's gray
mare, 9st. each, four miles, 500 guineas, half forfeit:
which is worthy of notice, because it is the first
recorded case of a ' dead heat ' at Newmarket,
though the phenomenon must have occurred
(pretty often, no doubt) before, and is recorded in
the records of York as early as i 709, when, for
a ^10 ^\dX&, fottr-mile heats, on September 15,
Mr. Welburn's bay horse Button, and Mr.

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 291

Walker's brown mare Milkmaid, 'in running the
last heat' (that is, the third, twelve miles altogether),
' came in so near together that it could not be
decided by the tryers.' But it was not run off,
because the riders had shown foul play, and had
fought on horseback, and the valuable plate was
given to the owner of the only other horse that
ran in that heat.

A.D. 1719 : The Duke of Wharton paid 140
guineas forfeit in a match for 300 guineas (? a side)
at Newmarket, April 30 (which is noteworthy
because the Duke's galloway was to have carried
4 St. only to the 12 st. of Lord Hillsborough's
Fiddler, and the distance was to have been six
7}iiles. So that * feather-weights,' though com-
paratively rare, were already throwing ' their
shadow before ').

A.D. 1 7 19: On November 3 the Duke of
Devonshire's bay mare by Basto beat Mr. Tre-
gonwell Frampton's Nutmeg, 8 st. 6 lb. each, in
a match, eight miles. (Notable for the distance.)

A.D. 1720-1722 saw Newmarket Heath the
scene of ' pacing ' matches (now banished to the
other side of the Atlantic), sometimes over a
distance of twelve miles, under the auspices of

292 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

the celebrated Sir Robert Fagg, Mr. Pelham,
Colonel Pitt, and others,

A.D. 1721-1722: The Duke of Rutland is said
to have offered to run his famous mare Bonny
Black against any horse, mare, or gelding, four
times over the Round Course (King's Plate course)
at Newmarket, but the offer was not accepted.
A match of four continuous courses over that
distance (three miles, six furlongs, and ninety-
three yards in the old days) would, obviously, be
more or less severe than the very common ' four
mile heat' races (with a 'dead heat' thrown in),
according to circumstances, but, at the best,
could not be much less severe, and, at the worst,
would be very much more.

A.D. 1722: Matches for ihrce thousand guineas,
were to be run (April 5) by Mr. Panton's Cub
against Lord Drogheda's Snip mare, and (April 6)
by Lord Milsintown's (Milsington's) Bonny Betty
against Lord Drogheda's Grey Director ; but,
though the former was run and won by Mr. Panton,
the forfeit (1,500 guineas) was paid by Lord Mil-
sintown in the latter.

A.D. 1722: On October 30, at Newmarket,
Mr. Cotton's Fox, carrying 9 st. 12 lb., won a

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 293

match, four miles (200 guineas) against Lord
Drogheda's Snip mare, carrying 8 st. 5 lb. ; and
on the same day the same Fox, carrying 10 St.,
won another match (150 guineas) against the
same Snip mare, carrying 8 st. 6 lb., six miles.
(What would be thought nowadays of running a
horse two matches, ten jniles, in one day ?)

A.D. 1723: On March 23, at Newmarket, Mr,
Cotton's Fox, 10 St., beat Lord Drogheda's Snip
mare, 8 st., in a match (300 guineas), eight miles ;
and on the same day the same Fox, 10 St., beat
Mr. Tregonwell Frampton's Miss Wassop, 8 St.,
in a match, two miles, 200 guineas. ( Vide supra.)

A.D. 1723: On November 2, at Newmarket,
Mr. Thomas Panton's chestnut mare Molly (by
the Thoulouse Barb, and, it is believed, a Leedes
mare that was own sister to Quiet, though the
dam was under suspicion of being not well bred)
was matched to run four miles against the Duke
of Bolton's Terror, and, two hours afterwards,
four miles against the same Duke's Badger ; but
Molly (of whom it is written that she * was not a
mare of great size, nor had she so considerable
a share of speed as some others have had, but
was of such durable last in running that she was

294 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

never beat at Newmarket till in a match which
cost her life ') [died * in great agony between the
Stand and the Rubbing-House,' whilst running
the first match, and was therefore spared the
cruelty, as it would now most certainly be con-
sidered, of the second.

A.D. 1724: The sacred Heath was the scene
of a match between Mr. Stanhope's * chaise and
pair' and Lord Essex's 'chaise and pair' (one
mile, 100 guineas, half forfeit), which was
won by the former ; and, in course of time,
Lords Rockingham and Orford would desecrate
the soil with 'geese' races {ProJi, pudor /)y
though these latter are not entered in the regular
records.

A.D. 1727: Captain Appleyard's (Mr. Vane's)
Bald Charlotte (by Old Royal), carrying eighteen
STONE, beat Mr. Ashby's gray horse Swinger,
carrying seventeen and a half stone, at New-
market, on May i {four ?mles, 200 guineas).

A.D. 1730: At Newmarket, October 2, Mr.
Roger Williams' Whipper-Snapper (carrying a
' feather') was ridden, for a wager of 20 guineas,
'five times round the Heath' [i.e., twenty miles)
within the hour, but how much within the hour

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 295

is not stated, nor is it noted that the horse was
thorough-bred.

A.D. 1731 : On April i or 2, at Newmarket, Lord
Portmore's Whipper-Snapper beat Mr. Fleet-
wood's chestnut horse in a match of four miles,
ca.vrY'\^g Jifteen stone each.

A.D. 1731 : The human biped arrived at the
dignity of having his prowess, displayed upon
Newmarket Heath, recorded in the 'Account of
all those Matches that have been run at New-
market,' whence it appears that at the May
meeting ' Mr. Phillips won the foot match against
Mr. Bray, play or pay, four miles, 100 guineas'
(though, unfortunately, no ' clocking ' is recorded);
and that, at the October meeting, ' Thomas
Butler, running-footman to the Earl of Sunder-
land, walked six miles and four hundred yards
within the hour, for 50 guineas,' Many a man
would do it now for half the money.

A.D. 1731 : February 7, not on any race-course,
there took place a match which is very interest-
ing as an example of what a horse (not neces-
sarily a great race-horse, or a race-horse at all, and
not necessarily thorough-bred) was expected to do.
Sir Robert Fagge, or Fagg, the then representa-

296 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

tive of an enthusiastic Royalist family (with a seat
at Rye, Sussex, and a baronetcy dating from the
Restoration), made a bet that Lord Cavendish
(though, if there be no mistake in the date, he
must have been simply Marquis of Hartington
by courtesy at the time) would not ride from
Hyde Park Corner to the Lodge in Windsor
Forest, twenty-one miles, on the same horse, in
an hour and five minutes. About a fortnight
before the appointed day the noble lord ' took a
feeler,' that is, rode a trial, and found that it took
him a minute over the specified time to do the
distance. When, however, the day of the match
arrived, he, riding probably a relative, whether
whole-bred or half-bred, of the famous Flying
Childers, accomplished his task within the allotted
time and ' realized the stakes.' Unfortunately
the rider's weight is omitted, and we have seen
that in the previous year a ' feather weight '
had done twenty miles within the hour at New-
market ; but the match is noticeable as a starting-
point for measurement of the progress which
will be revealed in some accounts of matches
further on and nearer to our own date, when
American horses, from the time of their first

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 297

example, Trustee, trot twenty miles within the
hour.

A.D. 1733: What may be called an 'epigram-
matic ' match was won on April 2, at Newmarket,
by the Duke of Bridgewater's Beauty against
Lord Lonsdale's Ugly, the former giving the
latter an advantage of three pounds ; and the
epigrammaticism was imitated at Doncaster in
1790, when Sir W. Vavasour's filly Hope gave
a beating to Sir Charles Turner's colt Despair
(both two years old, and both carrying seven
stone, distance one mile), though Despair, oddly
enough, was the favourite. From which matches
it would seem that there was more of the sportive
vein about horse-racing in the good old times
than in these days, when racing is all business. A
similar pleasant humour seems to have suggested
the match at Newmarket as early as 1722 (October
26), when Mr. Panton's Twig won 200 guineas
by beating Captain Collyer's Pig (four miles).

A.D. 1745: On April 29 was performed Mr.
Cooper Thornhill's match, when he undertook,
riding as many horses as he pleased, to cover
the distance between Stilton and Shoreditch
Church, London, which is seventy-one miles,

298 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

three times (making 213 miles altogether) within
fifteen hours, and accomplished his task (on the
performance of which ' many hundred pounds,
if not thousands, were depending ') in 11 hours,
2,2) minutes, 52 seconds (from Stilton to London,
3 hours, 52 minutes, 59 seconds ; from London
to Stilton, 3 hours, 50 minutes, 57 seconds ; from
Stilton to London, 3 hours, 49 minutes, 56
seconds). Mr. Thornhill's house, the Bell Inn,
at Stilton, Huntingdonshire, was a little short
of seventy-one miles from Shoreditch Church ;
still, his performance was thought quite the
'cheese,' and elicited the admiration of the
famous naturalist, Count de Buffon, who wrote
an account of it to the Earl of Morton. Mr.
Thornhill (whose weight is not recorded) em-
ployed fourteen different horses, eight in the
first journey, six in the second, and seven of
those in the third.

A.D. 1750: On August 29 was run at New-
market Heath the match (too often described
to need a circumstantial account), for 1,000
guineas, between the ingenious Earl of March
and Ruglen, afterwards 'old O.,' and the Earl
of Eglinton, of the one part, and Messrs. Theo-

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 299

bald Taaffe, alias Count Taaffe, and Sprowle,
of the other part, in which ' a carriage with four
running wheels, and a person in or upon it,' was
to be ' drawn by four horses nineteen miles in one
hour.' The match was won by the two Earls,
in ^ fifty -three minutes and twenty-seven seconds'
The carriage weighed about twenty-four stone ;
the four horses were all ' trained for racing ; the
two leaders, including riders, saddles, and harness,
carried about eight stone each, and the wheel-
horses about seven stone each.' There was a
rider on each of the four horses, of course.

A.D. 1750 : On September i a stupid and cruel
match was run at Epsom, between Mr. Girdwood's
Crop and Mr. Harris's roan horse, for 100 guineas.
Crop was to go one hundred miles before the roan
went eighty. By the time the roan had gone
eighty, Crop (having run ten times round the
course, or about twenty miles, in the first hour)
had done only ninety-four, and both horses had
long been so dead beat that they could hardly
crawl, and people walked in front of them,
enticing them on with sieves full of oats. Crop
was so bad that he was expected to die, and was
accordingly sold by his humane and considerate

300 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

owner for ^5 ; but he lived eight years longer,
and won about ^500 in matches.

A.D. 1752-1753: Mr. (afterwards Sir Charles)
Turner, of Kirkleatham Park, Yorks, won 1,000
guineas of the Earl of March and Ruglen (* old
Q.') by performing on the back of a galloway,
' with great ease in thirty-six minutes,' the feat,
for which he had been allowed one hour, of riding
ten miles, in the course of which he was to take
^ forty leaps, each leap to be one yard, one
quarter, and seven inches high ' {which is a suffi-
ciently curious style of measurement to create a
doubt in the mind as to the accuracy of the
account). The feat is said to have been ac-
complished on the Fell, Richmond, Yorks, in
the presence of ' the Earl and Countess of
Northumberland and several other persons of
rank and distinction.'

A.D. 1754 : 'On April 24 Mr. Daniel Corker's
mare' (a truly unfortunate name to be used, if
there be no misprint for ' Croker,' in connec-
tion with a remarkable feat), finished her three
hundred mile match for 100 guineas, play or pay,
within the time allowed her, which was three times
twenty-four successive hours, and had several

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 301

hours to spare.' The match took place on
Newmarket Heath ; the mare (a brown) stood
thirteen hands three inches high, and was ridden
by a boy weighing 4 st. i lb., saddle and bridle
not included. On Monday, 22nd, she went
ninety-six miles in three instalments, namely,
twenty-four miles and a bait, twenty-four and a
bait, and forty-eight without baiting ; on Tuesday,
23rd, one hundred and eight miles in four instal-
ments, namely, twenty- four and a bait thrice con-
secutively, and thirty-six without baiting ; and on
Wednesday, the 24th, ninety-six miles as on the
first day, having done not more than six miles, it
is said, out of the whole three hundred at full
gallop. The performance is stated to have been
accomplished in 64 hours and 20 minutes — that is,
with 7 hours and 40 minutes (42 minutes, accord-
ing to some authorities), to spare. It is to be
hoped that * here be facts.'

A.D. 1756: At the spring meeting, Newmarket,
took place the great match for the Challenge
Whip (of which there had been no recorded winner
since the Duke of Devonshire's Dimple in some
long previous, unspecified year) between Mr.
Fenwick's famous Match'em, and Mr. Bowles's

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

less famous Trajan, when the former, ridden by
the celebrated John Singleton, to whose judgment
in riding the result was attributed, was the
winner, after the odds had varied from 2 to i
on Match'em at starting to as much as 5 to i on
Trajan over 'the flat,' and then 100 to i on
Match'em at ' the turn of the lands.'

A.D, 1758 : In April and May took place the
match against time referred to by Dr. Samuel
Johnson, the lexicographer, in ' The Idler,' when
Miss Pond (daughter of John Pond of the
' Kalendar ') is said to have ridden 1,000 miles in
1,0*00 successive hours at Newmarket on ^/le same
horse ; but the statement has been discredited.

A.D. 1759: On June 27, at Newmarket, Mr.
or Captain Jenison Shafto (of North and South,
Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire), is said to have
won ^16,000 by riding in i hour, 49 minutes
17 seconds, the fifty miles which it had been
betted that he would not complete in two hours,
having as many horses as he pleased. He rode
ten, mostly thoroughbred, including the cele-
brated Wildair (son of Cade and sire of Tommy,
winner of the St. Leger in 1779), temporarily
imported into America.

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 303

A.D. 1759 : On August 20, at York, took place
the closely-contested match for 2,000 guineas
between Lord Rockingham's Whistlejacket (John
Singleton), the winner, and Mr. (afterwards Sir
Charles) Turner's Brutus (Thomas Jackson), the
loser, remarkable on account of the loser beino-
favourite at 5 to 4, and of the comments, which
illustrate the mode of starting in those days ;
for we read that ' this was an exceedingly fine
race, being strongly contested the whole four
miles, and won by a length only. Both riders
showed great skill in jockeyship, and so jealous
were they of an advantage being gained at starting
that tkey called one another back several times^
Which reminds one of watermen's boat-races in
later times, when the start took place by consent,
and the race was liable to be delayed by tricks
until the spectators grew weary.

A.D. 1 760 : On August 22, at York, ' the famous
Mr. Johnson ' (who was probably a circus-rider,
now clean forgotten, sic transit gloria mundi)
' rode one mile standing upright on horseback
for 100 guineas,' and did the feat, for which
3 minutes had been allowed, with 18 seconds
to spare (2 minutes 42 seconds).

304 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

A.D. 1761 : On May 4, at Newmarket, John
Woodcock, a professional jockey who rode (as we
have seen) against such celebrities of the pigskin
as ' Match'em ' Timms, John Singleton, sen., the
Jacksons, and the like, began the match for which
he had been engaged by Mr. Jenison Shafto, who
had betted the celebrated Mr. Hugo Meynell
(the * Father of Foxhunting ') an even thousand
guineas that he (Shafto) would find a man that
should ride 2,900 miles in twenty-nine successive
days, that is, 100 miles a day, on any one horse
each day, for twenty-nine days in succession, em-
ploying any number of horses, not exceeding
twenty- nine altogether. Woodcock started at
one o'clock a.m. on May 4, and finished about
six p.m. on June i (which was to be the day of
Lord Howe's perhaps more memorable victory in
1794), having employed but fourteen different
horses, and thus won the match. He might very
well have lost it, however ; for, after riding a
horse called Quidnunc (whether Mr. Button's by
Squirt, or Mr. Marshall's) sixty miles, it ' gave
out,' as the Americans say, and the 100 miles had
to be recommenced (at ten o'clock in the morning
too, when the sun was probably beginning to be

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 305

very trying), so that the jockey rode 160 miles on
that day. It may be interesting to note that
eight horses (not, of course, counting Quidnunc)
and six mares were employed by the rider ; that
' the course he rode was from the Hare Park to
the Ditch, which made three miles ; from thence
went a three-mile course round the Plat on that
side the Ditch next Newmarket '; and that ' there
were posts and lamps fixed round his courses, he
chusing to start very early in the mornings, to
avoid the heat of the days.'

A.D. 1 761 (? 1759) : It must have been about
this date that Holcroft the dramatist, according to
Mr. Christie Whyte's quotation from Hazlitt's
edition of Holcroft's ' Memoirs,' witnessed a
match (four miles, B.C.) at Newmarket between
Mr. or Captain 'Jockey' Vernon's horse Forester
and Mr. or Captain Jenison (whom Holcroft
calls ' Sir Jennison ') Shafto's Elephant, when
Forester (ridden by John Watson), as the two
horses drew near to the winning-post, Elephant
leading, * made one sudden spring and caught
Elephant by the under jaw, which he gripped so
violently as to hold him back, nor was it without
the utmost difficulty that he could be forced to

20

3o6 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

quit his hold. Poor Forester ! he lost, but he
lost most honourably. Every experienced groom,
we are told, thought it a most extraordinary cir-
cumstance. John Watson declared he had
never in his life been more surprised by the
behaviour of a horse.' There is no record of a
match in 1761 between Forester and Elephant,
but there is a record of a similar match between
the two horses in 1759, B.C., 10 st. each, 500
guineas, and this is in all probability the match to
which Holcroft (who must have made a mistake,
or must have had a mistake made for him by
Hazlitt or Whyte, in the date) refers. As for the
'dramatic incident,' no mention is made of it in
the prosaic records, but something like it, with
improvements, which the as yet undeveloped
dramatic talent of him who wrote ' The Road to
Ruin,' and divers other plays, might suggest, may
very well have happened, inasmuch as, notwith-
standing ' every experienced groom ' and John
Watson, it is not miraculously rare for one horse
to ' savage ' another in running a race, as was
seen quite recently in the case of Surefoot and the
Derby of 1890.

A.D. 1765 : The celebrated little Gimcrack,

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 307

then Lord Bolingbroke's, carried 7 st. 7 lb. in a
match against Lord Rockingham's famous Bay
Malton, carrying 7 St., both five years old, B.C.,
500 guineas, at Newmarket in October, but was
beaten (for the very fiirst time) easily.

A.D. 1766: The same Gimcrack, then belong-
ing to Comte de Lauraguais, went over to France
and won a large sum of money by running 22^
miles within the hour.

A.D. 1769: On February 20, Mr. William
South's b.c. Precarious, by Merlin, a two-year-old,
beat Mr. John Water's br.c. Newmarket, a two-
year-old (} half) R. M., for 40 guineas, play or
pay, and 30 bye. (Noticeable as the earliest
recorded case in the South of two-year-old
racing.)

A.D. 1769: On April i, at Newmarket, Mr.
Ogilvy's b.h. Y. Cato, rising 5 (that is, four years
old), 8 St. 7 lb., beat Lord Orford's br.c. Scimitar
(by Bond's Arabian), rising 3 (that is, two years
old), a feather, half R. M., 100 guineas. (Notice-
able as the earliest recorded instance in the South
of a race between a two-year-old and an older
horse.)

A.D. 1772-73: Two curious three-cornered

3o8 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

matches took place in these two years. In the
former year (May 22) the Right Hon. C. J. Fox
and Mr. Foley (afterwards the Lord, who was
so well-known and feared in ' Jewry ') backed
their horses, Pyrrhus (five years) and Trentham
(six years), for 2,500 guineas against 2,000
guineas, to beat Mr. Ogilvy's Pincher (aged),
S St. 7 lb. each, B.C., at Newmarket, when
Pincher was first instead of last of the three ;
and in the latter, Mr. F'ox betted Mr. Ogilvy
500 guineas even that, weights and distance as
before, at the Craven Meeting (April 2), Pincher
would be last of the three, as he was, and as
the bettors laid five to two that he would be, so
that the order was Trentham, Pyrrhus, Pincher,
instead of the Pincher, Trentham, Pyrrhus, in
strict accordance with seniority (aged, six years,
five years, as age was then reckoned from May i)
of the year before.

A.D. 1773: On April 14, at Newmarket First
Spring, Mr. Christopher Blake's bay colt Firetail
beat (the Hon.) Mr. Foley's Pumpkin, four years,
8 St. each, for 500 guineas a side, over the
Rowley Mile, which is explicitly declared, and
Was apparently believed by the late Sir Francis

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 309

Hastings Doyle, a professor of poetry, if not
exactly a poet (who is supposed to have many
qualities in excess), to have been * run in one
minute four seconds and a half.' If so, there
is small need to doubt the ' mile in a minute '
formerly ascribed to Flying Childers, and we
must have sadly degenerated in these days
(when, nevertheless, we are accused, as already
observed, of sacrificing everything to speed). But
it is very likely that the ' timer ' put figures in a
form intended to express i minute 41 or 42 seconds
(something like i minute 4<4), and thus a mistake
arose.

A.D. 1773 : On August 14 took place one of
those cruel matches which make one's blood boil,
but which, somehow or other, seem to repeat
themselves, generation after generation, as soon
as the speed and endurance of horses are allowed
to become subjects of a wager or of a contest
for a prize or for distinction. Mr. Thomas
Walker and Captain Hay matched, the former a
gelding, the latter a mare, to run (in Dick
Turpin and Black Bess fashion, without the
highwayman's excuse) from London to York
(198 miles about), for a bet. Mr. Walker rode

3IO HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

his own gelding ; Captain Hay's mare was ridden
by Captain Mulcaster. The gelding 'gave out,'
as the Americans say, within six miles of Tad-
caster, and died next day ; the mare arrived at
Ouse Bridge, York, in thirty five minutes over
forty hours, having drunk twelve bottles of wine
on the journey, and, having started on a Tues-
day, had recovered sufficiently by the next
Thursday to be exercised on Knavesmire. The
match was severely denounced in the papers of
the day ; but there was then no Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to take the
matter up properly.

A.D. iJJJ-y^ : The race-horse Infidel (by Turk,
dam the Cub mare that was the dam of Miss
Nightingale), belonging to the great breeder and
racer, Mr. Bethell, of Rise in Holderness, trotted
(carrying between 9 st. and 10 st.), on the turn-
pike road between Newcastle and Carlisle, fifteen
miles within the hour. (Noticeable because a
writer in 18 14 observes : ' No thorough-bred was
ever known capable of trotting sixteen miles
within the hour. . . . Several race-horses have
been supposed capable of trotting fourteen miles
in one hour, and it is reported that the late

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 311

Lord Grosvenor once offered to match Mambrino
(sire of Messenger, ike sire of American trotters)
to do it for 1,000 guineas.' The reason, of
course, why trotting may not seem to suit the
progeny of thorough-bred race-horses is not
because they are thorough-bred, but because their
progenitors and progenitresses have been trained
to gallop, not to trot. The excellence of the
thorough-bred blood, with the proper training, is
as likely to assert itself in one case as in the
other.)

A.D. 1779: At Newmarket First Spring Meet-
ing took place the memorable match between
Lord Grosvenor's filly (afterwards well named
Misfortune) by Dux and Lord Abingdon's
Cardinal York, by Marsk, B.C., 1,000 guineas
a side and a bye-bet of 6,000 guineas, laid by
Lord Grosvenor to 3,000, when Lord Abingdon,
being called upon to ' post,' would have had to
forfeit, but for the unsolicited interposition of
the 'Sporting Miser,' Mr. Elwes, M.P. for
Berks, who came to the rescue with a loan of
3,000 guineas, and thus enabled Lord Abingdon
(his neighbour in Berkshire) to beat the filly
(which became the dam of the great Buzzard.

312 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

by Woodpecker, after her ' misfortune ') and to
win both stake and ' bye.'

A.D. 1779: In the month of June Mr. Burdon's
(Mr. Coates's) Czarina, 8 st. 7 lb., beat Mr.
Hutchinson's b. c. by Turk, 8 st. (about three
months younger than the filly), both two years
old. at Hambleton, ^wo miles ^ 100 guineas.
(Noticeable for the distance and as the first dis-
coverable instance of two-year-old racing in the
Norths though it is said to have originated there
in private matches between Mr. (ex-stable-boy)
John Hutchinson, of Shipton, near York, and the
horsey and Rev. Henry Goodricke, Prebendary
of York Minster.)

A.D. 1781 : During the last week of September
' a great match of 420 miles in one whole week
(but whether of six days or of seven is not stated)
was rode over Lincoln two-mile course and won
(at what weight and for what stake is unknown)
by Richard Hanstead of Lincoln and his famous
gray horse with great ease, having three hours
and a half to spare.'

A.D. 1783: On October 15 'Samuel Haliday, a
butcher of Leeds, undertook for a bet of ^10 to
ride from Leeds to Rochdale, from thence to

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 313

York, and back again to Leeds (no miles) in
20 hours. He started at ten o'clock at night,'
and * finished his journey with ease in less than
eighteen hours.' The only remarkable facts
about this match seem to be that the butcher
weighed 14 St., and that he rode ' a slender mare
not 14 hands high.' But 'light' mares that are
' all wire ' will do wonders ; ask the two sisters
Emblem and Emblematic, the steeple-chasers, and
La Fleche, the all but invincible flat-racer.

A.D. 1784: On May 8, at Newmarket, there
took place two matches, which are noticeable,
because they gave the Prince of Wales (afterward
George IV.), who had just come on the turf, an
excellent opportunity of observing what a differ-
ence it makes whether a gentleman jockey or a
professional be upon the back of a given horse (it
being taken for granted, of course, that all is ' on
the square'). For, after his Royal Highness's
horse Hermit (Mr. Panton up) had been beaten
by Sir H. Featherstone's (or Featherstone-
haugh's) Surprise (owner up), professional
jockeys were substituted for gentlemen, and,
under precisely the same conditions of weight,
distance, and wager (50 guineas), Surprise was

314 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

beaten by Hermit. Of course, it is just possible
that Surprise suffered more than Hermit in the
previous race ; but to discover that the latter had
more to be got out of him than the former, and to
get it out, is just what the professional would
probably have been good for.

A.D. 1784 : According to a letter dated ' Lewes,
August 2, 1784,' George P., afterwards George
IV., being then twenty-two years of age, 'at
seven o'clock on Monday morning . . . mounted
his horse at Briojhthelmstone and rode to and
from London that day . . . and was only 10
hours on the road, being four and a half going,
and five and a half returning.' A hundred and
twelve miles in 10 hours on the same horse,
apparently. Good for ' Florizel.'

A.D. 1786: On December 4 (.f* 29), at Newmarket,
Mr. Hull's brown horse Quibbler (foaled 1780
by Minor, dam by Sampson), 'carrying a feather'
(that is a boy weighing about 4 st. 7 lb.) 'was
engaged to run 23 miles within the hour, which
he performed in 58 {} 57) minutes and 10 seconds.'
The match was for 1,000 guineas : 5 to 2 on
Quibbler. It is said that the little jockey 'did
not appear to be in the least tired,' and that 'con-

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 315

siderable sums of" money were laid on the event,
it being the greatest performance ever done in
England by one horse before that time.'

A.D. 1788 : On May 21 a match for 100 guineas
a side in the sportive (which sometimes, for want of
thought, degenerates into the cruel) vein was run
on Knavesmire, York, between Mr. Maynard (of
the family of the extinct Lords Maynard) and the
famous Mr. Baker (of Elemore Hall), who ran
respectively a bay mare and a gray horse, carry-
ing THIRTY STONE each, one mile, when the bay
mare proved 'the better horse,' though the gray
horse was the favourite at 2 to i on him.

A.D. 1791 : At the Curragh October Meeting,
' Mr. Wilde, a sporting gentleman, made bets
to the amount of 2,000 guineas to ride against
time, viz., 127 English miles in 9 hours. On
October 6 he started in a valley near the Curragh
course, where two miles were measured in a circular
direction ' (as Mr. Hannibal Chollop used to spit,
but within a smaller compass) ; ' each time he en-
compassed the course it was regularly marked.
. . . He had 2 hours and 35 (? 39) minutes
to spare. Mr. Wilde had no more than ten
horses, but they were all blood and from the

3i6 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

stud of {? A. or D. B.) ' Daly, Esq. Whilst on
horseback, without allowing anything- for chang-
ing of horses, he rode at the rate of 20 miles
an hour for 6 hours. He was so little fatigued
. . . that he was at the Turf Club House in
Kildare the same evening.'

A.D. 1792 : On August 15, to decide a wager of
;^5o between Mr. Cooper and Mr. Brewer of
Stamford, the latter gentleman's horse Labourer
(weight carried not stated) ran twenty times round
the race-ground (exactly a mile) at Preston in
54 minutes.'

A.D. 1792: On November 10, at Newmarket,
the young Duke of Bedford won a match on his
horse Dragon (by Woodpecker) for 300 guineas a
side, against young Sir John Lade on his horse
Clifden (by Alfred), five y^Turs, Ji/teen stone each,
over the Beacon Course (4 miles, i furlong, 138
yards), which is noticeable for the weights, for the
example of a practice which, as we shall see, there
was an attempt made to revive in our own days
by Sir J. D. Astley and Mr. Caledon Alexander,
and for the fact that both the stout horses that
ran the match were secured by the Americans
eventually.

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 317

A.D. 1798: In the month of December a
military or naval officer trotted 15 miles on
the turnpike road, from Chelmsford to Dunmow,
in I hour 9 minutes, with his face to the tail.

A.D. 1799: At Newmarket Craven Meeting^,
on March 25, Sir H. Vane-Tempest's Hamble-
tonian (by King Fergus), 8 st. 3 lb., ridden by
the celebrated Frank Buckle, beat by a short
half-length Mr. Cookson's Diamond (by High-
flyer), 8 St., ridden by the somewhat less celebrated
Denis Fitzpatrick, both six years old, in a match
for 3,000 guineas over the B.C. (4 miles, i furlong,
138 yards, as measured at that time). This was
one of the greatest matches ever seen since the
match between Old Merlin and Mr. Frampton's
horse (a.d. 1702 about). It was once more
North V. South, for Hambletonian was bred by
Mr. (ex-stable-boy) John Hutchinson, of York ;
and Diamond by Mr. Francis Dawson, of New-
market, and, oddly enough, had belonged to Sir
H. Vane-Tempest, who had purchased him at
York August Meeting, 1796, and afterwards sold
him to Mr. Cookson (a banker and ex-guardsman,
and himself a 'Northerner'). The race created
so much interest, it is said, that there never .had

31 8 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

been such a throng of visitors at Newmarket,
that not a bed was to be had within 20 miles
of the place, that grooms and jockeys and
hangers-on had to camp out, and that no stabling
was to be had for love or money ; and it was
run — at any rate, during the journey 'across the
flat ' — at ' an amazing speed.' But, to show how
little reliance is to be placed upon the 'clocking '
of the period, the time is variously given from

7 minutes 15 seconds (which places the 'mile in
a minute ' of Flying Childers, and the * mile in
I minute 4^5 seconds of Firetail and Pumpkin
within the bounds of credibility) to 8 minutes
25 seconds, and even 8 minutes 30 seconds (which
does not compare favourably with Tranby's

8 minutes for 4 miles in * Squire ' Osbaldeston's
match, when, as the race was against time, and
not against an opponent, the ' clocking ' would
probably be more accurate). Sir H, Vane-
Tempest is said to have ridden Hambletonian in
Hyde Park afterwards. Fancy the Duke of
Westminster riding Ormonde or Orme nowadays
in the Row ! More policemen would be required
than at a meeting of the Four-in-hand Club.

A.D. 1800: Early in June *a naval officer

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 319

undertook for a wager to ride a blind horse round
Sheerness race-course, without guiding the reins
with his hands. This he performed, to the no
small amusement of the spectators, by cutting
the reins asunder, and fastening the several parts
to his feet in the stirrups.' The simple-minded
Earl of Glasgow, who is understood to have been
a 'salt' in his youth, would not have been so astute.
A.D. 1800: 'A curious match was run in
December at Doncaster, which brought into
competition the speed of the race-horse and the
greyhound. A mare was started, and after she
had gone a distance of about a mile, a greyhound
bitch was let loose from the side of the course,
and ran with her nearly head to head to the
distance post, where 5 to 4 was laid on the
greyhound. At the stand it was even betting,
but the mare eventually won by little more than
a head.' Evidently more details would be
necessary before this account could be of any
service to anybody who, like Colonel North, the
' nitrate king,' in our day, should contemplate a
similar match, and should be at a loss to know
how the greyhound could be made to understand
and to do what was expected of it.

320 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

A.D. 1801 : On April 2 a Captain Newland, of
the Sussex Militia, whether 'Abraham Newland'
or a 'cock-fighter' (and probably both), 'won a
considerable sum ' by riding ' 140 miles in 7 hours
and 34 minutes, although allowed 12 hours. . . .
Longdown Hill, near Chichester, was the scene
of action.' What is remarkable is ' that he rode
principally hack horses from the Swan Inn of
that town.' In the first hour he rode 21J;, miles;
in the second, 18 ; in the third, 20 ; in the fourth,
18; in the fifth, 20; in the sixth, 16^; in the
seventh, 17^; in the odd thirty-four minutes 8^.
' He met with a fall, was once oblio-ed to changfe
his horse, as he became too restive, and was run
away with a considerable distance out of the
course,' in doing the first 100 miles.

A.D. 1801 : On September 19, at Doncaster,
Mr. Johnson's Sir Solomon (late Lord Fitz-
williams' Tankersley, by Sir Peter), ridden by
John Shepherd, beat Sir H. Vane- Tempest's
Cockfighter (late Mr. Robinson's Abraham
Newland), ridden by Richard Franks, in a match
for 500 guineas, 4 miles, 5 years, 8 st. 7 lb. each.
The odds were 6 to 4 and 11 to 8 on Cockfighter,
as a winner of the St. Leg^er, in which Sir

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 321

Solomon (then Tankersley) was not placed. It
is said that • the first 2 miles was {sic) run in
3 minutes, and the whole 4 miles in 7 minutes
and between 10 and 1 1 seconds.' Here again
is a piece of very questionable ' clocking ' ; for
even the late Sir F. H. Doyle, the horse-loving
professor of poetry at Oxford, who was a great
'laudator temporis acti,' so far as horse- racing is
concerned, and especially in any case of a
Yorkshire horse, is fain to doubt the ' first
2 miles ... in 3 minutes ' (which another authority
transforms into 4 minutes igi seconds, with
wonderful attention to fractions) and also the
distance, which was certainly a good deal short
of 4 miles, though known as the ' 4-mile course.'

A.D. 1802 : In the month of April a Mr. Shaw
(weight unknown) is recorded as having ridden
from Burton on the Humber to the Vine Inn,
Bishopsgate Street, London, a distance of 172
miles, in i hour and 27 minutes less than the
10 hours allowed him ; riding fourteen horses
altogether, and doing 84 miles in 4 hours, and
112 in 6, leaving 60 to be done in 4 hours, and,
according to the record, doing them in 2 hours
and 33 minutes, which seems to be an assertion

21

322 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

not to be accepted by anybody but the Jew Apella
without the help of the salt-cellar. There is
perhaps a misprint somewhere.

A.D. 1804 : On Saturday, August 25, on
Knavesmire, York, was decided ' A match for
500 guineas, and 1,000 guineas bye, 4 miles,
between Colonel Thornton's Vingarillo (spelt all
sorts of ways) and Mr. Flint's br. h. Thornville,
by Volunteer. Mrs, Thornton to ride her own
weight against Mr. Flint's. Mrs. Thornton, so
called, was Miss Alicia Meynell (daughter of a
respectable watchmaker of Norwich, about twenty-
two years old, and as fascinating as ' sweet Anne
Page,' but hardly of such ' pretty virginities,' since
she lived * under the protection ' of the very sport-
ing Colonel Thornton, of Thornville, Yorks) ; and
Mr., or Captain, Flint, was a ' fast ' gentleman, a
sportsman of celebrity, and author of ' A Treatise
on the Management of the Horse,' who ultimately
squandered all his property and died by his own
hand, though unintentionally, it was supposed,
through taking an overdose of prussic acid, to the
use of which he had habituated himself to relieve
attacks of spasmodic asthma. The match created
more excitement and drew larger crowds than

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES .323

when Bay Malton, or even Eclipse, put in an ap-
pearance on Knavesmire. The lady was under
great disadvantages, and was beaten (ungallantly)
by Mr. Flint in 9 minutes 59 seconds. Two
hundred thousand pounds, it is said, at the very
least, depended on the result ; and only the pre-
sence of the 6th Light Dragoons, it is supposed,
kept anything like decent order on the course,
where more than 100,000 people are stated to
have assembled, and prevented loss of life. The
lady's horse was about twenty years old, and had
a much shorter stride than the gentleman's (after-
wards called Black Strap) which was ' rising
eight.' The lady was dressed in * a leopard-
coloured and buff body, with blue sleeves and
cap ' (and, presumably, in the ' nankeen skirts,'
which she wore upon a subsequent similar occa-
sion) ; the gentleman was clad in virgin white.
(It has been thought well to repeat the hackneyed
story in some detail, as not very long ago a scene
at a theatre elicited the fact that ' Mrs. Thornton '
and her prowess had become clean forgotten.)

A.D. 1805 • On Thursday, August i, at Lewes
(then under the distinguished patronage of the
Prince of Wales), the celebrated Colonel Mellish's

324 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Sancho, b}^ Don Quixote, beat Lord Darlington's
Pavilion, by Waxy, 4 years and 8 st. 3 lb. each,
4 miles, 3,000 guineas, 2,000 forfeit, a match
which created great interest at the time, chiefly,
no doubt, for the extravagance of the stakes ; and
on Saturday the same Sancho, 7 st. 12 lb., beat
Mr. R. D. Boyce's ch. h. Bobtail, by Precipitate,
aged (that is, te7t years old), 8 st. 9 lb., the last mile,
200 guineas, half forfeit (which match is notice-
able for the age of the beaten horse, and for the
fact that, ' by a mistake of the person starting
them, these horses ran a 7mle -and a qttarter
instead of a mile. On a reference to the Jockey
Club, it was declared a valid race ').

A.D. 1805: Another 'romantic' match took
place on Saturday, August 24. ' Mrs. Thornton,'
riding Colonel Thornton's ch. h. Mr. Mills,
alias Clausum PVegit (by Otho), 'walked over,'
either through the gallantry or the misfortune
of the Mr, Bromford who was to have ridden
against her, in a ' match for 2,000 guineas,
half forfeit, four hogsheads of Cote Rotie, and
600 guineas, p.p., bet by Mrs. Thornton, 4
miles,' at York ; and on the same day and at the
same place she, riding Colonel Thornton's b. m.

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 325

Louisa, 6 years, 9 st. 6 lb., won by 'half a neck'
a match for a Cup value 700 guineas, 2 miles,
against the celebrated professional Frank Butler,
riding Mr. Blomfield's ch. m. Allegro, 6 years,
13 St. 6 lb., the jockey having probably or pos-
sibly ' ridden to orders.'

A.D. 1806 : On Thursday, July 24, at Lewes, in
the presence of the Prince of Wales and a splendid
company, Lord Darlington's Pavilion (Chifney)
turned the tables on Colonel Mellish's Sancho
(Buckle), 8 St. 7 lb. each, 4 miles, 2,000 guineas ;
a match remarkable for the bad luck of the gallant
Colonel, who had backed his horse to win ^20,000,
and was within apparent reach of success when
the horse, having hit his l^g some days before at
exercise, broke down on that very limb and on the
winning-post side of the distance.

A.D. 1 8 10: On Saturday, June 2, a Mr. Weston,
of London Wall, Moorfields, who had betted 150
guineas to 100 guineas that he would drive his
horse Scorpion in harness 100 miles in twelve
successive hours, performed the feat thus : Started
at 6 p.m. from Newmarket, and drove through
Cambridge to Godmanchester (27-! miles) in three
hours, and then baited (40 minutes) ; thence to

326 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Cambridge and back (29 miles) in 2 hours and
59 minutes, and baited (20 minutes) ; repeated
the journey (29 miles) in 2 hours and 55J) minutes;
greased the wheels (27 minutes, which, no doubt,
included baiting) ; from Godmanchester to Cam-
bridge (hJ- m.iles) in i hour and 10 minutes,
making altogether 100 miles in 11 hours and 31^
minutes ; that is, with 28^ minutes to spare.

A.D. 1810 : In the month of December a certain
Mat Milton (15 st.) is recorded as having ridden
(for a wager, no doubt) from London to Stamford
(more than 90 miles) in 4 hours and 25 minutes,
employing 18 horses).

A.D. 1814. On September 29 there was a
match (12 miles over Blackwater trotting-ground)
between Captain Hanson's gray gelding and a
bay horse, a charger, belonging to an officer of
the 14th Dragoons, which was won by the
charger in 25 minutes i i seconds (first mile,
2 minutes 10 seconds ; second, 2 minutes
8 seconds ; third, 2 minutes 4 seconds ; fourth,
2 minutes 4 seconds ; fifth, 2 minutes 6 seconds ;
sixth, 2 minutes 2 seconds ; seventh. 2 minutes
4 seconds ; eighth, 2 minutes 4 seconds ; ninth,
2 minutes 4 seconds ; tenth, 2 minutes 6 seconds ;

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 327

eleventh, 2 minutes 9 seconds ; twelfth, 2 minutes
10 seconds).

A.D. 1816: At Newmarket Craven Meeting, on
April 15, took place the celebrated match for
1,000 guineas a side, R.M., between Sir Joshua,
belonging to Mr. Ralph Neville (afterwards Lord
Braybrooke, editor of ' Pepys' Diary '), and Filho
da Puta, purchased from Sir W. Maxwell by
Mr. Houldsworth for (it is understood) about
3,000 guineas. Sir Joshua (by Rubens, and a
Sister to Haphazard) had beaten in 181 5
Whisker (winner of the Derby in that year),
A.F., at Newmarket Houghton, giving him
4 lb. ; and Filho (by Haphazard and Mrs.
Barnet) had won the St. Leger of 181 5, but
neither of them had run for the Derby. They
were both ' rising' four years ; Sir Joshua (ridden
by W. Arnold) carried 8 st. 2 lb., and Filho
(ridden by T. Goodisson, son of ' Hell-fire Dick ')
8 St. 9 lb. Sir Joshua was favourite at odds
varying from 11 to 8 to 6 to 4 ; and after a fine
race, for which Filho got a bad start by rearing
at the post, won by a neck. There was ' an
immense concourse of spectators,' and ' large sums
depended upon the event.' Soon after this Sir

328 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND -

Joshua (whose strange accident and death have
been mentioned alread)', p. 98) was beaten
(having already perhaps injured himself) by
Castrella for a handicap sweepstakes, and Mr.
Houldsworth proposed another match with Filho
for double the former stake, but Mr. Neville
declined the offer, and lost his horse in December
of the same year. The race apparently was not
' clocked.'

A.D. 1819: On May 6, Mr. W. Hutchinson, a
horse-dealer, of Canterbury, undertook for a wager
of 600 guineas to ride, employing apparently as
many horses as he pleased, from Canterbury to
London Bridge (55-I- miles) in three successive
hours, and ' realized the stakes, sir, yes, sir,' in
2 hours 55 (? 25) minutes and 51 seconds, though
of the horses he rode (some of which ran habitually
in the ' Wellington ' coach) three bolted with him
(one of them bolting thrice) and caused a certain
amount of delay. They all, however, * performed
their journey apparently with as much ease as
their rider, who considers,' says the contemporary
narrator, ' that he could have returned to Canter-
bury the same day in three hours without incon-
venience.' So impressed were Mr. Hutchinson's

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 329

friends (who may have included the Archbishop,
and who, no doubt, ' had their money on ') with
this patent proof of his merits as a citizen, that
they purchased for him, and presented to him,
' the freedom of the city of Canterbury.' Mr.
Hutchinson, it is thought worthy of remark by
the contemporary, ' had his watch fastened on the
left sleeve of his jacket in order that he might
perceive how to regulate his exertions with ease
to himself, and to accomplish his object with
certainty.' The watch, which was a most excel-
lent one for keeping time, it appears, lost fifteen
minutes during his journey. This loss of time
is attributed to the ' velocity of motion it must
have experienced throughout this extraordinary
feat.' Hereupon an interesting query arises:
What good was Mr. Hutchinson's ingenious
arrangement of his timepiece } It might easily
have lost him and his friends their money if he
went by it ; and if he did not go by it, but by the
public clocks on his road, it was of no more use
than the bracelet-watch — which was perhaps a
revival in his honour, and which seems always
to have ' stopped ' — of the fashionable lady in our
days. Rider's weight unknown.

330 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

A.D. 1820 : On April 6 the Duke of Portland's
Tiresias (by Soothsayer), winner of the Derby in
1819, beat {'rising' four years, 8 st. 2 lb.) Mr.
George Lane Fox's Merlin (by Castrel), ' rising '
five years, 8 st. 9 lb., A. F., 300 guineas ; the
match being remarkable because Merlin (so highly
thought of at two years of age that Lord Foley
gave 2,000 guineas for him) broke his leg whilst
running it, and was so maddened by the accident,
the ' slings ' that followed, and the whole process
of mending, that he became one of the worst
' savages ' ever known, and murdered his groom
with most ghastly accessories.

A.D. 1824: On November 6, 1824, a Mr. Lips-
combe undertook to ride 90 miles in 5 hours,
employing not more than eight horses, for a bet
of ^500. Odds heavy against him. He started
early in the morning from Hyde Park Corner,
went to the sixty-fourth milestone on the Bath
Road, returned (26 miles) to the 'one mile to
Reading ' post from London, and won the match
in 4 hours 53 minutes 31 seconds, doing the last
io miles on the best and fastest of his eight nags
in 32 minutes, out of the 38 minutes 29 seconds
left to him. Rider's weight unknown.

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 331

A.D. 1825 : There was run 'on the public road'
near St. Petersburg a match which has been too
often described to need much attention, though,
as Enghsh horses were engaged in it, it must not
be passed over entirely. Two inferior English
horses, Mina (son of Orville and Barrosa), five
years old. and Sharper (son of Octavius and
Young Amazon, by Gohanna), six years old, were
matched to run 75 versts (about 50 miles) against
two Cossack horses, which received an allowance
of about 3 St. apiece. One of the Cossack horses
fell dead after 25 miles; Mina went lame and
had to be pulled up early ; and Sharper, though
his rider lost a stirrup and had to ride several
miles with only one, was an easy winner, and left
the other Cossack to be ' pulled in with ropes,' it
is said.

A.D. 1826 : On April 17, at the Haigh Park,
Leeds, Captain Polhill, King's Dragoon Guards,
is recorded (weight unknown) the winner, with
4 hours and 55 minutes to spare, of a bet that
he would walk 50 miles, drive 50 miles, and ride
50 miles within 24 consecutive hours. He varied
his mode of progression ; walking, driving, and
riding as he felt ' so dispoged.' And in November

332 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

of the same year, on the same ground, he won a
'considerable wager' by backing himself to ride,
employing, apparently, as many horses as he
pleased (but actually thirteen), 95 miles in 5 hours,
a task which he accomplished with 53 minutes
(only 7 minutes short of an hour) to spare.

A.D. 1831 : On November 5, 'Squire' Osbal-
deston, the ' all-round ' sportsman, who fought
a duel both with the aristocratic Lord George
Bentinck and the plebeian Mr. Gully (ex-pugilist),
M.P., won at Newmarket his celebrated match,
ridden in witches' weather (in 'thunder, lightning,
and in rain,' at any rate in a deluge of rain), and
so often described and discussed as to need but
brief notice. The ' Squire ' was to ride 200 miles
in 10 hours, employing any number of horses, for
1. 000 guineas a side (laid with Colonel Charretie),
and, of course, bets beside. He was forty-four
years of age, and weighed 1 1 st. 2 lb. ; he finished
his task, as 'gay as a lark,' after several mishaps
and stoppages, in 8 hours and 39 (according to
others 42) minutes. He employed twenty-eight
horses, including Tranby (son of Blacklock),
ridden no fewer than four times, during one
whereof he ran his four miles in the miraculous

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 333

time of eight minutes (cf. Hambletonian and
Diamond's time of 8 minutes 25 seconds in their
match over the B.C.), It is interesting to know-
that Tranby traced h^ok, par les femines, to Queen
Anne's Moonah Barb mare ; and that he was
secured (as we have seen) by the Americans in

1835.
A.D. 1836 : ' On October 17, a Mr. Daniel rode

a half-bred horse in a match for ^50 a side from
the Peacock Inn, Islington, to the Angel Inn,
Northampton, a distance of 66 miles, against The
Telegraph four-horse coach. They started from
the Peacock at a quarter before six, and arrived
at Northampton at a quarter before twelve, Mr.
Daniel winning with a minute and a half to
spare, and neither horse nor rider being seriously
fatigued.'

A.D. 1851 : Lord Eglinton's br. h. The Flying
Dutchman (ridden by Marlow), five years, 8 st.
2>\ lb., beat Lord Zetland's br. c. Voltigeur (Flat-
man, alias ' Nat '), four years, 8 St., at York
Spring Meeting, 2 miles; 1,000 guineas, h. ft.;
even betting. Won by a length. No official
time given. (The last of the old - fashioned
matches that stirred the whole kingdom.)

334 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

A.D. i860: Mr. R. Ten Broeck's ch. c. Umpire
(G. Fordham) beat Lord Glasgow's b. c. Tom
Bowline (T. Aldcroft), three year olds, 8 st. 7 lb.
each, at Newmarket Houghton, Ab. M. ; 1,000,
h. ft. ; by six lengths ; 5 to 2 on Umpire.
{Noticeable because the winner, by Lecompte
and Alice Carneal, was 'bred in the United
States.')

A.D. 1866 : Mr. Caledon Alexander's Robin
Hood, by Wild Dayrell, received forfeit from
Baron Rothschild's Robin Hood, by North Lin-
coln, three years, 8 st. 10 lb. each ; 200 sovs. and
the name, that is, which should be called Robin
Hood ; D.M. at Newmarket. (Noticeable as
about the last of the ' sportive ' matches.)

A.D. 1874 : Mr. Joseph Dawson's Prince Charlie,
five years, 8 st. 10 lb., beat M. Aumont's Peut-
etre, three years, 7 st. 11 lb. (carried 7 st. 12 lb.),
at Newmarket, 50 sovs., play or pay ; R.M. ;
time I minute 52 seconds. (Noticeable because
the ' roarer ' beat the ' Frenchman ' that had just
won the Cambridgeshire.)

A.D. 1875 ■ Prince Batthyany's Galopin
(Morris), three years, 8 st. 10 lb., beat by eight
lengths Mr. H. Chaplin's filly Stray Shot (H.

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 335

Jeffery), three years, 8 st. ; 500 sovs., h. ft. ; R.M.,
at Newmarket Second Spring ; time, 1 minute
43 seconds. (Noticeable for the time.) And
the same Galopin (Morris), 8 st. 2 lb., beat by
a length Mr. Bird's Lowlander (G. Fordham),
five years, 9 St., also R. M., at the Second
October; 1,000 sovs., 200 ft. ; time, i minute 51^
seconds. (Noticeable for the difference in
Galopin's weight and 'clocking.')

A.D. 1877 : Lord Strathnairn's Avowal, six
years, 9 st. (T. Chaloner), beat H.R. H. the
Prince of Wales's Arab horse Alep, aged, 9 st.
(J. Jones) ; 500, h. ft. ; four miles at Newmarket ;
9 to 4 on Alep ; won by thirty lengths. No
'clocking.' (Noticeable for the collapse of the
theretofore unbeaten Arab.)

A.D. 1879 : Sir J. D. Astley's Drumhead, six
years, sixteen stone six pounds (owner), beat Mr.
Caledon Alexander's Briglia, five years, sixteen
stone (owner), Suffolk Stakes Course (about one
mile and a half) at Newmarket; 500, h. ft. ; 11
to 8 on Briglia ; won by three lengths ; and
in the same year, at the same place, on the last
two miles of the Cesarewitch Course, Mr. F.
Gratton's Solomon (Mr. Bevill) beat Sir J. D.

^,2,^ HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Astley's Drumhead (owner), six years, sixteen
stone ten pounds each ; 500; 5 to 4 on Solomon;
Drumhead broke down. (Noticeable as an
attempt to revive the old-fashioned very severe
sort of racino-, and as sugfaestive of a doubt
whether modern race-horses are as stout as the
old — vide K.V). 1727.)

A.D. 1879 : In this year our French neighbours
indulged in two matches, which deserve notice
for different reasons. One took place at Long-
champs race-course, on June 10, between a
thorough-bred steeple-chaser called Triboulet
and a 'trotting pony' called Tambour-Battant ;
forty kilometres (say twenty-five miles) ; for
10,000 francs (say ^400). The trotter was to
be driven on the ' go as you please ' plan in a
' spider ' ; the thoroughbred was to gallop the
whole distance ; and the latter won the match
without being distressed, or, at any rate, so
much distressed as his rider, in i hour, 20
minutes, 3 seconds, by something like four
miles, which was supposed to prove the fallacy
of the theory that ' the thorough-bred has more
speed but less bottom than the half-bred.' The
other match was a disgustingly cruel affair

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 337

between two ' trotters ' (half-bred no doubt),
called Verny and Mauvaise-Tete respectively,
and they were to accomplish thirty French
leagues (about 120 kilometres, or about seventy-
two miles) without stopping, out to Rosny and
back, in the neighbourhood of Paris, on July 5,
for 15,000 francs (about ^600). Poor Mauvaise-
Tete had to be pulled up at St. Germain, on the
way back, and died then and there ; and Verny,
the winner, though managing to reach the goal,
was not in much better plight, but dropped down
on entering the stable and never got up again,
the ' vet ' who was called and essayed to bleed
the poor creature being unable to obtain anything
but 'a sort of currant jelly.' The French news-
papers expressed an indignation which did them
credit, and would have done them more had it
been anticipatory of the match, which was freely
advertised.

A.D. 1883 : The Duke of Portland's St. Simon
(F. Archer) beat the Duke of Westminster's
Duke of Richmond (T. Cannon), two years,
8 St. 12 lb. each, at Newmarket, Bretby Stakes
Course (6 furlongs), for 500 sovs. a side, by three-
quarters of a length. (Noticeable because of

22

338 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

these two horses, considered at two years of age
to be worthy of being mentioned in the same
breath, St. Simon has become the * crack ' sire,
almost equal in fame already to Stockwell, and
Duke of Richmond has been ' added to the list '
and taught to 'jump over sticks.' A curious
example of the vicissitudes of race-horses.)

A.D. 1885 : The Duke of Portland's brown geld-
ing Iambic, by Martyrdom, four years, 1 1 st. 7 lb.,
beat Admiral Tryon's (Arab) Asil, four years, 7 st.
(F. Barrett), last three miles of B.C. at New-
market Second Spring; 100, h. ft.; 5 to 4 on
Iambic; won by twenty lengths; no 'clocking.'
(Noticeable as indicating the further collapse of
the Arab.)

Other memorable matches between race-horses
are not readily recalled to mind — indeed, they are
scarcely to be expected in these days of racing for
' public money ' to the tune of tens of thousands
of pounds. But there are a few matches or
quasi-matches which, though they belong to a
different category, are deserving of notice.

A.D. 1888 : On July 13, James Selby, the
famous 'whip,' who died on December 14 in the
same year, drove from London to Brighton and

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 339

back in 7 hours 50 minutes the four-horse coach
' Old Times,' for a wager of ^1,000 to ^500 that
it could not be done under 8 hours. Stoppages
to change, of which there were sixteen, and only
one exceeded i minute, were included.

A.D. 1891 : Lord Lonsdale drove 20 miles in
56 minutes 55* seconds.

A.D. 1891 : About January 25, Prince Benjamin
de Rohan, for a bet of 25 louis (a French
' pony '), drove a four-horse coach, improvised out
of one of the hackney carriages and two pairs of
the hackney-carriage horses that ply at Monte
Carlo, up and down the flight of steps leading
from the port of Monaco to the gardens of the
palace, a stipulation being that the Prince should
have no assistance. The steps, composed of
slabs of stone, with a drop of about 4 inches, are
carried up the side of the rock upon which
Monaco stands, and there are two bends at right
angles over a high precipice. The wager was
brought off at three a.m. by the light of the
carriage-lamps, and ' as at one or two points
on the road the slabs were very slippery, the
Prince threw down rugs in front of the horses to
give them a better foothold.' The carriage, of

340 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

course, had the usual break ; and the Prince
' realized the stakes; but was considered to have
done nothing beyond proving his own pluck
(which nobody seems to have called in question) ;
nothing from which any living creature could
deduce anything that could be turned to useful
account, whether as regards horses, or carriages,
or slabs of stone, or sanity, or insanity.

A.D. 1891 : In nineteen days, commencing from
Monday, July 6, Mr. James Davies, of Argoed
House, Barnes, drove (with at least one com-
panion, apparently, as his words are, ' dog-cart,
passengers, and luggage being registered over
8 cwt.') 07ie horse a thousand miles — that is, an
average of 52 miles a day, the longest distance
(63 miles) on the last day. The horse seems to
have been a well-bred cob, 15 hands high, and
was certified by a more or less competent
authority to have been ' in good condition ' at the
end of his task, and ' no worse for the long
journey.' Mr. Davies's object, he declared, was
' to show how valuable a servant the horse is to
man, and worthy the care and kindness extended
to mine.' Whether this proposition stood in need
of such stringent proof or not, Mr. W. Browne,

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 341

of The Firs, Burnt Ash Road, Lee, S.E..
promptly denounced the feat as a deed of cruelty,
which Mr. Davies as promptly repudiated, claim-
ing to have ' broken the record of one-horse
driving,' without having over-taxed the strength
or endurance of the horse, ' as,' he ingenuously
remarks, ' that would have been fatal to the
success of the journey.' Was there no other
reason } There is no other reason mentioned ;
but thit which is given is undoubtedly very
potent, though, as some of these records will
testify, it is not always sufficient to prevent abuse
of a noble animal.

A.D. 1891 : On Friday, September 4, Mr. E.
Mackenzie, of Colchester, an ' amateur whip,' who
' tooled ' the Rocket coach between London and
Colchester, drove for a wager a one-horse buggy
(containing ' self and friend ') that had belonged
to the ' professional whip,' James Selby, from
London to Canterbury, about 60 miles, in about
5 hours, being about 10 minutes under the
stipulated time. Horses had been sent on to
Dartford, Gravesend, Rochester, and Sitting-
bourne, and the last 16 miles of stiff road, between
Sittingbourne and Canterbury, were said in the

342 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

newspapers to have been done in i hour
5 minutes, the average rate of speed, with
allowances made for stoppages to change horses,
having been 12^ miles per hour,

A.D. 1891 : On Friday, September 18, in the
neighbourhood of Scotswood (Newcastle - on -
Tyne), Mr. J. B. Radcliffe performed (with
2 minutes 1 2 seconds to spare) the feat of rowing
a quarter of a mile, swimming a quarter of a mile,
running a quarter of a mile, ' treadmilling ' a
pneumatic-tire bicycle a quarter of a mile, and
riding a horse a quarter of a mile, all within a
space of 15 minutes. The average rate per
quarter of a mile was, therefore, about 2 minutes
34 seconds, with the weather very favourable for
the rowing and swimming, which would be the
slowest performances ; but, unfortunately, the
separate times were not recorded in the account
here relied upon.

A.D. 1892 : In the month of October, commenc-
ing with October i, under the patronage of the
German and Austrian Emperors, both having a
character for sense and sensibility, reason and
humanity, there took place what was called ' the
long distance ride,' or military match between

SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 343

Austro-Hunoj-arian and German officers, to see
which batch of champions, and which particular
champion in each batch, would cover the distance
between Berlin and Vienna in the shortest time.
The Austro- Hungarians ' took the cake,' but there
was such an absence of proper conditions (no
equalization of weights having been established,
no allowance for advantage and disadvantage,
arising from conformation of the ground traversed,
having been made, and especially no precaution
having been taken to secure the fitness and
serviceability of both the riders and their poor
horses on their arrival), that, as the newspapers
said, the affair turned out to be ' a senseless sacri-
fice of horses and riders,' degenerated into a scene
of sickening cruelty, and proved nothing whatever
but the callous brutality of which civilized (which
seldom means much more than varnished) man-
hood is capable for the sake of winning a paltry
distinction. For days after the conclusion of the
match the newspapers contained the most
harassing details as to the atrocities which had
been practised upon the horses, and as to the
sufferings endured by many of those that survived
their task ; and the perusal of those details made
one blush to be a man.

[ 344

INDEX.

Aaron, Mr. Benjamin Rogers' famous

little horse, 48
Abingdon, The (fourth) Earl of, his

match, 311
Age (of race-horses), 136-38
AiMWELL, winner of the Derby,

unique descendant of Alcock's

Arabian, 20
AiSLABiE, Mr. William (son of Mr.

John, one of the promoters of the

South Sea Bubble), 26
Albemarle, The Duke (Monk) of, 4
Alcock, Mr., and his Arabian, 20,

26
Aldby Park, Mr. B. Darley's, 18
Alep, The Prince of Wales's

' Arabian,' 160, 335
Alexander, Mr. Caledon and his

matches, 316, 335
Alice Carneal, The famous Ameri-
can mare, 107, 334
Alice Hawthorne, The famous

mare, 197, 217
Amateurs riding in ' the Derby,'

vide Bartley
Amato, a notable winner of the

Derby, 65
America, Importation of English

horses into, loi - 108, 125, 316,

335
Americans and their 'clocking,' vi,

277
Ancaster, Two Dukes of, 26, 45

, , A Duchess of, 21

Anne, Queen, 11, 13

,, Ascot and, ix, 13

,, Horses belonging to,

14
Newmarket and, 13,

289
,, Prominent turfites in

the reign of, 15
,, Statute of, 12, 16, 17,

Anspach, Lady Craven, the Mar-
gravine of, 93, 95
Apperley, Mr., ' Nimrod," 128
Appleyard, Captain, 27
Arab Blood, Decline in the reputa-
tion of the, 80, 81
Mr. Attwood and the,

151

Mr. Wilfrid Blunt and
the, 226
Archer, Mr. F., the famous jockey,

237
Argentina, Importation of English

horses into, 208
Arundel, Earl of (a.d. 1377), 283
Ascot, Races at, ix, 22

Queen Anne at, ix, 13, 22
George III. and his family at,

74. 75
,, Cup, The, 74, 131
,, William IV. assaulted at,
T30, 131
AsiL, The 'Arab,' his match with

Iambic, 338
AsTLEY, Sir J. D. (and his matches),

198, 316, 335
AsTLEY, Mr., and his Black Barb,

151
Attila, The ' nobbled,' 179 ; price

of, 250
Attwood, Mr. , ' Arabians ' belonging

to, 151
AUiMONT, Messrs., 188, 204
Australia, Importations into, 147,

212, 213
Australian Horses running in

England, 192
Austria - Hungary, Importations

into, 122, 206
Avowal, Lord Strathnairn's half-
bred 'Arab,' 161, 335

H
Babel, vide Lili.-vs
Barb, The Gray, Mr. Hutton's, 9

INDEX

345

Barbarian (second for the Derby of

1852). 5
Barbs (imported into England from

France), 24
Barbs, King William Ill.'s, 9
Barcaldine, The famous Irish horse,

8, 197

Bartley, Mr., rode in the Derby, as
an amateur, in 1837 (like the late
Mr. W. Robinson, of Richmond,
Yorks, in 1858, on PfSlissier), 133

Bass, Mr. Hamar, 262

Bathurst, Mr., 27

Batthyany, Count and I'rince, 123,
188

Bay Barb, The (Mr. Curwen's), 24
,, Mr. Hutton's, 35

Bay Bolton (ex Brown Lusty),
The famous horse, 20

B.'\Y Malton, The famous horse, 58

Bayswatek, The hippodrome nt,

152
Be.\RDS\vorth, Mr., of the ' Reposi-
tory," 151
Beaufort, Duke of (1742), 27
Bedford, The Duke of (1792), and his

match, 316
Beeswing, The famous mare, 97,

197
Belgrade Turk, The, 24
Bell, Mr., the honourably disobedient

jockey, 181
Bend Or, 180; objection to, 185
Bentinck, Lord George, 60, 76, 118,

152, 174-78
Bentinck Benevolent Fund, The,

152, 177
Bertie, Mr., 27
Berwick, The Duke of (son of

James IL), 8, 88
Bethell, Messrs., the famous

racers, 16, 27
Betting, ' The Druid" on, 231

,, Statutes bearing upon, z'/it'c

Legislation
Betting Ring, The, 85-87, 192, 193,

228-32
Bingham, Mr., 27 [295

Bn^iD Matches at Newmarket, 294,
Bishop, Mr., a ' nobbier,' 91
Black Hambleton (Yorks), vii, viii,

n, 80
Blacklock, a story of the famous
horse, 79, 80
Dr. Shorthouse and, 79
Blair Aphol, 65, 179

,, Price paid for, 195

Blake, Messrs., 27, 28
Blenkiron, Mr. William, 177
Blew Capp, vide Blue Cap

Blink Bonny, winner of both Derby

and Oaks, 63
Blombergh, Baron, 89
Bloodstone, the three - years - old

' two-year-old,' 181
Bloodsworth, Mr. J. F. , warned

off, 184 [64

Bloomsbury, winner of the Derby,
Blue Cap, Charles II. 's horse, 5
Blue Gown, winner of the Derby,

66, 204
Blunt, Mr. Wilfrid, and his ' Arabs,"

226
Bobadilla, ancestress of Iroquois,

1..6
BocAU, Senor, the purchaser of

Ormonde, 186, 196
Bolton, The antepenultimate Duke

of, 28
Bond, Mr. Ephraim, the 'hell-
keeper," 151
I Bonny Black, The famous mare, vii,

292
Bookmaker, A sensitive, 108
Bookmakers, Some successful, 233,

234 ^

Registration or certin-
1 cation of, 229, 234

BOUCAU, Sefior, vide BocAU
BowcHER (PBourchier), Mr.,

Charles II. and, 11
BovvES, Mr. (Sir George, ancestor of
the famous Mr. John), 28
I Boys, Horses raced or nominated by,

' 4. 49. 94

I Brancas, The Due de (Comte

Lauraguais), 87
i Brimmer, The famous horse, 4
Brocklesby, The famous horse, 8

,, Betty, The famous

mare, 8, 19, 20
Brodrick, Mr., his match (1718). 290
Brodrick - Cloete, Mr. William,

168, 193, 196
Brograve, Suicide of Mr. (book-
maker), 108
BrOnenberg, Baron (racing in

England), 139, 188
Brown Prince, The noted American

horse (ran in England), 14, 190
Buccaneer, The lamous sire^ (Lord

Portsmouth's), 206
Buccaneer (Lord Rosslyn's), 186
Buckingham (George Villiers),

second Duke of, 3, 10
Buckle, Mr. Francis, the famous
jockey, 109
his 'challenge" whip pre-
sented to the Germans,
121

346

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

BUDA, The siege of, 8

BuFFCOAT, The ' dun ' race-horse, 51

BuFFON, The celebrated Comte de,

298
BUNBURY, Sir Thomas Charles, 76
Butler, Mr. Frank, the famous

jockey, 150
Buzzard, The famous sire, 107
Byerley, Captain, 10

,, Turk, The, 10

Byron, Lord, who killed Mr. Cha-

worth, 28

C
Cade, The great sire (brought up

on cow's milk), 24
Calendars, Racing, 25, 89
Calvert, Mr. (his match), 285
Cambuscan, sire of the celebrated

mare Kincsem, 206
Canezou, Lord Derby's mare, 185
Canterbury, From, to London in

three hours, 328
Cap-a-Pie, sire of the New South

'Wales Sir Hercules, 148
Cape, The, importation of English

horses to, 214
Careless (Old), The famous horse,

10, 286
Carter, Mr. Thomas, (the ' father '

of French trainers), 139
Castaway, Mr. Bethell's horse, 12
Castianira, dam of the American

horse Sir Archy, 107
Castrel, The famous sire (brother

to Rubens and Selim), 98
Catherine (of Braganza), Queen of

Charles II., 5
Cavendish, Lord (Marquis of Hart-

ington, 1731), his match, 296
Chaise-and-Pair Matches at New-
market, 294
Chanticleer, The famous (gray)

horse, 8, 259
Chaplin, Mr., his 'gold mine'

(Hermit), 196
Charger, An officer's (runs 12 miles

in 25 min. 11 sec), 326
Charles II., King, v, 1-3, 5, 8, n,
52, 76, 285
,, Gentlemen-jockeys in

the reign of, 52, 53
,, Horses of, 5

Plates founded by, 5
,, The Newmarket Whip

and, 6
Statute of, 7
Chedvvorih, Lord, 28, 4s
Cheney, Mr. John, and his calendar,

89

Chester, The Australian sire, 148
Chester Cup first run for, 118
Chetwynd - Durham Case, The,

186
Chetwynd, Sir George, 236
Childers, Mr., or Colonel, 15
,, Bartlett's, 10, 20

,, Flying, 10, 19

Childwick, Price paid for, 194
Chillabv, 'William III.'s white

Barb, 9
' Classic' Races, Institution of the,

59-69
Cleveland, Lord (the Duke of), his

opinion of the turl', 151
Clifden, Sir John Lade's horse, 316
' Clocking,' 277-80, 318, 321
Cloete, Mr. W. , W(/('Brodrick-C.
Coatesworth, Mr. (1751), 29
COBHAM, Suspected 'nobbling' of,

180
Cockburn, Sir Alexander (Chief

Justice), 236

COCKEKELL, Mr. (1753), 29

Cockfighter, his match with Sir

Solomon, 320
Colonel, The, famous race-horse, 64,
115, 129, 148
,, Price paid for, 195

Colours (of race-horses), 50, 99, 259
Colville, Mr. (1732), 29
Commodore, The Australian horse,

192
Common, Price paid for, 195
Conflans, Marquis de, 88
Constable, Mr. (1741), 29
Cook, Mr., the poisoned, 185
Copenhagen, race-liorseand charger,

98
Corke, Charles II. 's horse, 5
Corker, Mr., Feat performed by a

mare belonging to, 300, 301
Cossack Horses, A match against,

331
Cotherstone, The ' nobbling ' of,

179
CouRCY, Comte de, 188
Covvdrav (Sussex), 4
Craven, The Hon. Mr. Berkeley,

Suicide of, 140
Craven, Fulwar(Mr.), 135

,, Lady (Margravme of Ans-
pach), 93, 95
Cricket, William III.'s horse, 9
Crofts, Messrs. (1742 and 1754), 29
Cruel Matches, 293, 299, 309, 310,

315. 331. 337. 343
Cruiser, The ' savage,' 199
Ci'H M.\RE, a famous Americ;\ii dam

107

INDEX

347

CuLLEN Arabian Make (called
Diamond or Duchess, or both, in
America), 107
Cumberland, The ' Culloden ' Duke
of, 22, 45, 57
,, Henry Frederick, Duke

of, 57
Cui'iD, a horse belonging to

William III., 9
Curiosities of Horse - racing, A

few, 54, 55, 80, 297, 303, 317, 319
CURWEN, Mr., owner of the famous

Bay Barb, 15, 24
CUKZON, Mr. (.Sir Nathaniel, 1731),

D

Dandizette (second for the Oaks
in 1823), closely related to an
'Arab,' 118
Daniel, Mr., his ride against the

' Telegraph ' coach, 333
D'ARCY.Lord (his Yellow Turk, 16 — ),

10
Darley, Mr. Brewster (and the D.

' Arabian,' about 1707), 16, 18
Davies, Mr. James (a thousand

miles drive), 3.(0, 341
Davis, Mr. William (the first

' Leviathan"), 185, 234
Dawson, Mr. Daniel, 'king of the

nobblers,' 91, 249
Day, Mr. William (ex-trainer and
author), his connection with the
' Old England ' scandal, 184
Dead Heat, First recorded instance

of a, 290, 291
Delancey, Colonel (of New ^'ork,

about 1760), 47, 108
Delme-Radcliffe, Mr., 114, 115,130
Denmark, Prince George of, 13,
(wins a match with a gray Barb)
289
Derby, The race called the, 60-66
,, won by George IV. (when

Prince of Wales), 78
,, won twice by Fredf rick, Duke

of York, 78, 79
, , The twelfth Earl of, 60
,, The fourteenth Earl of, 174,
179, 185
Devonshire, First Duke of, 6. 10

,, Third and Fourth

Dukes of, 30, 45, 46,

47

Diamond (or Duchess), (z'za'<?CuLLEN
Arabian Mare), a famous Ameri-
can dam, 107

Diamond, Famous horse, his match
with Hambletonian. 317

Dimple, The Duke of Devonshire's

horse (winner of the Newmarket

Whip), 6, 10, 287
Distances, Races at very long, 292,

293, 342, 343
Dixon, Mr. Abraham (about 1760),

46
Dixon, Mr. (' The Druid ). 231
Dr. Syntax, The famous horse, 96,

97
Dodsworth, The 'natural' Barb, 5

,, Mi'-i 30

Don Quixote, The famous sire

(exported?), 102, 103
Doncaster, Price paid for, 195
Doncaster Races, Disturbances at,

185
DowNE, Lord (Viscount, about 1758),

30
Doyle, Sir F. Hastings, 12, 309, 321
Dragon, The (tifth) Duke of Bed-
ford's horse, 316
,, Charles H.'s, 5

Mr. Frampton's, 176
'Druid,' Mr. Henry Dixon, The, on

betting, 231
Duchess (or Diamond), vide Dia-
mond
Duke of Richmond, once the rival

of St. Simon, 337
DuLKWSKi, Count (runs horses in

England), 188
DuNCOMBK.Mr. Thomas (of Heimsley,

about 1740), 30, 47
DuRDANS (estate near Epsom), 62
Durham, Mr. (about 1730), 30

Earls of, 167, 186, 239
Dutton, Mr. James Lenox (ancestor

of the Lords Sherborne, about

1750). 30

E

Ebok, winner of the St. Leger, pur-
chased by the Czar, 207

Eclipse, The famous sire, 6, 22, 57,
83, 221

Eclipse Foot, The, 130

Eden, Sir Robert (about 1750), 31

' Egaliti<^,' Philippe, 87

Egan, Mr. Pierce (' Sporting
Anecdotes '), 285

Egerton, Mr. Jolin (about 1729), 31

Eleanor, winner of both Derby and
Oaks, 63

Elephant, his match with Forester,
305, 306

Elliot, Mr., who rode against
Charles H., 3, 5
,, Horse belonging to, 285

548

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Elwes, Mr., the sporting 'miser,'

3"

Engineer, The famous horse (sire of

Mambrino, ^.v.), 47
England, Dick, Mr., or Captain
■ (about 1770), 83

Escape, The Prince of Wales's
(George IV.), 75, 102,

273
,, Mr. Hoomes's, alias

Horns, 88
Exeter, Fifth Earl of, 3

,, The second Marquis of, 116
Exquisite, The (second for the
Derby), closely related to an
' Arabian,' 118

Face to Tail, A match ridden, 317

Fagg, Sir Robert (agreat horse-racer),

14 ; pacing, 292, 295

(?) Another, 31

Fair Ellen, The, by an 'Arabian,'

118
B'ALMOUTH, (sixth) Viscount, 163
Famous Sires and their Progeny,

219-23
Farndon (Cheshire), 18
Fawcon"ER, Mr., and his ' Calendar,'

89
Fay, Monsieur Latache de, 189
Feather-weight, Early instance of
■ a, 291

Felton, Mr. (about 1680), 4, 53
Fenton, Mr., 46
Fen wick, Mr., 31, 45
Fermor, Mr. (about 1740), 31
Figg, Mr. (about 1740), 32
Figg's Mare, 32
FiLHO da Puta, The famous horse,

98 ; his match, 327
FiLLE DE L'AiK, The objection to,

185
Firetail, his match with Pumpkin,

308 [213

Fisherman, The famous horse, 197,
Fitz-Gladiatok, The famous French

sire, 5
Fitzjames, The Marquis de, 8, 88
Flatfoot, Mr. Elliot's horse, 5. 285
Fleur-de-lis, The famous mare

(bought by the French in 1837), 115,

129
Florizel, The famous sire. 221
Flying Childers, The famous horse,

19
Flying Dutchman, The, Price paid
for, 193
his famous
match, 333

FORDHAM, Air. G., the famous

jockey, 237
Foreigners ON the English Turf,
87, 139, 187-89, 192
,, Jealousy displayed

against, 185
Forester, Match between Elephant

and, 305, 306
Foxhall, The famous American
horse, 88, 190
,, his pedigree, 147

Frampton, Mr. Tregonwell, 4, 12, 13,
19, 21, 288, 289,
291
his mules, 289
France, Early Eastern sires imported
into England from, 24
Importations of English
horses into, 124, 140, 141,
201-204
French Jockey Club, 138
Fry, Mr. R. H., an eminent English
bookmaker, 234

G

GALOi>iN,The famous race-horse, 123,

334
Gar THSiDE, Mr. (about 1740), 32
Gate-money Meetings, The Origin

of, 152
Geheimniss, winner of the Oaks, 63
General ChassiJ, The ' savage,'
143 [289

George of Denmark, Prince, 13,
George I., King, The Turf and, 19
Prominent racers and
race-horses in the reign
of, 19, 20
George II., 18, 20, 45

Statute of, 17, 18, 22-24
,, Prominent racers and

racehorses in the
reign of, 26-49
George III., 56, 112

,, Prominent racers and

race-horses in the
reign of, 57-59
Ascot and, 57, 74
Geor(;k IV., 113-12S

,, Prominent racers and

race-horses in the
reign of, ii6-ii8
,, Gold whip presented to

the Irish Turf Club
by, 121
Race-horses and jockeys
of, 115
Germ. any. Importations of English
horses into, 122, 123, 141, 142, 204-
206

INDEX

349

GiMCRACK, The famous little horse,

58, 306, 307 ; Club, 58
GiNiSTRELLi, Signer, 191
Gladiateuk, The objection to, 185
Gladstone, The Rt. Hon. Mr. VV.

E., 131
Glasgow (' Peter,' the fifth Earl of),
T28, 260 [144

Glencoe, the great American sire,
Glenwood, Price paid for, 194
GoDOLPHiN, The first Earl of, 4, 15,
288
The second Earl of
(about 1731, owner
of the Godolphin
Arabian), 15, 24, 32,

47
Godolphin Arabian (or Barb ; died
December, 1753, aged about 28), 24
Goncourt, JVIadame de, 193
GOODRICKE, The Rev. Henry, 31, jj
Goodwood Cup first run for, 118

,, Stakes first run for,

119
GowER, The Earl of (about 1740),

32, 45
Gr^me, Mr. (about 1723), 33
Grafton, The Duke of (son of
Charles II.), 4
,, Dukes of, 48, 116

Granbv, Marquis of, 15, 47
Gray Barb, Mr. Hutton's, 9
Gray Peg, Queen Anne's mare, 289
Great Subscriptions, Establish-
ment of, at York, 45
Greville, Mr. Charles, Clerk of the
Council, 156
Mr. Fulke, 45
Grey, Sir Henry (of Hovvick, about

1755). 32
Greyhound, Race between horse

and, 319
Grisewood, Mr. G. (about 1731), 32
'Grossley,' Mr. (Comte de Mira-

beau), 88
Grosvenor, Sir Richard (first Earl

of), 48, 311
GuADAGNi, Signor fabout 1750), 89
GuERCHY, Comte de (French Am-
bassador to England about 1778),

H

Hahn, Count, 189

Haliday, Mr. Samuel (no miles in
20 hours), 312

Halifax, Lord (? George Mon-
tagu, first Earl of) (about 1728),
33

Hambleton (Yorks), vide Black H.
HamblI'-.tonian, Tlie famous horse,

85. 317
Hamilton, (the sixth) Duke of, 53
Hampton Court, The royal stud at,

19, 21, 130, (sale of) 155, (revival of)
156

Handicapping (Elective), 226

(Rough method of),

281
Hanstead, Mr. Richard, and his

match (420 miles), 312
Hare, Jerome (rider of Old Merlin

in the famous match), 13, 288
Harkaway, the ' Irish Eclipse,' 197
Hartington, Marquises of, 45, 170,

296
Hartley, Mr., or Captain (about

1740), 33
Havvley, Sir Joseph, the ' lucky

baronet,' 174, 178, 179
Heaton Park, 139
Heber, Mr., and his ' Calendar,' 89
Heenan, Mr. J. C, the ' Benicia

Boy,' on the turf, 191
Hendry, Mr. (about 1730), 33
Henley, Mr. (about 1728), 33
Henry VIII. , King, 52
Hermit, Mr. Chaplin's famous horse,
64, iq6, 219
Mr. Gully's, 213
Herou (or King Herod), The

famous sire, 22, 57, 191
Herodias (falsely called Tontine),

182
Heseltine, Mr. (groom-in-waiting

to Old Merlin), 13, 288
Hester, Supposed ' nobbling ' of,

180
Hevvson, vide Hughson
Highflyer, the famous sire, 84,

222
Hippodrome, The Bayswater, 152
,, Tan-gallops at, 152

Hirsch, Baron, 166, 194
Hobby Mare, The, 8
HoLCKOFT, Mr., the dramatist, 305,

306
Holme or Holmes, Mr. (about

1750). 34
Honeycomb Punch, the famous

horse, 286
Honywood, Mr., or General (1734),

20, 34

HooMES, Mr., or Colonel (American),

88
HoRE, Mr., J. P., author of 'A

History of Newmarket,' 283, 286
Horns (called Escape in America),

35°

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Howard, The Hon. Mr. Bernard
(1669), 3, 76
,, Mr., or Colonel (1728), 34

HuGHSON or Hevv.son (about 1740),

34
Humbekston, Mr. (1730), 34
Hunt, Mr. (alDout 1750), 34, 46
HunyAdi, Count, 188
Hutchinson, Mr. John, ex-stable-
boy, 77, 85
,, W. , his ride from

Canterbury to Lon-
don, 328, 329
Hutton, Mr., or Messrs. (of Marsk
Hall, Yorks), 9, 15,
16, 34, 46
,, Gray Barb belonging

to, 9
Bay Barb belonging
to. 35

I
Iambic, The gelding, match with the

' Arab ' Asil, 338
Imaum of Musc.'VT, a present of

'Arabs' from the, 151
IMPOKTATION.S of English horses into

foreign countries, vide America,

Austria-Hungary, etc.
Infidel, The trotting thoroughbred

race-horse, 310
Iroquois, The famous American
horse, 65, 88, 164, 190
his pedigree, 146
Isinglass, winner of the Derby of

1893 in 2 niin. 43 sec, ix, 283

J

Jackson, Mr. (about 1750), 35
James 11., King, The turf and, 7
Jenison, Mr. Ralph (about 1740), 35
Jennings, Messrs. H. and T., the

famous brother-trainers, 139
Jersey, Mr. (not Mrs,.), 50
Jockey Club, Institution of the, 21
,, ix, 22, 225-228

Plates, The, 45
Jockey ' Ring,' A, 236, 237
Jockeys, Professional, 2

,, their duration of life, ix
,, Noted, 52-54, 108-112, 115,
120, 121, 149, 150,237-47
,, Apotheosis of, 237-40
,, Professional and gentlemen,

313

Johnson, Mr., the supposed 'circus-
rider,' 303

JouvENCE, the first French - bred
winner in England, 189

Junto, The Whig, 9

K
Keck, Mr. Anthony Tracy, 35
Keene, Mr., the American, 173, 190
Kelburne, Viscount, fifth Earl of

Glasgow, 128
Kendal, Price paid for the sire, 195
Kent, Mr. John, ex - trainer and

.author, 247, 273
Kettle, Mr., 35
Killigrew, Mr. Tom, Charles II. 's

comrade, 4
Kincsem, The famous Hungarian

mare, 206
King Herod (or Herod), The famous

sire, 22, 57, 191
King of the West, The Australian

horse, 192
King Thomas, Astounding price paid

for the American, 195 [197

King Tom, The famous race-horse,
Kingston, The last Duke of, 35
Kipling Coates (Yorks), 18 [129
Kikkh-^m, The Australian horse, 148,
KikkleathAM, Price paid for the

horse, 193
Kisber, Frivolous 'objection' made

to, 185
Kitchener, Mr., the jockey (bodily

weight of), 247

L'Abbesse de Jouarre, 263

La Fleche, Price paid for, 156, 194

Labourer (20 miles in 54 minutes),

316
Lade, Sir John, 290, 316

,, ,, his mule-race, 290

Ladies, Horse-racing, 49, 93-95, 126,

150, 224, 225
L.\dy Betty (bred in Australia, won

the Ellesmere Stakes, Newmarket,

First July, 1890), 192
Lady Eliz.abeth, Blue Gown and,

'jide Derby
Lake, Mr. Warwick, 114
Lamego, Mr. Aaron, 48, 89
Lankrcost, The 'nobbled,' 179, 180
Lat.\CHE de Fay, Monsieur, 189
Lath, son of the ' Godolphin Arabian,'

24

lyAUNCELOT, The ' pulling ' in favour
of, 185

' Launde," The Rev. Mr. (Fellow of
Corpus, Oxford), 165, 206

Lauraguais, Comte de, 87, 307

Lauzun, Due de, 88

Leandek, Messrs. Lichtwald's four-
years-old ' three-year-old,' 180, 181

Leedes, Mr. Edward, the great
breeder (about 1740), 35

INDEX

351

Lefevre, Monsieur C. J., 204

Legislation, Exceptional, for New-
market and Black
Hambleton, 18
,, The Turf and, 7, 12,

i6-i8, 22, 23, 81,
114, 148, 159

Lepton, Mr., Match between London
and York ridden by, 284

LiCHTVVALD, Messrs., racing in Eng-
land, 139, 180, iSi, 188

LiLiAS (afterwards Babel), winner of
the Oaks in 1826, closely related to
an 'Arabian, 118 [330

Lipscombe, Mr. (90 miles in 5 hours).

Little Driver, Mr. Aaron Lamego's
famous, 48

Loeffler, Professor, 186

LouiSBOURG, Price paid by Mr.
Brodrick-Cloeta for, 194

Lonsdale, Earls of, 35, 339

Lorillard, Mr. Pierre, the Ameri-
can, 164, 190

Lowther, Sir James, 36, 45

Lupin, Monsieur Auguste, 189, 204

M

Macdonough Mr. (the Californian
purchaser of Ormonde), 196

Mackenzie, Mr. E., A driving feat
of, 341

Magog, The gigantic (18 hands
high). 259
,, The ' nobbled ' horse, 91

Maltzahn, Baron (racing in Eng-
land), 139, 156

Mambrino, the progenitor of
' trotters,' 311

Mangle, Mr. John, jockey (died at
Middleham, Yorks, on New Year's
Day, 1831, aged 79 80), 109

Mann, Messrs. (breeder and owner,
about 1750), 46, (jockey) 246

Manners, Lord William (about
1740), 36

M ANTON, Mr. {not Mrs.), 50

Maple, Sir J. Blundell (his purchases),

194. 195
^L\KC Antony, sire of Airawell, 20
^LvRCH AND RUGLEN, The Earl of

('Old Q.'), 48, 298
Mares, Royal, 5 ; Montague, 3
Marley Mr. (about 1740), 36
Maroon, The ' pulling' of, 185
Marsk (or ^L\RSKE), The famous

sire, 16, 45, 224
Martindale, Mr., owner of Regulus

(about 1740), 36, 84, 220
Maryborough, Lord (Master of the

Buckhounds to George W.), 114

Match'em, The famous sire, 46, 301
Match'em Timms (jockey), vide

Tim. MS
M.\TCHES, Some memorable, 275-343
,, The Pnnce of 'Wales's

(George IV.) two, 313
Heavy-weight, vide
Weights
,, The last of the old-

fashioned, 333
Sportive, 297, 303, 315.
317, 319, 334
Matuschevitz, The Russian Count

(racing in England), 139, 188
Maximilian, Price paid for, 193
Mellish, Colonel, 128; his matches,

323- 325
Memoir, Cheap purchase of, ig^
Menken, Miss Ada Isaacs, 191
Meredith, Mr. Thomas (about

1750). 36
Merlin (Old), 12, 13, 16, 288
,, (The ' savage"), 330
Messenger, progenitor of American

trotters, 105, 311
Metcalfe, Mr. William (about

1740), 37
Meynell, Mr., the 'father of fox-
hunting,' 304
,, Miss Alicia (' Mrs. Thorn-

ton '), 322, 324
Middle Park Plate, The, 177
Middleton, Sir William (about

1750). 37. 46
Middleton, The chestnut, 65
Mile (?run in i minute), 278

(Pin I minute 4} seconds), 278,
308, 309
Milton, Mr. Mat (a bookmaker,

weight 15 stone), 326

Mineral (originally called Rubbish,

dam of Kisber), 206 [88

Mirabeau, The celebrated Comte de.

Misfortune, The well-named mare

(1779). 3"
' Mrs. Thornton,' 322, 324
Mollendorf, Baron (racing in Eng-
land), 190
Molly, Mr. Panton's famous mare,

20, 293
Monmouth, James, Duke of, 3, 53
MoNS Meg, The Australian-bred
(winner of the Queen's Vase at
Ascot in 1891^ 192
Montague, Lord (of Covvdray,
Sussex), 3
,, Mares, The, 4 [14

MooNAH Barb Mare, Queen Anne's,
MORLAND, Mr. T. Hornby (a breeder,
about 1780), 137

352

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

MOSTYN, Sir Roger, 9 I

Mr. and Lord, 134 }

MouNTGARRET, Lord (Vibcount, in |

1666), 3
Mouse, Charles II. s horse, 5
MUIK, Mr. J. B., compiler of

' Raciana,' vii, viii, 247
Mules versus Horses, 289, 290 [

Mustard, Queen Anne's horse, 14
Myrtle, ancestress of Iroquois, 146
Mytton, Mr. John, The eccentric

and short-lived, 127 \

N
Narellan, The Australian horse (m
England!, 148, 192 , , ,

Naworth, Lord G. Benlmck s geld-
ing, 176
Naylor, Mr. (about 1750-60), 45

Mr. R. C. (1859-1885), 162
Nelson, Mr. J ohn (his Calendar), 25,

89 1

Mr.George(jockey),iis,i28 j

Neville, Mr. Ralph (Lord Bray-

brooke), 97, 327 ,

Newland, Captain (140 miles in

7 hours 34 minutes), 320
Newmarket, The number of meet-
ings at, 2, 92, 93
The Town Plate at, 5
100 guineas sweep-
stakes at, 47
Right to warn off the

Heath at, 118
Sale of the royal palace

''It. 155
A visitor at, in Queen

Anne's reign, 14
(the two-year-old that
ran in 1769), 307
Newminster, Suspected 'nobbling'
of, 179 137

Newton, Sir Michael (about 1730),
• Nobbling,' 90, 179, 180
Nomenclature (of race-horses), 51,
99, 126, 260
The newpapers and
the, 260, 262
NoRUEN, Mr. (his match, 1692), 2B5
Northcote, Sir Stafford ('the

Derby ' and), 60

Northumberland, The Countess of

(about 17^8), 37, 300

The Earl and

Duke of (1766), 37, 300

Nunthorpe, Colonel North's, vide

Buccaneer

O
Oaks, The (estate), 66

,, (horse-race) 60, 66-68

O'Kelly, Mr., Captain, Major, and

Colonel (about 1765), 83, 84
Old Careless, The famous horse,

10, 286
Old England, Mr. Gully's race-horse

(plot to ' nobble'), 184
Old Merlin, 12, 13, 16, 288
Old Smithson, 10
One Thousand, The, 60, 68-70
Orford, The third (or 'mad') Earl

of (1751-91), 43. 78. 307
Orlando, Colonel Peels, 180
Orleans, Dues d' (racing in Eng-
land), 87, 139, 188, 189
Orme, The Duke of Westminster's

famous race-horse, 180, 186, 187
Ormonde, The Duke of West-
minster's unbeaten race - horse,
126, 186, 195, 196
Osbaldeston, Mr., or 'Squire,'

Match ridden by, 332
Osborne, Testimonial to Mr. John

(the jockey), 238-240
Oulston, The celebrated horse, 197
OusE, Horse-racing on the frozen

(Yorks), II
OxENDEN or OxENDON, Sir George

(about 1730), 38
Oxford, Aubrey de Vere, K.G. (died
s.p.m. 1702), 'last (de Vere) Earl

of, 3

P
' Pacing' at Newmarket, 291
Palestro, The French horse, 190
Palmer, Mr., the poisoner, 185
Palmerstcn, Lord, The celebrated,
Panton, Messrs., 21, 38, 45 [60, 173
Paradox, Price refused for, 196

,, Unlucky career of, 196

Paraguay, dam of N.S.W. Sir Her-
cules, 120
Parker, Mr. William (about 1750),.

38
Parsons, Sir John (about 1690), Lord

Mayor of London two successive

years. 15
Pavilion, his matches with Sancho,

324, 325
Pi-.iRSON, Sir Matthew (about 1706),

13, 15, 288
Pelham, Mr. (1720-22), 'pacing' at

Newmarket, 292
Pembroke, Mr. (about 1740), 38
Pepper, Queen Anne's horse, 14
Perr AM, Mr. , and his bequests (about

1770), 100
Pi'TEK (nickname of Lord Glasgow),
128
The eccentric race-horse, 128,

INDEX

353

Petek the Great, The Czar (at

Newmarket), ii
Petroffski, Baron, the Russian

(racing in England), 191
Petvvokth, a curious plague at, iig
Phlegon, a peculiarity of the race-
horse, 197
Pick, Mr. W. (died February 16,

1816, aged 58), vii, viii, 103

Pitt, Colonel, 'pacing' at Newmarket

(1720-22), 292 [119

Plague among horses at Petworth,

Plates, King's and Queen's or Royal,

23. 25

,, Winners of, from 1727 to

1760, 25-45
,, The Jockey Club, 45
,, ,, ,, winners of,

45. 46
Platt, Mr. (purchaser of Kendal),

195
Plenipotentl\ry, The mystery con-
cerning, 134
Poland, The King of, offers to pur-
chase King Herod, 191
,, importations of English
horses, 191, 209, 215
Polhill, Captain, and his matches,

331, 332
Pond, Match ridden by Miss, 287,
302
,, Match ridden by Mr., 287
POPHAM, Mr. F. L. (Fellow of All

Souls), 162
Portland, Mr. prize-fighter Heenan's

Jamaica-bred horse, 191
Portmore, Lord (about 1750), 38,

45. 46
P0T-8-OS, The famous sire, 221, 222
Pratt, Mr. John, of Askrigg (died at

Newmarket on May 8, 1785), 83
Precarious, an early case of two-
year-old racing, 307 [39
Prentice, Mr. George (about 1750),
Preston, Mr. William (about 1750),

39. 46
Priam, Price paid for, 131, 193 [195
Prices paid for Race-horses, 193-

by
Americans, 195, 196
Prince, Mr., Poisoning of horses
trained by, 91, 249
,, Charlie, 200; his match,

334
,, Consort, Albert, 155-157
,, ,, George of Den-

mark, 13, 289
Proctor, Mr. Henry (about 1740),
39 [308

Pumpkin, his match with Firetail,

Q

Queen Mary, The famous brood-
mare, 217

Queensberry ( ■ Old Q. '), The (fourth
and last) Duke of, 48, 115

Queen's Plates, 13, 23

,. ,, Abolition of (in

England), 23

Qui Tam, Actions at law called, 159

QuiBBLER (23 miles within the hour),
314

Quick and Castle, Messrs. , ' warned
off.' 82, 83

Quidnunc (the horse that nearly lost
a big match), 304, 305

R

Race-horses, Age of, 137, 138

,, Colour, height, and

nomenclature of, 50,
51, 99, 126, 150, 260
Importations of Eng-
lish, vide America,
France, etc.
Races, Some curious, 54, 55, 80, 297,

303. 317. 319
Racing CALEND.\RS,(ilie earliest) 25,

(other) 89
Radcliffe, Mr. J. B., Feat performed

by, 342

Ralph, the ' nobbled ' race-horse,
97, 179, 180

Ramsden, Sir John (about 1750), 46

Rapid Rhone, The noted (roan)
horse, 259

Ratan, Designs against Mr. Crock-
ford's race-horse, 182

Ratkord, Jack, George IV. 's 'fac-
totum,' 115

Re.\d, Mr. Wilberforce (first master
of the famous John Singleton, about
1730). 39

'Reciprocity,' Lord Falmouth, Mr.
W. G. Craven, and, 189

Reed, Mr., the American purchaser,
195

Regulus, The celebrated sire, 220

Rich, Mr. (about 1730), 39

Richmond, The Duke of (son of
Charles IL), 4
,, The fifth, 130

Rickaby, Messrs., 39, 251

Ride, The ' long-distance,' Austro-
Hungarian and German, 342

Riding face to tail, 317

without handling the bridle,
319

Ringmaster, The Australian-bred, a
winner in England in 1890, 192 [32

' Ring-worm," Spread of, 119, 229-

23

354

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Robinson, Mr. (owner of Sampson),
40, 46
Mr. W., vide Hartley
Rockingham, The second Marquis

of, 40
Rogers, Messrs., 40, 48, 182
RoH.AN, Prince Benjamin de. Daring

feat of, 339
Rose, Mr. C. D., 177
Rothschild, Baron N. de (French),
189
,, ,, Meyer, his spor-

tive match, 334
Rous, Admiral, the famous ' dic-
tator,' 174
ROUTH, Mr. Cuthbert (about 1740),
40
,, The Misses (about 1740), 40,

49. 52

RoxANA, first mate of the ' Godolphin
Arabian," 24

Royal Mares, King Charles II.'s, 5

RoY.VL Plates, 13, 17, 23

, , Winners of, from

1727 to 1760, 25-45

Rubens, The famous sire, brother to
Castrel and Selim, 98

' Running Rein,' Mr. Goodman's
{alias ' Maccabeus '), 180

Russia, Importations of English race-
horses into, 125, 143, 206, 207

Rutland, The second Duke of, viii,

15
Rye House Plot, The, 8

St. Blaise, Price paid in America
for, 195
,, Happy name of, 262

St. Gatien, Price paid for, 204
St. Leger, The Doncaster, 59, 71-74
,, Colonel and General

(about 1770), 59 [287

St. Martin, son of Spanker, 10,
St. Quintin, Sir William, 16

,, ,, (breeder of

Cypron, 1750), 46
St. Simon, The famous sire, 197,

337
St. Victor's Barb, 24
Sancho, his matches with Pavilion,

324, 325
Sandford, Mr., the American, 190
Sandwich, Lord (about 1750), 46
Sanson, Mr. (about 1740), 41
Saunterer, The famous (black)

horse, 259 [41

Scarborough, Earl of (about 1750),
Scherz, The German horse, winner

of the Cambridgeshire, 190

ScouRFiELD (or Scurfield), Mr.

(about 1750), 41
Sedley (or Sidley), Sir Charles, 41
Selby, Mr., the famous 'professional
whip," 338, 339
,, Mr. (about 1740), 41
Selim, The famous sire (brother to

Castrel and Rubens), 98
Seymour, Lord Henry (the 'father'

of French horse-racing), 138, 139,

188, 189
Shafto, Mr., or Captain, Jenison
(about 1750), 41, 302, 304
,, Match ridden by, 302

Sharper, his match against Cossack

horses, 331
Shaw, A-Ir. , his ride from Burton-on-

the-Humber to London, 321
Shepherd, Mr. (about 1730), 41
Shorthouse, Dr. (and Blacklock),

79
Shotover, winner of the Derby, but

not of the Oaks, 63
Shuffler, Charles IL's horse, 5
Shuttleworth, Mr. James (about

1750), 41
Sidonia, Price paid for, 193
Simpson, Mr. (about 1740J, 42
Sincl.\ir, Mr., Match (1,000 miles

in i.ooo hours) ridden by, 287
Singer, Mr., Price paid for Glen-
wood by, 194
Sir Hercules, The famous English

sire, 120
Sir Hercules, The famous New

South Wales sire, 120
Sir Joshu.a., 97, 98 ; his match, 327
Sir Peter (Teazle), The famous

sire, 222
Sir Solomon (Tankersley), match

with Cockfighter, 320
Sires and their Progeny, .Ancient

and modern, 219-223
Slane, A peculiarity of the race-
horse, 197
Socii^TE d"Encouragement, 138
Solon, The famous horse (sire of

Barcaldint:'), 8
Somerset, Dukes of, 9, 42, 286
Spanker, 4, 10
' Sport of Kings,' Vulgarization of

the, 81-85
Sporting Press, Horse-racing and

the, 226, 262
Stanley, Lord, fourteenth Earl of

Derby, 185
Star (afterwards Jacob), Queen

Anne's horse, 14
Star of Portici (dam of Signorin.i),

192

INDEX

355

Statutes, Horse-racing and the, vide

Legislation
Steering (or Stebbings), Mr. W. ,

The race-horse Old England and,

184
' Stella,' Dean Swift's, ix, 14
Stiff Dick, Wilham III 's, 9
Stockwell, The famous sire, 219
Strange, Lord (improperly so self-
styled, died 1771), 42
Stkathconan, The noted (gray)

horse, 259
Strathnairn, Lord, 161
Strickland, Sir William (about

1703), II, 15, 288
' Stud- Book,' First publication of the

English, 98
Suasso, Baron (in 1741), 8g
Suffolk, Earl of (in 1652), 3

,, and Berkshire, Earl of,

3. 134
Sultan, The famous horse, 120

,, (?) The Prince of Wales's

(George IV. ),' 273
Surplice, Attempts to ' nobble,' 179
Sweepstakes and Subscriptions,

Commencement of, 24
Swift, Dean, ix, 14
Swinburn, Mr. (Sir William, about

1750). 42, 46
Swymmer, Mr. Anthony Langley

(died in Jamaica in 1760), 45
Sykes, Sir Tatton, 260

,, another, 194
Syphax, Sir W. Strickland's, winner

of the Hambleton Plate, 11

Tadcaster, Bend Or and, 185
Tan Gallops, The supposed in-
ventor of, 152
Tangier, Royal mares from, 5
Tankersley, vide Sir Solomon
Tankot, Charles II. 's horse, 5
Tattersall, Messrs., 84, 89 [235
Tattersall's Rooms, 86, 87, 232,
Teissier, Baron de, 188
Tempest, Sir H. Vane, 318, 320
Ten Broeck, Mr. , the American, 185,
190 [315

Thirty Stone carried in a match,
Thomond, Lord (O'Brien, Earl of,

1666), 3
Thompson, Mr. Joseph, eminent

Anglo-Australian book-maker, 234
Thormanby, The famous horse, 197
Thornhill, Mr. Cooper, Match

ridden by, 297
Thornton, ' Mrs.,' 322, 324
Thoulouse Barb, The, 15, 24

Three-cornered Matches, Two,

307, 308
Thynne, Mr. (about 1660), 3
Timing vide ' Clocking '

tImms""} ^^^^'■^- 'Jockeyb), 54
' Tipping,' Jockeys and, 290
Tiresias, his match with Merlin, 330
Tontine, The French mare, 182
Touchstone, The famous sire, 139
Toulouse, vide Thoulouse
Town Plate, The Newmarket, 5
Trainers, The most eminent, 248-

259
,, Glorification of, 226

Tranby, the famous ' stayer,' 332
True Blue, both ' old ' and ' young,'

20
Trustee, the American trotter, 297
Try, Mr. (about 1730), 43
TuKF, Present tiourishing state of the,

266-273
Turk, The Stradling or Lister, 8
,, Captain Byerley's, 10
,, a horse belonging to William
IIL, 9, II
Turk, D'Arcy's Yellow, 10

,, The Belgrade, 24 [by, 300

Turner, Sir Charles, Match ridden
Turnus, the Germans' first winner in

England, 189
Tuting, Mr., and his ' Calendar,' 89
Two Thousand, The, 60, 68-70

'I'WO-YEAR-OLU RACING, 75-77

Early pat-
rons of, 78

,, ,, Three - mile

course for,
100

>, ,, in the South,

307
,, , in the North,

312
U
Umpire, The famous American horse,

185, 334
United States, English horses pur-
chased for, 101-108, 143-147, 198-
200
UNiVERSiTYGRADUATES.The betting
ring and, 119

V
Vane, The Hon. Mr. (about 1730), 43
Vane-Tempest, Sir H. , 318
Vavasour, Mr. (or Sir) Thomas
(1730-40), 43
,, Sir W. , 297

Velocipede, the famous horse, 120
Vernon, Messrs. (about 1750), 43, 45
V^SiNET, King James H. at, 8

356

HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND

Victoria, Queen, Horse-racing and,

v.. 154-273
,, ,, at Ascot and

Epsom, 157

,, ,, Prominent racers

and race horses

during the reign

of, 160-74,216-19

,, ,, ' Cracks ' exported

during the reign

of, 198

Vision, The Russia-bred, running in

England, 191
Vixen, Mr. Child's mare, 5
VoLTiGEUR, his famous match, 333

W
Wales, Albert Edward, Prince of,
160, 161 [6t, 62

Frederick Lewis, Prince of,
,, George, Prince of, 74, 75, 78,
160, 313, 314
Richard (Richard II.), Prince
of, 283 [89

Walker, Mr., and his ' Calendar,'
Wallace, Sir Richard, 138
Walpole, Lord (about 1730), 43 [43
Wanlev, Mr. William (about 1760),
Warlock, The noted (ro.in) horse, 259
Warning OFF Newmarket Heath,

The ri!j;ht of, iiS
Warren, Mr. John Borlase (about

1750). 43. 46
Waterloo Shield, The, 177
Waxy, The famous sire. 223
Weatherby, Messrs., 89, 98 [186
Webster, Mr. Hume, Suicide of,
Weights, Heavy, 294, 295, 315, 316,

335, 336 [98

Wellington, The (first) Duke of,
Wentworth, Mr. Peregrine (about

1750-60), 44
Weston, Mr. (drives Scorpion 100

miles in less than 12 hours), 325 [44
Weymouth, I-ord (about 1730-40),
Wharton, Thomas, Viscount, Earl
and Marquis of, 9, 286
,, Philip, Duke of, 9, 19,

Whig Junto, The, 9 [290

Whip, The Newmarket Challenge, 6,

10, 121, 287, 301
Whip, Frank Buckle's Challenge, 121

George IV. 's Challenge, 121
White, Mr. James, the Australian
horse-owner, 148
,, Mr. (about 1730), 44
Whyte, Mr. John, of the Bayswater

Hippodrome, 152

WiLPAiR, The famous horse, 47 [315
Wilde, Mr. (127 miles in 9 hours),
Wildman, Mr. (about 1760), 83
William III., 8, n, 2B6

,, Horses belonging to,

8.9
,, Famous racers and

race-horses in the
reign of, 9, 10
William IV., 128-152

,, Promment racers and

race-horses in the
reign of, 132-36
Williams, Mr. Richard (about 1730),

44
Williams, General Owen, 138
Wilton, The accomplished (second)

Earl of, 139
Windsor Forest, Races in, ix
Wisdom, The unique sire (dropped

down dead May 27, 1893, at

Mr. Hoole's, Bickerton, aged

20 years), 198
Witty, Mr. George (1720-30), 44
WoLMER, Viscount, 61
Wood, Mr. Charles, the ' millionaire '

jockey, 185, 240
Woodcock, Mr. John, his ride against

time, 54, 304, 305 [285

Woodcock, Charles II. 's horse, 5,
Wyvill, Sir Marmaduke (about 1740-

50)- 44

X
Xenophon, Lord Rossmore's famous
horse (half-brother to Solon), 8

Y

Yattendon, The famous Australian

sire, 148, 192
Yearlings, The racing of, 75, 76, 78
Yellow Mare, The, 99

Turk, Lord D'Arcy's, 10
York, Fredeiick, Duke of, 57, 75,
78, 79, 116

,, George, Duke of, ix

,, James, Duke of (James II.), 7

,, Establishment of the Great
Subscriptions at, 45
Yorkshire Jenny, The famous mare,

197

Z
Zanoni, the so-called 'Running

Rein,' 180
ZiNGANEE, The famous horse, 115,

129
ZuYDER Zee (half-brother to the

Flying Dutchman), Price paid for,

193

BILLING AND .SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD.

/. D. &' Co.

Webster F.-

Cummir;-

:rinan/ Medicine ^
ir/ Medicine at

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North Grafton, MA 01536

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