The turf

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

THE TURF

THE TURF

GAY AND BIRD

22 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND

LONDON

1901

n/V

Edinburgh : T. and A. CONSTABLE, (late) Printers to He* Majesty

INTRODUCTION

I MONG the numerous English
writers on the subject of
Sporting, very few hold a
higher position than does
the writer who ultimately
assumed the pseudonym of 'Nimrod.' He
published about a dozen works, between the
years 1831 and 1843. Some of these had
previously appeared in the Quarterly Review
and the New Sporting Magazine, and were
unsigned. They related, generally speaking,
to the Chace, the Road, and the Turf, and
cognate subjects.

Charles James Apperley, for that was the
real and full name of * Nimrod,' was, the
second son of Thomas Apperley, Esq., of
Wootton House, Gloucestershire, but is stated
to have been born near Wrexham during

viii THE TURF

1777. He received his education at Rugby.
Young Apperley married early in life, and
settled in Warwickshire, where he devoted
himself to the pleasures of the Chace. At
the age of forty-four — this was in 1821 —
he commenced to contribute to the Sporting
Magazine ; and in 1830 he deemed it
judicious to leave the country and take up
his residence in France.

'Nimrod' had now become well known
to his contemporaries as a great authority
on the points of both horses and hounds,
and on everything connected with 'the
noble science of fox-hunting'; and was
generally regarded as a fairly good coach-
man and judge of driving, and ' had at any
rate a long and practical acquaintance with
the mails and stage-coaches running upon
the great high roads which led to London/
His writings upon these subjects, therefore,
were regarded as authoritative. The long
interval of time which has elapsed since
they were penned has detracted but little
from their original value. The works of

INTRODUCTION ix

'Nimrod' are held in high regard by all
who are competent to judge.

The most important of ' Nimrod's ' con-
tributions to sporting literature are The
Chace, The Turf, and The Road, and his
Life of John Mytton. The first-mentioned
work, in whole and in part, has passed
through several editions, and been illus-
trated by H. Alken. This work was con-
tributed, shortly after his removal to the
Continent, to the Quarterly Review, where
it appeared in three instalments, and was
first published in book form in 1837 by the
famous publishing house of Murray. They
appeared anonymously.

The Chace was the first of this series of
papers, and appeared in the periodical men-
tioned for March 1832, and was entitled
' English Fox-hunting.' It gives c the famous
description of an ideal run with the Quorn
under Mr. Osbaldeston's mastership.'

The Road appeared in the next volume to
that of The Chace in the Quarterly, and
was ostensibly a review of Dr. Kitchener's

x THE TURF

Traveller? Oracle, 3rd edition, 1828, and
Jervis' Horse and Carriage Oracle, ist
edition, 1807, 3rd edition, 1828.

The second volume of ' The Sportsman's
Classics ' is a careful reprint of these two
papers which have become English Sporting
Classics.

The Turf appeared in the Quarterly for
July 1833. Apperley was undoubtedly in-
defatigable in research for material for his
literary work ; and * as a gentleman jockey
he occasionally put in a not discreditable
appearance at hunt-meetings.' On this
subject, as on allied themes, ' Nimrod '
wrote with a graphic pen.

The Turf constitutes the third volume of
this series of reprints.

It may be added that ' Nimrod ' returned
to his native country. He died in Upper
Belgrave Place, London, on May 19, 1843.

The head- and tail-pieces, title, and full-
page illustrations are from the facile pen
of Mr. Herbert Cole.

J. P. B.

THE TURF

N splendour of exhibition
and multitude of attendants,
Newmarket, Epsom, Ascot,
or Doncaster would bear no
comparison with the impos-
ing spectacles of the Olympic
Games ; and had not racing been considered
in Greece a matter of the highest national
importance, Sophocles would have been
guilty of a great fault in his Electra, when
he puts into the mouth of the messenger
who comes to recount the death of Orestes,
a long description of the above sports. Nor
are these the only points of difference be-
tween the racing of Olympia and New-
market. At the former, honour alone was
the reward of the winner, and no man lost
either his character or his money, feut
still, great as must have been in those old
days the passion for equestrian distinction,

2 THE TURF

it was left for later times to display, to per-
fection, the full powers of the race-horse.
The want of stirrups alone must have been
a terrible want. With the well-caparisoned
war-horse, or the highly finished cheval
crecok) even in his gallopade, capriole, or
balotade, the rider may sit down upon his
twist, and secure himself in his saddle by
the clip which his thighs and knees will
afford him ; but there is none of that
(pbstando) resisting power about his seat
which enables him to contend with the
race-horse in his gallop. We admit that
a very slight comparison can be drawn
between the race-horse of ancient and that
of modern days ; but whoever has seen the
print of the celebrated jockey, John Oakley,
on Eclipse — the only man, by the way, who
could ride him well — will be convinced that,
without the fulcrum of stirrups, he could not
have ridden him at all ; as, from the style in
which he ran, his nose almost sweeping the
ground, he would very soon have been pulled
from the saddle over his head.

Of the training and management of the
Olympic race-horse we are unfortunately left
in ignorance — all that can be inferred being

THE TURF 3

the fact, that the equestrian candidates were
required to enter their names and send their
horses to Elis at least thirty days before the
celebration of the games commenced ; and
that the charioteers and riders, whether
owners or proxies, went through a prescribed
course of exercise during the intervening
month. In some respects, we can see, they
closely resembled ourselves. They had their
course for full-aged horses, and their course
for colts ; and their prize for which mares
only started, corresponding with our Epsom
Oaks-stakes. It is true that the race with
riding-horses was neither so magnificent
nor so expensive, and consequently not
considered so royal^ as the race with
chariots ; yet they had their gentlemen-
jockeys in those days, and noted ones too,
for amongst the number were Philip, King
of Macedon, and Hiero, King of Syracuse.
The first Olympic ode of Pindar, indeed, is
inscribed to the latter sovereign, in which
mention is made of his horse Phrenicus, on
which he was the winner of the Olympic
crown. Considerable obscurity, however,
hangs over most of the details of the
Olympic turf, and particularly as regards

4 THE TURF

the classing of the riders, and the weights
the horses carried. It is generally supposed
these points were left to the discretion of
the judges, who were sworn to do justice ;
and here we have a faint resemblance to
the modern handicap.

How much is it to be lamented, that
we have no faithful representation of the
Olympic jockeys — of Philip on his brother
to Bucephalus, or the King of Syracuse on
Phrenicus. We are not to expect that they
were dressed a la Chifney; but we could
not see deformity on such classic ground.
As suited to their occupation, nothing can
be more neat — nothing more perfect —
nothing more in keeping, than the present
costume of the English jockey; but a
century back it was deformity personified.
4 Your clothes,' says the author of The
Gentleman's Recreation, in his direction to
his race-rider — for by the prin-annexed we
must decline calling him jockey — ' should
be of coloured silk, or of white holland, as
being very advantageous to the spectator.
Your waistcoat and drawers (sans culottes,
we presume) must be made close to your
body, and on your head a little cap, tied.

THE TURF 5

Let your boots be gartered up fast, and
your spurs must be of good metal/ The
saddle that this living object—this 'figure
of fun > — was placed upon, also bade defiance
to good jockeyship, being nearly a facsimile
of that upon a child's rocking-horse ; and
which, from the want of a proper flap, as
well as from the forward position of the
stirrup-leathers, gave no support to the
knee.

Cowper says, in bitter satire —

4 We justly boast

At least superior jockeyship, and claim
The honours of the turf as all our own ! '

The abuses of the turf we abhor, and shall
in part expose ; let it not, however, be for-
gotten that, had we no , racing, we should
not be in possession of the noblest animal
in the creation — the thorough-bred horse.
Remember, too, that poor human nature
cannot exist without some sort of recreation;
even the rigid Cato says, ' the man who has
no time to be idle is a slave.' Enclosures,
and gradual refinement of manners, have
already contracted the circle of rural
sports for which England has been so long
celebrated; and we confess we are sorry

6 THE TURF

for this, for we certainly give many of
them the preference over racing. Hawk-
ing has disappeared ; shooting has lost
the wild sportsmanlike character of earlier
days; and hare-hunting has fallen into
disrepute. Fox-hunting, no doubt, stands
its ground, but fears are entertained
even for the king of sports. Fox-hunting
suspends the cares of life, whilst the specu-
lations of the race-course too generally
increase them. The one steels the con-
stitution, whilst the anxious cares of the
other have a contrary effect. The love of
the chace may be said to be screwed into
the soul of man by the noble hand of
Nature, whereas the pursuit of the other
is too often the offspring of a passion we
should wish to disown. The one enlarges
those sympathies which unite us in a bond
of reciprocal kindness and good offices ; in
the pursuit of the other, almost every man
we meet is our foe. The one is a pastime
• — the other a game, and a hazardous one,
too, and often played at fearful odds.
Lastly, the chace does not usually bring
any man into bad company ; the modern
turf is fast becoming the very manor of

THE TURF 7

the worst. All this we admit ; but still we
are not for abandoning a thing only for
evils not necessarily mixed up with it.

Having seen the English turf reach its
acme, we should be sorry to witness its
decline ; but fall it must, if a tighter hand
be not held over the whole system apper-
taining to it. Noblemen and gentlemen of
fortune and integrity must rouse themselves
from an apathy to which they appear lately
to have been lulled ; and they must separate
themselves from a set of marked, unprin-
cipled miscreants, who are endeavouring to
elbow them off the ground which ought to
be exclusively their own. No honourable
man can be successful, for any length of
time, against such a horde of determined
depredators as have lately been seen on
our race-courses ; the most princely fortune
cannot sustain itself against the deep-laid
stratagems of such villainous combinations.

Perhaps it may not be necessary to enter
into the very accidence of racing ; but, on
the authority of Mr. Strutt, On the §ports
and Pastimes of England, something like it
was set agoing in Athelstane's reign. * Several
race-horses,' says he, * were sent by Hugh

8 THE TURF

Capet, in the ninth century, as a present to
Athelstane, when he was soliciting the hand
of Ethelswitha, his sister.' A more distinct
indication of a sport of this kind occurs in
a description of London, written by William
Fitz-Stephen, who lived in the reign of
Henry n. He informs us that horses were
usually exposed to sale in Smithfield ; and,
in order to prove the excellency of hackneys
and charging -horses, they were usually
matched against each other. Indeed, the
monk gives a very animated description of
the start and finish of a horse-race. In
John's reign, running-horses are frequently
mentioned in the register of royal expendi-
ture. John was a renowned sportsman — he
needed a redeeming quality — but it does
not appear that he made use of his running-
horses otherwise than in the sports of the
field. Edwards IL, in., and iv., were like-
wise breeders of horses, as also Henry vin.,
who imported some from the East ; but the
running-horses of those days are not to be
too closely associated with the turf; at least
we have reason to believe the term generally
applies to light and speedy animals, used in
racing perhaps, occasionally, but chiefly in

THE TURF 9

other active pursuits, and in contradistinction
to the war-horse, then required to be most
powerful, to carry a man cased in armour,
and seldom weighing less than twenty stone.
In fact, the invention of gunpowder did
much towards refining the native breed of
the English horse; and we begin to re-
cognise the symptoms of a scientific turf
in many of the satirical writings of the days
of Elizabeth. Take, for instance, Bishop
Hall's lines, in 1597 : —

* Dost thou prize

Thy brute-beasts' worth by their dams' qualities ?
Sayst thou thy colt shall prove a swift-paced steed,
Only because a jennet did him breed?
Or, sayst thou this same horse shall win the prize,
Because his dam was swiftest Tranchefice ? '

It is quite evident, indeed, that racing was
in considerable vogue during this reign, al-
though it does not appear to have been
much patronised by the Queen, otherwise it
would, we may be sure, have formed a part
of the pastimes at Kenilworth. The famous
George, Earl of Cumberland, was one of
the victims of the turf in those early days.

In the reign of James i., private matches
between gentlemen, then their own jockeys.

io THE TURF

became very common in England ; and the
first public race meetings appear at Gar-
terley, in Yorkshire ; Croydon, in Surrey ;
and Theobald's, on Enfield Chace; the
prize being a golden bell. The art of train-
ing also may be said now to have com-
menced j strict attention was paid to the
food and exercise of the horses, but the
effect of weight was not taken into con-
sideration, ten stone being generally, we
have reason to believe, both the maximum
and minimum of what the horses carried.
James patronised racing; he gave five
hundred pounds — a vast price in those days
— for an Arabian, which, according to the
Duke of Newcastle, was of little value,
having been beaten easily by our native
horses. Prince Henry had a strong attach-
ment to racing as well as hunting, but he
was cut off at an early age. Charles i.
was well inclined towards such sports, and
excelled in horsemanship, but the distrac-
tions of his reign prevented his following
these peaceful pastimes. According to
Boucher, however, in his Survey of the Town
of Stamford, the first valuable public prize
was run for at that place in Charles the

THE TURF ii

First's time, viz., a silver and gilt cup and
cover, of the estimated value of eight pounds,
provided by the care of the aldermen for
the time being ; and Sir Edward Harwood
laments the scarcity of able horses in the
kingdom, 'not more than two thousand
being to be found equal to the like number
of French horses'; for which he blames prin-
cipally racing.1 In 1640, races were held in
Newmarket ; also in Hyde Park, as appears
from a comedy called the Merry Beggars, or
Jovial Crew, 1641 : ' Shall we make a fling
to London, and see how the spring appears
there in Spring Gardens, and in Hyde Park,
to see the races, horse and foot ? '

The wily Cromwell was not altogether in-
different to the breed of running-horses, and
with one of the stallions in his stud —
Place's White Turk— do the oldest of our
pedigrees end. He had also a famous
brood-mare, called the Coffin mare, from
the circumstance of her being concealed in
a vault during the search for his effects at
the time of the Restoration. Mr. Place,

1 Some time after this the Duke of Buckingham's
Helmsley Turk, and the Morocco Barb, were brought
to England, and greatly improved the native breed.

12 THE TURF

stud-groom to Cromwell, was a conspicuous
character of those days ; and, according to
some, the White Turk was his individual
property. Charles n. was a great patron
of the race-course. He frequently honoured
this pastime with his presence, and ap-
pointed races to be run in Datchet Mead,
as also at Newmarket, where his horses
were entered in his own name, and where
he rebuilt the decayed palace of his grand-
father James i. He also visited other
places at which races were instituted, Bur-
ford Downs in particular — (since known as
Bibury race-course, so often frequented by
George iv. when regent) — as witness the
doggrel of old Baskerville : —

* Next for the glory of the place,
Here has been rode many a race.
King Charles the Second I saw here ;
But I 've forgotten in what year.
The Duke of Monmouth here also
Made his horse to sweat and blow,5 etc.

At this time it appears that prizes run for
became more valuable than they formerly
had been; amongst them were bowls, and
various other pieces of plate, usually esti-
mated at the value of one hundred guineas ;

THE TURF 13

and from the inscriptions on these trophies
of victory, much interesting information
might be obtained. This facetious monarch
was likewise a breeder of race-horses, having
imported mares from Barbary, and other
parts, selected by his Master of the Horse,
sent abroad for the purpose, and called
Royal Mares — appearing as such in the
stud-book to this day. One of these mares
was the dam of Dodsworth, bred by the
King, and said to be the earliest race-horse
we have on record whose pedigree can be
properly authenticated.

James n. was a horseman, but was not
long enough among his people to enable
them to judge of his sentiments and in-
clinations respecting the pleasures of the
turf. When he retired to France, however,
he devoted himself to hunting, and had
several first-rate English horses always in
his stud. William in. and his queen were
also patrons of racing, not only continuing
the bounty of their predecessors, but add-
ing several plates to the former donations.
Queen Anne's consort, Prince George of
Denmark, kept a fine stud; and the Cur-
wen Bay Barb, and the celebrated Darley

14 THE TURF

Arabian, appeared in this reign. The
Queen also added several plates. George i.
was no racer, but he discontinued silver
plates as prizes, and instituted the King's
Plates, as they have been since termed,
being one hundred guineas, paid in cash.
George n. cared as little for racing as his
father, but, to encourage the breed of
horses, as well as to suppress low gambling,
he made some good regulations for the
suppression of pony races, and running
for any sum under fifty pounds. In his
reign the Godolphin Arabian appeared, the
founder of our best blood — the property of
the then Earl of Godolphin.1 George in.,
though not much a lover of the turf, gave
it some encouragement as a national pas-

i The reigns of King William, Queen Anne, and
Georges I. and n.f are remarkable in the annals of
the turf as having been the days of the noted Tregon-
well Frampton, Esq., a gentleman of family and fortune
in the west of England, Master of the Horse during all
the above-mentioned reigns ; who had a house at New-
market ; was a heavy bettor ; and, if not belied, a great
rogue. The horrible charge against him, however, re-
specting his qualifying his horse Dragon for the race
by a violent outrage upon humanity, and alluded to
by Dr. Hawksworth in the Elysium of Beast s^ is sup-
posed to be unfounded.

THE TURF 15

time j in the fourth year of his reign Eclipse
was foaled, and from that period may English
racing be dated \

George iv. outstripped all his royal pre-
decessors on the turf, in the ardour of his
pursuit of it, and the magnificence of his
racing establishment. Indeed, the epithet
* delighting in horses/ — applied by Pindar
to Hiero, — might be applied to him, for no
man could have been fonder of them than
he was, and his judgment in everything
relating to them was considered excellent.
He was the breeder of several first-rate
race-horses, amongst which was Whiskey,
the sire of Eleanor (the only winner of
the Derby and Oaks great stakes); and
a,lso Gustavus, who won the Derby for Mr.
Hunter. Our present gracious monarch —
bred upon another element — has no taste
for this sport ; but continued it for a short
time after his brother's death to run out
his engagements, and also with a view of
not throwing a damp over a pastime of
such high interest to his subjects. It was
at one time given out that his Majesty had
consented to keep his horses in training,
provided he did not lose more than four

16 THE TURF

thousand pounds per annum by them ; but
such has not been the case. A royal stud,
however, still exists at Hampton Court, and
the following celebrated English stallions
are now there, exclusive of four Arabians —
two from the King of Oude, and two from
the Imaum of Muscat, as presents to his
Majesty. The former are : the Colonel, by
Whisker, dam by Delpini, the property of
his late Majesty George iv. ; Actaeon, by
Scud, out of Diana, by Stamford, purchased
of Viscount Kelburne for the sum of one
thousand guineas ; Cain, by Paulowitz, dam
by Pagnator; and Rubini, by St. Patrick,
out of Slight, by Selim : the two latter hired
for the use of the stud. Of brood mares
there are at present no less than thirty-
three in the paddocks, of which there are
forty-three, varying in size from three to
five acres each; and some idea may be
formed of the profit or loss of this exten-
sive establishment from the following facts :
The produce are annually sold at Tatter-
sail's, on the Monday in the Epsom race-
week, being then one year old. At
two of these sales they brought within a
trifle of two hundred pounds each ; and at

THE TURF 17

that of the present year, the colts and fillies,
twenty in number, were knocked down at
two thousand eight hundred and forty-six
guineas, or within a fraction of one hun-
dred and forty-two guineas for each.1 It
may be worthy of remark, that a regard
has ever been paid in the Hampton Court
stud to what is termed stout blood. For
example, of the stud horses which those
we have now mentioned replaced, Waterloo
was out of a Trumpator, Tranby2 an
Orville, Ranter a Beningbrough, and the
Colonel a Delpini, mare. This stud is at
present under the superintendence of
Colonel Wemyss, brother to the Member
for Fife, and Equerry to the King, residing
at the stud-house, formerly occupied by the

1 See a list of prices in June (1836) number of The
New Sporting Magazine.

2 Tranby, it will be recollected, performed the
hitherto unrivalled feat of carrying Mr. Osbaldeston
sixteen miles in thirty-three minutes and fifteen seconds,
in his wonderful match against time, over Newmarket
course, last October twelve months. The time of each
four-mile heat was as follows : —

Heats. Min. Sec.

ist .... 8 10

2nd .... 8 o

3rd .... 8 15

4th .... 8 50
B

i8 THE TURF

Earl of Albemarle; and assisted by the
valuable services of Mr. Worley, many years
stud-groom to his Royal Highness the late
Duke of York. Some amusing anecdotes
are on record, touching the rather incon-
gruous association of our sailor-king with
the turf, one of which we will venture to
repeat. Previously to the first appearance
of the royal stud in the name of William iv.,
the trainer had an audience of his Majesty,
and humbly requested to be informed what
horses it was the royal pleasure should be
sent to Goodwood. c Send the whole
squadron,' said the King ; ' some of them,
I suppose, will win.' l

Previously to 1753 there were only two
meetings in the year at Newmarket 2 for the
purpose of running horses, one in the spring,
and another in October. At present there
are seven, distinguished by the following

1 It is proper to remark, that the withdrawing the
royal stud was compensated by additional King's
Plates, and by his Majesty's present to the Jockey
Club of the splendid challenge-prize— the Eclipse Foot,
still in Mr. Batson's keeping.

2 Although other places claim precedence over New-
market as the early scenes of public horse-racing, it is
nevertheless the metropolis of the turf, and the only

THE TURF 19

terms : The Craven, in compliment to the
late Earl Craven, commencing on Easter
Monday, and instituted in 1771; the First
Spring, on the Monday fortnight following ;
the Second Spring, a fortnight after that,
and instituted 1753; tne July> commonly
early in that month, instituted 1753; the
First October, on the first Monday in that
month ; the Second October, on the Monday
fortnight following, instituted 1762; and
the Third October, or Houghton, a fortnight
afterwards, instituted 1770. With the last-
mentioned meeting, which, weather permit-
ting, generally lasts a week, and at which
there is a great deal of racing, the sports of
the turf close for the year, with the excep-
tion of Tarporley, a very old hunt-meeting
in Cheshire, now nearly abandoned ; and
a Worcester autumn meeting, chiefly for
hunters and horses of the gentlemen and
farmers within the hunt.

place in this island where there are more than two
race-meetings in the year. It does not appear that
races took place there previously to Charles the Second's
time ; but Simon d'Ewes, in his Journal, speaks of a
horse-race near Linton, Cambridgeshire, in the reign
of James I. , at which town most of the company slept
on the night of the race.

20 THE TURF

At Newmarket, though there were for-
merly six and eight mile races, there are
now not more than four over the Beacon
Course, or B. C. as it is called, which is
four miles, in all the seven meetings. This
is an improvement, not only on the score
of humanity, but as far as regards sport,
for horses seldom come in near to each
other, after having run that course. Indeed,
so much is the system of a four-mile heat
disliked, that, when it does occur, the horses
often walk the first two. Yet it sometimes
happens otherwise, as in the case of Chateau-
Margaux and Mortgage, in one of the meet-
ings in 1826; but all who remember the
struggle between these two noble animals —
the very best of their kind, perhaps never
exceeded in st0utness,—and the state in which
they appeared at the conclusion, can only
think of it with disgust. Chateau's dead
heat with Lamplighter was something like a
repetition of the scene ; but, to the honour
of their owners, they were not suffered to
run another, and the plate was divided
between them.

The Curragh of Kildare is said to be in
some respects its equal, but nothing can be

THE TURF 21

superior to Newmarket heath as a race-
course. The nightly workings of the earth-
worms keep it in that state of elasticity
favourable to the action of the race-horse,
and it is never known to be hard, although
occasionally deep. But the great superiority
of this ground consists in the variety of its
courses — eighteen in number — adapted to
every variety in age, weight, or qualifications
of the horses, and hence of vast importance
in match-making. Almost every race-horse
has a marked peculiarity in his running.
A stout horse ends his race to advantage up
hill; a speedy jade down hill; another goes
best over a flat, whilst there are a few that
have no choice of ground — and some whom
none will suit. The Newmarket judge's
box being on wheels, it is moved from one
winning-post to another, as the races are
fixed to end, which is the case nowhere but
at Newmarket.1

1 Great improvements have from time to time been
effected on Newmarket heath, but particularly within
the last twenty years, by the exertions of the Duk£ of
Portland and Lord Lowther. These have been chiefly
accomplished by manuring, sheep-folding, and paring
and burning, by which means a better sort of covering
to the surface has been procured; and likewise by

22 THE TURF

The office of judge at Newmarket varies
from that of others filling similar situations.
He neither sees the jockeys weighed out or
in, as the term is, neither is he required to
take notice of them or their horses in the
race. He judges ', and proclaims the winner ;
by the colour — that of every jockey who
rides being handed to him before starting.
Indeed, the horses are seldom seen by him
until the race begins, and, in some cases,
till it nearly ends ; as they generally pro-
ceed from their stables to the saddling-
house by a circuitous route. The best
possible regulations are adopted for the
proper preservation of the ground during
the running, and we know of nothing to be
found fault with, unless it be the horsemen
being allowed to follow the race-horses up
the course, which injures the ground when
it is wet. It is true, a very heavy iron
roller is employed upon it every evening in
the meetings, but this cannot always be
effective,

The racing ground on the heath has been

destroying the tracks of old roads, particularly on that
part called the Flat, which is undoubtedly the best
racing ground in the world.

THE TURF 23

the property of the Jockey Club since the
year 1753. A great power is gained here
by giving the power of preventing obnoxious
persons coming upon it during the meet-
ings; and it would be well if that power
were oftener exerted. Betting-posts are
placed on various parts of the heath, at
some one of which the sportsmen assemble
immediately after each race, to make their
bets on the one that is to follow. As not
more than half an hour elapses between the
events, the scene is of the most animated
description, and a stranger would imagine
that all the tongues of Babel were let loose
again. No country under the heavens,
however, produces such a scene as this;
and he would feel a difficulty in reconciling
the proceedings of those gentlemen of the
betting-ring with the accounts he might
read the next morning in the newspapers of
the distressed state of England, or that
money was scarce anywhere. 'What do
you bet on this race, my lord?' says a
vulgar-looking man, on a shabby hack,
with *a shocking bad hat.' 'I want to
back the field/ says my lord. 'So do I,'
says the leg. ' I ;11 bet five hundred to two

24 THE TURF

hundred you don't name the winner,' cries
my lord. ' I '11 take six,' exclaims the leg.
4 I'll bet it you/ roars my lord. 'I'll
double it,' bellows the leg. l Done,' shouts
the peer. * Treble it?' 'No.' The bet
is entered, and so much for wanting to
back the field ! but in love, war, and horse-
racing, stratagem, we believe, is allowed.
Scores of such scenes as this take place in
those momentous half-hours. All bets lost
at Newmarket are paid the following morn-
ing, in the town, and fifty thousand pounds,
or more, have been known to exchange
hands in one day.

The principal feature in Newmarket is
the New Rooms, for the use of the noble-
men and gentlemen of the Jockey Club,
and others who are members of the Rooms
only, situated in the centre of the town, and
affording every convenience. Each member
pays thirty guineas on his entrance, and six
guineas annually, if he attends — otherwise
nothing. The number at present is fifty-
seven : two black balls exclude. At the
Craven Meeting of the present year it
was resolved — 'That members of White's,
Brooks's, or Boodle's Club, may be ad-

THE TURF 25

mitted to the News Rooms and Coffee
Rooms, for any one meeting, without any
other charge than the payment of one
half-year's subscription to each; and that
each member attending any other meeting
in the same year will be considered a
member of the New Rooms, and liable to
all the usual charges.'

On entering the town from the London
side, the first object of attraction is the
house long occupied by the late Duke of
Queensberry, but at present in a disgraceful
state of decay. ' Kingston House ' is now
used as a ' hell ' (sic transit gloria /) ; and
the palace, the joint work of so many royal
architects, is partly occupied by a training-
groom, and partly by his Grace of Rutland,
whose festivities at Cheveley, during the
race-meetings, have very wisely been
abridged. The Earl of Chesterfield has
a house just on entering the town, and the
Marquis of Exeter a most convenient one,
with excellent stabling attached. The Duke
of Richmond, Mr. Christopher Wilson,
father of the turf, and several other eminent
sportsmen, are also domiciled at Newmarket
during the meetings. But the lion of

26 THE TURF

the place is the princely mansion lately
erected for Mr. Crockford, of ultra-sport-
ing notoriety. The pleasaunce of this
insula consists of sixty acres, already en-
closed by Mr. Crockford within a high
stone wall. The houses of the Chifneys
are also stylish things. That of Samuel,
the renowned jockey, is upon a large scale,
and very handsomely furnished — the Duke
of Cleveland having for several years
occupied apartments in it during the meet-
ings. That of William Chifney, the trainer,
is still larger, and perhaps, barring Crock-
ford's, the best house in Newmarket.1
Near to the town is the stud-farm of Lord
Lowther, where Partisan, and a large
number of brood mares, are kept, — the
latter working daily on the farm, which is
said to be advantageous to them. Within
a few miles we have Lower Hare Park, the
seat of Sir Mark Wood, with Upper Hare
Park, General Grosvenor's, etc. The stables
of Newmarket are not altogether so good as
we should expect to find them. Of the

1 We are sorry to have to state that a reverse of
fortune has been the lot of both the Chifneys, and that
these houses are in the hands of their creditors.

THE TURF 27

public ones, perhaps those of Robinson,
Edwards, Stephenson, and Webb, are the
best.

That noble gift of Providence, the horse,
has not been bestowed upon mankind
without conditions. The first demand
upon us is to treat him well ; but, to avail
ourselves of his full powers and capacity,
we must take him out of the hands of
nature, and place him in those of art ; and
no one can look into old works published
on this subject without being surprised with
the change that has taken place in the
system of training the race-horse. The
Gentleman's Recreation, published nearly
a century and a half back, must draw a
smile from the modern trainer, when he
reads of the quackery to which the race-
horse was then subject, — a pint of good
sack having been one of his daily doses.
Again, The British Sportsman, by one
Squire Osbaldiston, of days long since gone
by, gravely informs its readers, that one
month is necessary to prepare a horse for
a race ; but * if he be very fat or foul, or
taken from grass,' he might require two.
This wiseacre has also his juleps and syrups

28 THE TURF

— ' enough to make a horse sick ' indeed —
finishing with the whites of eggs and wine,
internally administered, and chafing the
legs of his courser with train-oil and brandy.
On the other hand, if these worthies could
be brought to life again, it would astonish
them to hear that twelve months are now
considered requisite to bring a race-horse
quite at the top of his mark to the post.
The objects of the training-groom can only
be accomplished by medicine, which purifies
the system, — exercise, which increases
muscular strength, — and food, which pro-
duces vigour beyond what nature imparts.
To this is added the necessary operation
of periodical sweating, to remove the super-
fluities of flesh and fat, which process is
more or less necessary to all animals called
upon to engage in corporeal exertions be-
yond their ordinary powers. With either
a man or a horse, his skin is his com-
plexion ; and whether it be the prize-fighter
who strips in the ring, or the race-horse at
the starting-post, that has been subjected
to this treatment, a lustre of health is
exhibited such as no other system can
produce.

THE TURF 29

The most difficult points in the trainer's
art have only been called into practice
since the introduction of one, two, and
three-year-old stakes, never thought of in
the days of Childers or Eclipse. Saving
and excepting the treatment of doubtful
legs, whatever else he has to do in his
stable is comparatively trifling to the act of
bringing a young one quite up to the mark,
and keeping him there till he is wanted. The
cock was sacred to ^Esculapius by reason
of his well-known watchfulness ; nor should
the eye of a training-groom be shut whilst
he has an animal of this description under
his care, for a change may take place in
him in a night, which, like a frost over the
blossoms, will blast all hopes of his success.
The immense value, again, which a very
promising colt now attains in the market
adds greatly to the charge over him; and
much credit is due to the trainer who
brings him well through his engagements,
whether he be a winner or not.

The treatment of the seasoned race-horse
is comparatively easy and straightforward,
with the exception of such as are very
difficult to keep in place, by reason of

30 THE TURF

constitutional peculiarities. Those which
have been at work are thus treated, we
mean when the season is concluded : by
indulgence in their exercise they are suf-
fered to gather flesh, or become ' lusty,' as
the term is, to enable them the better to
endure their physic ; but, in addition to
two hours' walking exercise, they must have
a gentle gallop to keep them quiet. If frost
sets in,, they are walked and trotted in a
paddock upon litter, it being considered
dangerous to take them at that time from
home. When the weather is favourable,
they commence a course of physic, con-
sisting of perhaps three doses, at an interval
of about eight days between each. A vast
alteration has taken place in the strength of
the doses given, and, consequently, accidents
from physic now more rarely occur. Eight
drachms of Barbadoes aloes form the largest
dose at present given to aged horses, with
six to four-year olds, five to three-year olds,
four to two-year olds, and from two to
three to yearlings; although in all such
operations the constitution of the animal
must be consulted, After physic, and after
Christmas, they begin to do rather better

THE TURF 31

work, and in about two months before their
first engagement comes on, they commence
their regular sweats — the distance generally
four miles for horses four years old and
upwards. After their last sweat, the jockeys
who are to ride them generally give them a
good gallop, by way of feeling their mouths
and rousing them, for they are apt to
become shifty, as it is termed, with boys>
who have not sufficient power over them.
The act of sweating the race-horse is always
a course of anxiety to his trainer, and parti-
cularly so on the eve of a great race for which
he may be a favourite. The great weight
of clothes with which he is laden is always
dangerous, and often fatal, to his legs, and
there is generally a spy at hand, to ascertain
whether he pulls up sound or lame. Some
nonsense has been written by the author of
a late work,1 about omitting sweating in the
process of training; but what would the
Chifneys say to this? They are acknow-
ledged pre-eminent in the art, but they are
also acknowledged to be very severe —
perhaps too much* so — with their horses in
their work ; and, without sweating them, in

i Scott's Field Sports.

32 THE TURF

clothes, they would find it necessary to be
much more so than they are. It is quite
certain, that horses cannot race without
doing severe work ; but the main point to
be attended to is, not to hurry them in their
work. As to resting them for many weeks
at a time, as was formerly the case, that
practice is now entirely exploded amongst
all superior judges; and experience has
proved, that not only the race-horse, but
the hunter, is best for being kept going the
year round — at times, gently, of course.
With each, as with man, idleness is the
parent of misfortune.

Thucydides says of Themistocles that he
was a good guesser of the future by the
past; but this will not do in racing; and
not only prudence, but justice towards the
public demands that a race-horse should be
tried at different periods of his training. The
first great point is obviously to ascertain
the maximum speed, and the next to dis-
cover how that is affected by weight : but
here there are difficulties against which no
judgment can provide, and which, when the
best intentions have been acted upon, have
led to false conclusions. The horse may

THE TURF 33

not be quite up to his mark, on the day of
trial — or the horse, or horses, with which
he is tried, may not be so ; the nature of
the ground, and the manner of running it,
may likewise not be suited to his capabilities
or his action, and the trial and his race may
be very differently run. The late Chifney,
in his Genius Genuine, says the race-horse
Magpie was a hundred and fifty or two
hundred yards a better horse some days
than others, in the distance of two miles !
Tiresias won the Derby for the Duke of
Portland in a canter, to the ruin of many of
the betting men, who thought his chance
was gone from his previous trial with Snake,
who beat him with much ease. It after-
wards came out, that his being beaten at
the trial had been owing to the incapacity
of the boy who rode him — and he was a
bad horse to ride : indeed, we remember
his taking old Clift, his jockey, nearly into
Epsom town before he could pull him up,
after winning the race. We are compelled,
however, to observe, that much deception
in late years has been resorted to, by false
accounts of trials, and thereby making
horses favourites for the great stakes — as
c

34 THE TURF

in the instances of Panic, Premier, Swap,
the General, Prince Llewellyn, and others —
some of whom were found to be as bad as
they had been represented to be good. But
the trial of trials took place many years
back at Newmarket, in the time of George i.
A match was made between the notorious
Tregonwell Frampton and Sir W. Strick-
land, to run two horses over Newmarket
heath for a considerable sum of money :
and the betting was heavy between the
north and south-country sportsmen on the
event. After Sir W. Strickland's horse had
been a short time at Newmarket, Frampton's
groom, with the knowledge of his master,
endeavoured to induce the baronet's groom
to have a private trial, at the weights and
distance of the match, and thus to make the
race safe. Sir William's man had the
honesty to inform his master of the pro-
posal, when he ordered him to accept it,
but to be sure to deceive the other by
putting seven pounds more weight in the
stuffing of his own saddle. Frampton s
groom had already done the same thing, and
in the trial, Merlin, Sir William's horse,
beat his opponent about a length. * Now,'

THE TURF 35

said Frampton to his satellite, ' my fortune
is made, and so is yours ; if our horse can
run so near Merlin with seven pounds
extra, what will he do in the race ? ' The
betting became immense. The south-
country turfites, who had been let into the
secret by Frampton, told those from the
north, that ( they would bet them gold
against Merlin while gold they had, and
then they might sell their land/ Both
horses came well to the post, and of course
the race came off like the trial.

The Jockey Club law is very strict as to
trials at Newmarket, notice being obliged
to be given to the keeper of the trial-book
within one hour after the horses have been
tried, enforced by a penalty of ten pounds
for neglecting it ; and any person detected
watching a trial is very severely dealt with.
Nevertheless, formerly, watching trials was
a trade at Newmarket, nor is it quite done
away with at the present day ; though we
have reason to believe that the bettor who
should trust much to information obtained
by such means would very soon break down.
It often happens, that the jockeys who ride
trials know nothing of the result beyond

36 THE TURF

the fact of which horses run fastest, as they
are kept in ignorance of the weight they
carry — a good load of shot being fre-
quently concealed in the stuffing of their
saddles.

In later times than these, we have heard
of more than one good ruse de guerre being
practised at Newmarket ; whereby, accord-
ing to the old adage, the biter was bitten,
and deservedly bitten too. The late Earl of
Grosvenor had a horse heavily engaged at
the Craven meeting, and a few days before
he was to run a report was circulated that
he coughed. But whence the report ? Why
a man had been hired, by a party, to lie all
night on the roof of his box to ascertain the
fact which he proclaimed. His authority,
however, being doubted, another worthy
was employed to perform the same office
on the following night; which, coming to
the ears of the trainer, was immediately
reported to his noble employer. ' Have we
no horse that coughs?' inquired his lord-
ship. 'We have one, my lord,' was the
reply. 'Then/ said his lordship, Met him
be put into the box over which the fellow
is to pass the night; and if he does not

THE TURF 37

catch his death from this cold north-east
wind and sleet, we shall do very well.' Of
course the odds became heavy against the
horse, from the report of this second herald ;
and his lordship pocketed a large sum by
his horse, who won his race with ease.
Still later, indeed (the parties being now
alive — the one, no other than Mr. Wilson,
the oldest member of the Jockey Club;
and the other, a noble duke, but then a
noble viscount), a very fair advantage was
taken of a report circulated by the means
of one of these watchers, vulgarly called
1 touters.' Mr. Wilson was about to try a
two-year colt, and had entered his trial for
the morrow. * We must not try to-morrow,
sir,' said his trainer. 'Why not?' inquired
Mr. Wilson. ' We shall be watched, sir/
replied the trainer ; ' and the old horse's
(i.e. the trial horse) white fore-leg will be
sure to let out the cat.' * Leave that to
me,' said Mr. Wilson; 'I shall be at the
stable before you get out with the horses.'
And, coming prepared with the materials
for the purpose, he painted the white fore-
leg of the old horse black, and the fellow
one of the colt white ; and so they went to

38 THE TURF

the ground. The old one, as may be
supposed, ran the fastest and longest ; but,
being mistaken by the 'touter7 for the
young one, his fame soon spread abroad,
and he was sold the next day to the noble
viscount for fifteen hundred guineas, being
somewhere about eleven hundred more than
he was worth. But the march of intellect
and roguery, which appears to have run a
dead heat on the turf, has made people
wiser and sharper respecting such matters
as these. The Marquis of Exeter keeps his
trying saddles under his own locks ; and
has a machine for weighing his trial riders,
which shows the weights to himself, and to
no one but himself.1

But to return for a moment to the effect
of weight on the race-horse. Perhaps an
instance of the most minute observation of
this effect is to be found in a race at
Newcastle-under-Lyne, some years back,
between four horses handicapped by the
celebrated Dr. Bellyse, namely, — Sir John

1 The uninitiated in these matters are not perhaps
aware that horses are often matched at Newmarket for
large sums, though with the certainty of losing, merely
for the advantage of a trial with a good horse.

THE TURF 39

Egerton's Astbury, four years old, eight
stone six pounds ; Mr. Mytton's Handel,
four years old, seven stone eleven pounds;
Sir William Wynne's Taragon, four years
old, eight stone; Sir Thomas Stanley's
Cedric, three years old, six stone thirteen
pounds. The following was the result :— Of
the first three heats there was no winner,
Taragon and Handel being each time nose
and nose; and although Astbury is stated
to have been third the first heat, yet he was
so nearly on a level with the others, that
there was a difficulty in placing him as
such. After the second heat, Mr. Littleton,
who was steward, requested the Doctor and
two other gentlemen to look steadfastly
at the horses, and try to decide in favour
of one of them ; but it was impossible to
do so. In the third dead heat, Taragon and
Handel had struggled with each other till
they reeled about like drunken men, and
could scarcely carry their riders to the
scales. Astbury, who had laid by after the
first heat, then .came out and won ; and it
is generally believed the annals of the turf
cannot produce such a contest as this* So
much for a good handicap, formed on a

40 THE TURF

thorough knowledge of the horses, their
ages, and their public running.

Taking into consideration the immense
sums of money run for by English race-
horses, the persons that ride them form an
important branch of society ; and although
the term ' jockey' is often used in a meta-
phorical sense, in allusion to the unfair
dealings of men, yet there ever have been,
and now are, jockeys of high moral char-
acter, whom nothing would induce to do
wrong. Independently of trustworthiness,
their avocation requires a union of the
following not everyday qualifications : con-
siderable bodily power in a very small
compass/ much personal intrepidity; a
kind of habitual insensibility to provoca-
tion, bordering upon apathy, which no
efforts of an opponent, in a race, can get
the better of; and an habitual check upon
the tongue. Exclusive of the peril with
which the actual race is attended, his
profession lays a heavy tax on the con-
stitution. The jockey must not only at
times work hard, but — the hardest of all
tasks — he must work upon an empty
stomach. During his preparation for the

THE TURF 41

race, he must have the abstinence of an
Asiatic ; indeed, it too often happens that
at meals he can only be a spectator — we
mean during the period of his wasting.
To sum up all — he has to work hard, and
to deprive himself of every comfort, risking
his neck into the bargain ; and for what ? —
Why, for five guineas if he wins, and three
if he loses a race, although they occasionally
receive handsome presents from the owners
of winning horses. The famous Pratt, the
jockey of the no less famous little Gimcrack
(of whom, man and horse, there is a fine
portrait by Stubbs), rode eleven races over
the Beacon course in one day ; making, with
returning to the post on his hack, a distance
of eighty-eight miles in his saddle : yet what
was this when compared with theOsbaldeston
feat?

Of course we must go to Newmarket for
the elite of this fraternity ; and this reminds
us that Francis Buckle is not there. He is
in his grave ; but he has left behind him
not merely an example for all young jockeys
to follow, but proof that honesty is the best
policy ; for he died in the esteem of all the
racing world, and in the possession of a

42 THE TURF

comfortable independence, acquired by his
profession. What the Greeks said of
Fabricius might be said of him — that it
would have been as difficult to have turned
the sun from its course, as to have turned
him from his duty; and, having said this,
we should like to say a little more of him.
He was the son of a saddler, at Newmarket,
— no wonder he was so good on the saddle,
— and commenced in the late Honourable
Richard Vernon's stables at a very early
age. He rode the winners of five Derby,
seven Oaks, and two St. Leger stakes,
besides, to use his own words, ' most of 'the
good things at Newmarket^ in his time ; but
it was in 1802 that he so greatly distinguished
himself at Epsom, by taking long odds that
he won both Derby and Oaks, on what were
considered very unlikely horses to win either.
His Derby horse was the Duke of Grafton's
Tyrant, with seven to one against him, beat-
ing Mr. Wilson's Young Eclipse, considered
the best horse of his year. Young Eclipse
made the play, and was opposed by Sir
Charles Bunbury's Orlando, who contested
every inch of ground with him for the first
mile. From Buckle's fine judgment of pace,

THE TURF 43

he was convinced they must both stop ; so,
following, and watching them with Tyrant,
he came up and won, to the surprise of all
who saw him, with one of the worst horses
that ever won a Derby. The following year,
Young Eclipse beat Tyrant, giving him four
pounds. Buckle, having made one of his
two events safe, had then a fancy that Mr.
WastelPs Scotia could win the Oaks, if he
were on her back; and he got permission
to ride her. She was beaten three times
between Tattenhants corner and home ; but
he got her up again in front, and won the
race by a head. The Newmarket people
declared they had never seen such a race
before, snatched out of the fire, as it were,
by fine riding. In another place (Lewes),
he won an extraordinary race against a horse
of the late Mr. Durand's, on which he had
a considerable sum of money depending ;
thus winning his race, but losing his money.
He rode Sancho, for Mr. Mellish, in his
great match with Pavilion, and was winning
it when his horse broke down. He also
won the Doncaster St. Leger with Sancho.

Buckle, as we have already said, com*-
menced riding exercise at a very early age ;

44 THE TURF

but his first appearance in public was on
Mr. Vernon's bay colt, Wolf, in 1783, when
he rode one pound short of four stone, with
his saddle. He soon entered the service of
the late Earl Grosvenor, with whom he
remained to his, the earl's, death. His
weight was favourable, being seldom called
upon to reduce himself, as he could ride
seven stone eleven pounds with ease. He
continued riding in public until past his
sixty-fifth year, and his nerve was good even
to the last, although, as might be expected,
he was latterly shy of a crowd ; and generally
cast an eye to the state of the legs and feet,
when asked to ride a horse he did not know.
His jockeying Green Mantle, however, for
Lord Exeter, in the Second October Meeting,
1828, and winning with her, after the tricks
she played him before starting, showed that
even then his courage was unshaken. But it
is not only in public, but in private life, that
Buckle stood well. He was a kind father
and husband, and a good master ; and his
acts of charity were conspicuous for a person
in his situation of life, who might be said to
have gotten all he possessed, first by the
sweat of his brow, and then at the risk of

THE TURF 45

his life. In a short biographical sketch of
him, his little peculiarities are noticed in
rather an amusing style. * He was,' says
his biographer,1 ' a great patron of the sock
and buskin, and often bespoke plays for the
night in country towns. He was a master
of hounds, a breeder of greyhounds, fight-
ing-cocks, and bull-dogs (proh pudor /), and
always celebrated for his hacks. In the
language of the stud-book, his first wife had
no produce, but out of the second he had
several children. We may suppose he chose
her as he would a race-horse, for she was
not only very handsome, but very good.'
He left three sons, who are comfortably and
respectably settled in life — one a solicitor,
one a druggist, and the other a brewer.
1 Young Buckle' is his nephew, and con-
sidered a fair jockey, though he does not
ride so often as his uncle was called upon
to do. But Frank Buckles are scarce.

The present Samuel Chifney presents the
beau ideal of a jockey — elegance of seat,
perfection of hand, judgment of pace, all

1 Nimrod. Vide Old Sporting Magazine, vol. xiy.,
No. 81, June 1824 ; also New Sporting Magazine,
vol. iii., No. 13, May 1832.

46 THE TURF

united, and power in his saddle beyond any
man of his weight that ever yet sat in one.
It is scarcely necessary to add, that he is son
of the late celebrated jockey of his name,
by the daughter of a training-groom, con-
sequently well bred for his profession, to
which he is a first-rate ornament. Such
a rider as James Robinson may slip him,
but no man can struggle with him at the
end; and his efforts in his saddle, during
the last few strides of his horse, are quite
without example. There are, however,
peculiarities in his riding: excellent judge
as he is of what his own horse and others
are doing in a race, and in a crowded
one too, he is averse to making running,
sometimes even to a fault. Let whatever
number of horses start, Chifney is almost
certain to be amongst the last until towards
the end of the race, when he creeps up to
his brother jockeys in a manner peculiarly
his own. But it is in the rush he makes
at the finish that he is so pre-eminent, ex-
hibiting, as we said before, powers unex-
ampled by any one. His riding his own
horse, Zinganee, for the Claret stakes
(Craven Meeting, 1829), was a fine speci-

THE TURF 47

men of his style, when contending against
Buckle on Rough Robin, and James Robin-
son on Cadland, and winning, to the
astonishment of the field. In height he
is about five feet seven, rather tall for a
jockey, and not a good waster. In fact,
he has been subject to much punishment
to get to the Derby weight. Samuel does
not ride often ; but whenever he does, his
horse rises in the market, as was the case
with his father before him at one period of
his life.

Some anecdotes are related of Chifney,
confirming his great coolness in a race, and
among others the following : — Observing a
young jockey (a son of the celebrated Clift)
making very much too free with his horse,
he addressed him thus : * Where are you
going, boy? Stay with me, and you'll be
second? The boy drew back his horse, and
a fine race ensued, but when it came to
a struggle we need not say who won it.
Chifney's method of finishing his race is
the general theme of admiration on the
turf. * Suppose/ says he, ' a man has been
carrying a stone, too heavy to be pleasant,
in one hand, would he not find much ease

48 THE TURF

by shifting it into the other? Thus, after
a jockey has been riding over his horse's
fore-legs for a couple of miles, must it not
be a great relief to him when he sits back
in his saddle, and, as it were, divides the
weight more equally? But caution is re-
quired/ he adds, 'to preserve a due equili-
brium, so as not to disturb the action of
a tired horse.7 Without doubt, this cele-
brated performer imbibed many excellent
lessons from his father, but he has been
considered the more powerful jockey of the
two.

James Robinson, also the son of a train-
ing groom, is a jockey of the highest cele-
brity, and, as far as the art of horsemanship
extends, considered the safest rider of a
race of the present day. He may owe
much of his celebrity to his having, when
a boy, had the advantage of being in the
stables of Mr. Robson, the chief of the
Newmarket trainers, and riding many of
the trials of his extensive and prosperous
studs. When we state that such a rider
as Robinson is considered equal to the
allowance of three pounds weight to his
horse, we can account for his having been

THE TURF 49

employed by the first sportsmen of the
day. It is supposed that he has ridden
the winners of more great races than any
jockey of his time. In 1827 he won the
Derby on Mameluke, and the St. Leger on
Matilda ; receiving one thousand pounds
from a Scotch gentleman (a great winner)
as a reward for the latter : and in the
following year he went a step beyond this ;
he won Derby, Oaks, and was married
all in the same week, fulfilling, as some
asserted, a prediction — according to other
authorities, a bet. We may also notice his
kindness towards his family, which we have
reason to believe is most creditable to him.
As a jockey he is perfect. His brother,
Thomas Robinson, lives with, and rides
for, Lord Henry Seymour, in France; as
likewise does young Flatman, better known
at Newmarket as brother to Natt, whose
name is Flatman.

William Clift is next entitled to notice,
as one of the oldest, the steadiest, and best
of the Newmarket jockeys, and famed for
riding trials ; but he has taken leave of the,
saddle. William Arnull, lately deceased,
rode for most of the great sportsmen of
D

50 THE TURF

the day at Newmarket, and was considered
particularly to excel in matches. He was
much afflicted with gout, but when well
was a fine rider, and steady and honest,
as his father was before him. Being occa-
sionally called upon to waste, he felt the
inconvenience of his disorder, and the
following anecdote is related of him : —
Meeting an itinerant piper towards the end
of a long and painful walk, — 'Well, old
boy,' said he, ( I have heard that music
cheers the weary soldier; why should it
not enliven the wasting jockey?1 Come,
play a tune, and walk before me to New-
market/ Perhaps he had been reading the
Mourning Bride.

£A good name is as a precious oint-
ment/ and by uniform correct conduct in
the saddle, as well as in the stable, John
Day — a very celebrated jockey — has ac-
quired that of * honest John.' The endow-
ments of nature are not always hereditary,
and well for our hero that they are not, for
he is the son of a man who weighed twenty
stone, whereas he himself can ride seven !
His winning the Newmarket Oatlands on

1 ' Music has charms ! '

THE TURF 51

Pastime, with nine stone six pounds on her
back, is considered his chef-cTceuvre. He
resides at Stockbridge, in Hampshire, where
he has a very large public training estab-
lishment, and several race-horses of his
own. Samuel Day, his brother, is also a
jockey of great ability, and a singularly
elegant horseman, with remarkably fine
temper; but he has lately declined riding
in public. Wheatley is the son of an
eminent jockey of that name, who rode
for the celebrated O'Kelly, and contem-
porary with South and Pratt. He is a fine
horseman; and esteemed a dangerous op-
ponent in a race, by reason of his tact in
creeping up to his horses when little thought
on, and winning when least expected : he
is likewise a severe punisher when punish-
ment is wanted, and has a character free
from taint. He has ridden Mameluke in
some of his best races, and exhibited a rare
specimen of his art in the ever-memorable
contest between that fine race-horse and
Zinganee, with Chifney on his back, for
the Ascot cup, 1829. Ascot Heath never
was honoured before by so many good
horses, — and, alas ! never again by the

52 THE TURF

presence of George iv. George Dockeray
stood high on the list as a powerful and
good horseman, with excellent nerve in a
crowd ; but, being a bad waster, and much
punished to bring himself to the three-year-
old weights, he has given up riding in public.
Frank Boyce was very good, and esteemed
an excellent starter, — a great advantage in
the short races of the present day.1 Richard,
or Young Boyce, as he is called at New-
market, a very pretty horseman, with a good
head, has now given up riding, owing to
being too heavy. Conolly, who has been
riding successfully for Lords Chesterfield
and Verulam, is in high repute at New-
market. He has a bad Irish seat, but he is
very strong upon his horse, and his hand
and head are good. Wright is also a steady
good rider, and comes light to the scale.
He was very successful on Crutch. Natt,
or Flatman (his surname), is a very improv-
ing jockey, and is engaged by the Earl of
Chesterfield. James Chappie, very good
and very light, seven stone without wasting,

1 This eminent jockey died in November, 1836, at
Newmarket in his thirty-ninth year, with a character
quite free from reproach.

THE TURF 53

rode the winner of Derby and Oaks in 1833.
Arthur Pavis has the call for the light weights
at Newmarket. He is in very high practice
in public and private ; and never being called
upon to waste, is in great request, and
perhaps rides more races in the year, and
winning ones, too, than any other jockey in
England. As practice makes perfect, Pavis
is approaching perfection, and bids fair to
arrive at it. He has a very elegant seat,
being cast in the mould for a jockey, and
is very full of power for his size. His
brother, Edgar, is principal jockey for his
Royal Highness the Duke of Orleans in
France, and rides light and well. Another
of the clever light weights is Samuel Mann
— the lightest man of all his Newmarket
brethren, and of course very often em-
ployed. Macdonald, another Newmarket
jockey, is a very superior horseman, whose
skill is not confined to the turf. He is
famed for riding and driving trotting matches
having ridden Driver against Rattler, and
driven Mr. Payne's Rochester against Rattler
in the disputed match. He has capital
nerve, and shines upon savage horses, which
many would be unwilling to encounter.

54 THE TURF

Darling, a very eminent country jockey, has
lately been riding for Lord Exeter at New-
market, where we hope he will be often em-
ployed, as he has been very true to his
masters, Messrs. Houldsworth, Ormsby
Gore, and others.

The name of Goodison has been long
associated with Newmarket ; the late
Richard Goodison having been so many
years rider to the Duke of Queensberry,
with whom the present jockey, Thomas
Goodison, began, by riding the late Duke
of Bedford's chestnut colt, Cub, by Fidget,
in the Houghton Meeting in 1794, and
signalised himself by winning the famous
match on Pecker against Bennington in
1795, B. C., five hundred guineas a side,
then riding only four stone one pound, and
six to four on him at starting. His father
accompanied him on a thorough-bred horse
during the latter part of the race, as he was
riding against an experienced jockey, and
perhaps his instructions enabled him to
win. Thomas Goodison rode much for the
late King ; but his ' first master/ as the
term is, was the late Duke of York, for
whom he won many great races, and par-

THE TURF 55

ticularly distinguished himself by winning
the Claret stakes with Moses (with whom
he also won the Derby), in the Craven
Meeting of 1823, beating Morisco, Pos-
thuma, and three other good ones, by ex-
treme judgment in riding the race. He has
ever been distinguished for his patience and
decision, and the turf lost a first-rate jockey
when he retired.

There are more Edwardses at Newmarket
than there were Caesars at Rome ; and they
all ride, as it were, by instinct. James, or
Tiny Edwards, as he is called, par excellence,
of course, is father of all the jockeys that
bear that name, and also of William, formerly
a jockey, who trained for his late majesty,
and has a pension and part of the palace
and stables at Newmarket as his reward.
James trains for the Earl of Jersey, and is
considered first-rate, and particularly so in
his preparation for the Derby course. The
cleverest of the jockeys is Harry, the one-
eyed man, who lived with the late Earl
Fitzwilliam, a very elegant horseman ; and
our Caledonian friends will not forget his
winning the King's Plate on Terror. JHe
has now retired from the turf, and practises

56 THE TURF

as a veterinary surgeon at Carlisle. George
is likewise very good, as are Charles and
Edward, young ones, not forgetting Frederick,
little better than a child, but with the seat
of an old man. When his late majesty saw
his own horses mixed with Lord Jersey's at
Ascot, and the answer to every question of
'Who is that?' was 'Edwards'; 'Bless
me,' exclaimed the king, 'what lots of
jockeys that woman breeds!' It happens,
however, that they are the produce of three
different marriages ; so the glories come,
as Garter would say, from the baron^ not
the femme. We are sorry to say Samuel
Barnard has lost his eyesight. He was a
steady, good jockey, and rode for the Duke
of Rutland, Lord Henry Fitzroy, and several
of the best sportsmen on Newmarket
heath. But we must not conclude without
mentioning Old Forth, as he is called, who
won the Derby in 1829, at the age of sixty,
with a horse very little thought of before
starting. He won a very large sum of money
on the event, and has now a string of horses
in training; and rode a capital race at
Stockbridge in the present year.

It is said of the Yorkshire jockeys, that

THE TURF ^ 57

they should come to Newmarket for a seat.
It is true they do not appear to such
advantage in the saddle as their brethren of
the south, nor, speaking generally, are they
equal to them in their calling; but many
very excellent jockeys have always been
to be found in the north. At the head of
these now alive is the noted Billy Pierse,
who used to ride Haphazard for the Duke
of Cleveland. Having feathered his nest
well, he has retired, but is remarkable for
the hospitality of his house, situated in the
town of Richmond. Robert Johnson is
likewise one of the oldest, best, and we
may add, most successful of the northern
jockeys, having ridden Doctor Syntax
throughout his glorious career, and been
four times winner of the St. Leger stakes ;
but John Jackson eclipsed him, having
experienced that honour no less than as
often again — a circumstance unparalleled
among jockeys; and he very nearly won
it a ninth time, on Blacklock. Johnson
trained and rode Galopade for Mr. Riddell,
the winner of the Doncaster cup. John
Shepherd, an old jockey, is still alive, keep-
ing a public-house at Malton. Shepherd

58 THE TURF

was supposed to be the best judge of pace
in a four-mile race of any man of his time.
We are sorry to hear that John Mangle,
another eminent Yorkshire jockey, is blind.
He won the St. Leger five times ; three in
succession, for the Duke of Hamilton, and,
in all, four times for his grace. Ben Smith
has retired, rich ; but the renowned John
Singleton, one of the riders of Eclipse, and
the first winner of the Doncaster St. Leger,
1776, for the late Lord Rockingham, died
a pauper in Chester workhouse.

George Nelson is a very conspicuous
man among the northern jockeys, and the
more so, as having been thought worthy of
being transplanted to the south to ride for
his late majesty, in the room of the second
best jockey at Newmarket, viz., Robinson.
Nelson was brought up by the late Earl of
Scarborough, in whose opinion he stood
high, and his lordship confirmed it by a
pension. He won the St. Leger for the
Earl, on Tarrare, a very unexpected event.
He was likewise very successful in his exer-
tions for his late majesty, from whom he
also had his reward ; but his great perform-
ances were on Lottery, Fleur-de-lis, and

THE TURF 59

Minna, having never been beaten on the
first two, and winning no less than eight
times in one year on the latter. He first
distinguished himself in a race at York,
when riding only five stone four pounds.
Tommy Lye, as he is called, is a very
celebrated northern jockey, a great winner
for the Duke of Cleveland and others ; he
rides very light, and very well. Temple-
man, the Duke of Leeds' rider, and Thomas
Nicholson, also stand high. But the Chif-
ney of the north is William Scott, and,
perhaps, for hand, seat, and science in a
race, he is not much inferior to any one.
He rode St. Giles, the winner of the Derby
in 1832, for Mr. Ridsdale, and won the
St. Leger for Mr. Watt once, on Memnon,
and for Mr. Petre twice, viz., with the
Colonel and Rowton. He also won the
Derby on Mundig, 1835, f°r Mr. Bowes,
with great odds against him ; and the Oaks,
1836, on Cyprian, the joint property of
himself and his brother. Very excellent
prints of Rowton and Mundig and himself
have been published by Ackermann, from
a painting by Ferneley and Hancock. 'But
such men as Scott, Chifney, Robinson, and

60 THE TURF

Pavis generally appear to advantage; they
are in great request, and consequently are
put on the best horses in the race, and
have the best chance to distinguish them-
selves. William Scott is possessed of con-
siderable property (part in right of his
wife), and is brother to the well-known
Yorkshire trainer of his name.

Every trade, profession, or pursuit, opens,
in its own peculiar circle of habits, a dis-
tinct subject of study ; and perhaps the
existence of the Newmarket stable-boy, a
thing on which the majority of our readers
have never spent a thought, might, as
painted by Holcroft, interest them more
than the most accurate delineation of many
higher modes and aspects of life. In that
able writer's Memoirs — the genuine and
really valuable part of them — all this is
capitally described, from his first arrival
at Newmarket to his final departure, at the
age of sixteen ; from his fall off Mr. Wood-
cock's iron-grey filly, in his novitiate, to his
being one of the best exercise-riding boys
in the town ; — until all his equestrian hopes
were ruined by 'idling away his time in
reading/ as he was emphatically told by

THE TURF 6 1

his master; by his spelling a word of six
syllables, to the surprise of his drunken
schoolmaster ; by his being detected in study-
ing Arnold's Psalmody, under the guidance
of the journeyman leather-breeches maker ;
and, lastly, in casting up figures on the
stable-doors with a nail, from which the
other boys, and the old housekeeper to
boot, augured his very soon running
mad.

Although, to use his own words, Hoi-
croft scarcely saw a biped at Newmarket
in whom he could find anything to admire,
and despised his companions for the gross-
ness of all their ideas, he had no reason to
complain of his treatment by the several
masters whom he served, and especially by
Mr. Woodcock.

£ He discovered a little too late that the
dark-grey filly and I could not be trusted
safely together. But though he turned me
away, he did not desert me. He recom-
mended me to the service of a little de-
formed groom, remarkably long in the fork,
I think by the name of Johnstone, who
was esteemed an excellent rider, and had
a string of no less than thirteen famous

62 THE TURF

horses, the property of the Duke of Grafton,
under his care. This was acknowledged
to be a service of great repute; but the
shrewd little groom soon discovered that I
had all my trade to learn, and I was again
dismissed.'

After bewailing his misfortune of being
out of place and so far from home in forma
pauperis^ he thus proceeds :

4 1 know not where I got the information,
nor how, but in the very height of my dis-
tress I heard that Mr. John Watson, train-
ing and riding-groom to Captain Vernon,
a gentleman of acute notoriety on the turf,
and in partnership with Lord March, now
Duke of Queensberry, was in want of, but
just then found it difficult to procure, a
stable-boy. To make this pleasing intel-
ligence more welcome, the general character
of John Watson was, that though he was
one of the first grooms in Newmarket, he
was remarkable for being good-tempered ;
yet the manner in which he disciplined his
boys, though mild, was effectual, and few
were in better repute. One consequence
of this, however, was, that if any lad was
dismissed by John Watson, it was not easy

THE TURF 63

for him to find a place.1 With him Jack
Clarke lived, the lad with whom I came
from Nottingham ; this was another fortun-
ate circumstance, and contributed to in-
spire me with confidence. My present
hopes were so strongly contrasted with my
late fears, that they were indeed enviable.
To speak for once in metaphor, I had been
as one of those who walk in the shadow of
the valley of death ; an accidental beam of
sun broke forth, and I had a beatific view
of heaven.

* It was no difficult matter to meet with
John Watson : he was so attentive to stable-
hours that, except on extraordinary occa-
sions, he was always to be found. Being
first careful to make myself look as much
like a stable-boy as I could, I came at the
hour of four (the summer hour for opening
the afternoon stables, giving a slight feed
of oats, and going out to evening exercise),
and ventured to ask if I could see John
Watson. The immediate answer was in
the affirmative. John Watson came, looked

1 This is still the case at Newmarket. No trainer
will take a boy that offers himself until his late master
has been consulted.

64 THE TURF

at me with a serious but good-natured
countenance, and accosted me with, "Well,
my lad, what is your business ? I suppose
I can guess; you want a place?" "Yes,
sir." " Who have you lived with ? " " Mr.
Woodcock on the forest. One of your
boys, Jack Clarke, brought me with him
from Nottingham." " How came you to
leave Mr. Woodcock?" "I had a sad fall
from an iron-grey filly that almost killed
me." "That's bad, indeed; and so you
left him?" "He turned me away, sir"
"That's honest. I like your speaking the
truth. So you are come from him to me?"
At this question I cast my eyes down, and
hesitated, then fearfully answered, "No,
sir." "No ! what, change masters twice in
so short a time ? " "I can't help it, sir, if
I am turned away." This last answer made
him smile. " Where are you now, then ? "
"Mr. Johnstone gave me leave to stay with
the boys a few days." "That's a good
sign. I suppose you mean little Mr. John-
stone at the other end of the town?"
"Yes, sir." "Well, as you have been so
short a time in the stables, I am not sur-
prised he should turn you away ; he would

THE TURF 65

have everybody about him as clever as
himself; they must all know their business
thoroughly ; however, they must learn it
somewhere. I will venture to give you a
trial, but I must first inquire your character
of my good friends Woodcock and John-
stone. Come to-morrow morning at nine,
and you shall have an answer." It may
well be supposed I did not forget the
appointment, and a fortunate one I found
it, for I was accepted on trial, at four
pounds or guineas a year, with the usual
livery clothing/

It was in the service of John Watson
that Holcroft became a horseman, and the
exercise of his skill, in his contest with a
certain strapping dun horse, is very amus-
ingly told : —

'It was John Watson's general practice
to exercise his horses over the flat, and up
Cow-bridge hill; but the rule was not in-
variable. One wintry day he ordered us
up to the Bury hills. It mizzled a very
sharp sleet ; the wind became uncommonly
cutting, and Dun, being remarkable for a
tender skin, found the wind and sleet, which
blew directly up his nostrils, so very pain-

E

66 THE TURF

ful, that it suddenly made him outrageous.
He started from the rank in which he was
walking, tried to unseat me, endeavoured
to set off at full speed, and when he found
he could not master me so as to get head,
began to rear, snorting most violently, threw
out behind, plunged, and used every mis-
chievous exertion of which the muscular
powers of a blood-horse are capable. I,
who felt the uneasiness he suffered before
his violence began, being luckily prepared,
sat firm and as steady and upright as if
this had been his usual exercise. John
Watson was riding beside his horses, and a
groom, I believe it was old Cheevers, broke
out into an exclamation, "By G — d, John,
that's a fine lad!" — "Ay, ay," replied
Watson, highly satisfied, "you will find
some time or other there are few in New-
market that will match him." It will not
be amiss here to remark, that boys with
straight legs, small calves, and knees that
project but little, seldom become excellent
riders. I, on the other hand, was somewhat
bow-legged; I had then the custom of
turning in my toes, and my knees were
protuberant. I soon learned that the safe

THE TURF 67

hold for sitting steady was to keep the
knee and the calf of the leg strongly pressed
against the side of the animal that en-
deavours to unhorse you ; and, as little
accidents afford frequent occasions to re-
mind boys of this rule, it becomes so rooted
in the memory of the intelligent, that their
anger is comparatively trifling.'

Of the comparative good and bad temper
of race-horses, the dramatist thus speaks : —

1 The majority of them are playful, but
their gambols are dangerous to the timid or
unskilful. They are all easily and suddenly
alarmed when anything they do not under-
stand forcibly catches their attention ; and
they are then to be feared by the bad
horseman, and carefully guarded against
by the good. Very serious accidents have
happened to the best. But, besides their
general disposition to playfulness, there is
a great propensity in them to become what
the jockeys call vicious. Tom, the brother
of Jack Clarke, after sweating a grey horse
that belonged to Lord March, with whom
he lived, while he was either scraping or
dressing him, was seized by the animal by
the shoulder, lifted from the ground and

68 THE TURF

carried two or three hundred yards before
the horse loosened his hold. Old Forester,
a horse that belonged to Captain Vernon,
all the while I remained at Newmarket was
obliged to be kept apart, and to live at
grass, where he was confined to a close
paddock. Except Tom Watson, a younger
brother of John, he would suffer no lad to
come near him. If in his paddock, he
would run furiously at the first person that
approached; and if in the stable, would
kick and assault every one within his reach.
When I had been about a year and a half
at Newmarket, Captain Vernon thought
proper to match Forester against Elephant,
a horse belonging to Sir Jennison Shafto,
whom, by the bye, I saw ride this famous
match. It was a four-mile heat over the
straight course; and the abilities of Forester
were such, that he passed the flat, ascended
the hill as far as the distance post, nose to
nose with Elephant, so that John Watson,
who rode him, began to conceive hopes.
Between this and the chair, Elephant, in
consequence of hard whipping, got some
little way before him, while Forester exerted
every possible power to recover at least his

THE TURF 69

lost equality; till finding all his efforts in-
effectual, he 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 diffi-
culty that he could be forced to quit his
hold. Poor Forester! he lost, but he lost
most honourably. Every experienced groom
thought it a most extraordinary circum-
stance.7

Of the stable discipline among the boys,
Holcroft gives the following little speci-
men : —

*I remember to have been so punished
once, with an ashen stick, for falling asleep
in my horse's stall, that the blow, I con-
cluded, was given by Tom Watson, as I
thought no other boy in the stable could
have made so large a wale ; it reached from
the knee to the instep, and was of the
finger's breadth.7

We conclude our extracts from this amus-
ing history of a stable-boy's progress, with
something like a shot at the march of the
present very refined times : —

'I ought to mention, that though I have
spoken of Mr. Johnstone, and may do of

70 THE TURF

more Misters, it is only because I have
forgotten their Christian names ; for, to the
best of my recollection, when I was at
Newmarket, it was the invariable practice
to denominate each groom by his Christian
and surname, unless any one happened to
possess some peculiarities that marked him.
I know not what appellations are given to
grooms at Newmarket at the present day,
but at the time I speak of, if any grooms
had been called Misters, my master would
have been among the number; and his
appellation by everybody, except his own
boys, who called him John, was John
Watson/

We have reason to believe there are no
1 Johns' among the Newmarket trainers of
these times, though we much doubt the
benefit of the change to Mister, and all
the appliances to boot. If we mistake not,
Sir Charles Bunbury's training-groom wore
livery to the last. At all events, New-
market jockeys and their Jennys were not
then to be seen in an Opera-box, which
we find is no uncommon occurrence now.
'A cow at the Opera* would have been
considered equally in her element.

THE TURF 71

Those who have only seen race-horses
on a race-course would be surprised to
witness what diminutive urchins ride many
of them in their training, and the perfect
command they obtain over them. In the
neighbourhood of large racing establish-
ments, the parents of poor children are
glad to embrace an opportunity of putting
them into the stables of a training-groom ;
knowing that they are certain to be well
fed and taken care of, with a fair chance
of rising in the world. But the question
that would suggest itself is, how are the
poor little fellows made equal to the task
of riding so highly spirited an animal as
the race-horse in a few weeks after they
are put to the task? The fact is, that Tom
or Jack is little more than a looker-on for
the first month or so. He makes the other
lads' beds, and performs sundry odd jobs ;
but then he has his eyes open (if he shows
no signs of opening them, he is rejected
in a twinkling), and he sees the other boys
in their saddles, and observes the con-
fidence with which they appear in them.
After a certain time he is placed upon his
master's hack, or a quiet pony, and becomes

72 THE TURF

a spectator on the training-ground. So
soon as he has the rudiments of hand and
seat he is put on the quietest horse in the
string — generally one that has been some
time in training, and has been doing good
work — who follows those that are before
him, without attempting to swerve from
the track, or to play any antic tricks. The
head lad generally heads the gallop, being
the best judge of pace, unless it be neces-
sary to put him on some other horse which
is difficult to ride, and not well calculated
to lead. In that case he generally places
himself second, so that he may instruct the
boy before him ; but all this takes place
under the watchful eye of the trainer.

Order is the beauty and strength of
society; and neither in school nor univer-
sity is regularity of conduct more strictly
enforced than in a training establishment.
In fact, the soldier might as well absent
himself from roll-call, or the sailor from
his watch, as the stable-boy from the hour
of stable. 'Woe to him/ says Holcroft,
' who is absent from stable hours.' In the
morning, however, he is sure to be there;
for, in most cases, the horse he looks after

THE TURF 73

reposes in the same chamber as himself.
This is on a principle of prudence rather
than of economy : horses in high condition
are given to roll in the night, and get cast
in their stalls, and here assistance is at
hand; as, by the means of stirrup-leathers
buckled together, they are extricated from
their awkward situation by the joint efforts
of the boys. We have been told that an
interesting scene takes place on the waken-
ing of the boys in the morning. The event
is anxiously looked for by the horses, who,
when they hear them awaken each other,
neigh and denote their eagerness to be fed,
which is the first step taken. The second
is a proper arrangement of their beds, and
then dressing and exercise. When they
return home the horses are well dressed
again ; the boys break their fast ; and Hoi-
croft spoke from experience when he said,
* Nothing can exceed the enjoyment of a stable-
boy's breakfast.'

Considering the prodigious number of
race-horses in training, and that each horse
has its lad, it is astonishing that rnore
accidents do not occur. As we have before
observed, almost all race-horses are playful

=

;

74 THE TURF

and * horse play is rough/ But we do not
wonder at their becoming vicious : — highly
bred as they are, hot in blood, and their
tender and nearly hairless skins irritated
by a coarse brush, and, after sweating,
scraped with rather a sharp wooden in-
strument,— that, we repeat, is no wonder.
Nevertheless, it seldom happens that they
hurt the boys who look after them. Indeed,
it is an interesting sight to witness a little
urchin of a stable-boy approach, with perfect
safety to himself, an animal that would
perhaps be the death of the strongest man
in the land who might be rash enough to
place himself within his reach. To what
shall we attribute this passive obedience
of an animal of such vast power and proud
spirit to a diminutive member of the crea-
tion— an abortion of nature, indeed, as we
might be almost induced to call him —
whether to self-interest or to gratitude, to
love or to fear, or to that unspeakable magic
power which the Almighty has given to the
eye and voice of even the child of man ?

Precocity of intellect in a stunted frame
is the grand desideratum in a Newmarket
nursery, where chubby cheeks and the ' fine

THE TURF 75

boy for his age ' would be reckoned defor-
mities. There are some good specimens
of the pigmy breed now at Newmarket;
John Day, for instance, has produced a
facsimile of himself, cast in the exact mould
for the saddle, and who can ride about
four stone. These feather-weights are abso-
lutely necessary where two-year colts are
brought to the post, and they sometimes
ride a winning race ; though if it comes to a
struggle, as the term is, they are almost
certain to be defeated by the experienced
jockey. But, speaking seriously, it is a
great blessing to the rider of races to be
of a diminutive size, to prevent the hardship
and inconvenience of wasting — a most
severe tax on the constitution and temper.
On this subject the following memorandum
of some questions addressed by Sir John
Sinclair to the late Mr. Sandiver, an eminent
surgeon, long resident at Newmarket, and
a pretty constant spectator of the races, with
Mr. S.'s answers, may amuse our readers : —
' How long does the training of jockeys
generally continue? — With those in high
repute, from about three weeks before
Easter to the end of October ; but a week

76 THE TURF

or ten days are quite sufficient for a rider
to reduce himself from his natural weight
to sometimes a stone and a half below it.
What food do they live on ? — For break-
fast, a small piece of bread and butter,
with tea in moderation. Dinner is taken
very sparingly; a very small piece of pudding
and less meat ; and when fish is to be
obtained, neither one nor the other is
allowed. Wine and water is the usual
beverage, in the proportion of one pint
to two of water. Tea in the afternoon,
with little or no bread and butter, and no
supper. What exercise do they get, and
what hours of rest ? — After breakfast, having
sufficiently loaded themselves with clothes,
that is, with five or six waistcoats, two
coats, and as many pairs of breeches, a
severe walk is taken, from ten to fifteen
miles. After their return home, dry clothes
are substituted for those that are wet with
perspiration, and, if much fatigued, some
of them lie down for an hour or so before
their dinner; after which no severe exercise
is taken, but the remaining part of the
day is spent in a way most agreeable to
themselves. They generally go to bed by

THE TURF 77

nine o'clock, and continue there till six or
seven next morning. What medicine do
they take ? — Some of them, who do not like
excessive walking, have recourse to purgative
medicines, Glauber salts only. Would Mr.
Sandiver recommend a similar process to
reduce corpulency in other persons? — Mr.
Sandiver would recommend a similar process
to reduce corpulency in either sex, as the
constitution does not appear to be injured
by it; but he is apprehensive that hardly
any person could be prevailed upon to
submit to such severe discipline who had
not been inured to it from his youth. The
only additional information that Mr. Sandi-
ver has the power to communicate is, that
John Arnull, when rider to his Royal High-
ness the Prince of Wales, was desired to
reduce himself as much as he possibly could,
to enable him to ride a particular horse,
in consequence of which he abstained from
animal, and even from farinaceous food,
for eight successive days, and the only
substitute was now and then an apple.
He was not injured by it. Dennis Fitz-
patrick, a person continually employed as
a rider, declares that he is less fatigued,

78 THE TURF

and has more strength to contend with a
determined horse in a severe race, when
moderately reduced, than when allowed to
live as he pleased, although he never weighs
more than nine stone, and has frequently
reduced himself to seven.' l

The present system of wasting varies
from the one here described, and particu-
larly as to the length of the walk, which
appears to have been unnecessarily severe.
The modern Newmarket jockey seldom
exceeds four miles out, and then he has a
house to stop at in which there is a large
fire, by which the perspiration is very much
increased. Indeed, it sometimes becomes
so excessive, that he may be seen scraping
it off the uncovered parts of his person
after the manner in which the race-horse
is scraped, using a small horn for the pur-
pose. After sitting a while by the fire and
drinking some diluted liquid, he walks back
to Newmarket, swinging his arms as he
proceeds, which increases the muscular
action. Sufficiently cool to strip, his body
is rubbed dry and fresh clothed, when,

1 Arnull died at the age of 62; Fitzpatrick at 42,
from a cold taken in wasting.

THE TURF 79

besides the reduction of his weight, the
effect is visible on his skin, which has a
remarkably transparent hue. In fact, he
may be said to show condition after every
sweat, till he looks as sleek as the horse he
is going to ride. But the most mortifying
attendant upon wasting is the rapid accumu-
lation of flesh immediately on a relaxation
of the system, it having often happened
that jockeys, weighing not more than seven
stone, have gained as many pounds in one
day, from merely obeying the common
dictates of nature, committing no excess.
Non misere vivit qui pard vtvit1 is an
acknowledged truism; but during the racing
season, a jockey in high practice, who — as
is the case with Chifney, Robinson, Dockery,
and Scott — is naturally above our light
racing weights, is subject to no trifling
mortification. Like the good Catholic,
however, when Lent expires, he feels him-
self at liberty when the racing season is at
an end ; and on the last day of the Hough-
ton Meeting, Frank Buckle had always a
goose for supper \ his labours for the season
being then concluded. But it will naturally
1 He does not live unhappily who lives sparingly.

8o THE TURF

be asked how these persons employ or
amuse themselves during the dead months,
of which there are five. At Newmarket,
we believe, just as they did in Holcroft's
time, in visiting their friends, coursing, and
cock-fighting — the latter a favourite amuse-
ment,— but with no species of gambling,
beyond a few shillings on the event of a
course or a battle. A few also take the
diversion of hunting, or any other outdoor
amusement that keeps the body in play.
Most of them have neat and well-furnished
houses, and appear to enjoy the comforts
of life.

Among the conspicuous characters on the
English turf of past and present days it is
hard to say who stands foremost, but we
suppose we must give the pas to the Duke
of Cumberland, great uncle to his present
majesty, as the breeder, and to Mr. O'Kelly,
as the fortunate possessor of Eclipse, and
other horses whose character and fame have
never yet been eclipsed. It will also be
remembered that the duke bred Marsk, the
sire of Eclipse; and Herod, who not only,
like Eclipse, beat every horse that could be
brought against him, at four, five, and six

THE TURF 8 1

years old, but transmitted a more numerous
and better stock to posterity than any other
horse ever did before, or has ever done
since — amongst others, Highflyer. From
the death of Charles n. till the period of
the duke's coming upon the turf, racing had
languished, perhaps from want of more
support from the crown and the higher
aristocracy, and his royal highness was the
man to revive it.

1 But,' as has been observed, 'this was
not effected without an immensity of ex-
pense, and an incredible succession of losses
to the sharks, Greeks, and blacklegs of that
time, by whom his royal highness was sur-
rounded, and, of course, incessantly pil-
laged. Having, however, in the greatness
of his mind, the military maxim of " per-
severe and conquer," he was not deterred
from the object of his pursuit, till, having
just become possessed of the best stock,
best blood, and most numerous stud in the
kingdom, beating his opponents at all points,
he suddenly "passed that bourne from
whence no traveller returns," an irreparable
loss to the turf, and universally lamented by
the kingdom at large.'

82 THE TURF

One of the heaviest matches of former or
of present days was run at Newmarket, in
1764, between his royal highnesses famous
horse, King Herod, as he was then called,
and the late Duke of Grafton's Antinous,
by Blank, over the Beacon course, for one
thousand pounds a side, and won by Herod
by half a neck. Upwards of one hundred
thousand pounds were depending on this
event, and the interest created by it was
immense. His royal highness was likewise
the founder of the Ascot race meeting, now
allowed to be only second to Newmarket.

In point of judgment in racing, Mr.
O'Kelly was undoubtedly the first man of
his day ; although, were he to appear at the
present time, it is admitted that he would
have a good deal to learn. For example,
his suffering Eclipse to distance his com-
petitors, in a race for a bet, would be con-
sidered the act of a novice. As a breeder,
however, he became unequalled ; and from
the blood of his Volunteer and Dungannon,
in particular, the turf derived signal ad-
vantage. Both were got by Eclipse, who
was the sire of no less than one hundred
and sixty winners, many of them the best

THE TURF 83

racers of their day, such as Alexander and
Meteor (the latter pre-eminent), Pot-8-o's,
Soldier, Saltram, Mercury, Young Eclipse,
etc. In 1793, Mr. O'Kelly advertised no less
than forty-six in-foal mares for sale, chiefly
by Volunteer and Dungannon, Eclipse
being then dead, which fetched great prices,
and were particularly sought after by his
late majesty, then deeply engaged on the
turf. It is confidently asserted, that O'Kelly
cleared ten thousand pounds by the dam of
Soldier, from her produce by Eclipse and
Dungannon ; and his other mares, of which
he had often fifty and upwards in his
possession, were the source of immense
gain.

As a breeder coeval with the royal duke
and O'Kelly, the late Earl Grosvenor stands
conspicuous. Indeed, we believe his lord-
ship's stud for many years of his life was
unrivalled in Europe ; but such are the ex-
penses of a large breeding establishment,
that although he was known to have won
nearly two hundred thousand pounds on the
race-course, the balance was said to be against
him at the last ! Earl Grosvenor, however,
was a great ornament to the English turf;

84 THE TURF

he ran his horses honestly and truly, and
supported the country races largely. His
three famous stud-horses were John Bull,
Alexander, and Meteor, the latter by Eclipse,
and the two former perhaps the largest and
the noblest thorough-bred horses ever seen
in England, and the sires of many good
ones ; but his two best racers were Meteora,
not fifteen hands high, and Violante; the
latter the best four-miler of her day.1 The
earl was the first patron of Stubbs, the horse-
painter, whose pencil may be said to have
founded a new branch of the art in this
country, on which the painters of the present
day have improved, adhering more closely
to nature than their exemplar. The late
Duke of Bedford was likewise a great patron
of the turf previously to his taking to farm-
ing, and had more than thirty horses in
training at one time. Among these was
Grey Diomed, remarkable for his races with
Escape and Traveller at Newmarket; also
Skyscraper, Fidget, and Dragon.2 His

1 Francis Buckle always insisted on John Bull having
been the best horse, and Violante the best mare he ever
rode over a course.

2 The grandfather of Mr. Stevens, the trainer, late
of Bourton-on-the-Hill, but now of Ilsley, Berk-

THE TURF 85

grace was a great loser, and probably retired
in disgust. Charles Fox was also deep in
the mysteries of the turf, and a very heavy
bettor. The father of the present Prince
(the trainer) trained for him, and South
and Chifney were his jockeys ; but the dis-
temper in his stables ruined his stud. These
were also the days of the then Dukes of
Kingston, Cleveland, Ancaster, Bridgewater,
and Northumberland; Lords Rockingham,
Bolingbroke, Chedworth,B anymore, Ossory,
Abingdon, and Foley; Messrs. Shafto,
Wentworth, Panton, Smith Barry, Ralph
Button, Wildman, Meynell, Bullock, and
others, who were running their thousand-
guinea matches, and five hundred-guinea
sweepstakes, most of them over the Beacon
course, and with the finest horses perhaps
the world ever saw; and also, considering
the difference in the value of money, for
nearly as large stakes as those of present
times, a few only excepted.

Another of the noted turf characters of
those days was the Honourable Richard

shire, — where, perhaps, is the best ground in
England for the purpose,— trained those celebrated
horses.

86 THE TURF

Vernon, commonly called Dick Vernon,
owner of the famous horse Woodpecker,
with whom he won the Craven Stakes no
less than three times. He was an excellent
judge of racing, backed his horses freely,
and was the best bettor of his day, as may
be inferred from the following page of
Holcroft's Memoirs : —

' In addition to matches, plates, and
other modes of adventure, that of a sweep-
stakes had come into vogue ; and the
opportunity it gave to deep calculators to
secure themselves from loss by hedging
their bets, greatly multiplied the bettors,
and gave uncommon animation to the
sweepstakes mode. In one of these Cap-
tain Vernon had entered a colt, and as the
prize to be obtained was great, the whole
stable was on the alert. It was prophesied
that the race would be a severe one; for,
although the horses had none of them run
before, they were all of the highest breed ;
that is, their sires and dams were in the
first lists of fame. As was foreseen, the
contest was indeed a severe one, for it
could not be decided — // was a dead heat \
but our colt was by no means among the

THE TURF 87

first. Yet so adroit was Captain Vernon in
hedging his bets, that if one of the two
colts that made it a dead heat had beaten,
our master would, on that occasion, have
won ten thousand pounds: as it was, he lost
nothing, nor would in any case have lost any-
thing. In the language of the turf, he stood
ten thousand pounds to nothing! A fact so
extraordinary to ignorance, and so splendid
to poverty/ continues Holcroft, ' could not
pass through a mind like mine without
making a strong impression, which the tales
told by the boys of the sudden rise of
gamblers, their empty pockets at night, and
their hats full of guineas in the morning,
only tended to increase.'

And in truth it was not without effect;
for poor Holcroft began betting next morn-
ing, and before the week ended half of his
year's wages were gone ! Another staunch
hero of the turf was the late Earl of Cler-
mont, the breeder of Trumpator, from
whom were descended all the ators of after
days, viz., Paynator, Venator, Spoliator,
Drumator, Ploughator, Amator, Pacificator,
etc. ; besides which he was the sire of
Sorcerer, Penelope, Tuneful, Chippenham,

88 THE TURF

Orangeflower, his late majesty's famous
gelding Rebel, and several other first-rates.
Lord Clermont also was a great contributor
to the turf by bringing with him from
Ireland the famous jockey, Dennis Fitz-
patrick, son of one of his tenants. We
have his lordship, indeed, before us this
moment, on his pony on the heath, and his
string of long-tailed race-horses, reminding
us of very early days.

The late Sir Charles Bunbury's ardour for
the turf was conspicuous to his last hour.
He was the only man that ever won the
Derby and Oaks with the same horse,1
and he was the breeder of many of the
first racers of his time — Smolensko among
them. When this very celebrated horse
started for the Derby — which he won — his
owner led him in his hand, after he was
saddled, and delivered him up to his jockey
(Goodison), with the following pithy remark :
c Here is your horse, Tom ; he will do his
duty, if you will do yours \ ' Sir Charles
was likewise very instrumental in doing away
with the four- mile races at Newmarket,
and substituting shorter ones in their stead.

1 The celebrated Eleanor, in 1801.

THE TURF 89

Some imputed this to the worthy baronet's
humanity, whilst others, more correctly we
believe, were of opinion that short races
better suited his favourite blood. The
Whiskeys and Sorcerers, for example, have
been more celebrated for speed than for
stoutness, although, where the produce from
them has been crossed with some of our
stout blood (for instance, Truffle and Bour-
bon), they have been found to run on. On
the whole, Sir Charles, latterly, with the
exception of Muley, had got into a soft sort.
He was also a bad keeper of his young
stock, and would not be beaten out of his
old prejudices in favour of grass and large
paddocks. Had some persons we could
name been possessed of his stud— imperfect,
perhaps, as it might have been as far as the
real object of breeding horses is at stake —
they would have won everything before
them at the present distances and weights.
His much-talked-of, and justly celebrated,
Smolensko died rather early in life, and his
stock, with a few exceptions, did not realise
the hopes and expectation of the sporting
world.

The name and exploits of the late Duke

90 THE TURF

of Queensberry (( Old Q.') will never be for-
gotten by the sporting world ; for whether
we consider his judgment, his ingenuity,
his invention, or his success, he was one of
the most distinguished characters on the
English turf. His horse Dash, by Florizel,
bred by Mr. Vernon, beat Sir Peter Teazle
over the six-mile course at Newmarket for
one thousand guineas, having refused five
hundred forfeit;1 also his late majesty's
Don Quixote, the same distance and for the
same sum; and, during the year 1789, he
won two other one thousand-guinea matches,
the last against Lord Barrymore's High-
lander, eight stone seven pounds each,
three times round £ the round course j or very
nearly twelve miles ! His carriage match,
nineteen miles in one hour, with the same
horses, and those four of the highest bred
ones of the day, was undoubtedly a great
undertaking, nor do we believe it has ever
been exceeded. His singular bet of con-
veying a letter fifty miles within an hour,
was a trait of genius in its line. The MS.
being enclosed in a cricket ball, and handed

1 Dash carried six stone seven pounds. Sir Peter nine
stone.

THE TURF 91

from one to the other of twenty-four expert
cricketers, was delivered safe within the
time. The duke's stud was not so numerous
as some of those of his contemporaries on
the turf, but he prided himself on the
excellence of it. His principal rider was
the famous Dick Goodison, father of the
present jockey, in whose judgment he had
much reliance. But, in the language of the
turf, his grace was 'wide awake,' and at
times would rely on no one. Having, on
one occasion, reason to know — the jockey,
indeed, had honestly informed him of it —
that a large sum of money was offered his
man if he would lose — * Take it,' said the
duke; 'I will bear you harmless.' When
the horse came to the post, his grace coolly
observed, 'This is a nice horse to ride; I
think I '11 ride him myself ; when, throwing
open his greatcoat, he was found to be in
racing attire, and, mounting, won without
a struggle.

The name of Wilson commands great
respect on the turf, there being no less
than three equally conspicuous and equally
honourable sportsmen thus yclept. Mr,
Christopher Wilson, now the father of the

92 THE TURF

turf, and perpetual steward of Newmarket,
resides at Beilby Grange near Wetherby, in
Yorkshire, where he has a small but very
fashionably bred stud, and was the owner
of Chateau Margaux, now in America, and
Comus. He is the only man who claims
the honour of winning the Derby and
St. Leger stakes the same year, with the
same horse, which he did with Champion,
by Pot-8-o's, ridden in each race by Francis
Buckle.1 The turf is highly indebted to
this gentleman, not only for his paternal
care of its general interests and welfare,
but for having, by his amiable and con-
ciliatory manners and conduct, united the
sportsmen of the north and south, and
divested their matches and engagements of
some disagreeable features which had pre-
viously been too prominent. Mr. Richard
Wilson, now no more, resided at Bildeston,
in Suffolk, and was one of the largest
breeders of racing stock, of which he had
an annual sale ; and Lord Berners, late
Colonel Wilson of Didlington, near Brandon,
Suffolk, has likewise some capital mares,

1 It is remarkable that both Champion and Hamble-
tonian had a hip down.

THE TURF 93

and bred Sir Mark Wood's Camarine, the
best mare of her day. His lordship was
the owner of her sire, Juniper, now dead,
and at present has the stud-horse Lamp-
lighter.

The star of the race-course of modern
times was the late Colonel Mellish, certainly
the cleverest man of his day, as regards the
science and practice of the turf. No one
could match (i.e. make matches) with him,
nor could any one excel him in handi-
capping horses in a race. But, indeed,
6 nihil erat quod non tetigit ; nihil quod
tetigit non ornavit? He beat Lord Frederick
Bentinck in a foot race over Newmarket
heath. He was a clever painter, a fine
horseman, a brave soldier, a scientific
farmer, and an exquisite coachman. But,
as his friends said of him, not content with
being the second-best man of his day, he
would be the first, which was fatal to his
fortune and his fame. It, however, de-
lighted us to see him in public, in the
meridian of his almost unequalled popu-
larity, and the impression he made upon
us remains. We remember even the style
of his dress, peculiar for its lightness of

94 THE TURF

hue — his neat white hat, white trousers,
white silk stockings, ay, and we may add,
his white, but handsome, face. There was
nothing black about him but his hair and
his mustachios, which he wore by virtue
of his commission, and which to him were
an ornament. The like of his style of
coming on the race-course at Newmarket
was never witnessed there before him, nor
since. He drove his barouche himself,
drawn by four beautiful white horses, with
two outriders on matches to them, ridden
in harness bridles. In his rear was a
saddle-horse groom, leading a thorough-
bred hack, and at the rubbing-post on the
heath was another groom — all in crimson
liveries — waiting with a second hack. But
we marvel when we think of his establish-
ment. We remember him with thirty-eight
race-horses in training; seventeen coach-
horses, twelve hunters in Leicestershire,
four chargers at Brighton, and not a few
hacks ! But the worst is yet to come. By
his racing speculations he was a gainer,
his judgment pulling him through ; but
when we had heard that he would play to
the extent of forty thousand pounds at a

THE TURF 95

sitting — yes, he once staked that sum on a
throw — we were not surprised that the
domain of Blythe passed into other hands ;
and that the once accomplished owner of
it became the tenant of a premature grave.
1 The bowl of pleasure/ said Johnson, 'is
poisoned by reflection on the cost'; and
here it was drunk to the dregs. Colonel
Hellish ended his days, not in poverty, for
he acquired a competency with his lady,
but in a small house within sight of the
mansion that had been the pride of his
ancestors and himself. As, however, the
wind is tempered to the shorn lamb, Colonel
Hellish was not without consolation; — he
never wronged any one but himself, and, as
an owner of race-horses and a bettor, his
character was without spot.

Among other leading sportsmen of the
turf, now no more, were the late Duke of
Grafton, and Douglass, Duke of Hamilton.
The Duke of Grafton was a keen sports-
man, and an excellent judge of racing ; and
his horses having been well and honestly
ridden by South, he was among the few
great winners amongst great men. It is
somewhat singular that the success of the

96 THE TURF

Grafton stud may be traced to one mare,
and therefore the history of her is worth
relating. In 1756, Julia, by Blank, was
bred by Mr. Panton, of great Newmarket
fame (her pedigree running back not only
to Bay Bolton, Barley's Arabian, and the
Byerly Turk, but beyond the Lord Pro-
tector's White Turk, generally the ne plus
ultra of pedigrees, to the Taffolet Barb,
and the Natural Barb mare), and at seven
years old was put into the Duke's stud,
and produced Promise, by Snap, Promise
produced Prunella, by Highflyer, the dam
of eleven first-rate horses, whose names
(after the manner of fox-hounds) all begin
with the letter P, the first letter of the
mare's name, and she is said to have
realised to the Grafton family little short
of one hundred thousand pounds. In fact,
all breeders of race-horses try for a strain
of the justly celebrated Prunella. The all-
graceful Hamilton (often called 'Zeluco')
was equally conspicuous in the North, and
celebrated for stout blood. He won the
St. Leger no less than seven times, a
circumstance quite unparalleled on the turf:
and ran first for it the eighth, but the

THE TURF 97

stakes were given to Lord Fitzwilliam, his
grace's rider having jostled.

Coming nearer to our own times, Sir
Harry Vane Tempest and Mr. Robert
Heathcote made great appearances with
their studs, as well as the heavy engage-
ments they entered into; and such horses
as Schedoni, the property of the latter, and
Hambletonian, Rolla, and Cockfighter, of
the former, are very seldom produced.
Vivaldi, by Woodpecker, also the property
of Mr. Heathcote, was the sire of more
good hunters than almost any other in
England, and the very mention of their
being 'by Vivaldi/ sold them. Hamble-
tonian was one of the meteors of the day.
Sir Frank Standish, and his Yellow mare —
the breeder of Stamford, Eagle, Didelot,
Parisot, and Archduke, all Derby and Oaks
winners, except Stamford, one of the best
of our stud-horses — must not be passed
unnoticed, not only as a sportsman, but
as the true stamp of an English country
gentleman. Sir Ferdinand Poole also cut
a great figure on the turf with his Waxy,
Worthy, Wowski, etc. ; and could some of
our present breeders of race-horses have
G

98 THE TURF

now before their eyes Maria, by Herod,
out of Lisette by Snap, and Macaria, by
Herod, out of Titania by Shakespeare, the
one the dam of Waxy, and the other of
Mealy, we have reason to believe that they
would turn away from many of their own
mares in disgust. His contemporary, Mr.
Howorth, was likewise strong in horses,
and an excellent judge of making a book
on a race. But Mr. Bullock, generally
known as 'Tom Bullock/ was, we believe,
more awake than any of them, and was
often heard to declare, that he should wish
for nothing more in this world than to be
taken for a fool at Newmarket.

We find the Prince of Wales (George iv.),
in 1788, when only in his twenty-sixth
year, a winner of the Derby. In 1789 he
accompanied the Duke of York to York
races, where he purchased his famous horse,
Traveller, by Highflyer, which ran the
grand match against the late Duke of
Bedford's Grey Diomed, on which it is
supposed there was more money depending
than was ever before known, or has ever
been heard of since. But it was in the
years 1790 and 1791 that his late majesty's

THE TURF 99

stud was so conspicuous — the days of
Baronet and Escape ; the former notorious
for winning the Ascot Oatlands, beating
eighteen picked horses of England, with
twenty to one against him; and the latter
for his various races against Grey Diomed,
which caused his royal owner's retirement
from Newmarket. This is now an old
story; and though we should be among
the first to say —

' Curse on the coward or perfidious tongue
That dares not e'en to kings avow the truth,'

yet we think the Jockey Club dealt rather
hardly by the young prince, and he was
quite right in refusing their invitation to
return. We wish for proof before we con-
demn; and we think proof was wanting
here. Where were the orders to the jockey
to lose, and where was the money won by
losing? We can hear of neither. But if
the change to a certain extent in a horse's
running (accounted for by the late Samuel
Chifney,1 by the treatment of Escape) is of
itself enough to damage the character of

1 In his book Genius Genuine, published in 1804 ;
' Sold for the Author, 232 Piccadilly and nowhere else,'
as saith the title-page. Price 5/. !

ioo THE TURF

his owner, what would have become of that
of his royal highness's principal accuser, the
late Sir Charles Bunbury? Look at the
running of his Eleanor : it is well known
she was the winner of both Derby and
Oaks — the best mare of her day. Well ! at
Huntingdon she was beaten by a common
plater, a mare called Two Shoes, ten to one
on Eleanor. The next week at Egham, she
beat a first-rate race-horse, Bobadil, and
several others, ten to one on Bobadil. In
both these cases money was lost, and the
question that follows is, — who won it ? But
Sir Charles too is in his grave, and there-
fore we say — ' requiescat in pace}

After quitting Newmarket, his late majesty
was a great supporter of country races,
sending such horses as Knowsley, by Sir
Peter, and others nearly as good, to run
heats for plates ; and he particularly patron-
ised the meetings of Brighton and Lewes,
which acquired high repute. But Bibury
was his favourite race-ground ; where,
divesting himself of the shackles of state,
he appeared as a private gentleman for
several years in succession, an inmate of
Lord Sherborne's family, and with the

THE TURF 10 1

Duke of Dorset, then Lord Sackville, for
his jockey. During the last ten years of
his majesty's life, racing appeared to interest
him more than it had ever done before;
and by the encouragement he then gave
to Ascot and Goodwood, he contributed
towards making them the most fashionable,
and by far the most agreeable meetings —
we believe we may say — in the world.
Perhaps the day on which his three favour-
ite horses, Fleur-de-lis, Zinganee, and the
Colonel, came in first, second, and third,
for the cup at the latter place, was one of
the proudest of his life.

The stud of George iv., however, was
not altogether so successful as it ought to
have been from the great expense bestowed
upon it, and the large prices given for race-
horses bred by other sportsmen. Among
those of his own breeding perhaps Whiskey,
Manfred, and his favourite mare Maria were
the best. The latter was a great winner —
yet made but small amends for persevering
in breeding from her sire. The Colonel
and Fleur-de-lis were also great winners —
the latter decidedly the best mare of her
year, either in the north or in the south,

102 THE TURF

and her symmetry not to be excelled. The
two last were purchased at very high prices,
and now form part of the royal stud, as
also does Maria. The history of this mare
is worth notice. When, from prudential
motives, the royal stud at Hampton Court
was broken up, Waterloo and Belvoirina,
still in the stud, were the only two kept,
and their produce was the said Maria.
Miss Wasp, the dam of Vespa, a winner of
the Oaks, was likewise bred by George iv.

In his majesty's long career on the turf,
he of course had several trainers and as
many jockeys. Among the latter were the
late celebrated Samuel Chifney, and South,
who rode his horses at Newmarket, and,
afterwards, Richard Goodison and Robin-
son. Latterly, however, he imported one
from the north, the well-known George
Nelson, who gave him unbounded satis-
faction. His trainers were Neale and
Casborne in former days ; but latterly
William Edwards, of Newmarket, who
enjoys a pension for life, and the use of
the royal stables. The last time George iv.
was at Ascot was in 1829, but he lived to
hear of the next year's meeting. He was

THE TURF 103

on the bed of death ; and so strong was
the { ruling passion ' in this awful hour —
and his majesty was well aware his hour
was come — that an express was sent to him
after every race.

The late Duke of York was equally de-
voted to the turf: and, in 1816, we find
his royal highness a winner of the Derby,
with Prince Leopold, and, in 1822, with
Moses ; the former bred by Lord Durham,
the latter by himself. His racing career
may be said to have commenced at Ascot,
where he established the Oatland stakes,
which at one period were more than equal in
value to the Derby, being a hundred-guinea
subscription. Indeed, we have reason to
believe, that when they were won by his
late majesty's Baronet — beating eighteen of
the picked horses in England, his own
Escape amongst the lot — there was more
money depending than had ever been
before, excepting on two occasions. His
majesty won seventeen thousand pounds by
the race, and would have won still more
had Escape been the winner. We wish we
could add to this trifling sketch a long list of
his royal highness's winnings ; but the Duke

io4 THE TURF

of York was on the turf what the Duke
of York was everywhere — good-humoured,
unsuspecting, and confiding; qualifications,
however creditable to human nature, ill
fitted for a race-course. It is therefore
scarcely necessary to say, that his royal
highness was no winner by his horses, nor
indeed by anything else ; and we much fear
that his heavy speculations on the turf were
among the chief causes of those pecuniary
embarrassments which disturbed the latter
years of one against whose high and chival-
rous feelings of honour and integrity no
human creature that knew anything of him
ever breathed a whisper. In 1825, we find
the duke with sixteen horses to his name,
and with the exception of two, a most sorry
lot-, but, previously to that period, he had
incurred severe loss by persevering in breed-
ing from Aladdin and Giles. The stud
usually ran in Mr. Greville's name ; were
trained by Butler, of Newmarket, now de-
ceased; and chiefly ridden by Goodison,
who did the best he could for them.

The late Earl of Fitzwilliam was dis-
tinguished by the princely way in which
he conducted his stud, and the magnificence

THE TURF 105

of his retinue on the race-course. His
lordship was likewise the breeder of some
eminent racers, amongst which were the
justly famous Orville — an incalculable
treasure to the British turf — and Mulatto,
who beat Memnon, Fleur-de-lis, Bedlamite,
Tarrare, winner of the St. Leger in 1826,
Non-plus, Fanny Davis, Starch, Longwaist —
in fact, all the best horses in the north, —
and ran second to Tarrare for the St. Leger.
Earl Fitzwilliam never sent his horses south,
but was a great supporter of York and
Doncaster, and won the Fitzwilliam stakes
at the latter place in 1826 with the horse
we have just been speaking of. He was
got by Cattan, also bred by his lordship,
out of Desdemona by Orville — all his own
blood — grandam Fanny by Highflyer. The
stud is now broken up.

The late venerable Earl of Derby was all
his life a warm supporter of racing. Next,
perhaps, to Eclipse and Herod, no horse
that has ever appeared has been equal to
Sir Peter Teazle as a stud horse, — we
believe he produced more winners than any
other on record. In him were united the
best blood which this country can boast

io6 THE TURF

of, — King Herod, Blank, Snap, Regulus,
and the Godolphin Arabian. As, however,
the sun is not without its spots, Sir Peter
was not without a blemish. His own legs
gave way at four years old, and those of
his produce were not, on an average, good ;
notwithstanding which, as we before stated,
their winnings are without a parallel, barring
those from the stock of the unparalleled
Eclipse. The following anecdote is, we
believe, authentic. Doctor Brandreth, the
family physician at Knowsley, was com-
missioned by the then American consul to
offer Lord Derby seven thousand guineas
for Sir Peter Teazle, which his lordship
refused, having, as he said, already refused
ten : he certainly would have been a loser,
had he accepted the offer. The present
earl cared little for racing ; but Lord Stanley
is likely to do credit to the blood of Sir
Peter, as well as to the name he bears.

The present Duke of Dorset, when Lord
Sackville, not only showed himself an
admirable judge of a race-horse, but few
jockeys by profession could ride one better ;
and, indeed, at one period of his life, few
of them were in much greater practice.

THE TURF 107

His grace was always cautious in his en-
gagements, but from his perfect knowledge
of his horses, generally placed them winners.
In the days of Expectation, Lucan, and
others, he won all before him ; but mark
the change of the times ! Looking into the
Calendar for 1800, we find Expectation by
Sir Peter, out of Zilia by Eclipse, running
four miles at Lewes, and beating two very
stout mares : — for what ! Why, for the sum
of sixty guineas, which could not pay the
expenses ! But then another of his horses,
and a good one too (Laborie by Delpini),
wins a fifty-pound plate the same year at
Winchester ; the best of three four-mile heats \
Were the Duke of Dorset on the turf now,
he would have something better to do with
such horses as Expectation and Laborie !

The present Duke of Grafton has been
a great winner, having inherited, with his
domains, the virtues of old Prunella, but
owes some of his success to his late brother,
Lord Henry Fitzroy, whose judgment in
racing was equal to any man's. With the
assistance then of Lord Henry, the training
of Robson, and the good riding of the late
Frank Buckle, John Day, William Clift,

io8 THE TURF

and others, his grace has done very well,
although, since the retirement of Robson,
the honours of the turf have not poured in
so thickly upon him. The duke, however,
has no reason to complain, having won the
Derby stakes four times, and the Oaks
eight; and, as Buckle said of himself, '-most
of the good things at Newmarket,' for a few
years in succession. Indeed, unless we
have made a mistake in our figures, his
grace pocketed the comfortable sum of
thirteen thousand pounds in the year 1825,
from public stakes alone ! But we must do
the Duke of Grafton the justice to say, that
in his stable he has marched with the times,
his horses having been always forward in
their work, the grand desideratum in a
training-stable. His grace also deserves
success, for he is a nobleman of high
character on the turf, and, unlike too many
owners of race-horses whom we could name,
always runs to win. The Duke of Grafton's
stable is, in consequence, heavily backed,
when it brings out good horses for any of
the great stakes ; and we are happy to add
it is at present in good force, having eight
or nine two-year olds in training at New-

THE TURF 109

market, instead of selling them, as has been
the case the last four or five years.

The Duke of Portland has been a steady
and ever honourable patron of the English
turf; but his stud is now small. In fact,
since winning the Derby with Tiresias, in
1819, the tide of fortune appears to have
turned against his stable, and he has not
done much. His grace has, however, lately
shown himself a zealous advocate for pre-
serving the strength, stoutness, and vigour
of the English race-horse, which it is feared
has been on the decline, by the munificent
donation of three hundred pounds to a one
hundred guineas handicap-stakes, at New-
market, now called the ' Portland Handi-
cap ' ; distance, the last three miles of the
Beacon course. His Grace of Rutland has
become slack, nor, indeed, has his stable
brought out more than five horses the last
two years. He won the Derby with Cad-
land (whom he bred), after a dead heat
with the Colonel— a circumstance previously
unknown for that great race — and the Oaks
with Sorcery and Medora. On the other
hand, the Duke of Cleveland's passion for
the turf appears to grow with his years, <yhis

no THE TURF

grace having been the best buyer of the
present century. He gave three thousand
five hundred guineas for Trustee and
Liverpool, and but a few years back, no
less than twelve thousand pounds for four
horses, namely, Swiss, Serab, Barefoot, and
Memnon, the two last winners of the St.
Leger for Mr. Watt. The Duke of Cleve-
land never won the St. Leger till 1831, with
Chorister, nor was he ever winner of either
of the great Epsom stakes ; but in the days
of Agonistes and Haphazard his stable was
the terror of the north, and his grace was a
great winner of cups, though he afterwards
flew at higher game. His match with
Pavilion, against Colonel Mellish's Sancho,
at Newmarket, in 1806, was one of the
greatest races of modern days, as to the
extent of betting ; and immense sums were
lost on Agonistes, when he was beat by
Champion, for the St. Leger, in 1800. His
grace has had good horses in his stable
of late years ; among them Trustee, and
Emancipation by Whisker, who had the
honour of receiving forfeit from Priam,
receiving nine pounds : likewise Muley
Moloch, the winner of the York Derby

THE TURF in

stakes at the Spring Meeting, 1832; and
Liverpool, of the gold cup. The duke is
one of the heaviest bettors on the turf; and
few men know more of racing, or indeed of
anything relating to the sports of the turf or
field.1 The Duke of Richmond has been
one of the most zealous supporters of the
turf, having expended a very large sum on
the racecourse at Goodwood, now the first
country meeting in England, after Epsom,
Ascot, and Doncaster. His grace has been
a considerable winner, but his stud is
greatly diminished. He won the Oaks,
with Gulnare, in 1827, and has had quite
his share of success, being remarkable for
very seldom bringing out a bad racer.

The Lord of Exeter stands first of the
Marquises on the turf. His lordship has
been a great winner, having carried the
Oaks with Augusta, Green Mantle, and
Galata, and many of the good things at
Newmarket and elsewhere ; but, somewhat
extraordinary, he has never been a winner
of the Derby. He breeds much from the
famous stud-horse, Sultan, his own property,

1 His grace has a capital two-year-old this year in his
stable— by Voltaire out of Matilda.

ii2 THE TURF

whose price, to others, is fifty guineas each
mare. The Marquis of Westminster,
although very well bred for it, never sig-
nalised himself on the turf, and has there-
fore wisely withdrawn from Newmarket,
confining his stud, a very small one, to the
provincial meetings in his own immediate
neighbourhood, where it is quite right for
great lords to make the agreeable. We
believe that the last time he was at head-
quarters was to see his horse Navarino win
the great two thousand-guinea stakes ! His
lordship, however, has shone forth, a bright
star at the eleventh hour, with his famous
horse Touchstone, having challenged all
England with him after winning the Don-
caster St. Leger. The Marquis of Conyng-
ham is a sportsman, and was used to back
his horses freely, as did the Marquis of
Sligo, one of the best breeders of them ;
but as his lordship belongs to the sister
kingdom, for the honour of old England,
we presume, he was not often allowed to
win. He, however, has had the distinction
of being second for the St. Leger twice;
namely, with Canteen when Jerry won it,
and with Bran in Touchstone's year.

THE TURF 113

Neither can much be said of the prowess
of the most noble Marquises of Tavistock
and Worcester (now Duke of Beaufort),
who, though good and honourable men,
will never increase their patrimony by
racing. In short, since the Duke of Cleve-
land has quitted their ranks, our sporting
marquises, with the exception of Lord
Exeter, do not shine on the racecourse.

But we cannot say this of the noble earls,
amongst whom are some of the best judges
of racing of past or present days. We will
begin with the Earl of Egremont ; and not
only by the rule of seniores priores^ but
looking upon him as one of the main con-
tributors to the legitimate end of racing —
the improvement of the breed of horses — his
lordship having always paid regard to what
is termed stout, or honest, blood. Lord
Egremont bred Gohanna, by Mercury, by
Eclipse, and purchased Whalebone from the
Duke of Grafton (the old Prunella sort),
whose stock have been invaluable to the
turf, and will continue to be so for many
years to come, although objections are
made to their size — made amends for, in
great measure, by their symmetry. His
H

ii4 THE TURF

lordship has HI ewise turned the amusement
— and such has been his main object in the
pursuit of it — to an excellent account, in
the liberal act of affording to his tenantry
and neighbours the free benefit of several
of his stud-horses. Among these have
been two very fine animals, Octavius and
Wanderer, the latter not inaptly named, as
for many years of his life he was never
known to lie down, but was generally in
action in his box. He was a noble speci-
men of the horse, and one of the best bred
ones in the world for all the purposes for
which horses of speed and strength are
wanted, being by Gohanna, out of a sister
to Colibri, by Woodpecker, esteemed our
stoutest blood. The earl is likewise the
breeder of honest Chateau Margaux and
Camel, ornaments to the British turf, and
sons of good little Whalebone. Lord Egre-
mont won the Derby three times in four
years; twice with sons of Gohanna, and
subsequently with Lapdog by Whalebone.
He has also been three times the winner
of the Oaks with fillies from his own
stud. But all this success is not to be
placed to his lordship's own account ;

THE TURF 115

he received great assistance in all his
racing speculations from his late brother,
the Honourable Charles Wyndham, since
whose decease the stable has not been so
successful.

The late Earl of Burlington (Lord George
Cavendish) was of great repute on New-
market heath as a good breeder of race-
horses, a very high bettor, and we need not
add, a most honourable man. His lordship,
no doubt, had his fancies in his betting,
which of course he now and then paid for.
When he did ' fancy his horse,' as the turf-
phrase is, he would risk an immense sum
upon him, not far short, we have heard,
of ten thousand pounds !

The late Earl of Stradbroke was one of the
keenest and best sportsmen at Newmarket,
and owner of a large stud. Amongst the
number, was the celebrated mare Persepolis,
the dam of thirteen good racers ; amongst
which were Araxes, Tigris, Indus, Euphrates,
Phasis, and Cydnus, all sons of Quiz, and
Granicus and Rubicon by Sorcerer. The
famous brood mares, Cobbaea (the dam of
Sorcery) and Grey Duchess, by Pot-8-q's,
were also in his lordship's stud, and pre-

n6 THE TURF

sented by him to George iv. when he com-
menced breeding race-horses at Hampton
Court. The present Lord Stradbroke and
his Grace of Richmond were confederates
on the turf.

The Earl of Oxford took the field a few
years back as usual, with a tolerably large
string of horses ; and, to use his own words,
when he won the Great Produce stakes at
Ascot, with his Muley filly, and the Clear-
well stakes with his Clearwell colt (a clear
thousand by the way, and the other five
hundred), ' got out of his place/ which had
generally been a good second. He ran
second, indeed, with Ascot, for a Derby ;
and good judges say his horse ought to
have won. His lordship, however, takes
all this with perfect good humour, and is
himself always a favourite at Newmarket,
should his horse not prove to be so. The
noble earl is considered a very liberal
match-maker ; but he has lately been run-
ning so forward as to be considered able
to take care of himself. Of the Earls
Verulam, Warwick, and Clarendon, we now
hear but little, although the first-named
lord is rather an extensive breeder. Lord

THE TURF 117

Clarendon we consider little more than an
amateur. Earl Sefton began his racing
career late in life, and although he entered
into it with spirit, giving two thousand
guineas for Bobadilla, soon abandoned the
slippery course. Indeed, so hastily did he
retire from it, that, on a little disappoint-
ment at Epsom, he would not wait for the
assistance of the printer, but sent a manu-
script notice to Tattersall's yard that his
stud was immediately to be sold. We
confess we admire his lordship's decision —
* When fortune frowns, the first loss is the
best.' The Earl of Lichfield is rather deep
on the turf, as the list of his horses shows.
Indeed his lordship does everything with
spirit, but even spirit cannot command
success. Lord Lichfield, however, is a
sportsman, and what is termed a high and
honourable bettor. The Earl of Wilton,
as well bred for the turf as Eclipse, being
grandson to the Earl Grosvenor, is not only
an owner of race-horses, but also a jockey
— one of the best gentlemen race-riders of
these days. The Earl of Chesterfield is
conspicuous, as a peep into the Racing
Calendar will confirm, no less than twenty-

n8 THE TURF

five horses now appearing to his name,
besides three sent to Germany. His lord-
ship had also, at his stud-farm, in Derby-
shire, the renowned horses Priam l and
Zinganee, the former having finished his
brilliant career with winning the Goodwood
cup. Report says, that he is likely to make
his way in this ' forest of adventure,' as
his experience increases with his years.
But the best judge of this rank is the noble
Earl of Jersey, who, indeed, does every-
thing well. As a breeder, perhaps his
lordship may not equal the Duke of Grafton
and Lord Egremont, certainly not in extent;
but we must place him third, having pro-
duced from his own mares one winner of
the Oaks — Cobweb, supposed to be the
best bred mare in England — and three
winners of the Derby ; namely, Middleton,
Bay Middleton (by Middleton out of
Cobweb), and Mameluke ; the latter of
which he sold to Mr. Gully for four thou-
sand guineas ! Perhaps no man ever
brought to the post on one day two finer

1 Priam has been purchased of his lordship for
America, at the hitherto unheard-of price for a stud-
horse, of three thousand five hundred guineas !

THE TURF 119

horses than Mameluke, the winner of the
Derby, and Glenartney, who ran second to
him, beating twenty-one others with the
greatest ease. Mameluke was bred by Mr.
Elwes. Lord Jersey's stud is not large,
but well selected, and he has every con-
venience for breeding at his seat, Middle-
ton Stony, Oxfordshire. His lordship was
formerly confederate with that thorough
sportsman, Sir John Shelley, who had the
honour of breeding Phantom and Priam.
The Earl of Durham has retired, but, when
Mr. Lambton, he had a splendid stud,
which was sold by Messrs. Tattersall, in
1826, eight foals realising the astonishing
sum of fifteen hundred and thirty-three
guineas (above two hundred pounds each) !
Of Newmarket viscounts we muster more;
but looking to the past, we must give Lord
Lowther the pas^ not only from his experi-
ence and knowledge, considered quite first-
rate, but from the single fact of his having
had sixteen horses in training, only a few
years back, at one time. It is a singular
fact, that his lordship has only won the
Derby once — with Spaniel — and never won
the Oaks, in his long career on the turf.

120 THE TURF

He had formerly a large breeding establish-
ment at Oxcroft, eight miles from New-
market ; but the land not being suited for
it, in addition to the great prevalence of
flies, it was removed to within a few hundred
yards of Newmarket town, where his lord-
ship occupies a farm. Here stood the
horse Partisan, the sire of many good ones,
and amongst the rest, Glaucus, purchased
by Mr. Ridsdale of General Grosvenor at
three thousand guineas, after beating Clear-
well (Lord Orford's) in a match for five
hundred guineas, at Newmarket, and now
the property of Lord Chesterfield. The
best judges are sometimes mistaken ; and
Lord Lowther should not have sold Glaucus
to the general for three hundred and fifty
guineas without having had a taste of
him ; for besides his winnings, amounting
to fourteen hundred guineas, he cleared
nearly three thousand by the purchase.
But the ' Glauci permutatio ' is a standing
proverb for a bad bargain, ever since the
hero he is named after exchanged gold for
iron under the walls of old Troy. Joseph
Rogers, of Newmarket, trained for his lord-
ship. Lord Ranelagh was a short time on

THE TURF 121

the heath, but, preferring a more glorious
field, is now fighting for Don Carlos; and
we must consider our noble secretary for
foreign affairs, Viscount Palmerston, only
an humble provincial. To the satisfaction,
indeed, of his competitors, his lordship has
now relinquished even these rural honours,
for Luzborough, Grey-leg, and company,
were sad teazers to the west-country platers.

Our noble barons make no figure in the
Newmarket list. Strange to say, we cannot
find one. Lord Wharncliffe was the last ;
and still more strange to tell of so unwaver-
ing a Tory, his lordship's best horse at one
time was Reformer !

Of honourables, owners of race-horses,
we can find but one, Colonel Anson, a
good sportsman and very spirited bettor.
Neither can we produce more than two
Newmarket baronets, — and are inclined to
ask, how is this? Sir Mark Wood stands
first, with a long string of horses.

Some apprehensions were entertained for
Sir Mark when he entered the ring, with youth
on his brow, and Gatton — just in time, by
the bye — in his pocket; and it was feared
all might find its way into schedule-, A.

122 THE TURF

But Sir Mark has made a good fight —
he has given good prices for good horses,
which, with good training and good riding,
have pulled him through ; although since
the days of Lucetta, Camarine, and Vespa
(winner of the Oaks), he has not shone so
brightly. His last week of the last meeting
at Newmarket, 1832, was a very pretty
finish. He won six times and received
forfeit once ; and on one match, Camarine
versus Crutch, he is said to have netted
three thousand pounds ! His beating Row-
ton also for the Ascot Cup, with the same
mare the same year (Robinson riding against
Chifney), after running one dead heat, was
one of the grandest events of the season.
Lucetta with eight stone nine pounds met
the Duke of Grafton's Oxygen (a winner of
the Oaks) with seven stone two pounds,
one six years old, and the other four, for
the Jockey Club plate, at Newmarket,
Beacon course. Lucetta won, and the
speed was very little short of Childers, as
they were but seven minutes in coming to
the duke's stand.

One of the oldest sportsmen at New-
market is General Grosvenor — but far from

THE TURF 123

being the most fortunate. Indeed it is a trite
saying, 'The general is honest, but unlucky/
and this is well said in these slippery times.
He won the Oaks, in 1807, with Briseis,
with heavy odds against her, consequently
a round sum besides; and, again, in 1825,
by Chifney's fine riding with Wings, with ten
to one against her. He likewise won, with
Blue Stockings, the Riddlesworth of 1819,
perhaps the greatest stake ever won, being,
including his own subscription, five thou-
sand guineas ! Fortune has also smiled
upon him again, for the last year was a
winning one. He bought Glaucus for three
hundred and fifty guineas, won fourteen
hundred pounds with him, and sold him
for three thousand ! — thus reversing the
proverb. A few years back his winnings
were somewhat unaccountable, his horses
having been in the hands, not of a regularly
bred trainer, but of his north-country colt-
breaker, who has been in his service twenty-
eight years. They amounted to twenty-five
times in nineteen months.

After the father of the turf, we believe
Mr. Batson is about the oldest of the Jockey
Club. Although he was placed third with

124 THE TURF

Hogarth, Middleton's year, and ran third
for the Oaks, he never carried the Epsom
honours until 1834, with Plenipotentiary.
Mr. Rush also is an old jockey, and a very
good supporter of the turf, running his
horses more for amusement than profit.
He also breeds, but his stock does not
shine at Newmarket, where he is generally
satisfied with a good third. It is said he
breeds from worn-out mares. In the pro-
vincials, however, he is rather more for-
tunate ; and it is something to say he was
James Robinson's first master, and John
Robinson trains for him. Mr. Biggs is
another old member of the Jockey Club,
but, like Mr. Batson, is more formidable in
the provincials, where he has been a great
winner, and hard to beat. Some years
since, at Stockbridge, his horse Camerton
was the winner of a memorable race. Three
others started, viz., Sir John Cope's Shoe-
strings, the late Lord Foley's Offa's Dyke,
and the late Lord Charles Somerset's Scor-
pion. The following was the result : —
Camerton, ridden by the late Sawyer, who
died shortly after, never started again ;
Shoestrings, by John Day, broke down ;

THE TURF 125

Offa's Dyke, by Goodison, went blind, but
recovered his sight; and Scorpion, ridden
by Joseph Rogers, now trainer at New-
market, fell dead at the distance-post, from
the rupture of a blood-vessel at the heart.
The distance was four miles, and only one
heat ! Mr. Thornhill is one of the best
judges of racing at Newmarket, and has one
of the largest studs at his seat at Riddles-
worth, whence the great Riddlesworth stakes
takes its name. He has won the Derby
with Sam and Sailor, both sons of Scud,
and the Oaks with Shoveler, also a daughter
of Scud. Previously to Sam's race, this
shrewd judge pronounced the Derby stakes
in his pocket ! and he also picked out
Gulnare as winner of the Oaks for the Duke
of Richmond, without the possibility, as he
expressed himself, of losing it, barring the
accident of a fall. The strange coincidence
of his winning the Derby with Sailor by
Scud) during a violent gale of wind, will
perhaps, never be forgotten at Epsom. Mr.
Thornhill owns yEmilius, the celebated sire
of Priam, Oxygen, etc., whose price is forty
guineas. Colonel Udney's name stood high
at Newmarket, but he has lately all but re-

126 THE TURF

tired from the turf. He won the Derby with
^Emilius, and the Oaks with Corinne, and
has had quite his share of ' most of the good
things at Newmarket/ as Buckle said, who
was the colonel's principal jockey. He was
once confederate with Mr. Payne, uncle to
the gentleman of that name now on the turf.
Mr. Lechmere Charlton was on the turf
more than twenty years, having run third
for the Oaks in 1811, and has been an
owner of several good horses — Master
Henry, perhaps, the best. He has likewise
been a great breeder of racers, and besides
Henry (whom he purchased cheaply for
seven hundred guineas), had Manfred, Sam,
Hedley, Castrel, Banker, and Anticipation,
as stud-horses, with several good mares
from the Duke of Grafton and Lord Gros-
venor, and, indeed, from other celebrated
studs within his reach. Like all great
breeders, Mr. Charlton has had many
public sales, at one of which the sum of
nineteen hundred pounds being offered for
Henry, by a very badly dressed person in
the crowd, he was asked by the auctioneer
for whom he was bidding? "Here is my
authority,' said the man, pointing to his

THE TURF 127

breeches pocket. A few years ago, Mr.
Charlton took rather a curious turn, ex-
changing the cap and jacket of the race-
course for the wig and gown of the courts,
and was actually called to the bar. Like
Dido's love, however, the passion for racing
could not be smothered in the murky
atmosphere of Westminster Hall, nearly as
gloomy as the vault of Sichaeus; and we
found him again with a good string of race-
horses. There are not many better judges
than Mr. Charlton, though we fear, like
other gentlemen-sportsmen, he has paid
rather dearly for his experience ; and he has
all but retired from the turf. Mr. Vansittart
has also been a long time on the turf, and
ran second, 1832, for the Derby, with
Perion. He is a breeder of race-horses,
and sold Rockingham for one thousand
guineas to Mr. Watt. This horse won a
good stakes at York Spring Meeting,
1 beautifully ridden by Darling'; and the
great St. Leger stakes of the same year at
Doncaster. He is now the property of Mr.
Theobald, of Stockwell, and has been a
great winner up to the present time. Mr.
Vansittart is a good judge, and always rims

128 THE TURF

his horses to win, if they can. Mr. Hunter,
of Six-Mile-Bolton, near Newmarket, is a
first-rate judge of racing, and considered a
good bettor. He won the Derby in 1821,
with Gustavus, and has since used him as
a stud-horse, but not to much profit. He
made some amends by producing Forester,
the winner of the July stakes, in 1832, and
of several other things, and who was backed
freely for the Derby, being out of an Orville
mare. With the exception of the great card
in their pack, all the Peels have a taste for the
turf. The Colonel, however, is the only one
who has the courage to face Newmarket,
which he does with nearly as good a stud as
is to be found even there, and has had his
share of success. The Colonel is a heavy
bettor, and loses with a philosophic indiffer-
ence, worthy of a nobler cause. Mr. Edmund
Peel has a large stud at Hednesford, in
Staffordshire, where he has erected excellent
buildings for their accommodation. Mr.
Massey Stanley, son to Sir Thomas, has a
small but neat stud. Mr. Sowerby has like-
wise a pretty stud, which he uses like a
gentleman, for his amusement Mr. Scott
Stonehewer is one of the same class, and won

THE TURF 129

the Oaks with Variation, in 1830. Mr.
Payne, of Sulby, has generally a small stud
at Newmarket; and Mr. Osbaldeston has
made his appearance on the heath, not as
the Hercules of horsemen, as he proved
himself in his awful match against time,
but as the owner of a string of race-horses.
We had rather the Squire had remained
with his hounds in Northamptonshire, where
nothing eclipsed his fame.

But we must not ornit two of our first-
class men, in this line, on Newmarket
heath, viz., Lord George Bentinck, and
Mr. Greville ; both said to be the best
judges of racing, and the cleverest men
at betting, of the present day. It is indeed
asserted, that the only difficulty they are
likely to have to contend with, is 'lame
ducks' on the settling days, for they are
very seldom on 'the wrong side the post.'
The turf is also likely to gain an accession
in a bunch of young noblemen just about
to show forth, amongst whom are Lord
Suffield, Lord Albert Conyngham, etc.

It rarely happens that what are called
provincial studs do much in what may be
termed the capitals of the racing world ;

1 3o THE TURF

but we cannot forget Lord Oxford beat-
ing the crack nags at Newmarket, — Eaton
among the rest, — with old Victoria, and
his Hedgeford jockey, the late Tom Car;
Mr. Glover winning the Craven with Slender
Billy ; and, though last, not least, the great
Worcestershire grazier (the late Mr. Terret,
tenant of Mr. Lechmere Charlton) taking
his fine Rubens horse, Sovereign, in his
bullock caravan to Newmarket, winning the
St. Leger stakes with him in a canter, —
and, what was still less expected, his rural
jockey, Ben Moss, out-jockeying the best
riders on the heath. Neither will the same
jockey's performance on Lady Byron, over
the course, to the benefit of the said grazier,
be very soon forgotten. But, although we
must not enter upon the large subject of
the provincial studs, we cannot omit a
notice of the late Mr. Riddell, of Felton
Park, Northumberland, who died about four
years back. He was a firm and liberal
supporter of the northern turf, but con-
spicuous chiefly as the owner of two very
celebrated horses, viz., X. Y. Z. and Doctor
Syntax — unparalleled winners of gold cups;
the former having won nine, and the latter

THE TURF 131

twenty, besides four thousand pounds in
specie ! The Doctor was one of the few
modern racers that has appeared at the
post for ten consecutive years • during which
period, however, he only started forty-nine
times, or within a fraction of five times in
each year, on the average — winning twenty-
six out of the above number of races. To
this careful husbanding of his powers may
his owners have been indebted for a great
portion of his success. But he is descended
from our very stoutest blood, being got by
a son of Trumpator, as well as combining
that of Regulus and Snap in his pedigree.
He was bred by Mr. Osbaldeston, of
Hummondsby, Yorkshire; and is the sire
of Gallopade, a winner of four gold cups,
at four starts only. Mr. Riddell was the
breeder of Emancipation, purchased by the
Duke of Cleveland for eighteen hundred
guineas.

Deservedly high as Newmarket stands in
the history of the British turf, it is but as
a speck on the ocean when compared with
the sum total of our provincial meetings,
of which there are about a hundred and
twenty in England, Scotland, and Wales —

132 THE TURF

several of them twice in the year. Epsom,
Ascot, York, Doncaster, and Goodwood
stand first in respect of the value of the
prizes, the rank of the company, and the
interest attached to them by the sporting
world, although several other cities and
towns have lately exhibited very tempting
bills of fare to owners of good race-horses.
In point of antiquity, we believe the Roodee
of Chester claims precedence of all country
race-meetings; and certainly it has long
been in high repute. Falling early in the
racing year — always the first Monday in
May — it affords a good trial for young
horses, and there is plenty of money to be
run for by the old ones, who come out fresh
and well. This meeting is most numerously
attended by the families of the extensive and
very aristocratic neighbourhood in which it
is placed, and always continues five days.
The course is far from a good one, being on a
dead flat, with rather a sharp turn near home,
in consequence of which several accidents
have occurred, particularly previously to
some late improvements.1 When we state

1 The following most extraordinary accident happened
here some years back. A colt called Hairbreadth, by

THE TURF 133

that there are nine good sweepstakes, a
king's plate, two very valuable cups, and
five plates at Chester, its superiority as a
country meeting will speak for itself.1

Epsom, however, ranks first after New-
market. It is sufficient, perhaps, to state,
that there were no less than one hundred
and fourteen colts entered for the last Derby
stakes, and ninety-seven fillies for the Oaks
— their owners paying fifty sovereigns each
for those that started, and twenty-five for

Escape, the property of the late Mr. Lockley, bolted
over the ropes, and coming in contact with an officer
of dragoons, Sir John Miller, who was on horseback,
was killed by the peak of the helmet entering his skull,
when on the head of the baronet^ who escaped with
trifling injury !

1 The Eaton stud now cuts but a poor figure on the
far-famed Roodee, as indeed, Touchstone excepted, on
most other courses. Mr. Clifton is no more, but his
memory will live at Chester for many years to come.
Lord Stamford and his Sir Olivers have deserted it.
Sir Watkin William Wynn has not a race-horse ; Mr.
Mytton, one of the greatest supporters of this meeting,
is dead. Sir Thomas Stanley is no longer ' cock of the
walk ' ; nor can Sir George Pigot run second. The
Lord Derby is no more ; and although (scripsisse pudet]
parson Nanny stands his ground, Sir James Boswell,
Messrs. Houldsworth, Giffard, Walker, Mostyn, and a
few more fresh competitors of the new school, have lately
carried most of the north-west-country honours.

134 THE TURF

those that did not. There are, likewise, a
gold cup, and several other stakes, as well
as three plates. Independently of seeing
him run, amateur admirers of the race-horse
have here a fine opportunity of studying him
in the highest state of his perfection. We
allude to the place called the Warren, in
which the Derby and Oaks horses are
saddled and mounted. It is a small but
picturesque bit of ground in the forest style,
enclosed by a wall, and entered by all who
choose to pay a shilling. To some it is
a great treat to see the celebrated New-
market jockeys, who may be only known to
them by name. A view of half the aristo-
cracy of England, also, is, even in these
times, worth a shilling to many. The
sporting men, meanwhile, reap much advan-
tage from their anxious inspection of the
horses as they walk round this rural circus.
They can closely observe the condition
of their favourites ; and should anything
dissatisfy them, they have a chance to
hedge something before the race is run,
although the ring is generally broken up a
short time after the horses are assembled
in the Warren.

THE TURF 135

But what is the sight in the Warren,
interesting as it really is — thousands on
thousands depending on the result, ruinous
perhaps to many — compared with the start
for the race ? Fancy twenty-four three-year
colts, looking like six-year-old horses, with
the bloom of condition on their coats,
drawn up in a line at the starting-place,
with the picked jockeys of all England on
their backs, and on the simple fact of
which may prove the best perhaps a million
sterling depends. They are off ! i No, no,'
cries one jockey, whose horse turned his
tail to the others just as the word ' Go ' was
given. It is sufficient : 'tis no start : ' Come
back!' roars the starter. Some are pulled up
in a few hundred yards — others go twice as
far. But look at that chestnut colt — white
jacket and black cap — with thousands de-
pending upon him ! He is three parts of
the way to Tattenham's corner before his
rider can restrain him. Talk of agonising
moments ! — the pangs of death ! — what can
at all equal these? But there are no
winnings without losings, and it is nuts to
those who have backed him out. Who can
say, indeed, but that, his temper being

i36 THE TURF

known, the false start may have been con-
trived to accommodate him? However,
they are all back again at the post, and
each rider endeavouring to be once more
well placed. Observe the cautious John
Day, how quietly he manoeuvres to obtain
an inside location for his worthy master,
his Grace of Grafton. Look at neat little
Arthur Pavis, patting his horse on the neck
and sides, and admiring himself at the
same time ; but his breeches and boots are
really good. Watch Sam Chifney minutely ;
but first and foremost his seat in the
saddle —

{ Incorpsed and demi-natured
With the brave beast—'

and his countenance ! 'tis calm, though
thoughtful. But he has much to think of;
he and his confederates have thousands on
the race, and he is now running it in his
mind's eye. Harry Edwards and Robinson
are side by side, each heavily backed to
win. How they are formed to ride ! Surely
Nature must have a mould for a jockey for
the purpose of displaying her jewel, the
horse. And that elegant horseman Sam

THE TURF 137

Day; but see how he is wasted to bring
himself to the weight! Observe the
knuckles of his hands and the patellae of
his knees, how they appear almost breaking
through the skin! But if he have left
nearly half of his frame in the sweaters, the
remaining half is full of vigour; and we'll
answer for it his horse don't find him want-
ing in the struggle. Then that slim young
jockey, with high cheek bones and long
neck, in the green jacket and orange cap —
surely he must be in a galloping consump-
tion. There is a pallid bloom on his
sunken cheek, rarely seen but on the face
of death, and he wanted but the grave-
clothes to complete the picture. Yet we
need not fear ; he is heart-whole and well :
but having had short notice, has lost fifteen
pounds in the last forty-eight hours. They
are off again ! a beautiful start and a still
more beautiful sight ! All the hues of the
rainbow in the colours of the riders and
the complexions of their horses ! What a
spectacle for the sportsmen, who take their
stand on the hill on the course to see the
first part of the race, and to observe the
places their favourites have gotten ; they are

138 THE TURF

all in a cluster •, the jockeys glancing at each
other's horses, for they cannot do more in
such a crowd. They are soon, however, a
little more at their ease ; the severity of the
ground, and the rapidity of the pace, throw
the soft-hearted ones behind ! and at Tat-
tenham's corner there is room for observa-
tion. ' I think I can win,' says Robinson to
himself, ' if I can but continue to live with
my horses ; for I know I have the speed of
all here. But I must take a strong pull
down this hill, for we have not been coming
over Newmarket flat.' Pavis's horse is going
sweetly, and the Yorkshireman, Scott, lying
well up. But where is Chifney ? Oh ! like
Christmas, he *s coming, creeping up in his
usual form, and getting the blind side of
Harry Edwards. Chappie is here on a
dangerous horse,1 and John Day with a
strain of old Prunella. // is a terrible race !
There are seven in front within the distance,
and nothing else has a chance to win. The
set-to begins ; they are all good ones. Whips
are at work — the people shout — hearts throb

1 It will be observed that the above was written
in the year 1833, when Mr. Sadler's Dangerous was
a favourite for the Derby stakes, which he won.

THE TURF 139

— ladies faint — the favourite is beat — white
jacket with black cap wins.

Now a phalanx of cavalry descend the
hill towards the grand stand, with ' Who has
won ? ' in each man's mouth. ' Hurrah ! '
cries one, on the answer being given ; ' my

fortune is made ! ' — ' Has he, by ? '

says another, pulling up with a jerk ; ' 1 am
a ruined man ! Scoundrel that I was to risk
such a sum ! and I have too much reason
to fear I have been deceived ! Oh ! how
shall I face my poor wife and my children ?
I '11 blow out my brains.' But where is the
owner of the winning horse ? He is on the
hill, on his coach-box ; but he will not
believe it till twice told. * Hurrah ! ' he
exclaims, throwing his hat into the air. A
gipsy hands it to him. It is in the air
again, and the gipsy catches it, and half a
sovereign besides, as she hands it to him
once more. ' Heavens bless your honour,'
says the dark ladye; 'did I not tell your
honour you could not lose ? '

There are two meetings now at Epsom,
as indeed there were more than half a
century back ; but the October Meeting is of
minor importance. The grand-stand on "the

140 THE TURF

course is the largest in Europe ; and to give
some idea of its magnificence, it has been
assessed to the poor-rate at five hundred
pounds per annum. The exact expense of
its erection is not known to us, but the
lawyer's bill alone was five hundred and
fifty-seven pounds. Poor distressed Eng-
land !

Ascot also stands in the foremost rank
of country races. It is of a different com-
plexion from Epsom, not only by reason of
its being graced with royalty, and aristocracy
in abundance, but as wanting that crowd
of * nobody knows who,' which must be
encountered on a Derby day — the cockney's
holiday. It is likewise out of reach of
London ruffians — a great recommendation ;
and the strictness of the police makes even
thieves scarce. But the charms of Ascot,
to those not interested in the horses, consist
in the promenade on the course between
the various races, where the highest fashion,
in its best garb, mingles with the crowd,
and gives a brilliant effect to the passing
scene. In fact, it comes nearest to Elysium
of anything here, after Kensington Gardens,
in 'the leafy month of June.' Then the

THE TURF 141

King's approach, with all the splendour of
majesty, and, what is still more gratifying,
amidst the loud acclamations of his subjects,
sets the finish on the whole. Long may
the royal name be venerable to the English
people.

Goodwood is the next great aristocratic
meeting in the south, and has monopolised
nearly all the racing of those parts. The
Drawing-Room and the Goodwood stakes,
and the cup, are prizes of such high value,
that, as birds peck at the best fruit, all the
crack horses of Newmarket are brought
thither to contend for them. The corpora-
tion of Chichester add one hundred pounds
to the cup, and his Majesty gives a one
hundred-guinea plate. The course at Good-
wood is also one of the best in England,
nearly ten thousand pounds having been
expended upon it — including the stand and
the improvement of the road leading to it —
by the Duke of Richmond ; but his grace
will be reimbursed if the meeting continues,
by the admission-tickets to the stand, etc.

Let us take one glance of that modern
Epirus, the county of York, in which there
are now twelve meetings in the year — (nearly

142 THE TURF

a century ago there were half as many more).
York is one of our oldest race-meetings,
and was patronised by the great sportsmen
of all countries in former days ; but the
names of Cookson, Wentworth, Goodricke,
Garforth, Hutchinson, Crompton, Gascoigne,
Sitwell, Pierse, Shafto, and some others,
appear indigenous to Knavesmere Heath.
The money run for at the Spring and August
Meetings, 1832, exceeded fourteen thousand
six hundred pounds in plates and sweep-
stakes ; yet they are now greatly on the
wane. Catterick Bridge, in this county, is
also an important meeting, as coming very
early in the season ; and Richmond and
Pontefract are tolerably supported, But
what shall we say of Doncaster ?

* Troy once was great, but oh ! the scene is o'er,
Her glory vanished — and her name no more ! '

And wherefore this? Is it that we miss
Mrs. Beaumont in her coach-and-six, with
her numerous outriders? Is it that the
lamented Earl Fitzwilliam, with his splendid
retinue, is no longer there ? Oh, no ! — the
magnates of Devonshire, Cleveland, Leeds,
Londonderry, and Durham, can replace all

THE TURF 143

that at any time ; but it is the many dirty
tricks, the innumerable attempts at roguery,
which have lately been displayed, that have
given a taint to Doncaster race-ground which
it will require many years of clean fallow to
get rid of. We will not enumerate these
vile/a uxpas — the last but one, ' the swindle,'
as it is termed, the most barefaced of all —
but let the noblemen and gentlemen who
wish well to Doncaster, and who do not
wish to see the meeting expunged from the
Racing Calendar^ act a little more vigorously
than they have hitherto done, and not let
villainy go unpunished before their eyes.
Let a mark be set upon all owners, trainers,
and riders of horses with which tricks are
played; let them be driven off the course
by order of the stewards ; let them never
again appear at the starting-post or in the
betting-ring ; and then, but not till then,
will racing be once more respectable. Let
us indulge our hopes that this will be the
case, and that Yorkshire racing no longer
shall be the reproach of the present age.
' All these storms that fall upon us,' said
Don Quixote, ' are signs the weather will
clear up — the evil having lasted long, the

144 THE TURF

good can't be far off/ May it prove so
here ! l

The alteration in the amount of the St.
Leger stakes will do something towards
abating trickery at Doncaster. The sum
subscribed was twenty-five sovereigns, play
or pay. It is now fifty sovereigns, half
forfeit. The lightness of the old charge
induced several ill-disposed persons to bring
their horses to the post, purposely to create
false starts ; and it will be recollected that,
in 1827, there were no less than eight of
these, to which the defeat of Mameluke
was chiefly attributed. The grand-stand
on this course is one of the finest in Eng-
land; and if the genius of taste had pre-
sided at the building of it, we scarcely know
what improvement could have been made.
The betting-room has been considered
thoroughly Greek !

Although we have reason to believe that
there have been fewer attempts at turf

1 An amendment in these matters is already apparent.
The eyes of noblemen and gentlemen have been opened
to certain proceedings, and the turf is evidently in a
more healthy state than it was when these papers first
appeared in the Quarterly Review.

THE TURF 145

roguery within the last three or four years
than formerly; and we know that the ex-
posure of it in these pages has not been
without its effect ; yet we regret to be
obliged to say, that the snake, though
scotched, is not yet killed. That the Don-
caster St. Leger race of 1834 was a robbery,
there is not to be found a man in all his
Majesty 's dominions, unconnected with the
fraud, to deny. But by what means the
best horse that England has seen since the
days of Eclipse — a horse allowed to have
been (as Plenipotentiary was allowed to
have been), a better horse than Priam was
— was made the worst horse in that race,
so bad, indeed, as to have been beaten
before he got a quarter of the distance he
had to run — will perhaps never be known,
except to those who made him so. Mr.
Batson, his owner, like ^Emilius Scaurus,
the consul, stood on his character, and made
no defence ; but, as a St. Leger horse is the
property of the public, we think the public
had a right to some kind of explanation
under Mr. Batson's hand. He might have
followed the example of the late Colonel
King, in the Bessy Bedlam robbery at 'the
K

1 46 THE TURF

same place, and for the same stakes, in
1828. The Colonel sent a statement of all
he knew of the foul transaction to a London
newspaper, leaving the public to judge for
themselves from the facts he detailed.
Neither did the St. Leger of 1834 pass off
with this single fraud. A bet of a thousand
guineas was made by two persons, renowned
on the turf, whom we call A and B. A
backed the field against certain horses
named by B, of which Touchstone, the
winner, was not one. B, however, claimed
the bet, and produced his list, in which
Touchstone, the winner, was named at the
bottom of it. A also produced his list, in
which Touchstone the winner was not
named by B ; and was therefore of course
a winner for him. The Jockey Club was
resorted to, and the following was the
result of their investigation: — 'The name
of Touchstone/ said Mr. Wilson, the father
of the turf, 'certainly appears in B's list,
and apparently written with the same ink.
Now my old friend Robarts, the banker,
told me there is a species of ink that can
be made to match any shade which that
liquid may exhibit, if examined by daylight ;

THE TURF 147

but if put to the test of a candle, a differ-
ence of tint is plainly shown. Let the
room be made dark, then, and candles
produced.' Now mark the result, which
we are sorry thus to proclaim to the world,
particularly as the offending party writes
Honourable before his name. 'Let the
gentlemen be shown into the room,' said
Mr. Wilson ; when he pronounced the
following verdict : — * A wins from B one
thousand guineas ! '

It was a forgery ! Gentlemen of England
dissociate yourselves from persons who have
thus disgraced your order; or, if that be
impossible, withdraw yourselves at once
from the turf.

On more accounts than one our turf
proceedings must make foreigners marvel.
Some years since, a French gentleman
visited Doncaster, and gave it the appellation
of 'the guinea meeting,' — nothing without
the guinea. 'There was,' said he, 'the
guinea for entering the rooms to hear the
people bet. There was the guinea for my
dinner at the hotel. There was the guinea
for the stand, for myself; and (phi .exe-
crable f) the guinea for the stand for my

148 THE TURF

carriage. There was the guinea for my
servant's bed, and (ah ! mon Dieu /) ten
guineas for my own, for only two nights ! '
Now we cannot picture to ourselves Mon-
sieur at Doncaster a second time ; but if
his passion for the race should get the
better of his prudence, we only trust he
will not be so infamously robbed again.
Indeed, he may assure himself of this ; for
Doncaster will never be what it has been,
nor is it fitting it should be.

Warwick, Manchester, Liverpool, Chelten-
ham, Bath, and Wolverhampton are now
among our principal country race-meetings,
and all of these have wonderfully increased
within the last few years ; particularly Liver-
pool— a very young meeting, but which bids
fair to catch the forfeited honours of Don-
caster. Stockbridge also is now in repute,
owing to the Bibury Club being held there
— a renewal of the Burford Meeting, one
of the oldest in England. Bath and Liver-
pool have races twice in the year, and the
valuable produce stakes which all these
young meetings have instituted are likely
to ensure their continuance ; as to the ever
princely-hearted Liverpool at all events,

THE TURF 149

there can be little fear. Speaking gener-
ally, however, nothing fluctuates more than
the scene of country racing. Newton, in
Lancashire, still keeps its place ; but Knuts-
ford and Preston decline ; and Oxford, once
so good, we may consider gone. At the
latter place, indeed, it has been Dilly,
Sadler, and Day — then Day, Sadler, and
Dilly — winning everything — till country
gentlemen became tired of the changes
being rung upon them.

It was high time that a change, to a certain
extent, should be made in country racing —
but in some respects it has gone too far
— we allude to the value of the prizes. A
hundred years ago, breeding and training
of race-horses costing comparatively little,
running for fifty pound plates might have
paid. Eclipse, indeed, was nothing but a
plate-horse, having, in all his running, only
won two thousand pounds, and the manor-
bowl in the good city of Salisbury ! l But

1 He won eleven king's plates, carrying twelve stone
in all but one ; was never beaten ; and always ridden
without whip or spurs. He died, 27th of February,
1789. The ' manor-bowl ' is still a prize, and was won
at the last meeting by a horse belonging to Mr. Stevens
the trainer, at Isley, Berkshire.

150 THE TURF

nothing can nowadays be got by plating ;
and the contest by heats, many of them
four miles with high weights, borders on
cruelty. On the other hand, out of nearly
thirty races last year, at Liverpool there
were only three run at heats, and not one
four-mile race. At Newmarket there have
been no heats, except for a town-plate, since
1772, a most beneficial change, and credit-
able to the feeling of British sportsmen.
This, indeed, is as it should be; man
should on no account inflict unnecessary
labour on the horse, and, above all, on the
race-horse. From no apparent motive but
that generous spirit of emulation which dis-
tinguishes him above most other animals,
and entitles him to our high regard, how
he struggles to serve and gratify us ! All
these things considered, we are inclined
to wish well to country racing, as in itself
a harmless privileged pleasure, which all
classes have the power to partake of; in-
deed, we envy not the man whose heart is
not gladdened by the many happy faces on
a country race-course. In fact, the passion
for racing, like that of hunting, is constitu-
tionally inherent in man, and we cannot

THE TURF 151

reform nature without extinguishing it alto-
gether. The Isthmian games suffered no
intermission, even when Corinth was made
desolate, the Sicyonians being permitted
to celebrate them until Corinth was again
inhabited ; and it is certain that, during the
embarrassments, privations, and panics to
which England has been exposed during
the last twenty years, racing, particularly
country racing, has progressively increased,
and in many respects improved.

We believe it is admitted, that in no
country in the world do people ride with
so daring a spirit as in the little island
of Great Britain, and particularly in our
Leicestershire hunts. But riding over a
country, and race-riding, if they must be
called sister-arts, are diverscz tamen, it being
well known that many of our first-rate jockeys
(Buckle among the number, who often at-
tempted it) have made a poor appearance
after hounds. On the turf, however, as on
the field, our gentlemen ' delighting in horses *
have, from old time, been forward to exhibit
their prowess —

' Smit with the love of the laconic boot,
The cap and wig succinct, the silken suit./ ;

152 THE TURF

though we take it that it was not until
the Bibury and Kingscote meetings that
gentleman-jockeyship arrived at perfection
in England. It is beyond a doubt that
there were gentleman-jockeys at that time
almost, if not quite, equal to the professional
artists, and a few of them in nearly as high
practice in the saddle. Amongst these first-
rate hands were, the present Duke of Dorset,
and George Germaine, his brother; Lords
Charles Somerset, Milsington, and Delamere
(then Mr. Cholmondeley), Sir Tatton Sykes ;
Messrs. Delme Radclyffe, Hawkes, Bullock,
Worral, George Pigot, Lowth, Musters,
Douglas, Probyn, etc. Who was the best
of these jockeys it might be invidious to
say ; the palm of superiority for head, seat,
and hand was generally given to the duke
and Mr. Hawkes; but Messrs. Germaine,
Delme Radclyffe, and Worral, were by
some considered their equals. Lord Charles
Somerset was a fine horseman, though too
tall for a jockey, and he often rode a winner.
Mr. Bullock was also very good till his leg
and thigh were broken by his horse running
against a post ; and Mr. Probyn was superior
on a hard-pulling horse. Mr. Delme Rad-

THE TURF 153

clyffe often rode in the Oaks, and continued
to ride at Goodwood and Egham, till nearly
the last year of his life. All the others have
retired, and some to their long home : but
it is favourable to this manly pastime, and
the temperate habits which it induces, to
state that, out of seven gentleman-jockeys
who rode thirty-two years ago at Lichfield,
only one, Mr. D. Radclyffe, who rode the
winner, has died a natural death ; all the
others being alive, with the exception of
Mr. Bullock, who was drowned.

The eminent jockeys of the present day are
Lord Wilton, Messrs. White, Osbaldeston,
Bouverie, Peyton, Kent, Molony, two
Berkeleys, Platel, Burton, Griffiths, Becher,
Gilbert, and others whose names do not
this moment occur to us. But looking at
the value of the prizes at Heaton Park, for
example (where, until last year, gentlemen
alone were allowed to ride), Bath, Croxton
Park, and several other places, we marvel
not at the proficiency of these patrician
jockeys ; and during certain parts of the
racing season, such performers as Lord
Wilton, Messrs. White, Peyton, Kent, and
one or two more of the best of them, are

154 THE TURF

in nearly as much request as the regular
hired jockeys, and are obliged to prepare
themselves accordingly. Wishing them well,
we have but one word to offer them. For
the credit of the turf, let them bear in mind
what the term gentleman-jockey implies, and
not, as in one or two instances has been the
case, admit within their circle persons little,
if anywise, above the jockey by profession.
This has been severely commented upon as
having led to disreputable practices, with
which the name — the sacred name — of
gentleman should never have been mixed
up. With this proviso^ and considering
what might be likely to take the place of
'the laconic boot,' were it abandoned, we
feel no great hesitation about saying, go —

1 Win the plate,
Where once your nobler fathers won a crown/

A new system of racing has lately sprung
up in England, which, however characteristic
of the daring spirit of our countrymen, we
know not how to commend. We allude to
the frequent steeple-races that have taken
place in the last few years, and of which,
it appears, some are to be periodically re-

THE TURF 155

peated. If those whose land is thus tres-
passed upon are contented, or if recompense
be made to such as are not, we have nothing
further to say on that score ; but we should
be sorry that the too frequent repetition of
such practices should put the farmers out
of temper, and thus prove hurtful to fox-
hunting. We may also take the liberty to
remark, that one human life and several
good horses have already been the penalty
of this rather unreasonable pastime ; and
that, from the pace the horses must travel
at, considerable danger to life and limb is
always close at hand.1 What are called
hurdle-races are still more absurd, by blend-
ing the qualifications of the race-horse with
the hunter, at a time of the year very unfit
for the experiment.

In Scotland, racing is progressing steadily,
and in very good hands — in those chiefly of
Lords Kelburne, now Lord Wemyss, Elcho,
and Eglinton, Sir James Boswell, General
Sharpe, and Mr. Ramsay. The crack man

1 We recommend the uninitiated, who wish to have
some notion of a steeple-chace, to study an admirable
set of prints on that subject lately published, after
drawings by the Hogarth of the chace, Mr. Alken. &

156 THE TURF

is Sir James Boswell, to whose honourable
name no less than a dozen horses appeared
in the calendar, amongst them General
Chasse, the best country horse that has
been out for some time. Lord Kelburne
is an extensive breeder, and had in his stud
those celebrated horses Actseon, now the
property of his Majesty, and Jerry, by
Smolensko, a winner of the Doncaster St.
Leger. The principal meeting in Scotland
is the Caledonian Hunt Meeting, at which
there are a king's plate of one hundred
guineas, two cups, and several plates and
stakes. The Duke of Buccleugh gives a
whip to be run for ; but his grace confines
his sporting propensities to the amusements
of flood and field. There are also races at
Cupar, Dumfries, and Edinburgh — where
his Majesty gives a plate, and the Duke of
Buccleugh fifty pounds, as well as a gold
cup by subscription — and also at Kelso,
where there is a stakes, called the Oats
stakes, to which each subscriber contributes
five bolls : Dr. Johnson would have pro-
nounced this to have been perfectly charac-
teristic.

After the example of England, racing is

THE TURF 157

making considerable progress in various
parts of the world. In the East Indies,
there are regular meetings in the three
different presidencies, and there is also the
Bengal Jockey Club. In the United States,
breeding and running horses are advancing
with rapid strides ; and the grand match at
New York, between Henry and the Eclipse,
afforded a specimen of the immense interest
attached to similar events.1 In Germany
we find three regular places of sport, viz.,
Gustrow, Dobboran, and New Branden-
burg ; and the Duke of Holstein-Augusten-
burg has established a very promising one
in his country. His serene highness and
his brother, Prince Frederick, have each a
large stud of horses, from blood imported
from England ; and, amongst the con-
spicuous German sportsmen who have
regular racing establishments, under the
care of English training-grooms, are Counts
Hahn, Plessen, Bassewitz (two), Moltke,

1 There are two Sporting Magazines now published
in America, one at Stockholm and Paris, and one in
the East Indies (called the Oriental Sporting Magazine).
A king's plate is also now given by William iv., of
England, to be run over the Three Rivers course, in
Canada.

158 THE TURF

and Voss ; Barons de Biel, Hertefeldt, and
Hamerstein. The Duke of Lucca has a
large stud ; and the stables at Marlia have
been rebuilt in a style of grandeur equal to
the ducal palace. At Naples, racing has
been established, and is flourishing. Eleven
thoroughbred horses were, a year or two
back, shipped at Dover, on their road to
that capital, and which were to be eighty
days on their journey, after landing at
Calais. Prince Butera's breeding-stud, on
the southern coast of Sicily, is the largest
in these parts : it was founded by a son of
Haphazard, from a few English mares ; and
his highness is one of the chief supporters
of Neapolitan horse-racing. In Sweden is
some of our best blood, and Count Woron-
zow and others have taken some good blood-
stock to Russia. In Austria four noblemen
subscribe to our Racing Calendar ; in
Hungary, eight; in Prussia, two. As I
have not the last Racing Calendar^ there
may be more subscribers now; but, of all
wonders, who would look for racing in good
form at Van Diemen's Land ? There, how-
ever, it is : we perceive several well-bred
English horses in the lists of the cattle at

THE TURF 159

Hobart Town, where they have three days'
racing for plates, matches, and sweepstakes
(one of fifty sovereigns each), with ordinaries,
and balls, and six thousand spectators on
the course ! This little colony is progressing
in many odd ways ; it turns out, inter alia,
as pretty an { Annual/ whether we look to
the poetry or the engraving, as any one
could have expected from a place of three
times its standing ; though the engraving, to
be sure, may be accounted for.

Until lately France made very little pro-
gress in racing ; it did not, neither do we
think it ever will, generally suit the taste of
that people. Much encouragement, however,
being given to it by the government, in addi-
tion to a strong penchant for the sport in the
heir-apparent to the throne, it is at present
greatly on the increase; and there are no
less than twenty -four race meetings1 ad-
vertised in the French Racing Calendar^ in
France and Belgium ; at several of which

1 Aix - la - Chapelle, Aurillac, Blois, Bordeaux,
Boulogne-sur-Mer, Bruxelles, Chantilly, Compiegne,
Jouy (au clocher), Liege, Limoges, Maisons-sur-Seine,
Moulins, Nemur, Nanci, Nantes, Paris, Pir (le),
St. Brieux, St. Josse-te-Noode, St. Trond, Spa,
Tarbes, Versailles.

160 THE TURF

very good prizes are contended for, and the
horses trained and ridden by English grooms
and jockeys. The principal ones of France
are those of Paris and Chantilly, and that
of Belgium, Brussels, at which prizes worth
contending for are given ; and at the first
named place there are two meetings in each
year, namely, in May and September. Each
of these countries also has its Jockey Club
and Racing Calendar \ and some idea may
be formed of the interest taken by the
nobility and gentry, to whom such matters
are at present confined — the betting man,
or leg, not having yet made his debut on
the continent — in their contests for the palm
of honour, by the fact of there having been
nearly twelve thousand pounds betted on
the event of the Jockey Club plate (won
by Lord Henry Seymour's Frank) at the
Chantilly races in April last.

The principal breeders of thorough-bred
horses in France are his Royal Highness
the Duke of Orleans, and Lord Henry
Seymour, second son to the Marquis of
Hertford, each of whom has a large breeding-
stud at about three leagues distant from
Paris, and stables for training in the Bois

THE TURF 161

de Boulogne, the Hyde Park of that metro-
polis, in the roads and cross-roads of which
the various horses are galloped and sweated.
The stables of the duke are hired, but those
of Lord Henry were built by his lordship at
an expense of twelve thousand pounds, and
are, for their size and conveniences, not
excelled in Europe. There is likewise a
public training-stable in 'The Wood,' kept
by a Newmarket man of the name of
Palmer, in whom much confidence is placed
by the noblemen and gentlemen who intrust
their horses to his care.1

It may, perhaps, surprise the majority of
our readers to hear the extent of the studs
we have alluded to ; and we have reason to
believe that that of Count Duval de Beaulieu,
the President of the Belgic Jockey Club,
exceeds them both in number. That of the
Duke of Orleans, however, consists of seven
brood-mares, exclusive of some lately sold,
nineteen colts and fillies in the paddocks,
and ten in training; total thirty-six. This

1 A full account of the proceedings of the French and
Belgic turf will be found in Nimrod's ' French Tour/ in
the New Sporting Magazine for the months of July and
September, 1836.

L

162 THE TURF

does not include the stud-horses, amongst
which are Rowlston and Tandem ; and in
the government establishment, in the Wood,
are Spectre, Cadland, and Sir Benjamin
Backbite, and Alterateur by Orville.

The stud of Lord Henry Seymour con-
tains nine brood-mares, twelve one and
two-year-old colts and fillies, and fourteen
in training ; total thirty-five, exclusive of the
stud-horses, amongst which is Royal Oak,
purchased by his lordship for six hundred
guineas. Also, amongst the horses in
training, is Ibrahim, late the property of
the Earl of Jersey, winner of the last year's
second Riddlesworth stakes, the two thou-
sand guinea stakes, the Grand Duke Michael
stakes, as well as some other ' good things '
at Newmarket, and once first favourite for
the Derby, which, however, he did not win.

Racing in Germany is considerably on
the increase; fresh places for sport having
sprung up within the last four years, par-
ticularly Hamburg and Berlin, where two
thousand pounds of public money is given
to be run for. In short, throughout the
states of Mecklenburg and Holstein, as
well as, indeed, the whole of Germany and

THE TURF 163

Prussia, including Hanover, the spirit for
racing is becoming general, and a peep into
Messrs. Tattersalls' books would show that
no expense is spared in procuring the best
English blood. And all this is the fruit of
one German nobleman, Baron Biel, of Zieron,
near Wiswar, who supplied this part of the
continent with the materials for the turf in
the following manner : — The baron, having
made a large and valuable selection of
English thorough-bred horses and mares,
had an annual sale of the produce after
the following fashion : about a month pre-
vious to foaling-time, tickets were made out
of the anticipated produce of each mare (the
mares themselves being of course reserved),
and put into a bag. The baron then drew
out six lots for himself, thereby standing the
same chance as the public as to future
proceedings on the racecourse; and then
those lots which remained were sold without
reserve, to be delivered when weaned. The
prices averaged about sixty guineas per lot,
which, considering the possibility of the
chickens not being hatched at all, or of
being very short-lived, may be considered
as good.

1 64 THE TURF

The baron's efforts to introduce racing
into his part of the world have been crowned
with complete success. Although he has at
present some powerful competitors in the
Duke of Holstein-Augustenburg, Counts
Hahn, Plessen, Bassewitz, and others, his
stable the two last years has been pre-
eminent, winning most of the best prizes
at the various meetings alluded to, and
keeping the two challenge whips in his
possession. He also had the satisfaction
of witnessing the success of several of his
brother sportsmen's horses, the issue of his
stud) and of the best colt of last year, the
property of Count Hahn, by Godolphin, out
of a Whalebone mare sold to the count by
himself.1 It will be recollected that Count
Hahn purchased Godolphin, and resold him
to England, after having used him one
season as a stud-horse.

But it is in the New World — in America —
that racing, and the consequent improve-
ment of horses, are making the most rapid

1 Baron Biel has at present the following stud-
horses :— Varro, brother to Emilius; Predictor; the
brother to Interpreter; the General; and Joceline, by
Catton, out of General Mina's dam.

THE TURF 165

progress; so much so indeed as, from the
excellent choice they make in their stud-
horses, to incline some persons to the opinion
that in the course of half another century
we shall have to go to the United States to
replenish our own blood, which must de-
generate if that of the most sound and
enduring qualities is transported to that
country. For example, in the American
Turf Register for March last is a list of
twenty-nine thorough-bred English horses
propagating their stock throughout the
various states, amongst which are Appari-
tion, Autocrat, Barefoot, Claret, Chateau
Margaux, Consol, Emancipation, Hedgeford,
Luzborough, Leviathan, Lapdog, Margrave,
Merman, Rowton, Sarpedon, St. Giles,
Shakspeare, Tranby, and Young Truffle.
To these are to be added Glencoe, and,
alas ! Priam, at the extraordinary cost of
three thousand five hundred guineas !

The great and leading qualification of a
horse bred for the turf is the immaculate
purity of his blood. It is, then, little less
than a misnomer to call a half-bred horse
a race-horse ; it is like the royal stamp im-
pressed upon base metal. Besides, what

i66 THE TURF

are called stakes for horses not thorough-bred
have been the cause of much villany on the
turf, by reason of the owners of full-bred
horses producing false pedigrees with them,
to enable them to start, when, of course,
they are almost sure to win. Perhaps the
most successful, and, at the same time, the
most impudent case occurred in 1825, when

a Mr. W took about the country a

horse which he called ' Tom Paine/ by
Prime Minister, not thorough-bred, and won
several large stakes with him ; whereas this
said Tom Paine was proved to be Tybalt, by
Thunderbolt, and out of Lord Grosvenor's
Meteora, by Meteor, the best mare in England
of her day ! But, besides all this, we doubt
a good result, as regards the horse and his
uses, from these stakes. In the first place,
a really half-bred horse will rarely endure
severe training ; and, if he does, his con-
stitution and temper are all but sure to be
ruined by it. Secondly, however good he
may be as a half-bred racer, he cannot
transmit his base blood to posterity. Again,
regular trainers dislike having to do with
half-bred horses, and seldom give them fair
play, i.e. seldom trouble themselves to go

THE TURF 167

out of the usual course with them in their
work, which must be done to bring them well
to the post. Finally, these stakes are also
the very hot-bed of wrangles ; and the system
lately adopted of produce-stakes for half-
bred horses opens a still wider door for
villany and fraud. We wish we could see
the turf confined to pure blood.

But we must not conclude this article
without a word or two to the young gentlemen
just starting into the world who may have
imbibed the ambition of shining on ihe
English turf. Let every such person re-
member that he presents a broad mark —
that there are hundreds on the watch for
him — and that he stakes what is certain
against not only all other chances, but the
rife chance of fraud ! Let him, before he
plunges into the stream, consider a little
how it runs, and whither it may lead him !
In these days, indeed, gambling is not con-
fined to the turf, the hazard -room, the
boxing-ring, or the cock-pit • but is, un-
fortunately, mixed up with too many of the
ordinary occupations of life. { Commerce
itself,' said Mr. Coke of Norfolk, in one of
his public harangues, 'is become spe'cula-

168 THE TURF

tion ; the object of a whole life of industry
and integrity among our forefathers, is now
attempted to be obtained in as many weeks
or months as it formerly required years to
effect/ This fatal passion has, indeed, taken
fast hold on a great body of the people, and
what is called a ' levanter ' is perhaps a less
rare occurrence from the corn-market, the
hop-market, or 'the alley,7 than from the
betting-ring or Tattersall's. But we are told
that betting —

'Though no science, fairly worth the seven,' —

is the life of racing, and that without it the
turf would soon fall into decay. To a cer-
tain extent there may be some truth in this
doctrine; nevertheless betting is the germ
which gives birth to all the roguery that
has of late lowered this department of sport
in the eyes of all honourable men. The
Scripture phrase, in short, is now every day
verified, the race not being to the swift, but
to the horse on whom the largest sums stand
in certain person? books. Indeed, it was
not long since asserted by a well-known
rider and owner of race-horses, deep in
turf secrets, that if Eclipse were here now,

THE TURF 169

and in his very best form, but heavily backed
to lose by certain influential bettors, he
would have no more chance to win than
if he had but the use of three of his legs.
What, may we ask, must be the opinion of
foreigners, when they read the uncontradicted
statement of the New Sporting Magazine^
that in the Derby stakes of 1832, when St.
Giles was the winner, every horse in the
race, save one (Perion), was supposed to
have been made safe — i.e. safe not to win ?
By whom made safe ? Not by their owners,
for many of them were the property of
noblemen and gentlemen of high personal
character. The foul deed can only be per-
petrated by the influence of vast sums of
money employed in various ways upon the
event — in short, where the owners stand
clear, trainers or jockeys must combine with
the parties concerned in the robbery. But
what a stain upon the boasted pastime of
English gentlemen ! And then the result :

' This yellow slave

Will knit and break religions ; bless the accursed
Make the hoar leprosy adored ; place thieves,
And give them title, knee, and approbation,
With senators on the bench ! '

lyo THE TURF

But we may be told that racing — or rather
betting on racing, supposed to be essential
to its existence — cannot go on without what
are called the * legs ' (described by an old
writer on sporting subjects 'as the most
unprincipled and abandoned set of thieves
and harpies that ever disgraced civilised
society'); and that pecuniary obligations
are commonly discharged by them with as
much integrity and despatch as by the most
respectable persons in the commercial world.
Undoubtedly they are ; for if they fail to be
so, the adventurer is driven from the ground
on which he hopes to fatten. * I would give
fifty thousand pounds for a bit of character,'
said the old sinner Charteris ; ' for if I had
that, I think I could make a plum of it ' ;
and the rogues of our day, though not so
witty, are quite as knowing as the venerable
colonel.1

Woe befall the day when Englishmen
look lightly on such desperate inroads upon
public morals as have lately passed under
their eyes on race-courses ! Do they lose
sight of the fact, that whoever commits a

1 The word ' rogue ' is obsolete on the modern turf ;
the term ' clever man ' has superseded it.

THE TURF 171

fraud is guilty, not only of the particular
injury to him whom he deceives, but of the
diminution of that confidence which con-
stitutes the very existence of society ? Can
this familiarity with robbing and robbers
be without its influence on a rising genera-
tion ? We say it cannot ; and if suffered
to go on for twenty years more, we venture
to pronounce the most mischievous effects
to all classes of society. Talk of jockey-
club regulations ! As well might Madame
Vestris sit in judgment on short petticoats,
or Lord Grey on the sin of nepotism, as a
jockey-club attempt then to pass censure
on offences which they must have suffered
to grow before their faces, — if, indeed, they
should have been so fortunate as all along
to steer quite clear of them themselves.

But let us look a little into these practices.
In the first place, what is it that guides the
leading men in their betting ? Is it a know-
ledge of the horse they back either to win
or to lose ? and is it his public running that
directs their operations? We fear not.
Three parts of them know no more of a
horse than a horse knows of them ; but it
is from private information, purchased at

172 THE TURF

a high price — at a price which ordinary
virtue cannot withstand — that their books
are made up. Again ; how do the second-
class of bettors act? We reply — they bet
upon men and not upon horses ; for so soon
as they can positively ascertain that certain
persons stand heavy against any one horse,
that horse has no chance to win, unless, as
it sometimes happens, he is too strong for
his jockey, or the nauseating ball has not
had the desired effect. He runs in front,
it is true, for he can run to win ; but what
is his fate ? Why, like the hindmost wheel
of the chariot, he is

' Cursed
Still to be near, but ne'er to reach the first. '

Unfortunately for speculators on the turf,
the present enormous amount of a few of
our principal sweepstakes renders it impos-
sible to restrict the owners of race-horses
from starting more than one animal in the
same race. The nominations for the Derby,
Oaks, etc., take place when the colts are
but one year old; consequently, many of
them die before the day of running, or, what
is worse, prove good for nothing on trial.

THE TURF 173

Thus, the aspirant to the honour of winning
them enters several horses for the same
stakes, and perhaps two of the number
come to the post, as was the case with
Mameluke and Glenartney for the Derby
of 1827 — an occasion when the race was
not to the swift, but to the horse which
stood best in the book; the losing horse,
it is not disputed, could have won, had he
been permitted to do so. By the laws of
racing this practice is allowable,1 but it gives
great cause for complaint, and opens a door
for fraud. One of the heaviest bettors of
the present day, who had backed Glen-
artney to a large amount, observed that
he should not have lamented his loss^ had
it not been clear that Glenartney could have
won. A similar occurrence took place in
1832 for the same great race. Messrs.
Gully and Ridsdale (confederates, and as
such, allowed to do so) compromised to give
the race to St. Giles, although doubtless
Margrave could have won it. All outside
bettors, as they are called — those not in

1 Lord Jersey declared to win with Mameluke,
according to the rules of racing.

174 THE TURF

the secret, as well as those not in the ring
— are of course put hors de combat by such
proceedings ; their opinion of horses, formed
from their public running — the only honour-
able criterion — being sacrificed by this com-
promise. But we will go one point further.
It is proceedings such as these that are too
often the cause of gentlemen on the turf
swerving from the straightforward course ;
men — true as the sun in all private trans-
actions— allow themselves to deviate from
the right path on a race-course, in revenge
for what they deem to have been injustice.
We could name several honourable and
highly minded gentlemen who have openly
avowed this : — c Our money has been taken
from us,' they have declared, * without our
having a chance to keep it, and we will
recover it in any way we can.' In truth,
we are too much inclined to believe, that
a modern Aristides has fearful odds against
him on the English turf at the present time.
Look, for example, at the sums paid for
race-horses, which we think must open our
eyes to the fact. Three thousand guineas
are now given for a promising colt for the
Derby stakes ! But how stands this favourite?

THE TURF 175

There are upwards of a hundred horses be-
sides himself named for the stake ; more
than twenty will start for it ; and if he wins
it, it does not amount to much above his
cost price. But the purchaser will back him
to win it. Indeed ! back him against such
a field, several of which he knows have been
running forward, and others of which have
not appeared at all, and may be better than
his own ! No ; these three-thousand-guinea
horses are not bought to win the Derby ;
— but the price makes them favourites —
and then thousands are won by their losing
it. We believe, however, this trick is now
become too stale to succeed.

Then there is another system which can-
not be too severely reprobated — namely,
making a horse a favourite in the betting,
and then selling him on the eve of a great
play or pay race. We confess we could by
no means understand 'the white- washing,'
as it was termed by Lord Uxbridge, that the
late Mr. Beardsworth obtained by his ex-
planation of an affair of this nature at
Doncaster. The act of selling a horse
under such circumstances to a duke would
have been a culpable one; but what must

176 THE TURF

be thought of ' the merry sport ' of placing
him in the hands of a ^//-keeper ? *

One of the principal evils is the betting
of trainers and jockeys. We may be asked,
is there any harm in a trainer betting a few
pounds on a horse he has in his stable, and
which he thinks has a fair chance to win ?
Certainly not; and the old, and the only
proper way of doing this was, to ask the
owner of the horse to let him stand some
part of his engagements, — a request that was
never known to be refused. But then no
trainer had a person betting for him by
commission, and perhaps against the very
horses he himself was bringing to the post —
reducing such bets to a certainty ! The
evil of trainers becoming bettors has no
bounds ; for when once they enter upon it,
it is in vain to say to what extent the pursuit
may lead them. Look to the case of Lord

1 The racing world remember Mr. Watt's honourable
conduct on this point, when offered a large price for
Belzoni, a great favourite for the St. Leger. ' No,' said
he, ' my horse is at present the property of the public.1
It is stated in the Old Sporting Magazine, for December,
1835, p. 157 — and uncontradicted — that Mr. Mostyn had
an offer made to him for the Queen of Trumps, on the
day previous to her winning the St. Leger stakes, at
Doncaster, of seven thousand pounds !

THE TURF 177

Exeter's late trainer, examined before the
Jockey Club. He admitted having betted
three hundred pounds against one of his
master's horses. Was there any harm in
that individual act ? None : because he
had previously betted largely that the horse
would win> and he had recourse to the
usual, indeed to the only, means of securing
himself from loss on finding that he was
going wrong. But we maintain, that he had
no right, as Lord Exeter's trainer and servant,
to bet to an amount requiring such steps to
be taken. Again ; who betted the three hun-
dred pounds hedging-money for him ? Let
those who inquired into the affair answer that !
Now what security had Lord Exeter that all
the money had not been laid out against his
horse, and then, we may ask, where was his
chance to win ? Moreover, if trainers subject
themselves to such heavy losses — for this man,
it seems, had a large sum depending on the
event — there is too much reason to fear they
may be recovered at their masters' expense.1

1 This trainer sued a public betting man this last year
for three thousand pounds — on a bill given the June or
July after the Derby, which the latter won — and in
which the former had a great public favourite, who w#s
nowhere in the race !

M

178 THE TURF

The heavy betting of jockeys is still more
fatal to the best interests of the turf, and
generally, we may add, to themselves. Why
did the late King dismiss Robinson, the
second best, if not, as in some people's
opinions, the best — in every one's opinion
the most successful — jockey in England?
Not because he had done wrong by the
King's horses, but solely because his Majesty
heard he was worth a large sum of money.
What did the great jockey of the north get
by his heavy betting ? Money, no doubt ;
but dismissal from the principal stud of the
north. In fact, no gentleman can feel him-
self secure in the hands of either a trainer
or a jockey who bets ; but of the two, the
system may be most destructive with the
jockey, as no one besides himself need be
in the secret. If he bet against his horse,
the event is of course under his control ;
and such is the superiority of modern jockey-
ship, that a race can almost always be thrown
away without detection. On the other hand,
if he back his horse heavily to win, he be-
comes, from nervous trepidation, unfit to ride
him, as has frequently been witnessed at
Doncaster ; — we need not mention names.

THE TURF 179

The first admission we have on record of a
jockey betting against himself, is in Genius
Genuine, page 1 06, where the author, the late
Samuel Chifney (1784), rides Lord Gros-
venor's Fortitude, at York, against Faith and
Recovery, backing Faith against Recovery,
one win, or no bet, and Faith won. He adds,
that he did not think he was acting impro-
perly in making this bet, because, he says,
he knew Fortitude was unfit to run. Now,
as he has given his opinion on the case, we
will give ours. Let us suppose that Lord
Grosvenor — thinking perhaps that his horse
was fit to run — had backed him heavily to
win, and that his jockey had backed (as he
admits he did) Faith to win. Fortitude and
Faith come to a neck-and-neck race ; and
what, may we ask, would be the result ?
Why, we really have not faith enough
to believe that Fortitude would have won.
Indeed, we can fancy we hear the jockey's
conversation with the inner man. 'The
money is nothing to my lord/ he might say,
1 but a great deal to me,' so one pull makes
it safe ; and a few pricks of the spur, after
he has passed the winning-post, serve to lull
suspicion. To speak seriously — a jockey's

i8o THE TURF

betting at all is bad enough, but his betting
on any other horse in the race save his
own is contrary to every principle, and
fatal to the honour of the turf.

We have already alluded to one system
of turf plunder, that of getting-up favourites^
as the term is, by false trials and lies, for
the sake of having them backed to win in
the market, well knowing that all the money
betted upon them must be lost. This is
villainous ; but what can be said to the
poisoning system — the nauseating ball — we
have reason to fear an everyday occurrence,
when a horse is placed under the master-
key '? This is a practice of some standing
on the turf (see Chifney's account of Creeper
and Walnut, 1791), and was successfully
carried on in the stables of the late Lord
Foley, very early in the present century,
when one of the party was hanged for the
offence. But people know better now, and
the disgrace of the halter is avoided; no
post-mortem examination — no solution of
arsenic. A little opiate ball given overnight
is all that is necessary to retard a horse in
his race, but not prevent his starting.
Winners of races are now not in request.

THE TURF 181

A good favourite is the horse wanting, and
there are many ways to prevent his winning
— this among the rest.

There is one point more that we must
touch on, —

' Disce, puer, virtutem ex me, verumque laborem,
Fortunam ex aliis, '

says ^Eneas to his son, when he advises
him not to trust to her wanton smiles for
achievement and success. It is quite certain
that luck has very little to do with racing,
and the man who trusts to it will find he
is leaning on a broken staff. To the owner
of a racing stud, who means to act uprightly,
nothing but good management can insure
success, and even with this he has fearful
odds against him, so many striving for the
same prize. His horses must be well-bred,
well-reared, well-engaged, well-trained, well-
weighted, and well-ridden — nothing else will
succeed in the long run. Still less has luck
to do with betting. The speculator on other
people's horses can only succeed by the
help of one or the other of these expedients
— namely, great knowledge of horseflesh and
astute observation of public running, deep

i82 THE TURF

calculation, or secret fraud; and that the
last-mentioned resource is the base on which
many large fortunes have in our day been
built, no man will be bold enough to deny.
How many fine domains have been shared
amongst those hosts of rapacious sharks,
during the last two hundred years ! and,
unless the system be altered, how many
more are doomed to fall into the same
gulph ! For, we lament to say, the evil
has increased : all heretofore, indeed, has
been ' tarts and cheese-cakes,' to the vil-
lainous proceedings of the last twenty years
on the English turf. l Strange ! But how
is it that exposures l are not oftener made ? '

1 A very proper notice has been taken by the members
of the Irish Turf Club, respecting an alleged attempt at
fraud on the part of Mr. Ruthven, a member of the
Reformed Parliament, and here a reformer on principle.
The charge against him was, that of his having ran two
horses in Ireland under false names and ages, thereby
pocketing large sums of money ; and the following was
the decision of the stewards, the Honourable John
Westenra, John Maher, Esq., and the Earl of Howth,
after a long and laborious investigation : ' Having
most carefully examined the evidence produced before
us, we are of opinion, that, in reference to Leinster and
Old Bill, as also to Caroline and Becacine, a case of
identity has been proved ; and we consider Mr. Ruthven's

THE TURF 183

This question is very easily answered. It
is the value of the prize that tempts the
pirate ; and the extent of the plunder is now
so great, that secrecy is purchased at any
price.

But shutting our eyes to this ill-featured
picture, and imagining everything to be
honourably conducted, let us just take a
glance at the present system of betting, and,
setting aside mathematical demonstrations,

refusal to produce those horses for examination here, as
conclusive of the facts of substitution alleged against
him.

'We are therefore of opinion, that neither Caroline
nor Leinster are entitled to any stakes on the races for
which they have come in first ; that the second horses
in those races should be deemed the winners ; and that
the bets should go accordingly, except in the match
between Caroline and Fusileer, in which the bets are
off.

' In conclusion, we feel imperatively called upon to
remark that, in consequence of Mr. Ruthven's with-
drawal of his name from the Turf Club, it does not
become a part of our painful duty to recommend to the
Club any further proceedings in this matter.

(Signed) 'JOHN C. WESTENRA.

JOHN MAKER.
HOWTH.'

A full account of Ruthven's affair is to be seen in the
March number of the New Sporting Magazine, 1836,
p. 326.

184 THE TURF

applicable only where chances are equal,
state the general method of what is called
1 making a book.' The first object of the
betting man is to purchase cheaply, and to
sell dearly ; and next to secure himself by
hedging, so that he cannot lose, if he do
not win. This, however, it is evident, will
not satisfy him, and he seeks for an oppor-
tunity of making himself a winner, without
the chance of being a loser \ which is done by
what is called betting round. For example :
if twenty horses start in a race, and A bets
10 to i against each^ he must win 9, as he
receives 19, and only pays 10; namely —
10 to i to the winning horse. This, of
course, can rarely be done, because it might
not occur in a hundred years that all the
horses were at such equal odds. Neverthe-
less, it is quite evident, that if, when a
certain number of horses start, A bets
against all, taking care that he does not
bet a higher sum against any one horse
that may win, than would be covered by
his winnings by the others which lose, he
must win. Let us, then, suppose A begin-
ning to make his Derby book at the com-
mencement of the new year. B bets him

THE TURF 185

(about the usual odds) 20 to i against an
outsider, which A takes in hundreds, viz.,
2000 to 100. The outsider improves; he
comes out in the spring, and wins a race,
and the odds drop to 10 to i. A bets
1000 to 100 against him. He is now on
velvet; he cannot lose, and may win 1000.
In fact, he has one thousand pounds in
hand to play with, which the alteration of
the odds has given him. But mark, he is
only playing with it ; he may never pocket
it : so he acts thus. The outsider — we will
call him Repealer — comes out again, wins
another race, and the odds are only 5 to i
against him. A bets 500 to 100 more
against him ; and let us now see how he
stands : —

If Repealer wins, A receives from B . . .£2000
He pays to C . . . . ,£1000
Ditto to D . . . . 500

Balance in A's favour by Repealer winning ^500

If Repealer loses — A receives from C . ;£ioo
Ditto from D 100

200
A pays B ;£ioo— Deduct 100

Balance in A's favour by Repealer losing ^100

186 THE TURF

But is there no contingency here. Yes,
the colt might have died before A had
hedged, and then he must have paid his
one hundred pounds; but, on the other
hand, he would have been out of the field,
which might have been worth all the money
to him, in his deeper speculations on other
horses. But let us suppose our colt to have
remained at the original odds, viz., 20 to i.
In that case, A must have betted 2000 to 100
against him, and then no harm would have
arisen.

In what is called making a book on a
race, it is evident that the bettor must be
early in the market, taking and betting the
odds for and against each horse : for backing
a favourite to win is not his system. His
chief object is to take long odds against
such horses as he fancies, and then await
the turn of the market, when he sells dearly
what he has purchased cheaply. For ex-
ample, how often does it happen that 12 to
i is the betting against a horse two months
before his race, and before he starts it is
only 4 to i ? If the bettor has taken 1200
to 100 against him, and then bets 400 to 100
the other way, he risks nothing, but has a

THE TURF 187

chance to win 800. It is by this system of
betting that it often becomes a matter of
indifference to a man which horse wins, his
money being so divided amongst them all.
In fact, what is called an outsider is often
the best winner for him, as in that case he
pockets all the bets he has made against
those horses which gentlemen and their
friends have fancied. There is, however,
too often what is called 'the book-horse '
in some of the great races, in which more
than one party are concerned. What the
term ' book-horse ' implies, we need not
explain further than by saying, that it would
signify little were he really a book and not
a horse : — the animal with the best blood
in England in his veins, and the best jockey
on his back, shall have no more chance
to win, if backed heavily to lose, than a
jackass.

Yet this evil is likely to cure itself ; and
we cannot more clearly point out the
remedy than by extracting the following
passage from the June number of the New
Sporting Magazine for the year 1836. 'The
settling-day (for the Epsom Meeting) on the
24th of May, passed off worse than any

i88 THE TURF

settling-day within our recollection. There
was less money forthcoming than ever was
known ; and one noble lord, a book -winner
of ten thousand pounds, was only able to
draw three thousand pounds ; while others
actually went prepared to pay, whereas they
ought to have been large winners. We are
happy to add that the blackleg fraternity
were the heavy losers, and upon the old
proverb of "ex nihilo nihil fit" no better
settling could be expected. Until gentle-
men and men of reputation separate them-
selves from such unworthy associates,
betting and book-making must continue a
mere farce.7

As we well know that a huge fortune was
made in the betting-ring by a certain person
now deceased, who could neither read nor
write, and that one of the heaviest bettors
of the present day is in the same state of
blessed ignorance,1 we may safely conclude,

1 We have here, perhaps, the only instance of
palpable arithmetic in these days ; still it is truly
characteristic. The ancient Greeks kept their accounts
by the means of pebbles, and so does this modern
Athenian, shifting them from pocket to pocket as events
come off; and, although a heavy bettor in the New-
market ring, he is generally correct. Perhaps he may

THE TURF 189

that if these two persons ever heard of
fractional arithmetic, they could know no
more of it than of the division of logarithms.
Nevertheless, the probability of events can
only be found by such help : and even then,
as far as racing is concerned, although the
adept in this part of the mathematician's art
may be able to ascertain the precise odds
that may be given or received, so as to
provide against loss, yet he will find that, to
be certain to win, advantage must be taken
of all chances more favourable than the
precise odds. In fact, it will be by advan-
tageous bets on particular events, that he
will have a balance in his favour at the
winding-up of his book, and it would avail
him little to work for no profit. The main

have been indebted, for this clever expedient, to some
learned Cantab, who may have told him, on the
authority of Diogenes Laertius, that the bestowing on
pebbles an artificial value was even older than Solon,
the great reformer of the Athenian commonwealth.
Eschines, in his oration for the crown, indeed, speaking
of balanced accounts, says, ' the pebbles were cleared
away, and none left ' ; and his rival, Demosthenes,
strikes his balance by the help of counters. Hence the
origin of the word calculate, from calculus, a pebble ;
and in popular language of the present day, to clear
scores, is to settle accounts.

190 THE TURF

point, however, on which it is indispensably
necessary to keep the eye in betting, is, in a
series of different events, the exact odds to be
readily had on every individual event ; and
having made a round of these engagements,
as opinion fluctuates, opportunities will offer
themselves where great advantage may be

It is on a plurality of events that figures
must be resorted to, the chances on which
must be put to the test of arithmetical
solution. As everything may be under-
stood which man is permitted to know, a
few lessons from the schoolmaster will
furnish this ; and we now give the following
simple examples, which are easily under-
stood, and generally applicable. And let
us add, that, to a betting man, who
speculates largely, the difference of half
a ?point in the precise odds may win or
lose a large fortune in the course of a
few years.

EXAMPLES. — Two horses are about to
start. The betting on one is even, and the
odds on the other is 6 to 4. What odds
must B bet A that he does not name both

THE TURF 191

the winners'* The expression for the former
is |, and for the latter T^ ; but -£$ is equal
to f , therefore say —

|xf = i3o; and 10-3 = 7.

hence the odds are 7 to 3. B, therefore,
lays A 7 to 3 that he does not name both
winners, and then hedges as follows : As
three pounds is the sum to which he has
staked his seven pounds, he lays that sum
even that A wins ; and on the other event
he lays 6 to 4 (the odds in the example)
the same way. Now A wins both, and
receives of B seven pounds ; but B wins
three pounds on the former by hedging,
and four pounds on the latter, which is
equal to what he has lost to A. It is here
obvious, that had B, in hedging, been
enabled to have made better bets — for
instance, could he have done better than by
taking an even three pounds on the first
event, and had greater odds than 6 to 4 on
the latter — he might have won, but could
not have lost.

On the same two events, what odds may
B lay A that the latter does not lose both ?
Set down for the former |, and the latter

192 THE TURF

will now be T4^ ; but ^ is equal to -f ; there-
fore, it will be —

4x1 = 1%; and 10-2 = 8:
hence the odds are 8 to 2 = 4 to i.

Proof by Hedging. — B begins to hedge by
betting an even one pound on the first
event, which, A winning, he wins. On the
subsequent event, B takes the odds, 3 to 2,
which, A winning, he also wins. Thus he
receives four pounds, which pays the 4 to i
he betted on A losing both events.

Upon two several events, even betting on
the one, and 7 to 4 in favour of A on the
other, what odds may B lay against A
winning both? The one, as before, is J,
and the other is represented by T7T :
Then JxT7T = ^; and 22-7 = 15:

thus 15 to 7 is the odds.

Proof by Hedging. — The sum against
which B laid his odds is 7 ; therefore he
begins by laying seven pounds on the first
event ; which, as A wins, he wins. On the
next event he lays 14 to 8, or twice 7 to
twice 4, as per terms of question, which he
also wins; making together 7 and 8=15,
the odds he had laid with, and lost to A.

r

THE TURF 193

Upon the same two events, what odds
may B bet A that the latter does not lose
both ? Set down for the former J, for the
latter T4T :

Then \ x T*T = ^r 5 an<* 22 - 4= 18 :

therefore 1 8 to 4 = 9 to 2 is the odds.

Proof by Hedging. — B bets first the sum
to which he has laid his odds, namely, two
pounds, which he wins ; and then taking
7 to 4 on the second event, he wins 2 + 7 = 9,
which pays the nine pounds he lost to A ;
and had more favourable odds been offered,
B must have been a winner without risk of
losing.

When three distinct events are pending,
on the first of which the betting is even ;
on the second 3 to 2 in favour of A, and
the third 5 to 4 ; what odds should B
lay A that the latter does not name all
the winners ? The first is expressed by J,
the second by f , and the third by £ :

Therefore,

4 xf if — (by cancelling) \ ; and 6- 1 = 5:

hence the odds are 5 to i.

Proof by Hedging. — B begins to hedge by
betting an even two pounds that A wins the

N

i94 THE TURF

first event ; he then bets the odds on the
next, viz. (3 to 2)~2 = i| to i. B also bets
the odds on the third event, viz. (5 to 4)-r2
= 2^ to 2. Now A wins all three; there-
fore, B wins 2 + 1 + 2 = ^5, which pays what
he lost to A. The odds that A did not lose
these three events would be 41 to 4.

We now dismiss this subject, with no
probability of our ever returning to it. Al-
though the perusal of Xenophon might have
made Scipio a hero, we have not the slightest
intention of manufacturing jockeys by any
effort of our pen ; and yet we wish we had
touched on these matters sooner. But why
so ? Is it that we would rather have been
Livy, to have written on the grandeur of
Rome, than Tacitus on its ill-fated decline ?
It may be so ; for we are loth to chronicle,
in any department, our country's dispraise \
but we are not without the reflection, that
we might have done something towards
preventing the evils we have had to deplore,
by exposing the manner in which they have
accumulated and thriven. That there are
objections to racing, we do not deny, as,
indeed, there are to most of the sports which
have been invented for the amusement of

THE TURF 195

mankind, and few of which can gratify pure
benevolence; but, when honourably con-
ducted, we consider the turf as not more
objectionable than most others, and it has
one advantage over almost all now in any
measure of fashionable repute : — it diffuses its
pleasures far and wide. The owner of race-
horses cannot gratify his passion for the
turf without affording delight to thousands
upon thousands of the less fortunate of his
countrymen. This is no trivial feature in
the case, now that shooting is divided be-
tween the lordly battue and the prowl of the
poacher, — and that fox-hunting is every day
becoming more and more a piece of ex-
clusive luxury, instead of furnishing the
ord, the squire, and the yeoman, with a
common recreation, and promoting mutual
goodwill among all the inhabitants of the
rural district.

Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, (late) Printers to Her Majesty
at the Edinburgh University Press

RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT

TO—* 202 Main Library

LOAN PERIOD 1
HOME USE

2

3

4

5

6

ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS

1 -month loans may be renewed by calling 642-3405

6-month loans may be recharged by bringing books to Circulation Desk

Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date

DUE AS STAMPED BELOW

-<m-8r

—

;}&

YA 023C4