HISTORY

BRITISH TURF.

MK. GEORGE PAYNE.

History

OF

The British Turf,

FROM THE earliest TIMES TO
THE PRESENT DAY.

JAMES RICE,

(Of Lvicolii's Inn, Barrister-at-Law; formerly of Queeiti College, Cainl'ridge.)

"But it ;■; not in perils nnd conflicts alone that the horse willingly co-operates with his masi ?r; he
likewise participates in human pleasures. He exults in the chase and the tournament; his eyes
sparkle with emulation on the course." — Buffon.

IN TWO VOL UMES.
VOL. II.

LONDON :
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, AND RIVINGTON,

CROWN BUILDINGS, ISS, FLEET STREET.

1S79. '

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS.

Vol. II.

Page 22, lino 25, for "Mr. Disraeli" read "Lord BeaconsfielJ."

Page 33, line 5, PotSo's — the same story was told when the horse was in
training.

Page 60, last line, for "half" read "quarter." The palace was sold by
Mr. Driver, of Whitehall, at the wish of the Queen and Prince Consort,
lest their sons should be tempted to take to the Turf. It was sold for
only a few pounds over the reserve ; and the land is now worth, probably,
doulile what it then realized.

Page 71, line 3, "Royal," rather because the course belongs to the Crown.
The Master of the Buckhounds acts as owner of the ground.

Page 133, line 24, after "Cartouche" insert "and Roxana, dam of."

Page 143, line 26, for "Cartouch" read " Cartouche."

Page 147, line 20, for "these" read "those."

Page 147, line 30, for "Pigot" read "Piggot."

CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. — Epsom — The Derby — The Oaks . . . i — 23

II. — DONCASTER AND YORK 24 — 45

III. — Newmarket 46 — 66

IV. — Ascot and Goodwood 67 — 73

V. — Chester — Newcastle — Northampton — Paisley-
Lincoln — Durham 74 — 87

VI. — Racing in the United States and Canada —

The Trotting Horse of America . • 88 — 124

VII. — The English Race-horse: His Origin . 125 — 173
VIII. — The English Race-horse : His Training and
Treatment — JNIodern Methods — The Old

Style 174 — 210

IX. — Modern Newmarket — Notes on Judicious

Crosses — Strains of Blood — Soundness 211 — 224
X. — Old Mr. Scott — John Scott — Whitehall —

Baron Martin — Sir Joseph Hawley . 225 — 241
XI. — Lord Glasgow — Admiral Rous . . . 242 —266

XII. — Remarks on Betting — The Old Bettors
Round — Davis, the " Leviathan " — Mr. Dodg-
son's Method — Gain =Loss = " Nil" — Odds
against Derby Winners — Curious Bets —
Dreams ....... 267 — 295

XIII. — Mr. George Payne — The De Ros Action —

Anecdotes 296 — 30S

XIV. — The Progress of the Law relating to Horse-
racing and Wagers — The Early Statutes — .
Enactments of Charles II., Anne, George II.
— Statutes now in force . . . 309 — 322

VUl

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

XV. — General Peel — Stockwell, West Australian,

AND Voltigeur — Baron Rothschild — Mr.

Merry — Mr. Blenkiron and Middle Park 323 — 344
XVI. — Steeplechasing — Duke of Newcastle — Lord

St. Vincent — Mr. Clark — "The Druid" — Mr.

Heathcote — The Jockey Club

Rules of Racing

Winners of the Derby . , ,

Winners of the St. Leger .
Winners of the Oaks ....
Winners of the Two Thousand Guineas
Winners of the One Thousand Guineas

. 345-

-355

• 357-

-370

• 372-

-375

• 376-

-379

. 380-

-382

. . 383-

-384

. . 385-

-386

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

CHAPTER I.

EPSOM THE DERBY THE OAKS.

ALTHOUGH Epsom as a place of sport must
take rank after Chester, Newmarket, and se-
veral other towns in point of antiquity, it seems
but fair to give to the course on which the Derby is
run for, the pride of place, when entering upon a
description of our celebrated running grounds.

Epsom, variously spelled Eppsam and Epsam, is
one of those towns the origin of whose names is lost
in obscurity. It is a parish in the county of Surrey,
as everybody knows, and was once a market town.
Its distance from London is fourteen miles, and it is
situate on the turnpike road from London to Dork-
ing, Worthing, Guildford, and Portsmouth. Possibly
the name of Epsom is derived from Ebba's-home,
the home of Ebba, a sometime queen of the county
of Surrey — who flourished about 600; and in Queen
Anne's reign a gentleman of antiquarian pursuits,
resident in the neighbourhood, went so far as to fix
upon a farmhouse in the vicinage as the identical

VOL. H. I

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

home of Ebba. That such a queen Hved, and was
a personage of the most eminent sanctity, so that
churches were dedicated to her, under the style of
Saint Ebba, we have abundant proof; but that the
farmhouse selected as having been her residence
by Mr. Toland, of Woodcote, was so in fact, or that
she ever lived at Epsom at all, we have no evi-
dence.

During the period up to and including the sixteenth
century, Epsom seems to have been a quiet country
village, not distinguished from scores of other Surrey
villages by anything of interest. But early in the
seventeenth century an event occurred which contri-
buted enormously to the fame and prosperity of the
village, and likewise made its name one of ill-savour
with English youth from John o' Groat's to Land's
End. In 1618, the mineral spring impregnated
with the extremely disagreeable saline matter, so well
known as Epsom salts, was discovered — by accident,
it is said, like many other great discoveries of
ancient and modern times. One Henry Wicker, a
herdsman, having his eyes about him, observed
during a summer of unusual drought water in a
small hole on the common, between Ashstead and
Epsom; whereupon Wicker, who was at his wits-
ends to get water for his cows, proceeded to his
farmyard and returned with a spade. He then set
vigorously to work, overjoyed at having found water
in the midst of what had been before an arid plain,
and widened the area of his spring until it was a

EPSOM— THE DERBY— THE OAKS.

drinking-place of decent size for cattle. It is an old
remark that it is one thingr to take a horse to the
water, and another to make him drink. It was so
with Henry Wicker's cows. They very naturally
refused to drink a strong solution of Epsom salts,
even in the hot summer of 1618. Wicker, con-
founded, drove them home. The water he had
found, his cattle refused to drink, and on tasting- it
himself he perceived it had a queer taste. Inquir}'-
was made into the properties of Mr. Henry Wicker's
newly found spring, that neither he nor his cattle
relished. The wise people of the place, the phy-
sician and the apothecary, put the water to its wrong
use, of course; though they found out a subordinate
way of making it useful. They prescribed it as a
"vulnerary and abstersive," and for some dozen years
or so it was used in the neighbourhood for the cure
of simple wounds, which, an old writer says, are
"soundly and suddenly cured by the application of
this water."

Epsom, however, was fated to be famous, and
accident came to help on the fortunes of the little
village a second time. In 1632 some labourers
drank a tolerably full draught apiece from Wicker's
Well, and within thirty minutes the true properties
of the water were known. Local fame was followed
by a wider reputation. People began to come from
the metropolis to drink their cups of water from
the medicinal spring on Banstead Downs. Twenty
years after — namely, 1654 — this was the case. In

I — 2

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

1674 the practice of repairing to Epsom and staying
there for a few days or weeks to drink the waters
was sufficiently common to provoke a satirical tract,
entitled " Flos Ingenll, &c., being an exact de-
scription of Epsam and Epsam Wells," In this ex-
tremely broad and now rare satire, Epsom is de-
scribed as a " sorry town," but the resort of people
of fashion, who go there from London to drink the
waters and take the air. A new town sprang up like
magic ; avenues of trees were planted, to shade future
generations of gallants and ladles as they walked in
their pilgrimage to Wicker's Well; lodging-houses
for the reception of the line company from the
Court and city were numerous; a ball-room and
other amusements were provided; and in 1667, in
the month of July, Pepys was there, and went to the
well, where " he did drink four 'pints" of the water.
There Avas, he says, " much company " there, but
they "did not" drink with him. In the town he
found Nell Gwynne and Lord Buckhurst, and Sir
Charles Sedley with them, " keeping a merry
house." Epsom, therefore, a couple of centuries ago
was one of the most fashionable resorts and mer-
riest places to be found in the merry England of
Charles II.

There are many claimants to the distinction of
having first made known the virtues of the waters
containing 480 grains of calcareous nitre to the gallon,
" 280 more than the Dog and Duck, In St. George's
Fields." Among these, Dudley, third Lord North,

EPSOM— THE DERBY— THE OAKS. 5

appears. Whether through his agency or that of
other persons, the anxiety of persons of fashion to
drink the waters increased very rapidly ; and those
unfortunates whom business or bodily weakness pre-
vented from a personal attendance at the springs on
the Downs must needs buy salts, prepared from
the waters, at five shillings an ounce — the demand
at this price being so great that the supply was un-
equal to it, and those " other sophisticated salts," of
the same name, with which English boys have since
become so familiar, were sold in their place.

So much for one of the two things to which Epsom
owes its celebrity. It might be too much to say
that without Henry Wicker there would have been
no foundation of the great race, called after the
nobleman who founded it, the Derby Stakes; for it
appears very probable that horse-races took place
at intervals, in a capricious manner, just as they
could be got up, for many 3^ears before the herds-
man's cows refused to drink the bitter water of his
spring.

But it may be said with perfect truth that the (^clat
Epsom derived as a place of fashionable resort from
Its waters — unrivalled, at all events, in the quality
of nastiness — tended to firmly establish horse-racing
there, as the " nobility and gentry from smoaky Lon-
don" naturally wanted to be amused.

James I. lived at Epsom sometimes, at the Palace
of Nonsuch, and he was fond of horse-racing; so,
probably, in his reign horse-races were held on

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Epsom Downs. Whether these were the iirst races
held there or not, it is impossible to determine; but
there seems to be every probability that races were
begun on the Downs in the reign of the first of our
Stuart kings. In the reign of his unhappy succes-
sor, Charles I., races were common at Epsom. The
Royalists met there to the number of six hundred in
May, 1648, "under pretence of a horse-race." Though
there are no authentic records of the runnino- on the
Downs during the time that passed between the
Royalists choosing Epsom as a safe rendezvous
under pretence of a horse-race, and the beginning
of the calendars of the turf, there is no reason to
doubt that the Downs were the arena of many a
sporting struggle between both cocktails and tho-
roughbreds. Coming down to times something like
a century later, we find the races famous and well-
patronized, owing to their easy distance from Lon-
don. An old song, whose date we cannot exactly
fix, invites " Ye good men of Surrey, both ancient
and young," to the Downs, with a chorus of " Derry
down, down, Down, derry down." The "Bath, Bristol,
Tunbridge, and Epsom Miscellany," 1735, says: —

" On Epsom Downs, when racing does begin,
Large companies from every part come in."

Wagers were freely laid among the company as-
sembled—

" Bets upon bets ; this man says, ' Ten to one.'
Another pointing cries, * Good sir, 'tis done.' "

EPSOM— THE DERBY— THE OAKS.

We may take it, there is nothing in Hfe older than
the odds.

The company at the meetings, though largely sup-
plied by the county of Surrey, was yet drawn prin-
cipally from the metropolis. It consisted appa-
rently, even then, of all sorts and conditions of men ;
for the " Invitation to Epsom Races," published in
1764, by Philo- Bumper, calls upon nobles, heroes,
and bucks of the turf to leave the smoky town, " to
see the fine horses and ladies so fair." Statesmen
are to learn from jockeys how to guide people ; mer-
chants, bankers, poets, players, aldermen, Cits, judges,
counsel, bishops, doctors, and curates share this
common and general invitation.

Epsom, we have seen, owed its celebrity to the
mineral springs that Wicker found. An obscure
village, it rapidly rose in fashion and importance, until
not to drink the waters and take the air on Banstead
Downs was not to belong to the great world of
London at all. But, in course of time, fashion
changed. The year 1736 saw the last of the palmy
days of the springs and salts ; the tide of popularity
turned, and people went to Bath and Cheltenham
instead of Epsom. The spell was broken when the
lease of the wells granted originally to Daniel Ellicar
and others expired; the old buildings were dilapi-
dated and hardly worth repairing. Few strangers
now came to drink the disagreeable waters, lodgings
were empty, gaiety and revelry had departed. The
gentry of the neighbourhood, however, still came in

HIS TOR V OF THE BRITISH TURF.

their large, old-fashioned chariots and coaches, in the
summer time, every Monday morning. They had
public breakfasts on these da3'^s, with music, dancing,
and card-playing. For them Mr. Parkhurst put the
old buildings at the wells into repair. We hear
nothing of their drinking the waters. The breakfasts
and cards came, after a few years, to be sparsely at-
tended: the famous spring fell into disrepute. Newer
waters possessed properties more wonderful by far ;
these attracted the attendance of the fickle world of
fashion; or perhaps what Mr. Pownall calls "the
modern delightful practice of sea-bathing" took to
the coast those whose fathers and grandfathers had
been accustomed to check the approaches of the
gout on Epsom Downs.

For several years (1760 — 1770) a surgeon in Lon-
don, of some eminence in his profession — Mr. Dale
Ingram — made a desperate effort to bring the wells
once more into repute by offering his visitors public
breakfasts, and magnesia and Epsom salts skilfully
prepared in the least unpalatable form. But to no
purpose. In 1804 the erection at the old wells was
pulled down, and a private house erected on its site.

Fifty years after Mr, Dale Ingram's efforts. Dr.
Pidduck and Mr. Willan, in 1822-23, sent down
some patients with liver disease and scrofula to drink
the Epsom waters, in conjunction with a course of
American herbs; and this is, we believe, the last occa-
sion of the drinking of the waters of Wicker's spring.

The result of his discovery was to put a good

EPSOM— THE DERBY— THE OAKS.

deal of money into the pockets of the inhabitants of
Epsom, to raise the place from an insignificant village
to the position of a fashionable health resort, and to
give a name to a noxious crystal, whose connection
with the Downs from which it takes its name is ex-
tremely remote, but whose fame and use will pro-
bably perish only with the British pharmacopoeia.

Luckily for the inhabitants and owners of property
in and about Epsom who were interested in the
maintenance of the importance of their town, they
could claim another source of distinction, destined to
confer greater glory upon their Downs than even the
production of the famous salts. The racecourse just
outside the town was one of the best in England;
and in 1 780 — nearly a century ago — an ancestor of
the Earl of Derby established that race which has
been called in his honour the Derby Stakes — the Blue
lliband of the Turf — the race for vv^hich the Lords
and Commons lay aside their legislative labours, and
to which all the world goes.

It seems Impossible to determine, v/Ith any ap-
proach to accuracy, when races first began to be held
on Epsom Downs as an annual meeting. From the
year 1730, however, or for a period of nearly a cen-
tury and a half, races have been held on Epsom
Downs every spring — about the middle of April —
with some considerable lapses, and every summer,
without intermission, at the latter end of May or early
in June. In 1830, and for many subsequent years, it

lo HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

was the practice to begin the racing* at eleven o'clock
In the morning, and after witnessing one or two heats,
the company went back Into the town, and took their
dinner in a very leisurely fashion, returning again In
the afternoon, and seeing the finish of the races begun
in the morning. But the races at Epsom really be-
came famous from the time when the Earl of Derby
founded the Oaks and the celebrated Stakes named
after him. The former race was begun in 1779. An
old alehouse stood on Banstead Downs, which, from
the circumstance that It was surrounded by what
amounted almost to a plantation of oaks, was called
The Oaks, after the trees that sheltered it, boasting
no signboard, even of the rudest fashion, and doing a
trade In Surrey homebrewed of the most bucolic kind.
The situation was good, however, and attracted the
notice of General Burgoyne, who bought the place,
with some outlying land, and built a house there, on
the site of the old-fashioned public-house. This seat
of the General's took the name of the humbler edifice
In whose place It rose ; and, after a time, becoming
the property of the Earl of Derby, one of the best
all-round sportsmen of his day, his lordship, when
he founded the now celebrated " Oakes Stakes for
three years old fillies, 8 stone 4 lbs., fifty guineas each,
to run the last mile and a-half," called the new race
after his new purchase. The Derby Stakes, founded
the next year, 1780, was so called In honour of the
Earl.

As might be expected, some years elapsed before

EPSOM— THE DERBY— THE OAKS. ii

either the Derby or the Oaks rose into conspicuous
fame. But the progress of both races, though slow
at'first, was sure. The first contest for the Derby
Stakes, ninety-six years ago, brought out nine
starters, from the entries of thirty-six subscribers.
The judge placed the first four, and these, after the
fashion of the day, appeared in the records of the
papers that deigned to recognize the sport as Mr.
So-and-So's b. c, Mr. Somebody-else's f., and so on.
How changed all this is now, and a good horse's
name is chronicled all over the world after he has
performed the feat accomplished by Sir C. Bunbury's
Diomed in 1780.

The interest in the Derby seems constantly to
grow, and there never was a larger number of per-
sons present to witness the decision of the race for
the Blue Riband than this year. It is as impossible
to form any correct estimate of the number of people
who throng Epsom Downs on the Wednesday in the
Derby week as it is of the number of people more
or less interested in the event, of those who make
the great race a topic of conversation, or of the quan-
tity of matter written and printed about the race.

The way down by road is described year after
year by the "special" reporters of the several news-
papers, and their accounts are read with never-flag-
ging interest on Thursday morning at nearly every
breakfast table. The innumerable vehicles, from the
^our-in-hand drag to the humble donkey cart; the
dusty roads and lanes, the trees green with spring

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

foliage; the halts by the way at hostelries, which
"no respectable driver can pass;" the long, never-
ending file of pedestrians as the course is ap-
proached; carriages converging from every quarter
of the compass; the vast, breezy expanse of grass-
covered hill; the first glimpse of the stands, the
people, the booths, as all suddenly burst upon the
eye ; and the dull roar of a distant, vast Growd, pro-
claim Epsom racecourse on the Derby Day. All
these, the glories and excitements, the toils and plea-
sures of the way down by road, have been told and
told again. There is less to be said for the way down
by rail, most of our visitors and reporters of dis-
tinction preferring slowness of pace and sightseeing
to the quicker journey by railway. One distin-
guished visitor to Epsom on the Derby Day, how-
ever, M. Hippolyte-Adolphe Taine, D.C.L. Oxon.,
made his way to the great race with a party of
friends from Waterloo Station.

"Nous partons," he says, "pour Waterloo Station.
Courses a Epsom: c'est aujourd'hui le Derby, jour
de Hesse; le parlement fait relache; depuis trois
jours on ne parle que de chevaux et de leurs ele-
veurs."

Let us see how these races at Epsom, this Derby
Day — day of jollification, when the Houses of Lords
and Commons do not sit, and when for three days
past all the talk has been of the horses that are to
run — strike the mind of the distinguished French
critic.

EPSOM— THE DERBY— THE OAKS. 13

M. Taine makes jottings of his impressions,
which he pubHshes in his "Notes sur I'Angleterre.''
He sees the charming scenery of Surrey lanes in
the verdure and dazzHng beauty of late spring, the
blooming and blossoming of plants. The bright
pomp is dazzling. He stands on the course — a large
green plain; before him are the Grand Stand, the
tents, the booths, the stalls, the temporary stables
under canvas, the incredible confusion of carriages,
of horses, of horsemen. The Stand is an enormous
ant-heap, with an ascending din; the hill opposite
swarming with busy sightseers. The long lines of
people stretching down to Tattenham Corner, and
more thinly skirting all round the running track ; the
crowd at the starting-post; the shows, with their
noisy showmen; the itinerant vendors, the booth-
keepers, the musicians, present a scene unequalled
in the world to the astonished gaze of the French
writer.

"C'est une kermesse, en effet," he says.
It is a carnival: thoroughly English in its fea-
tures. The day is fine, the sky cloudless. Green
trees, champagne country, and bright blue sky
frame a wonderful picture. Everywhere are gipsies,
comic singers and dancers disguised as negroes,
shooting galleries, charlatans who by dint of elo-
quence palm off watch chains, games of skittles and
sticks, musicians of all sorts, and the most astonish-
ing row of cabs, barouches, droskies, four-in-hands —
with pies, cold joints, fruit, surtout du champagne.

14 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

The row of carriages on the hill, five or six deep, is
a wonderful sight: there is nothing like it anywhere
but at Epsom. Opposite, at the Stand, is the roar
of the Ring. At the starting-post the sun shines on
thirty runners, whose jockeys are bright in satins
and silks, making a rainbow-belt on the green turf.
The competitors are got into line. Down goes the
flag of Mr. M 'George. "They are off!" is the cry
of thousands. The bell rings. We see rhem scud-
ding along the top of the hill, descending to the
Corner, past Tattenham into the straight, the run
in of half a mile, and another Derby has been won.

There are winners and losers; but everybody
drinks champagne, or brandy and soda-water, or
bottled Bass. There is the return home through the
dust and delays, to London. There are fun and
frolic on the road. Nobody is thirsty; for M. Taine
says, " Aujourd'hui, tout est permis : c'est un de-
bouche pour une annee de contrainte."

The greatest event of the racing year has been
run on a Wednesday since 1838. Before that year
the Derby was run on a Thursday, and the Oaks on
a Friday. The success of the "ladies' race" is greatly
augmented by the lapse of a quiet or "off" day be-
tween the two great Epsom events.

The receipts of the Grand Stand are enormous,
and increase year by year. The charge is now two
guineas for the four days, or one guinea for the Derby
Day or the Oaks Day ; and the Paddock, admis-
sion to which some years ago was only a shilling,

EPSOM— THE DERBY— THE OAKS. " 15

novr fills well at half a guinea. The preparations for
the refreshment of visitors to the Grand Stand are on
a gigantic scale. In the year of the Great Exhibition,
185 1, Charles Dickens published in Household Words
some accurate particulars of the amount of provisions
consumed. He likened the commissariat depart-
ment to an ogre's castle. He told of two thousand
four hundred tumblers, one thousand two hundred
wine glasses, of three thousand plates and dishes,
used by the persons who lunched in the building ;
of rows of spits bearing rows of joints before blazing
walls of fire ; of crates of boiled tongues ; of one hun-
dred and thirty legs of lamb, saddles and shoul-
ders in like proportion ; a flock of lambs roasted,
dished, and garnished by the Derby Day. Then to
the bill of fare must be added beef, veal, ham, spring
chickens, pigeon pies, lobsters, and a salad so tremen-
dous, that the cook adds, " Pray don't forget a large
tub and a birch broom for mixing the salad."

These were the quantities in 185 1, exactly a quar-
ter of a century ago. Now, if the figures given by
Dickens in his article' in Household Jf^ords were
multiplied by four, it would not exceed the consump-
tion of edibles in the Grand Stand alone. Of the
hundred outer booths and places of refreshment, or
of the thousands of private luncheons taken down to
the Downs for consumption on the Derby Day, it is
impossible to form any estimate. The greatest that
could be ventured upon would probably fall far short
of the truth.

l6 ///S/'iUx']- ('/•• ////•■ /.•A7/7.V.Y /VAV-*.

A cmnparisciii 1h1\v('(mi this cslimaU' and tlio
aiiU)unL of soliil " vivcrs" snlluIiMil \ov tlic j^ootl
rmnpaiiy assciiihKHl, in the more than onrc (|iu)t(Hl
inriuioii in rc"|)\s oi [\\c " lainous race" ami the
lompaay atUMuliiii' il na iKinstcad |)o\vas in July,
!()();, will show llu* proiMTss liDrsc-racini', has inaik*
al l"-|)S(Mn in llu- last two I'cntiirics. The ailvaiuc> oi
thi^ I'lpsiMn SiiinnuM' MtH'tiii;; in the c'timation ol llu'
lovers ol sport aiul tlu> public i^cncrally, within ihc
memory ol men now livini^", is very remarkable. Ket
us take, lor oxamplo. the \ear iS2() — just lilt\' \c'ars
aj^o. The racin;.; bci^an at owe o'cloi-k. as it does
now, ami lonclmleil al lour. The meetim^ lasted
thu-e days, be^iiuiiui; en a W'ednt^silay. The prin-
lipal stak(\s on that *la\- and the two succeeding- it
.ue lamiliar names. There were k^w the lirst day a
C 'raven Slakes, the (loKl (."up, and the W'oodcote lor
two ye.ir olds.

i'hmsday brouidit with it \\\c Perln'. wIumi the
Ourdan St. ikes was .dso on the list. The ().iks. or
as it was tluai spc^lt, C>akes. TellowiHl on iUc b'riday.
This ai r.ini^xMUiMit was loinul to bi^ incon\'enient in
stweral w.ws .is tlu^ meeting; j;rt"w in popiilaritN . .md
as i\\c numluM-s .ittt lulinv; iui-riMsc-d. The public
w.mted .1 nuiet ov "ott" y,\A\ \)c[\\ccn {\\c t^xcitenuaU
(^1 the P(ab\- .md the C\iks D.iys, and owners c^f
horst\s who miidit h.ue .i v.ilu.ible lilK- iMUertnl lor
both r.ices wen^ reluct. mt to jeopanlise Ium- chaiUH^
oi winnini^ the "ladies' r.uH^ " by starting- her with
the colts in the Herb)-. .Accordiui^l) , the "olT" ilay

EPSOM— THE DERBY— THE OAKS. \y

was placed between the two great public holidays
with the very best effect for everybody interested.
In 1826 the stewards of the races were the Earl of
Derby and Mr. Northey. The journey to the course
in those pre-railroad days was accomplished of ne-
cessity in coaches, and all sorts of vehicles. Judo-ino-
from an old print of the time, "gigmanity " was re-
presented to an extent that would have vastly stirred
the choler of the distinguished inventor of the term.
It is also noticeable that the tastes of the "gigmanry"
among our grandsires led them to affect yellow gigs,
which, with "bang"-tailed cobs and trotters between
the shafts, have a very sporting look as they career
across the emerald sward of the Downs towards the
booths.

A contemporary record says of the races in May: —
" The partiality of men in general for the sport, the
season of the year at which the races are held, the
picturcs(|uc beauty of the; Downs, and the vicinity of
the course to the metropolis, all combine to establish
the celebrity which Epsom races have attained."

The state of the town in those days on a Derby
or Oaks morning is thus described : — " During the
race week Epsom has the appearance of a busy and
crowded city. At an early hour in the morning per-
sons of all ranks and carriages innumerable are
seen pouring into the town at every inlet. All the
accommodations and provisions that the surrounding
villages can supply are put into requisition."

The practice of persons who went down from
VOL. II. 2

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

London, or came to Epsom from places at any dis-
tance, was to get lodgings in Epsom, Ewell, Cheam,
Leatherhead, or any of the neighbouring villages, if
they could. If not, they camped out in the open.
The sudden rush of such an army of invaders into
the district, although anxiously looked forward to, led
to no adequate preparation, and provisions were sold
at famine prices in the town for a week, to the de-
light of the farmers' wives over all the countryside,
who were enabled to get prices for their poultry,
eggs, butter, and farm produce, during that delightful
five or six days, four times as great as their grand-
mothers ever reached in the palmiest days of the
wells. Nor is this extravagant rate to be wondered
at, when we know that " several members of the
Royal family, and most of the nobility, attend these
races ; and if the weather be fine there are seldom
less than 60,000 persons assembled here on the
Thursday when the Derby Stakes are contested."

This was forty-six years after the foundation of
the race by Lord Derb)', and at a time when the
Chester Cup and the St. Leger alone divided popu-
larity with it. The attendance, when we take into
consideration the means of getting to Epsom and
the accommodation provided there, is doubtless very
large, and a larger number than assembled to witness
the decision of any other race in England, though
nearly as many persons would be attracted by "t'
Leger" to the famous Town Moor, and perhaps the,
same number to the racing on the Roodee.

. EPSOM— THE DERBY— THE OAKS. 19

This was before the rural constabulary were a fact
in the county of Surrey, and an absence of an ade-
quate police, together with the utter want of any-
thing like the "active and intelligent" detective ofhcer
of our own day, led to the commission of many
offences, chiefly larceny; though highway robbery
and murderous attacks for the sake of a supposed
booty, were by no means uncommon. Of the com-
pany, our authority, Mr. Pownall, can only give an
account that would be pretty true of the frequenters
of the Downs on a Derby Day at the present time.
" The vicious and unprincipled," he says, " form a
tolerable proportion; nor is it, indeed, surprising
where 60,000 persons are assembled to witness a
horse-race, that these should obtrude themselves,
either with the view of propagating vice, or robbing
the bystanders." He adds: — " It therefore generally
follows that many atrocities are committed ; and
those who fortunately escape the numerous accidents
that occur have to lament the loss of some portion
of their property."

We may compare this picture of the Downs on the
Derby Day half a century ago with the scene we wit-
ness there now. Against the 60,000 persons inte-
rested in the sport, or holiday-makers attracted to
the Downs then by the contest for the great stakes
for three-year-olds, much more than ten times that
number probably are now carried down to the
course on the Wednesday in the Derby week. Instead
of yellow gigs, stage coaches, and postchaises, going

20 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

down by road as a matter of necessity, we reach the
Downs between the green hedgerows and over the
white dusty roads and lanes of Surrey as a matter of
pleasure. The railroads from Waterloo, London
Bridge and Victoria, in something over thirty mi-
nutes, put down train-load after train-load of passen-
o-ers, either at the town or on the Downs, as they
may choose.

The Grand Stands, the supplementary private
stands, the Betting Ring, and the Paddock, are all
crowded with people who are willing to pay for a
better sight of the great race, better information
than their neighbours, or for the opportunity to
wager with responsible bettors, at least four times —
in the case of the Paddock, ten and a-half times — as
much as their grandfathers and fathers paid for simi-
lar accommodation.

Year by year the numbers increase, as tested by
the number of tickets sold for the enclosures and
stands, and by the receipts of the two competing
railway companies — the South-Western, and London,
Brighton, and South Coast.

The present Grand Stand is undoubtedly alto-
gether inadequate to the work it is called upon to
do. The Stand was built nearly fifty years ago —
1829-30; alterations and enlargements have been
made, and much useful accommodation is afforded
by the row of stands adjoining it, which are private
speculations. An enlargement upon a liberal scale,
or the erection of a second or supplementary Grand

EPSOM— THE DERBY— THE OAKS.

Stand, seems, however, to be a necessity at the pre-
sent time. There was a larfje amount of contention
and Htigation over the present structure, and to such
a height did the contest run, that in 1834 the Lord
and Lady of the Manor of Ebbesham caused the pub
Hcation of a notice, signed in their names, informing
all whom it might concern that they must " desist
and refrain from erecting or causinof to be erected
on Epsom Downs, or on the waste lands of the said
manor, any building, booth, or erection whatever,
without the consent of the said Lord and Lady or
their bailiff." In fact, the notice was set at defiance,
and in the end the Lord of the Manor, upon an action
being brought by him, accepted ^5, and ^100 to-
wards the costs of his action.

Another matter to be noticed in connection with
the Derby Day is the adjournment of both Houses of
Parliament over that day. For many years — fifty at
least — previous to 1847 it had been the custom for
most of the members of the House of Commons to
attend Epsom Races, or^ at all events, not to attend
to their duties as legislators on the Derby Day. Lord
Georofe Bentinck, in the face of this tacit arranore-
ment and in the interests of the clerks and employes
of the House, talked the matter over with several
influential friends, and being promised their support,
on the evening of May 18, 1847, boldly proposed
" That the House on its rising do adjourn till
Thursday." That eminent Radical who so often
" tottled up the hull," as was expected, took objec-

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

tion ; but Mr. Hume was overruled by the Speaker,
and Lord Georee Bentinck's motion was carried.
Ever since, it has been the annual custom of the
House to adjourn in the Derby week from Tues-
day till Thursday, that not only honourable members
themselves, but everybody engaged in attendance
upon the House, may go to Epsom if they like to do
so. But year after year there has been a little Ra-
dical and eccentric opposition — Mr. Joseph Hume,
Mr. John Bright, Sir Wilfrid Lawson, and other
gentlemen, being unable to see why the House
should adjourn for a horse-race. The House, how-
ever, which reflects the love of sport by which Eng-
lishmen are distinguished, has seen otherwise.

In 1848, Lord George Bentinck described the
Derby Day as a recognized holiday in the metro-
polis. Earl Russell, at the same time, characterized
it as a " national feteP Lord Palmerston and Mr.
Disraeli, in those days, when adjournment was not
quite a matter of course, always voted for the
motion, and it was the former statesman who hap-
pily styled the Epsom week "our Olympian Games;"
while, although Mr. Disraeli is believed to be pro-
foundly ignorant of Turf topics, and, from a mone-
tary point of view, uninterested in any race, yet he
is, as he says, " profoundly moved by the sight of a
great concourse of jDeople" — a sight which he sees
in unusual perfection whenever he visits Epsom on
the great day. The course on the Banstead Downs
is not naturally by any means the best in the king-

EPSOM— THE DERBY— THE OAKS. 23

dom, thoug-h its sharp gradients and varied features
probably try all the qualities of a horse as well, If not
better, than any other. The running track has been
laid out from time to time to the best advantage,
and the old " four-mile course for horse-races, from
N.E. to S.W., much frequented," has been greatly
improved and altered in modern times. At first, the
Derby course was over one mile, instead of a mile
and a-half, as at the present time. The new Derby
course, over which the race for the Blue Riband Is
now run, is a better course at starting by far than
that of a few years ago. The features of the track
are almost too well known to need description here.
The beginning of the race is ridden over a wide track,
with ample room for forty starters, If as many come
to the post. The first ground covered Is a steep
ascent, followed, when the top of the hill is reached,
by tolerably flat ground for three furlongs. Then
comes the very sharp descent to Tattenham Corner
— a rather dangerous curve ; and the straight run In
of rather less than half a mile Is almost flat, the rise
to the Stand being very gradual and slight. With
the exception of Tattenham Corner, there is no dan-
gerous part of Epsom racecourse, and the running
track all round the course is of ample width to afford
elbow room to a practically unlimited number of
starters.

24 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

CHAPTER II.

DONCASTER AND YORK.

YORKSHIRE may be regarded, if not as the
birthplace of the national sport, yet as the soil
upon which horse- racing has thriven best. There is
no district in the world where the horse is more be-
loved for his own sake than he is in Yorkshire ; there
are no people so strongly imbued with a love of the
" sport of kings," as the natives of the wide county
of York. " A blood horse," says a sporting writer,
" has always been the idol of Yorkshiremen." A
Yorkshireman will walk or ride farther to see a race,
will exhibit greater interest in the competitors for a
race, will remember more of the incidents connected
with past races, and recount his recollections with
more vigour and relish, than any other man it is pos-
sible to find.

The history of the sport in his ovv^n county is most
ancient — stretching back to those early times in the
annals of horse-racing when no record of the sport
was kept other than that afforded by the memory or
notes of bystanders or of persons interested in the
several events themselves. These records, such of
them as were written, have presumably perished

DONCASTER AND YORK. 25

with whatever did duty for the pocket-book of their
makers. There is, however, no reason to doubt that
racing in the county of York began early in the six-
teenth century. Black Hambleton, or Hamilton, in
Yorkshire, appears in an early document as a place
enjoying special privileges and exemptions at the
time the races were held there. Acombe Moor, near
York, had races in Charles the First's time. There
was a racecourse at Doncaster in the year 1600. On
the 2nd of May in that year the Corporation made
an order, " That whereas Hugh Wyrrall, gentleman,
hath caused a stoope to be sett on Doncaster More
at the west end of the horse-race, yt Mr. Maior,
Mr. Huscroft, and Mr. Levett maye lykewise sett a
workman to cutt down or digg up the sayd stoope."
In 1600 the Corporation of Doncaster were thus
called upon to do an act of rough justice. Fourteen
years later, an entry is found showing that they dis-
bursed money with a view to keeping good order
at their meeting. The entry is as follows: — " 16 14,
June^is, 6d. was paid to Anthony Hog for makinge
the waye at the horse-race." A plan or map of the
year 1595 shows the sites of two race-courses at
Doncaster. The same complaint made generations
later of the conduct of the visitors to Epsom on the
Derby Day was made in 161 5 of the spectators at
Doncaster Races. As the gentlemen wore their
swords, and drank their wine freely on such occasions,
there was not unfrequently a disturbance after the
races. The Corporation, consisting of Mr. Thomas

26 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Colson, Mayor, Alderman Hugh Childers, and fifteen
others, according-ly made an order, dated June 6th
in that year. " Forasmuch as it planely appereth,"
this prudent Order in Council runs, " by divers acci-
dents and inconveniences past that the race on Don-
caster More hath brought and bred many caires and
sutes, wch tendeth to the great damage and prejudice
of the Corporacon, and quarrels and other inconve-
niences have, by occasion of this race, bene stirred
upp, therefore, for the preventige of sutes, quarrels,
murders, and bloodsheds that may ensue by the con-
tinuinge of the said race, it is agreed that the stand
and the stoopes shall be pulled upp, and emploied to
some better purpose, and the race to be discontinued."
A kindlier spirit towards the race, however, seems
to have subsequently moved the breasts of Mr.
Mayor and the aldermen and common councilmen of
Doncaster, for in 1616-1 7 the Corporation contributed
1 2d. "for making a way for the horse-race at the
water gapp." It seems, therefore, that, their order of
June 6, 161 5, notwithstanding, the starting-posts and
Stand were not pulled up, or if they were, that they
were very shortly afterwards put down again. To-
gether with these entries, the earliest engravings — ■
such rough pictures, for instance, as appear at the
heads of the earliest existing race-cards, if the term
card may be applied to the coarse, soft, hand-made
paper on which they are printed — lead to the belief
that even in the most primitive period of the sport,
a Stand and a permanent starting and winning post

DONCASTER AND YORK. 27

v/ere to be found on the racecourses. The Stand
was probabl}' a wooden structure used by the officials.
The judge and starter both carried flags, and the
judge dropped his flag after the race, as the starter
now does as a signal to his horses to go. There
were no posts and rails or ropes enclosing the running
track, and this made it all the more necessary to dis-
burse the then considerable sum of is. 6d. for"ma-
kinge the way " whenever a horse-race was held.

Seventy years later, however, the funds of the
Corporation were called upon for contributions In the
shape of "added" money. In 1687 they paid five
pounds for "contrabutlon monys." Various entries
occur in the books between this date and 1710,
when It was ordered that "to encourage horse-racing
on Doncaster Moor, £<^ 5s. be paid for five years."
Six years later — 17 16 — ^5 7s. 6d. was given towards
a town's plate, "provided the neighbouring gentlemen
do subscribe a valuable plate to be run for on Don -
caster Moor." And in 1774, £20 was given by this
sporting Corporation as an inducement to others —
the neighbouring gentry chiefly — to follow their ex-
ample, and as an encouragement to horse-racing on
Doncaster Moor.

When we come to detailed records of sports, the
originals of which are authentic, Doncaster appears
for the first time in 1728, when there were two days
racing In the month of July, one race on each day,
and both races run for In three four-mile heats —
Captain Collyer winning the first day's race with his

28 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

horse Drummer, and Lord Gower the second, with
Trentham. The horses for many years after this
were, as the records show, six years old and aged,
the weights carried were from ten to twelve stones,
and the distances three heats of four miles apiece.

In 1740 the meeting extended to three days, one
race in three heats of four miles was run on each
day, and that on the third day was for Galloways.
In 1 75 1 the York Courant chronicles the "great
splendour" of the meeting under the auspices of
Lord Viscount Donne and Mr. John Battle. From
that date to the present the Corporation of Doncas-
ter have done all in their power to add to the attrac-
tions of their meeting, and we perpetually find
entries in their books of moneys expended in the
interests of sport: from the is. 6d. paid to Anthony
Hog for "makinge the waye," to 100 guineas be-
stowed upon Mr. Carrfor "architectingand directing"
a new Grand Stand a century and a-half later, the
Mayor and Council are never wanting in a wish " to
increase the interest of the races." There was, too,
always plenty of public spirit in Doncaster itself.
Exactly a century ago, no less a sum than ^7,282 was
expended in building an adequate Grand Stand, and
laying out a new course, then, undoubtedly, the best
Stand in the kingdom; though Newmarket always
held, as it must always hold, the pride of place as an
arena for horse-racing.

The name of Doncaster at the present day, how-
ever, suggests the St. Leger, a race second only to

DOACASTER AND YORK. 29

the Derby in interest; and from the successive
annual contests for the St. Leger, Doncaster de-
rives its immense prestige as a place of sport.
The great race, dearer to a Yorkshireman's heart
than any mere South country struggle can ever be,
had its origin in the establishment of a sweepstakes
of twenty-five guineas each for three-year-old colts
and fillies, yst. lalbs. The distance was two miles.
This sweepstakes was begun in the year 1776.
Two years later — in 1778 — the race received the
title of the St. Leger Stakes, from Lieut. -General
Anthony St. Leger, of Park Hill. A number of
the patrons of horse-racing, and particularly of
horse-racing at Doncaster, were dining together at
the Red Lion Inn in the town, when the Marquis
of Rockingham proposed that the compliment of
naming the race after him should be paid to their
friend and fellow-sportsman, Colonel St. Leger, in
recognition of his services in the cause of sport.
The history of the great St. Leger Stakes is the
history of Doncaster Races. The popularity of the
meeting has grown with the growing interest ex-
cited in its important race, until for many years past
the Doncaster St. Leger has ranked as an event of
national importance in the sporting world; and from
the enthusiastic support and countenance the race
has always received from the Yorkshiremen them-
selves; from the fact that in pre-railway days the race
on the Town Moor was, and has continued to be, the
Derby of the north ; the interest annually aroused in

30 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

its decision, the number and quality of the competitors,
the vast assemblage attending it, the value of the
stakes run for, and the amount of the bets depending
on its issue, have placed it only a little way behind
its South country junior, the Epsom Derby.

In the preceding chapter, a comparison between
the Derby of to-day and the Derby of half a cen-
tury ago was made. In 1826, in the mayoralty of
Mr. James Falconer, the Nobleman's Stand was
built on Doncaster Town Moor, at a cost of ^1,300.
Among the shareholders were the Dukes of Port-
land, Cleveland, Leeds, and Devonshire; the Mar-
quesses of Londonderry, Oueensberry, Titchfield,
and Westminster; the Earls of Wilton, Fitzwilliam,
Eglinton, Uxbridge, Durham, and Bruce; Lords
Kelburn, Kennedy, Wharncliffe, Milton, W. Pow-
lett, Althorp, George Bentinck, Maidstone, and
Molyneux. These names alone are sufficient to
show the great importance of Doncaster meetings
fifty years ago. That importance is in all respects
very much greater at the present time, when no meet-
ing can possibly be in a more flourishing condition.
With the railway era, it is true, a change has come
over the arrangements at the races. The Stands
are no longer graced by the presence of such large
numbers of noble ladies as of old ; coaches and four,
lumbering chariots, no longer bring their loads from,
the remotest corners of the premier county of
England. Ladies who only saw the fashions once
or twice a-year, at York or Doncaster, now regu-

DONCASTER AND YORK. 31

larly spend their season in London. With the great
change in the means of getting easily and cheaply
from place to place, the old-fashioned country rd-
■iinions at Doncaster dwindled yearly to smaller and
smaller proportions, and in 1848 they died of inanition.

But the progress of the turf during those years
has been unrivalled; and it is within the mark, pro-
bably, to say that more persons are now able to at-
tend, and do attend, Doncaster races in one year
than forty years ago attended them in ten. The
splendid turn-outs of the Duke of Devonshire and
the Earl of Scarborough ; the magnificent coaches,
each drawn by six bays, decorated with orange-
coloured favours and rosettes, the smart livery ser-
vants, the twenty outriders, and the goodly cavalcade
of tenantry on horseback that brought the Fitz-
williams, father and son — Yorkshire of Yorkshire —
to the Town Moor, no more gladden the eyes and
provoke the cheers of the spectators on a Leger Day ;
but their absence is compensated by a grander, if
not a prettier, sight : the spectacle of trains of im-
possible length pouring out on the platform of
Doncaster railway station their freights, composed of
thousands of horse-loving Tykes, from Sheffield, from
Hull, from Huddersfield, and Leeds, which human
stream is swollen in the picturesque streets of the
quaint old town by lovers of the sport brought there
by the steam horse from every part of Great Britain
to witness the great Yorkshire race.

The St. Leger has been run upon several days of

32 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

the week. At first it was run on a Tuesday, then for a
couple of years on Wednesday; then for a quarter of
a century on a Tuesday ; then on a Monday, changing
back to Tuesday, and finally to Wednesday, on which
day it has been run for many years — indeed, since
1845, when the last change was made.

This race fell for a great number of times to the
same owner, Lord A. Hamilton, afterwards Duke
of Hamilton, who won it no less than seven times —
namely, in 1786-7-8 right off the reel, 1792, and
afterwards in 1808-9- 14.

Since John Singleton won the first St. Leger on
Lord Rockingham's Allabaculia, a hundred years
ago, no race has been productive of greater turf
" sensations," or has been annually watched with
more real interest, than the sweepstakes named after
the owner of Park Hill. No genuine Yorkshireman
who has passed the middle age is without some
anecdote or remembrance connected with his famous
county race, as his great grandfather before him re-
counted the incidents of the heat when Mr. Read's
bay gelding. Three Legs, beat Mr. H.'irvey's Tickle-
me-Dick in the third heat for the largfe stake of
twenty guineas, over the same ground, in the days
lang syne.

The conditions of the race in 1776 were — colts,
Est. ; fillies, 7st. 1 2lbs. ; subscription twenty-five gui-
neas; and the horses were named when two years
old. The lore connected with the race dates back
to its earliest years. Almost every year has its distin-

DONCASTER AND YORK. 33

guishing incident or characteristic dwelling in York-
shire rustic memories — such as the story when Cham-
pion had won the Leger of 1800, of his sire's name,
Potato, being written by the sharp-witted but illiterate
stable boy, Potoooooooo; of Muddlethorpe's breaking
his bridle, and being held by a handkerchief till a new
bridle was got, in 1 809 ; of the ten false starts of 1 8 1 3 ;
of the bet of a thousand guineas to a walking stick
against Theodore in 1822 ; in 1825 of the news of the
race carried to Manchester tied to the necks of does
trained to hunt by trail, and of the pigeon expresses
to London, which arrived early the morning after;
of 1826, when James Bland won ^30,000 over Lord
Scarborough's Tarrare ; of the eccentric James Hirst,
w^ho died in 1829, aged 91, and who for many years
frequented the races, appearing on the course dressed
in coat, inexpressibles, and hat of sheepskin, and that
waistcoat of drakes' feathers he loved, drawn by dogs,
asses, or his bull, in a carriage made without nails)
after his own design — showering around his curious
equipage, to which one or two tame foxes were tied,
notes of the Bank of Rawcliffe for twopence half-
penny apiece (these notes, bearing his own por-
trait and inscription, showed him seated in one of
his wonderful carriages, gun in hand, attended by
his pigs and dogs; they ran as follows: — "Bank of
Rawcliffe, No. — , I promise to pay John Bull, or
bearer, on demand, the sum of FIVE halfpence,
18 — , for the Governor and Company of the
Bank of Rawcliffe, James Hirst"); of 1827, when

VOL. II. 3

34 IIISTOKY or TITE man SIT tukf.

Robinson, the rider of Mr. Pctrc's Matilda, received
£\^ooo in ])r{>scnl:s, and wIkmi the Duke of Devon-
shire had to lu>l[) \\\v jiidi^e to start the Lecher
horses; of tlie accident to lilpinis in iS;^7, and ihe
celebrated dead heat between Major Yarburgh's
Charl(«s Xn. and Mr. ThornhillVEurlid in 1839. In
tS,(;^, pioeon ex|)resses were \wv>\\\ extensively em-
ployed than they had been during the few previous
years that this means of conveying the result of a
great race liad been in use. Nutwilli won, and the
news of iiis victory was sent to all |)arls ])y nutans of
the homing pigix)ns. The inroiinati(Mi was written
on a slip (>{ paper, and attached to the; pinion, as is
done at present. The destinations of the i)igeons
were chielly towns in Yorkshire, with one or two in
Lancashire.

The year iS.j.j. eontrilnited a " sensation " in the
victory of l''augh-a-Haliagh. The winniM* was ridden
by H. Bell, and William Scott had betted a thousand
sovereigns even that he did not see the post.

At the present day all is racing business at 1 )on-
caster, from the Tuesday when the visitors begin to
an-i\(' till llie l''riday night when tlu^y lake their de-
parture; but in early times say 1701") to 1780 — the
mornings oi" the race days were devoted to the chase.
In I 70 1 it was announced that there would be stag and
fox hunting as usual, and until comparatively recent
years a few hours' cub-hunting were given, to enable
masters oi hounds Iroin distant parts to see the
BadswtM-lh and Sandbeck hounds. Cock-fighting, too,

DONCASTER AND YORK. 35

was an iiiiportcUit apjxMidaL^c to the, mcclin^s from
very early limes. In 17O1 a main of cocks wasfous^lit
in Mr. John Watson's pit at the I'.Iack lioy, "as usual."
A change, liowever, liavint^'-conK! over the enactments
of the Lords and Commons, if not over the tastes of
the people, cock-fightinii;' ceased to afford one of the
chief attractions of a visit to Doncaster at race-time,
and the cockpit in the Mail Coach-yard, French-gate,
was turned into a Dissenters' ch.ipcl.

Doncaster was also the paradise of provincial
gamblers, V.. (). tables were conspicuous features of
the proceedings on the Town Moor, and were ])er-
niitted in the market-place. Rooms were engaged
for roulette and chicken liazard, to which passengers
in the streets were jniblicly invited with, " Walk in,
gentlemen j)lay within." I'^ifty years ago such cards
as this were put in the hands of passers-by : — " 'I'o
Noblemen and (/entlemen -Roulette Bank /"r.ooo,
at Mason's (the Tailor), Scott-lane."

Thimble-rigging, prick the garter, and oilier linm-
bler games of "chance" — so called, biil, really of ihe
greatest certainty followed the fate of the more aris-
tocratic pursuits of the green cloth; i<S25 and Mr.
Baxter put an end to public hazard; 1829 saw the
dispersion of the lawless mob of thimble- riggers,
which was put to flight by the military.

Doncaster has been honf)ured at meeting-times
with the patronage of royalty, 'i'oo xvmxoW. for the
visits of kings in days when locomotion was difficult
and highwaymen plentiful, even if its card had offered

3—2

36 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

greater attractions than it did, George IV., one of the

best patrons of racing that ever lived, when he was
Prince Regent, visited Doncaster in 1806, with his
brother the Duke of Clarence, who succeeded him
on the throne. Lord Fitzwilliam, who lodged at a
hosier's in French-gate, entertained the royal brothers
every day during their stay in Doncaster. There
are, of course, some stories told of their stay. The
great Colonel Mellish and his afterwards Majesty,
King William IV., having taken a man into cus-
tody for figliting in St. Sepulchre-gate, lodged him
in gaol. This done, they had to cross an open
yard, when the sprightly Colonel turned the key on
the future Majesty of England, and took it to his
brother. The Prince Regent, after due consideration,
saw fit to liberate his brother, and his Grace of Cla-
rence beinof once more free of the streets of Doncas-
ter, " the whole affair was good humouredly passed
over as a practical joke;" for the Duke of Clarence
was never vindictive. Of all the stories told of the
Town Moor, the best is Mr. Sheardown's story of
this royal visit. The Prince Regent had a cold ; the
Royal party were showing themselves to the people
from the balcony of their lodgings —

"Which — which is the Prince? I must see the
Prince!" cried an excited old Yorkshirewoman, who
had come to Doncaster not to see Fyldener run for the
great race, but to see the First Gentleman in Europe.

" That's him," said a bystander, pointing upwards ;
" him with the handkerchief in his hand."

DONCASTER AND YORK. yj

"Him!" cried the old lady, in profound contempt
— "that the Prince! — why, he blows his own nose'"

One of the most splendid scenes ever witnessed
on the historic Moor, however, was when, in Septem-
ber, 1835, the meeting- was honoured by the presence
of her Majesty the Queen, then Princess Victoria
— who, accompanied by her Grace the Duchess of
Kent, and attended by her suite, left Wentworth
House for Doncaster on the 15th of September.

The august visitor received an enthusiastic York-
shire reception ; and years after, an old country gen-
tleman who had seen the Princess Victoria in 1835,
met the Prince Consort at the Royal Agricultural
Show at York, on being presented, seized his hand,
and exclaimed —

" How's your wife. Prince — how's your wife, eh ?
I saw her at Doncaster in '35."

The Prince replied pleasantly, and remarked to his
equerry that he did not remember to have heard her
Majesty called his wife in England before; and bow-
ing to the gentleman who had just been presented, he
seized both his hands, and told him that as long as
he lived he should never forget his hearty, homely,
Yorkshire welcome.

Although the records of racing held in the vicin-
age of the city of York are as complete as any we
possess, they do not go back far enough into the
past to enable us to fix with any probability of accu-
racy the date when horse-races first became an in-

38 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

stitution under the shadow of the fortified walls of
the ancient capital of the North. Allen, in his
" History of the County of York," cites Camden's
"Britannia" to show that before 1590 races were
held in the Forest of Galtres, near York. On the
authority of Camden, the prize in these contests was
a small golden bell, which was affixed after the race
to the head-piece on the bridle of the winner. The
successful animal was led about in triumph, and from
this practice, it is said, arose the common .phrase,
" bearing away the bell."

Under the title of " Turf Annals of York and
Doncaster," Mr. John Orton, formerly keeper of the
Match-book and Clerk of the Course at York, made
a collection of all the returns of races run at these
places up to the October meeting at York in. 1840.
The earliest record of the sport he could find, in the
form of what is now called a return list, was at York,
on Tuesday, September 13, 1709, for a gold cup,
value ^50. It is specified that this race was run in
three four-mile heats, over Clifton and Rawcliffe
Ings. When the races were removed from the
Forest of Galtres, or whatever place they were held
at, to Clifton and Rawcliffe Ings, it is not possible to
determine; but the first race over Knavesmire was
run in 1731. It was " His Majesty's one hundred
guineas for six-year old horses, &c., 6st., four-mile
heats," and was won by Lord Lonsdale's bay horse,
Monkey, beating the representatives of Sir Natha-
niel Curzon, Mr. Vavasour, and Mr. Benson.

DONCASTER AND YORK. . 39

Probably Clifton and Rawcliffe Ings formed a large,
open, and unenclosed space, affording ample scope
for long races, when racing was first practised there.
Allen describes this course as " a spacious common
field on the north side of the city."

There was, however, a mile to the south of York
Minster, another " large common pasture," which is
now one of the best racecourses in the kingdom. To
this, in 1 73 1, the meetings were removed, to the ad-
vantage of the sport. Knavesmire adjoins Tyburn,
where the criminals were formerly executed (till
August, 1802). The culprits were driven in a cart
from the city gaol, " surrounded and followed by
numerous multitudes; this barbarous custom, with
its brutal concomitants," was put a stop to in the
year above-mentioned, when the executions for the
first time took place outside the Castle or gaol.

The name of Knavesmire is said to be derived in
a very simple and straightforward manner — namely,
from the words knave and mire. It is an extensive
common pasture, called from time immemorial by its
present name — Knavesmire. " Knave," says Allen,
" implying, from the Anglo-Saxon, a poor house-
holder ; and mire, alluding to the watery situation —
thus denoting it the poor man's field."

It is well established that what may be termed
modern racing began at York, in 1709, over the
" common pasture," at Clifton and Rawcliffe Ings.
The citizens of York were as enthusiastic in the
cause of sport as their neighbours, the townsmen of

40 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Doncaster. On that occasion, nearly a century and
three-quarters ago, they made a collection in the
city, and with the proceeds purchased five Plates to
be given away as prizes. Four years later they had
influence enough at Court to procure the King's Gold
Cup, in those days a real gold drinking vessel, and
not the hundred guineas of late times. And this
Royal encouragement to the sport has been given
at York continuously from i / 1 3 to the present day.
In 1754 a Grand Stand was built by subscription.
It was an edifice worthy of the great sporting county,
being substantially and well built of red brick, hav-
ing on the ground floor convenient offices and rooms
for the entertainment of company; for at that time
the county races were the occasion of a week's con-
viviality, tea and wine drinking, balls, assemblies,
and card parties being the order of the day with the
gentry and their guests. It was therefore necessary
that the Stand should provide accommodation now
unnecessary on a racecourse. The second floor is thus
described: — "A handsome and commodious room
for the nobility and gentry to assemble in, with a
balustrade projection, the front of which is upwards
of ninety feet in length, and supported by a rustic
arcade of fifteen feet high." From this floor the
ladies and their attendant swains obtained a eood
view of the several heats, and of the surrounding
scenery. At the same time as the Stand, a stone
rotunda was erected for a goal, "with attached Doric
columns supporting their proper entablature, and

DONCASTER AND YORK. 41

surmounted by a dome." This Round House was
built " for the convenience of those persons ap-
pointed to decide the order in which the horses
pass." The principal races now run on Knavesmire
are the Great Ebor, the Biennials, the Great York-
shire Stakes, and the Knavesmire Stakes. The
August Meeting is important and well attended,
bringing together company from all parts of the
county and the kingdom ; any St. Leger candidates,
or their stable companions, that may show being
watched with the greatest interest.

But in the fourth year of this century an event
of a sporting character took place on Knavesmire
which attracted nearly as many spectators as the
Great Ebor and the Great Yorkshire Stakes do now.
Mrs. Thornton, an Amazon, rode a four-mile race
against Mr. Flint. Allen says: — "This novel and
extraordinary event took place on the last day of
the August Meeting (1804), when upwards of fifty
thousand persons were present on the course. A
party of 6th Light Dragoons attended the ground to
preserve order. Mrs. Thornton's horse, Vingarillo,
broke down about the third mile, and in consequence
lost the match." The "Sporting Magazine" (vol.
xxiv., 1804) gives full particulars of this eccentric
match. Mr. Flint challengfed Mrs. Thornton to
ride a match for one thousand guineas. The match
was arranged, the conditions being that it was to be
decided on August 25th, 1804 — Mrs. Thornton to
ride her husband's horse, Vingarillo, against Mr.

42 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Flint's Thornville, at catch-weights. The day came,
and the subject having been discussed all over
the country for weeks, drew together a wonderful
concourse of people, variously estimated at from
100,000 {York Herald of that date) to the 50,000
spectators Allen says were present. Mrs. Thornton
rode in "leopard colour," blue sleeves and cap; Mr.
Flint rode in all white. The bettino- at the start
was 6 to 4 on the Amazon. Mrs. Thornton pulled
up a third of a mile from the winning-post. She did
not take her defeat gracefully; on the contrary, she
wrote a letter to the York Herald, making com-
plaints against Mr. Flint's manner of riding the
match, and concluding with this sentence —

" Challenge. — After all this, I challenge Mr. Flint
to ride the same match in all its terms, over the
same course, next year — his horse. Brown Thornville,
against any one he may choose to select out of three
horses I shall hunt with this season.

"Alicia Thornton."

In 1805, at the York August Meeting, this lady
rode two matches, the first for four hogsheads of claret
as well as the stakes; the second against Buckle the
jockey for a considerable sum of money.

Mr. Flint, however, unable to get the thousand
pounds he had won the year before, posted Colonel
Thornton in the Ring on the Thursday at that meet-
ing. On Friday the Colonel " recriminated," where-
upon Flint horsewhipped him. Finally, Thornton

DONCASTER AND YORK. 43

applied to the King's Bench for a criminal information
against Flint for challenging him to fight a duel, and
for horsewhipping him. It was asserted that the bet
of one thousand pounds was a "mere nominal thing,"
for the purpose of attracting people to the race, and
the jury which heard the case of Thornton v. Flint,
at the York Assizes, in 1808, came to this conclu-
sion, and awarded Thornton five hundred pounds as
a solatium for the public whipping he had received.

Besides York and Doncaster, horse-races, all of
them well attended, and at which the sport and class
of horses competing is above the average of country
meetings, are held at seven other towns — namely,
Beverley (Hull and East Riding), Catterick Bridge,
Northallerton, Pontefract, Richmond, Ripon, and
Thirsk.

At no less than nine places in one county, there-
fore, are meetings held once — in some cases twice
— annually. At two, the races are of the greatest
historic and present interest. At all the others, the
enthusiasm with which Yorkshiremen support the
national sport, and the numbers in which they attend
the meetings, contribute to raise most of them above
the level of ordinary plating reunions. Mr. John
Orton, the compiler and collector of the return lists
of the races run at York and Doncaster, from the
year 1709 to 1840, in speaking of his county and his
love of horses and sport, in the preface to his collec-
tion of racing records, well says : —

"To the county of York, the capital of which

44 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

chronicles her sports the earhest of any place on
record, the British Turf has perhaps been more in-
debted for the superior breed and present perfection
of the high-mettled racer than to any portion of the
kingdom; to the Yorkshireman's judicious judgment
in breeding, and the public spirit, support, and coun-
tenance given to the Turf in early days by the no-
bility and gentry of that vast district, may be traced
the fountain from which have sprung those valua-
ble streams of blood that are found flowinor throup-h
a long line of ancestry to most of the superior horses
of the present day. To the enterprise of a Darley,
of Aldby, Yorkshire, the British nation is indebted
for that valuable Arabian that produced a Childers ;
to the superior stock of a Hutton, of Marske, ano-
ther ancient Yorkshire family, the British Turf owes
the possession of an Eclipse; and the breeding and
racing establishments of the Duke of Bolton, the
Earl of Carlisle, Sir Wm. Strickland, Sir Matthew
Pierson, Sir Marmaduke Wyvill, Sir Wm. Ramsden,
the Crofts of Barforth, Routh of Snape, Hartleys of
Middleton Tyas, Leedes of North Milford, Scroopes
of Danby, St. Ouintens of Scampston, followed up
by the Marquis of Rockingham and the Went-
worth family, Pratt of Askrigg, and innumerable
others in later days, have contributed eminently in
producing the excellence of our English race-horse,
now the envy and admiration of all our Continental
neighbours, who seek the possession of our blood at
vast labour and considerable cost."

DO NC ASTER AND YORK. 45

We may well endorse these words of an enthu-
siastic sportsman, who spent years in making his
valuable collection of racing returns for the two
chief places of sport in his native county, and coin-
cide with John Orton, at all events, in the belief
that, in all matters relating to horseflesh, York is the
"premier county of England."

46 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

CHAPTER III.

NEWMARKET.

THE Heath at Newmarket is the finest race-
ground in the kingdom, and the town is as
completely given over to training and running
horses as Northampton is to making boots and
shoes. At the present time, there are seven meet-
ings held annually at Newmarket, and a pleasant
week at head-quarters is one of the prime delights of
every lover of the sport. The external features of
racing undergo a complete change when they make
their appearance on the Heath. There the pursuit
of the sport is purely a matter of business: every-
body is businesslike about matters of odds and
weights. In the quaint, old-fashioned town all are
early risers. They brush "with hasty steps the dew
away" as they walk, or ride on cobby little animals,
to the Heath or Limekilns, to witness the morning
gallops; they scan with critical eyes the favourites
for a great race as they canter past; they are on the
qui vive for trials. A quiet and reticent set of people,
minding their own affairs, standing together in little
groups of three or four, carrying on a jerky conver-
sation in mysterious language and low tones. For

NEWMARKET. 47

all this, however, their eyes are proverbially shut to
the merits of their best horses, and comparatively
little notice is taken of Newmarket opinion on the
merits of the cracks in training there. With the
arrival of the morninof trains from London the little
town wakes up into real life and bustle. The visitors
want breakfast, which they are supplied with at the
numerous hostelries, where in meeting -times the tariff
of charges is not generally of the most moderate kind.

"I do not want to buy the bed, I only want to
pay for having sleeped in it," said a Frenchman to a
Newmarket host, who had charged him three guineas
for an unquiet night's rest in a garret.

Breakfast being over, the company collects in
front of the Subscription Rooms, where the business
of wagering, and to some extent of settling over the
results of the previous day, is carried on; while
buyers stroll down to the paddocks, and look over
the promising yearlings or the "entire stud of a
nobleman giving up racing," which Mr. Edmund
Tattersall is selling with his customary judgment
and power of persuasion.

At about half-past twelve, a general move is made
for the Heath, the first race, perhaps the first two
events, being decided over one of the courses that
finish at "the top of the course." These races over,
a stampede is made for the Cesarewitch Stand and
the Bettinof Rinof in the middle of the Heath. Pedes-
trians post along at their best pace ; the broughams
and four-wheelers raise a great cloud as they are

48 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF,

driven over the dusty white road that skirts the
farm adjoining the Heath; patrician supporters of
the Turf on high-stepping cobs, and jockey lads,
with their racing saddles girthed round their waists,
on fast ponies, gallop together pell-mell over the
luxuriant grass that covers the ground on either side
of the running track. Ahead, this course stretches
away to Four-mile Bottom, a vast expanse of
elastic turf; to the left lies the Cambridge-road; to
the right farms of rich arable land, over a flat coun-
try as far as the eye can see. Behind lies the Stand
at the top of the town. Newmarket itself is lost in a
hollow, only the roofs of the stables — the last occu-
pied by the unnamed roans of the late Lord Glasgow
— shininof over the trees. In the foresfround are the
Cesarewitch Stand, the Rowley Mile winning post,
and the Birdcage, and just beyond is the Betting
Ring; in the far distance the tower of Ely Cathedral
is to be seen cutting the sky, cold and grey against
the briofht blue.

The natural advantages of the Heath as a race-
ground must strike every visitor to Newmarket.
An old-fashioned writer (the author of " Newmarket :
an Essay on the Turf") speaks thus of the famous
running-ground : —

" Here Nature, undebauched by art, spreads her
ample bosom to receive her sons ambitious of re-
nown ; here no pillars of marble, no narrow and con-
tracted limits, cramp the spirit of an Englishman, A
wide and extensive carpet is spread indeed, but it

NEWMARKET.

49

is spread by the hand of Nature, as if on purpose to
form a stage every way fit for the scenes that are
acted upon it."

Nearly every spectator on this " extensive carpet"
has come with a view to a businessHke enjoyment
of the day's sport. Even the Cambridge men, on
speedy screws hired from Haggis or Death — that
squad of irregular cavalry the Admiral so much fears
on a great day — have come prepared to sport their
fivers, and primed with tips picked up at Bottisham
Swan or the White Lion. At Newmarket, except
for the " busy hum of men " about the Betting Ring,
or the subdued clamour of excitement when an out-
sider wins, all is comparatively silent. There is no
such thing as the " fun of the fair," for there is no
fair. There is one solitary booth, at an inconve-
nient distance from all parts of the course, where
what, by a pious tradition of the place, are called
refreshments are sold ; but there are few custo-
mers. There' are no nigger minstrels — Ginger's
band confines its performance to the town of an
evening, after the races ; no Aunt Sally, no gipsies
anxious to tell fortunes ; a man with a doll in his hat,
or with a green veil, would be in danger of being
driven to the neighbouring county lunatic asylum;
while a man who was rash enough to appear within
those classic precincts with a supply of bags of flour
would be at once taken into custody.

Newmarket is simply a place of business ; nobody
expects or wants any fun, any luncheon, or any

yoL. II. 4

so HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

champagne, till the work of the day is over. The
company may be divided into two classes — those
who want to get the tip, and those who have got the
tip to give.

There are to be seen, on the roof of the Cesare-
witch Stand, the well-known faces of the leading sup-
porters of the Turf. Drawn up in a line within the
cords are broughams — in one the representative of a
leading sporting paper, provided with pens, ink, and
a writing slab, busily at work recording the incidents
of the race just over, prognosticating concerning the
future, or describing with graphic pen the scene
around him; in another is a noble Duke, anxiously
waiting during that "bad quarter of an hour" of
delay at the starting-post, till he shall see his colours
carried bravely in front or ignominiously borne in
among the ruck. It is curious at Newmarket on a
wet day to see a great race watched from the
windows of cabs and broughams ; but on a fine day,
with the sun shining brightly on the Rowley Mile,
there is no prettier sight than to watch a large field
of horses coming along at a cracking pace over the
matchless running track that finishes at the Stand.
Opposite this building, just before the horses start
for a great race, there is a busy scene : bookmakers,
standing on the tops of ancient four-wheelers, shout-
ing to the aristocratic occupants of the roof the latest
odds against favourites and outsiders; an assemblage
of people really heart and soul in the business on
hand, pressing eagerly against the antiquated posts

NEWMARKET. 51

and cords provided by the Jockey Club; the Bird-
cage, in which a few quiet thoroughbreds, clothed
and hooded, are being walked round at measured
pace; from the Cesarewitch finish down to the T.Y.C.
winning-post, a long line of vehicles; to the right
the Betting Ring, from which comes the hum of
distant voices; opposite, Mr. Clark, in his movable
box, with the imperturbable donkey peacefully brows-
ing until the time comes to pull the judge's box to an-
other winning-post ; in the distance, the figure of Mr.
McGeorge, red flag in hand; and just beyond him
the candidates for Two Thousand Guineas honours.
Everywhere, men galloping wildly about from the
Ring to the Stand, from the Stand to the starting-
post ; and around, all the great, lovely expanse of turf,
whose undulation is broken by the ditch or mound
thrown up centuries ago to form a Saxon boundary
to the kinofdom of East Ano-lia.

A few minutes' delay, and there comes the cry
along the line, "They're off! " A tumbling, plunging,
runninof mass of colour is seen at the end of the
course, becoming distinct at the Bushes, and taking
the shape of horses and men. The Dip, the cords
are reached, the finish is close —

"Resound the shouts of men, the smAck of whips;
The goal the conqueror wins, but by a neck,
And quick he bears away the Royal Plate,"

or something better — say the rich Two Thousand
Guineas Stakes.

52 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Mr. Clark causes the number to be hoisted over
his box, there is a rush to the Bird-cage to see the
weighing in, the "All right" is given, and everybody
at Newmarket rushes off to the Ring to bet on the
next race.

Such is the Newmarket of to-day: an irregular,
quaint, picturesque little town, given over to the train-
ing of race-horses, and possessed of the best of all
courses for the public and private trial of their ability
to race. To the habihie of the Heath it must seem
impossible that there ever could have been a time
when there was no racing across the flat, or over the
Rowley Mile ; and, as is universally the case in re-
spect to ancient places of sport, it is out of the ques-
tion to attempt to fix the date at which irregular
racing began on the Heath. But regular meetings at
certain seasons were established by James I., who was
the cause of much of Newmarket's early prosperity.
This sporting Scotch Prince attended the races on
the Heath in person, in the third year of his reign,
1605 ; and from that date the little Suffolk town
has been the head-quarters of the Turf, a supremacy
the unrivalled natural advantages it possesses will al-
ways enable it to maintain. A further stimulus was
given to racing at Newmarket in the reign of James I.
by the arrival of some horses of Spanish breed from
Scotland, which had been cast upon the coast of
Galloway from the wreck of some vessels which
formed part of the Spanish Armada. These horses
were, it is believed, of better " goodness and stout-

NEWMARKET. 53

ness"than the native breed, which owed considerable
advantage to the introduction of this Spanish blood.
After the accession of Charles I. a bad time came
for Newmarket, and for the prospects of racing ; that
hapless monarch did not care for the sport, nor did
his successor in power, the Lord Protector Cromwell.
But with the Restoration there set in a palmy time
for the Suffolk town. The Merry Monarch loved the
sport and the place, and frequently attended the races
there, as the numerous State papers dated Newmarket
witness. From his palace at Newmarket his Ma-
jesty regulated the students at the neighbouring Uni-
versity of Cambridge, under date March 4, 1629: —
" We have been informed that of late years many
students of . . . our University, not regarding
their own birth, degree, and quality, have made
divers contracts of marriage with women of mean
estate and of no good fame in that town [of Cam-
bridge], to their great disparagement, the discontent
of their parents and friends, and to the dishonour of
the government of our University: We will and com-
mand you, that all times hereafter, if any taverner,
vitualler, or In-holder, or any other inhabitant of
that town, or within the jurisdiction of that Univer-
sity, shall keep any daughter or other woman in his
house to whom there shall resort any scholars of that
University, of what condition soever, to mispend their
time, or otherwise to misbehave themselves, or to
engage themselves in marriage without the consent
of those that have the guidance and tuition of them ;

54 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

that . . . you command the said woman or women,
thus suspected (according to the form of your charter
against women de malo stcspectas), to remove out of
the said University and four miles of the same."

To Newmarket, the diaries of Pepys and Evelyn
show, the King and his gay Court frequently went,
starting from Whitehall in coaches at three o'clock in
the morning, and once getting "overset, with the
Duke of York, the Duke of Monmouth, and the
Prince Rupert, at the King's Gate in Holborne;
and the King all dirty, but no hurt."

From Newmarket Charles very properly legislated
for the Turf, as well as made laws for the better
guidance of the Cambridge undergraduates.

The following are the Articles of the original
Town Plate run for on the Heath; and, as an au-
thentic example of the rules prescribed in pre- Jockey
Club days, are both interesting and curious: —

" Articles ordered by his Majestic to be observed
by all persons that put in horses to run for the Plate,
the new Round- Heat, at Newmarket, set out the i6th
day of October [1664], in the 17th year of our Sove-
reign Lord King Charles H, Which Plate is to be rid
for yearly, the second Thursday in October, for ever: —

" Imprimis. — That every horse, mare, or gelding
that rideth for this prize shall be led out between
eleven and twelve of the clock in the forenoon, and
shall be ready to start by one of the same day.

" Hem. — Every horse that rideth shall be bridled,

NEWMARKET. 55

saddled and shod, and his rider shall weigh twelve
stone, fourteen pounds to the stone; and every rider
that wanteth above one pound and a half after he
hath rid the heat, shall win no plate or prize.

" Item. — Every horse that rides the new Round
Course three times over (set out the i6th day of Oc-
tober, in the 17th year of King Charles II.) on the
outside of the Ditch from Newmarket, shall leave all
the posts and flags the first and last heats on the
right hand, and the second on the left hand, starting
and ending at the weighing post, by Cambridge
Gap, called Thomond's Post.

" Item. — Whatsoever horse rideth willingly, or for
advantage, within any of the said flags, shall win no
plate or prize, but lose his stakes, and ride no more ;
but if he be thrust by any horse against his will, then
he shall lose only the heat ; provided he keeps all the
rest of the flags, and come within distance.

" Item. — It is allowed for any horse to be relieved
at the discretion of the owner at the end of each heat,
and every horse shall have half an hour's time to rub
between each heat.

''Item. — Whosoever doth stop or stay any of the
horses that rideth for this plate or prize, if he be
either owner, servant, party or bettor, and it appears
to be willingly done, he shall win no plate, prize, or
bets.

" Item. — Every rider that layeth hold on, or striketh
any of the riders, shall win no plate or prize.

" Item. — If any horse, &c., shall fall by any mis-

56 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

chance, so that the rider be dismounted, and if he
does his best afterwards to get in within distance, and
ride fair (which shall be determined by the judges of
the field), he shall only lose the heat.

" Item. — Any of the judges may weigh any of the
riders at the end of any of the heats ; and if he be
found to have fraudulently cast away any of his
weight, and want any more than his pound and a
half, he shall lose the plate, prize, and stakes.

" Item, — If any difference shall be about riding
for this plate, which is not expressed in these arti-
cles, it shall be referred to the noblemen and gentle-
men which are there present, and being contributors
to the said plate; but more especially by the Judges,
the Judges being to be chosen every time the plate
or prize is run for, by the major part of the contri-
butors that are there present.

''Item. — Every horse that winneth three heats
shall win the plate or prize, without running the
course.

''Item. — Every horse that runneth for the plate
or prize shall put in three pounds, except it be a
contributor's horse, and then he shall put in forty
shillino^s.

" Ite77t. — Whosoever winneth the plate or prize
shall give to the Clerk of the Course twenty shillings,
to be distributed to the poor on both sides of New-
market, and twenty shillings to the Clerk of the race ;
for which he is to keep the course plain and free
from cart roots.

NEWMARKET. $7

" Item. — The Clerk of the race is to receive the
stakes before any horse starts, and is to deHver it to
the tenant for the time being, who is to give suffi-
cient security, not only for his rent, but likewise to
add such stakes to the ensuing plate or prize the
next year.

" Item. — Every horse, mare, or gelding, that
rideth for this plate or prize, shall likewise deposit
twenty shillings for every heat, which the winning
horse shall have; and the last horse of every heat
shall pay the second horse's stakes and his own, which
stakes are likewise to be deposited into the Clerk of
the race's hands before the horses start, to pay the
winning horse his stakes every heat, and likewise
twenty shillings to the second horse, to save his
stakes; but if there runneth but two horses, then no
stakes to be run for but what is to add to the next
year's plate.

''Item. — No horse that winneth not one of the
three heats shall be permitted to come in to run the
course.

" Item. — The plate or prize is to be run for the
second Thursday in October, every rider carrying
twelve stone weight, at fourteen jjounds to the stone,
besides bridle and saddle ; and if any gentleman that
rides shall desire to carry weight in his saddle,
he shall have the liberty, provided he allows two
pounds to the rest for the weight of their saddle.

" Item. — The Clerk of the race is to summon the
riders to start again at the end of half an hour by

S8 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

the signal of drum, trumpet, or any other way, set-
ting up an hour-glass for that purpose.

''Item. — No man is admitted to ride for this plate
or prize that is either serving-man or groom.

" Item. — Those horses that after the running of
the three heats shall run the four-mile course, shall
lead away, and start within an hour and half, or
else to win no plate or prize."

Charles's attendances at Newmarket were very
frequent during the whole of his reign, and although
the sport benefited by the patronage of the monarch
who legislated so wisely for it, and the town by the
presence of the gayest of Royal Courts, still it is
doubtful if the morals of the inhabitants gained
much from the visits of the gallants and fine ladies
who came down from London in shoals in the train
of the King,

Evelyn slept a night there, and found the society
he had to mix with "more resembling a luxurious
and abandoned rout than a Christian Court." Be-
neath the greater caution of Pepys may be traced
similar sentiments; but, whatever were the doings
of the Court of the Restoration when keeping festi-
val at Newmarket, their licence cannot be charged
against the newly revived and popularized sport of
horse-racing, for at Whitehall- similar complaints to
that of Evelyn were constantly laid at the door of
the boon companions of the King.

Nor do matters at Newmarket appear to have
mended much when, in 1695, another and very dif-

NEWMARKET. 59

ferent monarch honoured the racing town with his
presence. " On the 1 7th of October," writes Ma-
caulay, " Wilham went to Newmarket — now a place
rather of business than of pleasure, but in the autumns
of that age the gayest and most luxurious spot in the
island. It was not unusual for the whole Court and
Cabinet to go down to the meetings. Jewellers and
mihiners, players and fiddlers, venal wits and venal
beauties followed in crowds. The streets were made
impassable by coaches and six. In the places of
public resort, peers flirted with maids of honour;
and officers of the Life Guards, all plumes and gold
lace, jostled professors in trencher caps and black
gowns. For on such occasions the neighbouring
University of Cambridge always sent her highest
functionaries with loyal addresses, and selected her
ablest theologians to preach before the Sovereign
and his splendid retinue."

Such was the Newmarket of the middle of the
reign of William III., as the picture of the High-
street is presented to us by the master-hand of our
greatest historian. But William, although he took
Newmarket in his way to Althorpe to visit the Earl
of Sunderland, and the Earl of Exeter at Stamford,
and stayed some days at the "joyous place," had no
sympathy with the people who frequented it, or the
sport that drew them there, except in so far as a better
breed of race-horses might supply in time a better
breed of cavalry horses for his army. He was told
it was the proper place to stop at to receive the

6o HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

homage of tlu; adjoining' counties of Cambridge,
Huntingdon, and Suffolk, before proceeding to the
splendid scat in Althorpc Park, where " all North-
amptonshire crowded to kiss the royal hand in that
fine gallery which had been embellished by the
pencil of Vandyke, and made classical by the muse
of Waller;" and where a few years later the greatest
of the Spencers, the idol of his county, built the
stables and enclosed tlie paddocks for the breeding
of foals tliat should in their four-year-old maturity
maintain \\\<i prestige of that noble house on many an
English raceground.

A time had now come, however, in the history of
the little Suffolk town, when the patronage of the
Sovereign was no longer " requested " to the success
of the sport, or the prosperity of the head-quarters
of the Turf, James had laid the foundation of the
fortunes of the place by building himself a palace
there ; in this mansion he occasionally resided, as
did his successors, Charles I. (who was imprisoned in
it), and Charles II,, who greatly enlarged and im-
proved the house, and built tliose King's Stables, now
occupied by a trainer, which are the only vestiges
now remaining of the Royal palace. William found
Newmarket too important a centre to pass over;
Anne — who was a thorough sportswoman, a Royal
Diana — and several members of the House of Bruns-
wick, made use of it on their visits to Newmarket
before it ceasetl to be a Royal residence. The
palace was sold by the Crown about half a century

NEWMARKET. 6l

aqfo, and a portion of the Gfi'oiind on which it stood
is now the site of a Congrcg'ational chapel, the walls
of which are partly built of the old materials.

But a century before the stones of tlie old palace
were put to this use — a pur])os(; \\\.\\(\ contenij)lated
by the Scotch l^rinc(; wlio built it — the success of
the sport of horse-racing was establish(Ml: the people
loved it, a lari^e number of the nobility and t];-entry
j^ave it their countenance and support, in addition to
the small, yet by no nieans insig'nificant, number who
actively took part in lh(^ sport and ke[)t runninj^
horses in trainin<j^; and with the success of horse-
racino-, Newmarket in that age was more than any
other place closely identified.

Since the reign of Anne, England has had but one
monarch who really loved the "sport of Kings;"
yet all have giv(.Mi to th(; Turf tlicir patronage and
support. There have been vast changes in tJK- king-
dom, political and social, habits and customs strange
to our forefathers have supplanted their ways; but in
all those years then; has been plenty of racing on the
famous Heath. S[)ring, midsummer, and autumn have
with (^ach return brought th(; lovers of racing back
to head-quarters. Meetings unknown in the earlier
days of the sport have come into existence, to
flourish beyond the wildest dreams of those; to whom
we owe the existence of our thoroughbred stock.
Ascot, Epsom, Doncaster, and Goodwood are at-
tended by thousands where the Heath counts its
fifties; but Newmarket remains, what it must always

62 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

be, the metropolis of racing — the best training and
running ground in the kingdom.

The University of Cambridge has long ceased to
furnish select preachers for the racing weeks, peers
have left off wearing ribands and gold lace in the
streets, maids of honour never turn their dainty
steps in the direction of the town; but the scene in
the High-street to-day is far busier, though not
nearly so picturesque as it was in the days of the
Merry Monarch, or of the great Dutch Prince; for
racing, once exclusively the pastime of the great, has
become the sport of the people. The starting-post
has disappeared from Six- Mile Bottom, the old
Beacon Course is rarely used ; but with the modern
era of racing has come in sport more plentiful, and
a popular attendance impossible in the days of four-
mile heats and matches for a thousand guineas P.P.,
and huge wagers, over six miles of ground. With
nearly one-half the thoroughbreds in training "edu-
cated" at Newmarket, it is needless to say that
the town was never more flourishing than it is at the
present time.

The great racing town served also as head-quar-
ters for another and very different sport. Cock-fight-
ing, under the Newmarket rules, was an indispens-
able accessory to the nobler contests on the Heath;
and the sportsmen of olden times spent their morn-
ings and evenings at the cockpit, giving up the
middle of their day to witnessing the struggles of
their horses over the A. F. or the Beacon Course,

NEWMARKET. 63

A knowledge of and taste for cocking were essential
parts of the training of a gentleman who wished to
be called a sportsman.

All the very old Turf books, historical lists of
horse-matches (races) run, calculations for cocking
Breeder's Useful Libraries, and other sporting pub-
lications of the last century, contained what was
an indispensable requisite to the less lettered fre-
quenters of Westminster Pit — namely, a form of arti-
cles for a cock-match, which usually ran as follows: —

" Articles of agreement made the day of
17 , between (say), Thelwall and Mr. Egerton.
First, the said parties have agreed that each of them
shall produce, show, and weigh at the Old Cockpit,
the backside of the King's Stable, on the day

of next, beginning at the hour of seven o'clock

the said morning, cocks, none to be less than

three pounds six ounces nor more than four pounds
eight ounces, and as many of each party's cocks that
come within ounces of the other party's cocks

shall fight for guineas, that is guineas each

cock, in as equal divisions as the battles can be di-
vided into, at Pits or day's play at the cockpit afore-
said, and that the party's cocks that win the greatest
number of battles-match out of the number aforesaid
shall be entitled to the sum of guineas as odd

battle money; and the sum is to be made stakes
into the hands of Mr. before any cocks are

pitted, in equal shares between the parties afore-
said."

64 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Then came a provision for cocks for tie battles,
the " ballance of the battle money " was to be paid at
the end of each Pit or day's play. The agreement
concluded thus: — "And to fight in fair reputed
silver spurs and with fair hackles, and to be subject
to all the usual rules of cock-fighting as is practised
at London and Newmarket, and the profits of the
Pits or day's play to be equally divided between the
said parties after all charges are paid and satisfied
that usually arise thereupon."

To this agreement the parties set their hands in
the usual ^way. Though cock-matches were going
on all the year round, the race-time was the favourite
occasion for one landed gentleman to take his revenge
upon his neighbour, or for one county to pit itself
against another. Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, Cam-
bridgeshire and Norfolk, Cheshire and Lancashire,
North Riding against West, Lord Westminster
against Lord Derby, or Mr. Richardson against
Mr. Fickling.

Thirty-one or forty-one cocks were commonly
shown on each side, to which were added a proper
number for byes. A cocking-match not unusually
lasted for six days. The stakes in good matches
were ten guineas a battle, and four or five hundred
on the main. But the stakes represented a very
small amount of interest compared with the bets,
which in county and other famous matches appear to
have been only controlled by the purses or credits of
the bettors.

AEWiMARKET. 65

The cock afforded sport in another way. In the
north of England it was a common practice enough,
a century and a half ago, to tie a rope across the
High-street, the Market-place, or in the country from
tree to tree. From the centre of this rope — 'which
hung a few yards from the ground — depended a
live cock, tied by his legs to the cord. At the cock
the best horsemen of the neighbourhood rode full
tilt; they rose in their stirrups as they reached the
rope, and made a snatch at the bird's head and
neck, which were well soaped or greased, to ren-
der pulling off the head more difficult to accomplish.
The successful competitor was he who, all the while
keeping his seat in his saddle, was able first to pull
off the head of the cock, and carry it to the goal in
his hand.

But, to the credit of a more humane age, these
barbarous practices have — except for the furtive
support of a very small number of hole-and-corner
breakers of the law — completely passed away from
among the sports and pastimes of England. . The
voice of public opinion was successful in putting
down the practice of cock-fighting, once universal,
in England. The cockpit has disappeared. Another
practice discreditable to Newmarket has lately — ten
years ago — -been put down by the hand of the law.
At all times of the year, but especially in the meet-
ing weeks, hazard and roulette were played openly
at nearly every inn and public-house in the town.
Whilst noblemen and gentlemen were partaking of

VOL. II. .5

66 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

the free suppers, drinking the champagne liberally
poured out without charge, and staking their thou-
sands on throws of the dice, in the substantial struc-
tures built especially for gambling hells in the High-
street, jockey boys were swallowing sixpennyworths
of brandy and water, and playing for shillings and
half-crowns in the parlours and tap-rooms of the
public-houses. It is well for all the persons con-
cerned that this scandal has been removed, and that
temptation in this form is taken out of the way of
the servant, while the master must be satisfied with
"plunging" on the Heath, if he must gamble at all.

But one of the greatest changes connected with
Newmarket lies in the fact that the records of the
sport formerly written in the ill-spelt diaries oi habitues
for their own private information — or, at most, that of
a select circle of friends — or penned by such distin-
guished travellers as the Duke of Tuscany, or such
sportsmen as the Earl of Bath, are now chronicled
by the special reporters of a daily paper devoted
solely to the interests of sport, and by the gentle-
men who represent all the weekly and daily papers
which find it necessary to present their readers with
a full account of all the doings on the Heath. That
this is the fact exhibits in the most unmistakable
manner the development of the taste for horse-
racing among the people of Great Britain, and is the
best answer that can be given to those who pro-
phecy the early decline of Newmarket and decay of
the national sport.

ASCOT AND GOODWOOD. 6;

CHAPTER IV.

ASCOT AND GOODWOOD.

TH E racing season has been likened to a comedy
in four acts : the first begins with Lincoln, an-
other act drop is lowered upon the Two Thousand
Guineas and Newmarket First Spring: the second
act begins with Chester, and ends with the Ascot
Cup. The third discovers, as the curtain rises, the
Cockneys busy with the fun and frolic of "happy"
Hampton; and the drop falls to the roar of the Tykes,
as the St. Leger winner passes the post. The
final act is begun at head-quarters with the First
October, and the green baize is lowered upon the
late autumn mists and large " hay and corn " fields
of Shrewsbury and Warwick.

The comparison between the turf and the stage
has been pushed further. As in the first act of a piece
the characters have been but little developed, and
the plot is only shown in order that an interest may
not flag in the succeeding scenes, so on a racecourse
the form of the competitors is either wholly dark to
the outside public, as in the case of the juveniles who
have their racing careers all before them, or with
horses already well known to the sporting world, it

5—2

68 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

remains to be seen whether they retain the quahties
that made them famous in past years. As the play
advances, the pit critic can tell pretty nearly what the
end will be ; so the student of form, after the Two
Thousand Guineas, prophecies boldly concerning the
issue of the Derby ; and the nearer he gets to the
end of the season, the better ought to be his judg-
ment in finding the way to the winning-post. As
far as two-and three-year-olds are concerned, he
should be able to handicap with tolerable accuracy
the public performers, and know to a pound what
will bring them together. That his prognostica-
tions should often be wrong is part of that " glorious
uncertainty of the turf " which interferes to upset so
many calculations, and about which the " best laid
schemes" of all men will, to the end of racing, "oft gang
agley." The Ascot Meeting is the next great racing
festival after the Derby. It is unfortunate, both for
horses and men, that it is held only a fortnight after the
excitements of Epsom, and it seems most desirable
that it should in future be set a week later at least ;
for it was never foreseen, when the meeting on the
Royal Heath was fixed to follow only a few days
after the four days' racing on Epsom Downs, that a
race of great importance, of enormous value and
international interest, would intervene between the
Ascot Stakes Day and the Friday at Epsom.

The Grand Prize of Paris, for which the best
English and Continental three-year-olds compete,
was established by the Emperor Napoleon the

ASCOT AND GOODWOOD. 69

Third, a genuine lover of horseflesh, who came to
the determination that France should have a Qfreat
race, international in its character, and affording a
prize of such value as should attract the best three-
year-olds in the world to compete for it. Since 1856
there has been a racecourse at Longchamps. The
course is a very good one, and the situation, within
an easy drive of the capital, is charming. The scene
of the great French race is on a splendid expanse of
old turf, on the banks of the Seine, under the woods
and coppices of St. Cloud, and the frowning fortress
of Mont Valerien. Since France has recovered from
her German and Communistic troubles, the attend-
ance, despite the entrance fee, has been enormous ;
and Marshal MacMahon and the Duchess of Ma-
genta, the Princes of the Orleans and Bourbon fami-
lies, the high dignitaries of the Republic, and the
fashion and rank of Paris, have again been present
at the annual celebration at Longchamps. But we
miss the extravagant yet tasteful luxury of the Em-
pire, the splendid equipages, the postilions in sky-
blue velvet and pink silk, with powdered and plas-
tered hair, that marked the regime of Napoleon III.
Racing — though still an exotic in France, and
though the horses of our neighbours are derived
from our stock, ridden by our lads, and prepared for
their engagements by our trainers — has taken a fast
hold upon the people, and is likely to take perma-
nent root. The sport is comparatively of modern
introduction among the French, first assuming any

JO HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

sort of importance under Louis XVI., who used to
satisfy himself with a petit ecu, on the result of his
greatest races, while his courtiers ventured their
thousands of louis, and were sternly rebuked by
Madame de Genlis for their wicked love of gambling.

It is to be regretted very much that a race of so
much importance as the Grand Prix should be run
for on the Sunday before the Ascot week. As it is
certain the French Jockey Club will see no sufficient
reason for altering their fixture, it is very desirable
that steps should be taken to set the Ascot meeting
at least a week later in the season, as by such an ar-
rangement time would be given to English horses to
recover from the effects of their race on the other
side of the Channel, before they were asked to com-
pete against the best form of their year for the rich
three-year-old prizes at Ascot.

The course on the Royal Heath is one of the best
in the kingdom, and the attendance at the meeting-
is very large, comprising many members of the aris-
tocracy, and most people of fashion. During the
lifetime of the late Prince Consort, it was the practice
of her Majesty to attend the races on Tuesday and
Thursday, in what is known as Ascot State. The
Prince of Wales, who annually takes a house for the
week near the course, now fills the place of her Ma-
jesty on these occasions; and the procession of Royal
carriages and four, headed by the Master of the
Buckhounds, attended by his whippers-in, and yeo-
men prickers, is one of the prettiest sights to be seen

ASCOT AND GOODWOOD. 71

on an English racecourse. The patronage of succes-
sive English sovereigns, which has gained for Ascot
the honourable addition of " Royal," was conferred
originally from the nearness of the Heath to Wind-
sor Castle, and the convenience of access thus af-
forded.

The forest at Windsor was formerly of much
greater extent than it is at present. According to an
inquisition in the time of Charles the First, and the
Perambulation made under the authority of an Act
of Parliament in the forty-sixth year of King George
the Third, the bounds of the forest extend into the
five hundreds of Ripplesmere, Cookham, Charlton,
Wargrave, and Sunning; and it was therefore pos-
sible for the King in early days to ride from the
Castle almost on to the Heath, without quitting the
royal demesne. Although the boundaries of the
great forest remained in 1727, when William, Duke
of Cumberland, uncle to George the Third, instituted
races there, the forest itself was not of much greater
proportions than it is in the present day. For some
reason or other the races did not prove very suc-
cessful; the two prizes — purses of forty and thirty
guineas respectively — were large for that time; and
with the patronage of the Court the meeting should
have flourished. In fact, it did not: in 1729 no races
were held on the Heath, and between that date and
1 77 1 there were frequent instances of blank years.
In 1 771 the Gold Cup was founded by subscriptions
of five guineas each — Henry, Duke of Cumberland,

72 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

being the promoter of the new stake. The year
1785 saw a King's Plate of one hundred guineas
added to the Ascot prizes; and in 1807 a Gold Cup
of one hundred guineas was hrst given.

Goodwood, although farther distant from London,
presents almost the same features as Ascot. The
same large and fashionable attendance, the brilliant
toilets of the ladies, Royal patronage, and the interest
attaching to the long race for the Cup, distinguish
both meetings.

The racecourse, which is of great natural beauty,
is situate in the park of the Duke of Richmond and
Gordon, at whose neighbouring mansion hospitality
is dispensed in the race week to a large and dis-
tinguished " home " party, which always includes
some members of the Royal family. Several circum-
stances combined to make Goodwood at the begin-
ing of this century a place of sport; and the races
were first held in the park of the Duke of Richmond
in 1802. The Duke gave his hearty support to the
venture; the officers of the Militia, the Hunt Club,
and the local gentry, lent their assistance; and the
result was a very successful reunion. For se\'eral
years afterwards, however, the races in the park at
Goodwood languished; complaint was made of the
insufficiency of the sums of money added to the
stakes; for a quarter of a century, the amounts of
public money annually given were inconsiderable,
and the subscriptions did not amount to any great
sums. In 1827, a more energetic management

ASCOT AND GOODWOOD. 73

brought about a change, and from that date to the
present Goodwood has occupied a conspicuous place
among racing fixtures, being hardly second to any in
importance and interest. In 1829, great improve-
ments and alterations were made in the running
track; in 1803, the Grand Stand was thrown open
to the public, and the next year the Royal Guineas
were given to be run for. Such was the progress of
Goodwood in a few years, that, whereas in 1825
the public money given did not amount to more
than three hundred pounds, twelve years later, owing
to the exertions of Lord George Bentinck and
his admirable management of the meeting, no less
a sum than ^11,145 was run for in stakes; and in
1845 the princely sum of ^24,909 was distributed
anions: the owners of winnino- horses at the Good-
wood Meeting of that year.

74 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

CHAPTER V.

CHESTER — NEWCASTLE — NORTHAMPTON PAISLEY — ■

LINCOLN DURHAM.

THERE is evidence affording good reason for
the belief that Cheshire was the county in
which horse-racing first flourished, in which meetings
were held at periodical intervals ; in a word — in
Cheshire horse-racing first became a regular prac-
tice.

For two centuries Chester was the station of the
Twentieth Legion, and it has been claimed for the
ancient Roman city that these soldiers first began
racing on the Roodee. For this claim, however,
there is, it is needless to say, no support outside the
merest conjecture. Compared Avith the date of the
Roman occupation of Britain, the year 1 5 ii is a
modern era; but it is a highly respectable date to be
able to trace back to in the history of the Turf. The
Roodee — the racecourse encircled partly by the
ancient Roman walls, the most perfect of their kind
existing in England — is said to derive its name from
Rood-eye, the island of the Rood or Cross, which
formerly stood there. The laudable exercises yearly
used by the City of Chester were mentioned at
length in a book about that " Anchant and famous

CHESTER, NEWCASTLE, &-c. 75

Cittie," written by the Rev. Robert Rodgers, a pre-
bendary of the Cathedral, who died in 1595. He
tells of a " silver bell, which was ordayned to be the
reward of that horse which with speedy runninge
then should runne before all others." This race for
the silver bell took place " yearely," on the Roodee ;
and in the Reverend Parson of Gooseworth's time
was a custom of such antiquity that the memory of
man ran not to the contrary. There is an order of
the Corporation of Chester, dated the loth day of
January, in the third year of the reign of Henry the
Eighth, directing that this bell, of the annual value of
three shillings and fourpence, the reward of " speedy
runninge," should in future be always run for by
horses on a course on the Roodee. And this is the
earliest record of annual horse-races in Britain. To
Chester, therefore, belongs the pride of place in point
of antiquity; and it is to be regretted that changes
in the social habits of the people, and the ease with
which distant places of sport can now be visited by
lovers of racing, who formerly were " locals " from
compulsion, should have shorn the " Cup " — as the
Tradesmen's Plate has always been popularly called
— of much of its former glory. In the old days,
nearly every gentleman in the counties of Ches-
ter, Lancaster, and Salop, and best part of the
Principality, made an annual journey to the an-
cient capital of the Palatine county. The cup was
anxiously discussed, the merits of the several stables
descanted upon, and betting-books opened upon

76 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF,

them from Christmas; but now, though the meeting
is well and numerously attended, the Cup is a failure
as a betting race, and has lost all its old prestige and
importance.

Newcastle, now famous for the Northumberland
Plate, is a meeting of respectable antiquity, the
entry on the subject in the books of the Corporation
dating back to the year 1695. There seems strong
reason to believe that races have been held annually
in Newcastle or its neicrhbourhood ever since. The
races at that date were held on Killingworth Moor,
whence they appear to have been removed a few
years later to a more convenient spot; for we find
the Corporation refusing to pay for cords for Killing-
worth Moor, for the reason that their races had been
removed to another locality. Except for the enthu-
siastic support of the Tynesiders, and several me-
morable races for the Plate, the races at Newcastle,
although of considerable antiquity, have never suc-
ceeded in obtaining a place in the first rank of coun-
try meetings.

Prom Newcastle we may cross the Border, and
note that at Paisley there is one of the oldest
records in connection with the history of the Turf,
relating to certain silver bells, run for on the race-
course at Paisley two centuries and three quarters
ago : —

"Act anent the Silver Bell, April, 1608. — Item.
— It is concluded that one silver bell be made of
four-ounces weight, with all diligence, for one horse-

CHESTER, NEWCASTLE, &-c. yy

race yearly, to be appointed within this burgh, and
the bounds on the day of the running thereof to be
set down by advice of my Lord Earl of Abercorn,
Lord Paisley and Kilpatrick.

" Act setting downe ane horse-raise. Apud Pais-
ley decimo tertio de mensis Maij, 1620.

" The quhilk day Andro Crawfurde, and Ion.
Algeo, younger baellies of ye burghe thereof, with
the counselle of the samyn, being convenit in the
tolbuith of the said burgh, with advyse of ane nobill
and potent erle, James erle of Abercoructe, proveist
of the said burghe, for ordour taking with sundrie
thingis concerning the commone will of the samyn
and namelie anent the conclusion of their bell-race
and efterschot quhilk was of auld set downe and not
effectual. Tharfoir, It is now concludit and ordainit
be the saidis baillies ane counsell with advyse and
consent aforsaid, That yeirlie in time cuming thair
bell raice sal be rune on the saxt day of Maij in
mander following, viz., to be start at the Grey Stane
callit St. Connalis Stone, and fra that rich eist to the by
till house at the calsay end of Renfrew, and fra that the
till Kingis way to the Walnuik of Paislaye, and quhat
horse first comes over a score at ( . . . . ) Renfrew
sail have ane dowbill aingell, and the horse and
mister yairof that first comes over the scoir at the
said Walnuik of Paislaye sail have the said bell with
the said burghes airmes yair oponn for yat zeir."

At Woodham Moor, in the county of Durham,
races were held in the time of James the First; and

78 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

that sportino; Prince was present at the meeting in
1 6 1 7 ; but four years earlier, in the eleventh year
of his reign, December 20th, 161 3, a document was
drawn up, showing that racing was a yearly event
on the Moor:—

" The condition of this recognizance is such, that
whereas divers of the knights and gentlemen of this
county have delivered over into the hands and cus-
todie of the above bound en Thomas Robson, the
sum of fiftie pounds as a stock collected and pro-
vided for the yearly bringing in of a piece of plate
for a hunting prize, to be ridden for at Woodham
Stowpes yearly upon the Tuesday next before
Palme Sunday, and soe to be contyned : If there-
fore the above bounden Thomas Robson and John
Bainbridge, or either of them, their heires, &c., shall
yearely during the life of the above bounden Thomas
Robson, being and present or cause to be brought
and presented to the now usuall weighing-place upon
Woodham-moore yearely, upon the Tuesday next
before Palme Sunday, a piece of gold and silver
plate, in the form of a bowle or cupp, or such like
form of the value of seven pounds at the leaste, for
a hunting prize, to be ridden for at Woodham
Stowpes, there to be disposed of according to articles
thereof made and agreed, &c."

In 1695 (Jan, 14th), the justices of the Durham
Sessions probably resolved upon a display of gene-
rosity unique in history. They gave their " wages "
towards procuring a plate or plates to be run for on

CHESTER, NEWCASTLE, &-c. 79

Durham Moor, and recommended Mr. Mayor, Chair-
man at their Sessions, to communicate the fact to the
Bishop of the Diocese : —

"It is thought fit and so resolved by the Justices
in open Court that from henceforth their wages goe
and be employed for and towards the procuring
of a plate or plates to be run for on Durham
Moor.

** And that it be recommended to Mr. Mayor of
Durham, Chairman at this Sessions, to communicate
the same to the Bishop of Durham.

" And that the same continue until further reso-
lution of the majority of Justices of Peace in this
county.

''(Signed) George Moreland, Mayor; Robert
Eden, William Bowes, Ly. Vane, Henry Liddell,
William Lambton, Jo. Clavering, Jo. Sedge wick,
Robert Ellison, Robert Jennison."

Stamford, in Lincolnshire, also claims to be an
ancient place of sport. In Butcher's "Survey and
Antiquity of the Towne of Stamford," published in
1646, the races are thus described: — •

" As touching the ancient and public sports used
at this town, they are not many ; in all but two — and
too many by one. The one, a sport savouring of
nobility and gentry, and of a concourse of noblemen
and gentlemen meeting together in much peace and
amity for the exercise of their swift running horses,
every Thursday in March. The prize they run for
is a silver and gilt cup, with a cover, to the value of

So HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

seven or eight pounds, provided by the care of the
aldermen for the time being; but the money is raised
out of the interest of a stock formerly made up by
the nobility or gentry who are neighbours or well-
wishers to the town."

Mr. Butcher, among his antiquities of Stamford,
gives an account of some races of a very curious
nature. These were the bull-races, then not at all
uncommon in many parts of England, and held with
frequency for above a century after the time at
which Mr. Butcher wrote. He calls this sport "yet
more beastlike than any," affording no pleasure to
any but such as love "beastliness and mischief."
The running took place the day six weeks before
Christmas, the butchers of Stamford providing a
" wild bull." This animal was shut up for the night
in a barn or outhouse belonging to the alderman:
the next morning the town crier, with much " Oyez,
oyez," and bell-ringing, made proclamation that the
bull was about to run, and calling on every burgess
to close his shop and house; that strangers (unused,
perhaps, to the custom) were to be protected by a
special " yard " appointed for the passing of travel-
lers without hurt. " Which proclamation made, and
all the gates shut up, the bull is turned out of the
alderman's house, and then hivie skivie, tag and rag,
men, women, and children of all sorts and sizes, with
all the dogs in the towne, promiscuously running
after him with their bull clubs, spattering dirt in each
other's faces, that one would think them to be so many

CHESTER, NEWCASTLE, &-C. Si

Furies Started out of Hell for the punishment of
Cerberus.

"A ragged troupe of boyes and girls
Doe pellovv him with stones :
With clubs, with whips, and many nips,
They part his skin from bones."

This brutal exhibition was only too much like
many of the pastimes of our ancestors, in its utter
disregard for the feelings of the dumb creation,
which was regarded as specially sent by Providence
to afford amusement in "pellowing" with stones and
other barbarous tortures.

At Northampton, three-quarters of a century later,
they raced with bulls, in a more sportsmanlike
fashion; a plate was given, and each bull was
ridden by a jockey, booted and spurred, and armed
with a o-oad "of the usual size."

The bulls started from the gates of Abingdon
Abbey, now the property of Lord Overstone and a
lunatic asylum, but once the ancient demesne of the
Thursbys, and the residence of Shakspeare's grand-
daughter.

It was apparently a merry time when the nephew
of the purchaser of Abingdon (the second of the
Thursby family) was in possession of the property.
In one of the early volumes of the Northampton
Merniry occurs the following advertisement: —

"On Tuesday, in Whitsun week, being the 26th
of May, 1724, will be run for, from the gate of
William Thursby, Esq., leading into Well ingborough-

VOL. II. 6

82 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

road, down Ablngdon-street, to the Pump upon the
Corn-market Hill, in Northampton, a plate of £^
value, by any bull, cow, or bullock, of any age or
size whatsoever, that never won the value of ;^5
in money or plate. Each rider to have boots and
spurs, with a goad of the usual size. Every bull,
&c., to pay one shilling entrance, which is to be
given to the second best bull, &c ; the winning beast
to be sold for ;^20 (if desired) by the subscribers.
They are to start at the gate above-mentioned, at
five o'clock in the afternoon. If any disputes
arise, to be decided by the majority of subscribers
then present."

Those were the days of open fields, and the
farmers along the line of the proposed route were
naturally somewhat alarmed at what might happen
if the bull were to bolt from the appointed course,
and choose one for himself across country. They
appear to have remonstrated, and the programme
was accordingly modified. In a subsequent number
of the Mercury there appeared a second advertise-
ment, as follows: —

"Complaints having been made that great damage
will be done to the corn by the bulls, &c., starting at
the gate of William Thursby, Esq., it is ordered by
a great many of the subscribers that upon Tuesday
in Whitsun week, being the 26th instant, at four in the
afternoon, the bulls, &c., are to start from the bridge,
near Swallbrook Spring, run down Abbington-street,
into Northamptom, and end at the Pump upon the

CHESTER, NEWCASTLE, &-c. 83

Corn-market Hill. The v/inninof bull, ox, or cow,
to be rid by the rider from the same pump, by the
Hind Inn, and down the Drapery to the George Inn:
where the treasurer will be to deliver the Plate,
five pounds in money, and the stakes to the se-
cond best bull, &c.

"The bulls, &c., to enter at Hill's Coffee-house
in Northampton, at nine in the morning, the day of
running, and pay one shilling entrance each bull,
&c., which goes to the second best bull, &c., as
aforesaid. No less than four to start for the Plate."

If, as is certain enough, we are not a whit better
than we should be, it is consolatory to know that, in
some respects at least, we are a little better than our
forefathers. We have abandoned bear-baiting, and
bull-running, and bull-racing.

Northampton in 1724 was a somewhat aristo-
cratic town, and the route chosen for this extraordi-
nary race was through its most aristocratic portion.
It was a town mainly of large inns, and of the resi-
dences of the smaller gentry. The intercourse with
London was not so easy as in later times, and North-
ampton was a kind of metropolis for its surrounding
neighbourhood.

Balls and assemblies were frequent, and they brought
thither the surrounding aristocracy. Hill's Coffee-
house, wherever it stood, was, no doubt, the fashion-
able resort of the bloods of the day. In reference to
these bull-races, however, we must bear in mind that
cattle in those days were commonly used for draught

6—2

84 HISTORY OF 7 HE BRITISH TURF.

at the plough, and in carts and waggons employed
in agriculture. The racing bull, therefore, was to a
certain extent a trained animal, and the race was
not exactly the same thing that it would be with
animals taken fresh from the pasture or the stall.
Still, no amount of education would make a seat on
bull-back very secure or agreeable, and the fun must
have largely consisted in the frequent unshipping of
the riders; perhaps in the animal making a sudden
raid among the spectators, overturning some and
scattering the rest in all directions, amidst shrieks
and laughter. The triumphal ride from the Pump
to the George was not the worst-devised part of the
programme. To make a bull, hot from a pell-mell
chase, march, with stately step and slow, down a
street thronged with shouting and laughing people
argues a skill in " noble horsemanship " which might
well " witch the world."

Bull-baitings may be incidentally mentioned in con-
nection with bull-races and running the bull; they
are thus described : —

" Here follows the manner of those bull-baitings
which are so much talked of. They tie a rope to
the root of the horns of the bull, and fasten the other
end of the cord to an iron ring fixed to a stake driven
into the ground ; so that by this cord, being about 1 5
feet long, the bull is confined to a sphere of about 30
feet in diameter. Several butchers, or other gentle-
men that are desirous to exercise their dogs, stand
round about, each holding his own by the ears, and

CHESTER, NEWCASTLE, &^c.

when the sport begins they let loose one of the
dogs. The bull defends himself by sliding one of
his horns under the dog's belly (who creeps close
to the ground to hinder it), and tries to throw him so
high in the air that he may break his neck by the
fall.

" This often happens. When the dog thinks he Is
sure of fixing his teeth, a turn of the horn — which
seems to be done with all the negligence in the
world — gives him a sprawl thirty feet high, and puts
him in danger of a damnable squelch when he comes
down. This danger would be unavoidable If the
dog's friends were not ready beneath him— some
with their backs to give him a soft reception, and
others with long poles, which they offer him slant-
ways, to the intent that, sliding down them, it may
break the force of his fall. Notwithstanding all this
care, a toss generally makes him sing to a very
scurvy tune, and draw his phiz into a pitiful grimace ;
but unless he Is totally stunned by the fall, he is
sure to crawl again towards the bull, with his old an-
tipathy, come on't what will. Sometimes a second
frisk into the air disables him for ever from playing
his old tricks; but sometimes, too, he fastens upon
his enemy, and when once he has seized him with
his eye-teeth, he sticks to him like a leech, and
would sooner die than leave his hold," &c.

In the county of Northampton horse-racing was of
as high antiquity, perhaps, as bull-baiting, and pro-
bably of much older practice than bull-racing.

86 , HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

The racecourse at Harlestone is still to be seen.
Up to i860 it was open to anybody who chose —
and many did choose, on fine summer evenings — to
ride or drive round it. The course is situate in
Harlestone Firs, belonging to his Excellency Earl
Spencer, now a close preserve, and only the running
track remains uncovered with fir trees ; but this spot,
now sacred to pheasants and hares, was previously
the scene of many sporting events. Nearly two cen-
turies and a half ago, the Corporation of the ancient
borough of Northampton bound themselves, on re-
ceipt of ^200 from William Lord Spencer, to give a
silver cup every year on the Harlestone racecourse: —

" The Corporation of Northampton, by deed bear-
ing date January 16, 1632, in consideration of the
sum of ^200 paid by William Lord Spencer, and
other gentlemen of the county, obliged themselves to
provide yearly a gilt silver cup and cover, of the
value of ^16 13s. 4d., to be ridden for on Thursday
in Easter week yearly; with covenant that upon
notice given on the Friday in the race week that
they will return the said money within the year fol-
lowing, then they shall not be tied — so are the words
of the deed — to provide the cup any longer."

Not only over the circular, course at Harlestone,
but in other parts of the county of Northampton,
racing was a common sport two and a-half centuries
ago, as is shown by an agreement entered into by
two members of the Throgmorton family, and dated
July 13, 1612:—

CHESTER, NEWCASTLE, &^c. 87

"It is agreed between Henry Throgm'ton and
Thomas Throgm'ton, the daye and yeare above
written, that the abovenamed are to mete together
the Tuesday after Michaelmas at Brackley Cwoorse,
and there to bringe a graye mare and a graye
shorne mane nagg, and each of them to ridde the
same course upon equal wate in their own persones
for X quarters of oats."

The course at Brackley spoken of here is probably
identical with a portion of the ground over which
steeplechases are still occasionally run. A great
change has occurred since the " graye mare and the
gray shorne mane nagg," belonging to the Squires
Throgmorton, ran for ten quarters of oats at Brackley.
There is now scarcely a county in England which
does not boast a race meeting. An annual plating
affair it may be, but still of importance in its own
neighbourhood, generally supported by the gentry of
the district, and serving to keep alive the love of the
sport, at the same time that it supplies the occasion
for a general holiday.

88 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

CHAPTER VI.

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA THE

TROTTING HORSE OF AMERICA.

TH E history of the principal places of sport in
England having been traced, it is, perhaps,
worth while to notice those of America. At present
most of the races — and all those of any importance — •
in the New World are run between horses either
driven in harness or ridden by jockeys over trotting
courses, and at the pace called in America a trot, but
which is a style of going altogether different from
our old-fashioned trot. Although the horses in the
States are derived mainly from English strains of
blood, and in Canada almost entirely so, yet the
genius of one man really developed a new animal.
The man was Hiram Washington W^oodruff, and
the animal the trotting horse of America; of both
it will be well to speak at some length.

As a matter of course, in the opinion of all Ame-
ricans, and of some Englishmen, the Americans are
"bound" to win the English Derby some day; as
they are also "bound" to beat our University oars-
men, our cricketers, billiard players, and, indeed, in
their own expressive phraseology, " knock us into a
cocked hat," and "chaw up" our old-fashioned notions

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, &-c. 89

on matters of sport " some." At present, however,
these things have not come to pass, and England is
pre-eminent in all manly sports. Harvard has not
beaten the picked crews of Oxford and Cambridge,
nor has Mr. Ten Broeck or Mr. Sanford won the
Derby. The black belt and orange cap of Mr. Ten
Broeck were so regularly seen on our racecourses
some years ago, that no field seemed complete with-
out them; and the plucky Yankee, who could not
easily be " choked off his fancy " in a selling plate,
was a conspicuous figure at Newmarket, Epsom,
Goodwood — indeed, at every race meeting of any
note in England.

It was the opinion of Mr. Richard Ten Broeck, as
it is of many of his countrymen, that things in the
Old World wanted setting right, that "mer'cans"
could "whip creation," and as easily on the turf as in
any other department of Science and Art. With
this intention, this gentleman, who was well known
and highly respected in the Transatlantic sporting
world, left his estate, and came over to England.
His horses, whether American or English bred, how-
ever, can hardly be called successful on our turf;
though he possessed the most conspicuous examples
of American bred animals that have performed in
the old country. After Mr. Ten Broeck had been
for some time in England, he bought a number of
horses bred here ; and when he finally quitted our
Turf for the retirement of his native country, he was
the possessor of a rather extensive stud of indifferent

90 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

platers. Of his American bred horses, owever,
Prioress, Starke, Optimist, and Umpire made con-
siderable reputations, and won some valuable stakes
for their owner. In 1857, Prioress was the heroine
of a dead heat with two other animals for the
Cesarewitch — Queen Bess and El Hakim. There
was great excitement on the Heath when the three
O's appeared above Mr. Clark's box, particularly as
the betting on the great autumn event was unusually
heavy. Recommendations were made to the owners
of the respective animals to make a sporting event
of the race, and not to listen to the counsels of those
who whispered divide. They agreed to do so;
and the deciding heat between the three animals
was won by the American-bred Prioress. In the
following year, she bore Mr. Ten Broeck's colours
to the front in the Great Yorkshire Han-
dicap at Doncaster. But her owner had better
animals in his stable. In 1859, Starke won the
Goodwood Stakes; and two years later this stout
stayer carried off the Goodwood Cup and the
Brighton Stakes. In the same year his stable com-
panion. Optimist, won the Ascot Stakes. Umpire,
too, was a very good horse ; and after having won
the Nursery Stakes at Goodwood in 1859, started,
if not absolutely first favourite, at all events close up
in the betting with Wizard and Thormanby in i860.
Everybody would rejoice to see a Derby carried
across the Atlantic by an American-bred animal,
provided he was the best colt of his year, for there

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, &-c\ 91

is no international jealousy between us; and it is
gratifying to see, as was the case this year, an
American-bred colt — Mr. Sandford's c. by Bay-
wood, out of Earring — entered for the Blue Riband
of the Turf. English sportsmen would only be too
happy to see the appearance among the entries of
a colt "bred in Australia," "bred at the Cape," or
"bred in Canada." Such a circumstance, which is
by no means impossible in the future, will do much
towards a pleasant enhancement of the interest
which has already made the Derby a household
word throug-hout the world.

With regard to the last-mentioned colony, a good
trade is being done with the mother country in ex-
ported horses. These horses are bred from English
stock, with the exception of the Province of Quebec,
where there is an old and very remote intermixture
of imported French blood. Although the grass
lands of Ontario are proverbially fine, and much at-
tention has been given to breeding and rearing
thoroughbred and half-bred stock, no animal has been
developed which, like the trotting horse of the States,
Canadians can look upon as peculiarly their own.
The French horse of Lower Canada never had
justice done him, owing to the greed with which
owners snapped up the large prices offered by
United States buyers for every stallion of promise.
In Ontario there has not been this over-sale of pro-
mising animals, and no visitor to Canada can drive
along the roads, or in any part of the country, with-

92 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

out noticing the fine cattle that pull the gentleman's
buggy or the farmer's plough.

In the Upper Province, the base of the stock of
horses is purely English. The Canadian breeders
have ever numbered in their ranks men of energy
and enterprise, who have lost no opportunity and
spared no expense to secure the best blood. Among
these gentlemen, Mr. T. C. Patteson, of Eastwood,
stands in the front rank as a successful breeder of
thorough blood stock. In horses, their attention
has been directed chiefly to such sires and dams
as were likely to produce stout, weight-carrying
hunters and roadsters, rather than to breeding trot-
ters or racers. Therefore, they have bought English
stallions of a character suited to this end. But in
their breeding of cattle they have eclipsed the
world, having given two thousand nine hundred
guineas for a heifer, and two thousand five hundred
guineas for a bull, besides buying for years the
best blood that came to the hammer, or was to
be had privately from English breeders. The Hon.
George Brown, of Bow Park, Brantford, Ontario,
a senator, and one of the leading men in the Do-
minion, is the buyer who gave the above great sums
for pedigree cattle; and similar spirit has been shown
by our Canadian fellow-subjects in their dealings
with the thoroughbred horse. There are in the
stock of the province of Ontario few traces of any
French crossings. Many fine trotters have been
bred in the province, and trotting is a favourite

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, &^c. 93

Sport, though it has not taken that hold upon the
people of Canada that It has of their neighbours in
the States. Horses of this kind are imported second-
hand from America, but they are also derived from
English stock ; so that we may justly consider the
horse of the United States and Canada to have been
originally purely English in blood, being sprung from
a cross between the native stock of the country and
the imported Arabian blood dating from the reign of
James the First. This blood, both in America and
Canada, has been constantly recruited and improved
by coverings with the best English sires imported
from time to time.

How great is the interest Canadians have in the
horse trade may be seen by glancing at the results of
the trade for the last few years. In the year ending
June 30, 1870, they imported into the Dominion 183
horses — 52 in British vessels, 37 in foreign vessels
(mostly French), and 94 by land carriage — viz., from
the United States — making a total of 183, worth
19,381 dols. In the previous year, that of 1868-9,
the number of horses imported was only 167, but on
the other hand the value was greater, being 26,246
dols. There is a remarkable excess of exports
over imports. In the year ending June 30, 1869,
the number of horses exported was 10,355; value,
859,174 dols.; and in the following year they rose
to 16,461, worth no less than 1,458,111 dols. Of
the 16,461 in 1869-70, Ontario exported 7,316,
against S3 imported, of which 79 were from the

94 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

United States, and 3 from Great Britain. For the
year 1873-4, 5,411 horses were exported, while 794
were imported — 9 from Great Britain, and 785 from
the United States. These horses, however, are not
all that were imported, because a large number
came in among the 600 animals admitted under
special exemption for the improvement of stock,
mostly from Great Britain. A large exportation
is going forward still, and it will depend on the
relation of the price paid for the imported horses
to the price received for the exported ones, to-
gether with the respective character of the horses,
whether exportation is being carried too far or
not.

The breeders in Canada work their horses at the
plough from three till five or six years of age, and
then well-bred animals, with bone and substance,
will fetch a remunerative price, either for the market
in the States or Canada; and within the last few
months England is becoming a formidable compe-
titor both for Canadian horses and oxen — -2, source
of congratulation to breeders in the colony. These
gentlemen, many of them keen-witted Scotchmen,
are well aware of the value of the thorouQfhbred
English sire at the stud, and they take care to get
the best blood they can, being justly of opinion that
the pure-bred stallion will get stock with better
action, much greater powers of endurance, and better
temper than those got by the half-bred coach horse
that used, years ago, to be commonly seen taking

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, &-c. 95

his rounds in due season in the more remote parts of
the Upper and Lower Provinces,

In the United States of America, as might be
expected, trotting and racing, having once become
recognized institutions, have extended with the ra-
pidity that characterizes all the institutions of that
country. There are now excellent races at New
Orleans, in April, under the auspices of the New
Orleans Jockey Club ; at this meeting there are
hurdle races. At Jerome Park, New York, under
the American Jockey Club, there is excellent racing
in June and October, extending over several days.
For the Withers Stakes at the June Meeting this year
there were fifty-nine entries ; for the Belmont Stakes
sixty-seven ; and for the Jerome Stakes, at the Oct-
ober Meeting, fifty-four entries. In July there are
races at Monmouth Park, Long Branch ; July and
August at Saratoga Springs, under the auspices of
the Saratoga Association ; in May at Baltimore,
under the Maryland Jockey Club. These race meet-
ings are all first-rate. TKere is also always pretty
good sport to be found at the Lexington, Kentucky,
Meetings, at Louisville, Point Breeze Park, Phila-
delphia, and several other places.

The races are very well conducted, whether run-
ning or trotting be the sport. There are an American
Jockey Club, and a "National Association for the
Promotion of the Interests of the American Trotting
Turf," of which Colonel Charles W. Woolley, of Cin-
cinnati, Ohio, is President, and Mr. Thomas J. Vail,

96 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

of Hartford, Connecticut, Secretary and Treasurer.
Large sums are won on the American Turf every
year by the best, or — what is for this purpose the
same thing — the luckiest animals. Aristides, got by
Leamington, last year won for Mr. McGrath, his
owner, 15,700 dols. ; Olitipa won 10,650 dols, ; Wil-
diddle, belonging to Mr. Little,' got by Australian,
won 7,893 dols.; and Ballankeel, got by Asteroid,
won for Mr. W. Jennings 6,025 dols. From these
figures, showing the amounts put together by the
principal running horses of the American Turf last
year — though the amounts given in stakes, either in
respect of added money, or of a pool constituted by
all the nominators, do not compare for a moment
with the great prizes of our Turf — it will be seen that
substantial sums of money are to be won.

For his seven thousand dollars Wildiddle had to
run five times first and twice second. Ballankeel for
his six thousand, five times first and once second;
while Aristides ran four firsts and two seconds for
the respectable sum of 15,700 dols. with which he
credited his owner.

The taste for the sport is rapidly growing in all
parts of the United States. There are about two
hundred " recorded colours " in which the jockeys of
American turfmen ride, and nothing is more common
than for several persons to join together in owning
and traininof a horse or horses. Confederation is
well enough known with us, but we have not yet
arrived at the practice of entering an animal as Carr

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, &-r. 97

and Co.'s Jeremy Diddler, or Hunter and Travers's
Catch -nie- if- you -can ; yet these notifications on
American race-cards, and in the American Turf
Register, are very common.

The trotting- horse of America is a really distinct
species of the equine race, and can hardly be con-
sidered apart from Hiram Woodruff, who developed
the breed and made it famous. So highly is this
animal valued, that the best stallions for eettino-
trotters command a fee of ^100. This was the
case with Hambletonian, the property of Mr. Rys-
dyk, who, after Dexter's great performances, raised
the fee of his sire to £^00. Hambletonian, who
died last year, was for nearly a quarter of a century
without a rival among the trotting sires of the States.
H6 was a rich dark bay, with two white heels, and
a star on his forehead, and was foaled in Orange
County, near the City of New York, in 1849. For
necessary reasons, Hambletonian was never trained
to race ; but at two years old, or a little over, he was
put to the stud, recommended for selection as a sire
by his fine appearance, immense power and bone, and
good breeding. He stood sixteen hands high, and
his action was very fine. His admirers assert that, if
he had been broken and trained as a trotter, his own
name would have gone down to posterity in companj-
with that of his son Dexter, Flora Temple, Lad}'
Suffolk, Goldsmith Maid, and other animals capable
of performing the greatest trotting feats on record.
The best American trotters are descended from an

VOL. II. 7

98 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

imported English horse, named Messenger, of whom
Mr. George Wilkes says, in an often quoted pas-
sage, that "when Messenger came charging down
the gang-plank of the ship which brought him over,
the value of not less than one hundred millions of
dollars struck our soil." Hambletonian was the
grandson of Messenger, and, through Messenger's
blood, Hiram Woodruff and his disciples have added
half-a-minute in the mile to the speed of the trotting
horse.

" This," says Hiram Woodruff, "is effected by our
method of breeding, training, and driving trotting
horses, aided by the enterprise and ingenuity which
provide vehicles, harness, and all the paraphernalia
of that combination of lightness with strength which
is modelled upon the plan of the best trotting horse
himself."

This passage is extracted from Mr. Woodruff's
admirable work, the " Trotting Horse of America,"
from which a great deal of information may be gained
about a fine art, that " magnetic touch upon the
rein which the horse no sooner feels than he seems
inspirited and animated with new life," and from
which the reader may learn for himself how enthu-
siastic a sportsman America has produced. Hiram
Woodruff, greater as. a driver than as an author,
and great as both, was devoted to the Messenger
blood, and we may share his' regard for the old Eng-
lish sire ; for without Messenger in the States we
should never have had Dexter, and without Dexter

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, 6^r. 99

Hiram Woodruff would never have written his capital
book on the trotting horse.

Hiram Woodruff's place at Long Island was a
favourite place of resort for many years with all
sporting foreigners when they visited the States ; and
they always received a very hearty welcome from its
honest owner, about whose stables were in old days
constantly to be seen, Mr. Bonner, the owner of Dex-
ter, and sometimes Ulysses Grant, since President
of the United States. Hiram Washington Wood-
ruff, the " maker " of the trotting horse of his native
country, and a great cause of the popularity of trot-
ting as a sport in the States, was born in 181 7, and
died, in his fifty-first year, in 1867. He declined, at
an early age, to be apprenticed to any trade, the
desire to "have something to do with horses" being
as strong in the breast of the American boy as it
ever was in that of any of the famous masters of
horsemanship in the old coimtry. In his book on
the horse, which was first published after its author's
death, Mr. Woodruff details at length those opinions
he had derived from a long and unique experience of
the best way of rearing, training, and driving the
trotting horse. His facts are of interest for compari-
son with the modes of training adopted by our best
EnofHsh "educators of the horse." One maxim of
our authors was always to feed the young horses
under his charge thoroughly and well. As yearlings
he allowed the colts under his charge four quarts of
oats a day, with abundance of other good food. He

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

gave oats sparingly until the animal was put to some
work ; but he admitted his process was slow — colts
trained by other methods looking at two years old
like three-year-olds, while his were still plainly babies.
At three years old, colts trained on the forcing
system looked more like horses than those trained
by Hiram Woodruff did at five. But then his
charges began to make up for lost ground. At five
or six years of age the horses of other trainers were
at their best in all respects — could trot faster and for
a greater distance without tiring than when younger
or older. But Mr. Woodruff considered his trotters
best at eight years old, or even ten, in many cases of
horses of strong constitution. "If," says he, "any-
body thinks to follow the old starving cornstalk, fed-
in-the-snow system, under cover of what I have said
on this subject, he must go to the devil his own road.
My system is one of generous feeding, but not of
stuffing a young colt with all the highly stimulating
food he can be jjossibly got to swallow."

The English trainer may learn something useful
from this novel system. Although the thorough-
bred from its infancy, when it leaves the paddock
and the side of its dam, up to maturity, is probably
now, and long has been, treated with greater skill and
judgment than any other animal in the world, it has
been too much the policy of the English trainer to
turn out a precocious two-year old. The great value
of two-year-old stakes, it must be admitted, and the
popularity of two-year-old racing with owners and the

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, &-c. loi

public, are to be blamed for the substitution in modern
times of the short (sprint) race, and the two-year-old
appearance to face the starter in public, to the older
and slower system of long races, and six and seven-
year-old competitors still in their racing prime. But
what will be said of these animals, under the care
of Hiram Woodruff, which their astute trainer con-
sidered were at their best when they had reached
what anybody in England connected with racing
pursuits, except Mr. Hughes of Epsom, would con-
sider the impossible age of ten ? And as the great
American trainer believed in animals at ten years
old to trot his great matches, so he stuck very per-
sistently to his faith in the famous Messenger as a
sire. The influence of Eclipse on English thorough-
bred stock was deservedly great; but that of Mes-
senger upon the trotting stock of America was in-
finitely greater. He covered in the States for
twenty seasons, beginning at a very moderate fee,
and ending with ^loo per mare. It is estimated
that he was the sire of at least a thousand horses ;
his sons and grandsons went out broadcast through
the country, distributing the Messenger strain, and
mostly conferring upon the fourth generation the
fine qualities they inherited from their sire. It was
the opinion of Mr. Woodruff that the blood of Mes-
senger would "hit" or "nick" with almost any other
strain; and that, so strong was the constitution
of horses of Messenger's get, their blood always
predominated after several crosses. The result

I02

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

briefly may be said to be the trotting horse of the
present day, whose doings both in harness and in
the saddle are something marvellous. It is the
opinion of judges that a horse can trot a mile in
three secoads less time when under the saddle than
when harnessed to a sulky, and in six seconds less
time than when harnessed to a waggon. It is, how-
ever, almost the invariable practice in the States to
trot for wagers with the horse harnessed to a light
machine, built especially for racing purposes, into the
mechanism of which hickory and steel enter largely
instead of the iron-tree and pigskin.

One mile has been trotted in harness by —

Goldsmith Maid, Boston, Sept. 2, 1874

Occidejit, San Francisco, Sept. 17, 1873

Lula, Rochester, Aug. 11, 1874

American Girl, Rochester, Sept. 25, 1874
Gloster, Rochester, Aug. 14, 1874

Dexter, Buffalo, Aug. 14, 1867

Red Cloud, Buffalo, Aug. 7, 1874

Lady Thome, Narragansett Park, Oct. 8, 1869
Z?^ry, Buffalo, Aug. 9, 1872

Judge FullertoH, Prospect Park, L. I., June 6, 1874
George Palme?; Narragansett Park, Oct. 8, 1869
Bodinc, Beacon Park, Boston, Sept. 8, 1874
Flora Temple, Kalamazoo, Oct. 15, 1859

TIME.

2 m. 14 sec
2m. 16^ sec
2m. i6>^sec.
2m. 16^ sec.
2m. 17 sec.
2 m. i7>(sec.
2m. 18 sec.
2m. 18 sec.
2m. i8>jf sec.
2m. 19 sec.
2m. i9Xsec.
2m. igyi sec.
2m. 193^ sec.

These are the best times in harness at which one
mile has been done.

Two Miles {in harness).

Flora Temple, Eclipse Course, L. I., Aug. 15, 1859 ...

Dexier, Fashion Course, L. I., June 14, 1867

George M. Patchen, Union Course, L. I., July 12, i860
Reindeer, Louisville, June 21, i860

TIME.

4m. 5o>< sec.
4m. 51 sec.
4m- 53Xsec.
4m. 58 sec.

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, &-c. 103

Two Miles (/« harness).

TIME.

General Butler, Fashion Course, L. I., July 23, 1867 ... 4m. 59 sec.

Z^r^rtrt'w^w^/^/, Fleetwood Park, L. L, June 29, 1870 ... 4m. 59>^sec.

John Morgan, Louisville, Oct. 25, i860 5m. 00 >^ sec.

7i?««d'j-j-dY, Louisville, June II, 1872 5m. 00 sec.

Stonewall Jackson, Fashion Course, L. L, Oct. 4, 1864 5m. 01 sec.

Princess, Eclipse Course, L. L, June 23, 1859 5m. 02 sec.

Bashaw Junior, Ch.\c2igo, Avig. 22, \%b% 5m. 02 X sec.

Lady Moscow, Union Course, L. L, June 13, 1849 ... 5m. 04 sec.

Prince, Fleetwood Park, N. Y., June 29, 1870 ... .. 5m. 04 sec.

Three Miles.
In Harness.

Huntress, Prospect Park, L. L, Sep. 23, 1872 7m. 2iXsec.

Flora Temple, Centreville, L. L, Sep. 27, i860 ... 7m. 23^ sec,

i?/(^(r/C' J/rtr/rt, Hamilton, Ohio, Oct. 6, 1866 7m- 35 sec.

Stonewall Jackson, Fashion Course, L. L, Oct. 12, 1864 7m. 39 sec.

Dutchman, Beacon Course, N. J., July 4, 1839 ... 7m. 41 sec.

John Morqati, Louisville, Ky., Oct. 27, i860 7m. 43)4sec.

Lady Moscow, Centreville, L. L, May 21, 1850 ... 7m. 4434^ sec.

Boston Girl, Centreville, L. I., Aug. 12, 1852 ... ... 7m. 45 sec.

Lady Suffolk, Centreville, L. L, Oct. 17, 1849 7m. 45>^sec.

Trustee, Centreville, L. L, Oct. 17, 1849 7m. 45>^sec.

Shark, Fashion Course, L. L, May 19, 1863 7m. 47^sec.

Caiiada Sam, Sandusky, Ohio, Sep. 15, 1858 7m. 50 sec.

O'Blenis, Union Course, L. I., Oct. 28, 1852 7m. 52 sec.

Americus, Beacon Course, N. J., June 27, 1844 ••• 7m. 52Xsec.

Ripton, Beacon Course, N. J., May 15, 1843 7m. 53 sec.

Pclham, Union Course, L. L, July i, 1852 ... ... 7m. 54 sec.

To Saddle.

Dutchman, Beacon Course, N. J., Aug. i, 1839 ••• 7m. 32Xsec.

General Butler, Fashion Course, L. L, Aug. i, 1863 ... 7m. 34 sec.

Lady Suffolk, Hunting Park, Phila., May 15, 1841 ... 7m. 40><sec.

Charlotte Temple, Harlem, N. Y., Aug. 1834 7m. 42 sec.

Ctf/ww^/^j-, Harlem, N. Y., Aug. 1834 7m. 45 sec.

Ripton, Beacon Course, N. J., May 15, 1843 7m. 53 sec.

Rattler, Beacon Course, N. J., Oct. 6, 1838 7m. 54^4 sec.

To Wagon.

Longfellow, Sacramento, Sept. 21, 1868 7m. 53 sec.

Prince, Centreville, L. L, Sept. 15, 1857 7m. 53J!^sec.

Lancet, Union Course, L. L, Sept. 15, 1857 7m. 53^4fsec.

Flora Temple, Eclipse Course, L. L, June 17, 1859 ... 7m. 54 sec.

y^/. Union Course, L. L, Oct. 21, 1851 7m. sgj^sec.

104

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Four Miles.
In Harness.
Top Gallant, Philadelphia, Oct. i8, 1829
Trustee, , 1849

Whalebone, Philadelphia, Oct. 18, 1829
Sir Peter, Hunting Park, Phila., Oct. 14, 1829

To Saddle.
Dutchman, Centreville, L. I., May, 1836
Lady Suffolk, Centreville, L. I., June 30, 1840 ...
Ellen Thompson, Beacon Course, N. J., May 6, 1842

To Wagon.
Longfellou>, San Francisco, Dec. 31, 1869

Five Miles.

/// Harness.
Lady Mac, San Francisco, Apr. 2, 1874

Morrissey, Detroit, Aug. 26, 1868

Fillmore, San Francisco, Apr 18, 1863

To Wagon.
Americus, Centreville, L. I., Oct. 21, 1841

Ten Miles.

I/i Harness.
John Stewart, Riverside Boston, June 30, 186S
Prince, Union Course, L. I., Nov. 11, 1853
Captain McGowan, Cincinnati, Ohio, Nov. 3, i860
Gypsy Queen, Louisville, Ky., Oct. 27, i860
Julia Aldrich, San Francisco, June 15, 1858 ...
Mattic Howard, San Francisco, Dec. 25, 1873
Duchess, 1856
Gene7-al Taylor, San Francisco, Feb. 6, 1857 ...
Fanny Jetiks, Oct. 2, 1844

To Wagon.
Princess, San Francisco, Mar. 2, 1859

Twenty Miles.
In Harness.
Captain McGowan, Riverside Boston, Oct. 18, 1865
John Stewa7't, Fashion Course, L. I., 1868
Trustee, Union Course, L. I., Oct. 20, 184S
Lady Fulton, Centreville, L. I., July 12, 1855 ...

To Wagon.
John Stewart, Fashion Course, L. I., Sep. 22, 1868

FiETY Miles.
In Harness.
Black Joke, Providence, R. J., July, 1835

TIME.

iim. 04 sec.

iim. 06 sec.

iim. 17 sec.

urn. 23 sec.

lom. 51 sec.

iim. 15 sec.

II m. 33 sec.

lom. 34 j^ sec.

13m. 00 sec.

13m. 1 1 sec.

13m. 16 sec.

13m. 58 sec.

28m. o2>2 sec.
28m. 08 >^ sec.
28m. \\}i sec.
:8m. 39 sec.
:9m. 04 >^ sec.
29m. 13^ sec.
29m. 17 sec.
29m. 4ij4sec.
:9m. 59 sec.

2gm. io3:^sec.

... 5Sm. 25 sec.

... 58m. 30 sec.

... 59m. 35>^sec.

... 59m. 55 sec.

59m. 23 sec.

3h, om. 57 sec.

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, &-c. 105

Fifty Miles {in harness). time.

^;7V/, Providence, July, 1846 3h. 55m. 40/2 sec.

To Wagon.

.5/)rt//f/<', Oct. 15, 1855 3h. 59m. 4 sec.

One Hundred Miles.
In Harness.

Conqueror, Centreville, L. I., Nov. 12, 1853 ... 8h. 5501. 53 sec.

* Fanny Jenks, Albany, N. Y., May 5, 1845 ... gh. 38m. 34 sec.

Fanny Mu7'r ay „ „ May 15, 1846 ... gh. 41m. 26 sec.

fKaU', Centreville, L. I., June 7, 1850 9h. 49m. 034" sec.

These tables show clearly the best times which
the American drivers have been able to make with
their trotting horses. They are extraordinary, and
far in advance of anything that can be done by the
fast trotting horses of other countries, not specially
bred for several generations for this sort of work,
and not specially trained for the contests that are so
popular in the United States.

Generally the fastest and best recorded perform-
ances in America are: — ■

Horse-Racing. time

}4 mile — Olitipa, 2 yrs., 97 lbs., Saratoga, N. Y., July

25,1874 om. 47>4fsec.

% mile — Chinaman, in lbs., Oakland, Cal., Jan. 9, 1875 im. 15X sec.
I mile — Kadi, catch weight, second heat (first in im.

42X sec), Hartford, Ct., Sept. 2, 1875 im. 4iXsec.

I mile — Searcher, full weight 90 lbs., Lexington, Ky.,

May 13, 1875 im. 41.^4 sec.

i\i miles — Bob IVooiiey, 3 yrs., 90 lbs., Lexington, Ky.,

Sept. 6, 1875 im. 54 sec.

1% miles— Grinsfead, 4 yrs., 108 lbs., Saratoga, N. Y.,

July24, 1875 2m. 8Vsec.

1)4 miles — Tom BotvUng, 4 yrs., 104 lbs., Lexington,

May 12, 1874 2m. 34^4^ sec.

\% miles — Ten Broeck, 3 yrs., 90 lbs., Lexington, Sept.

9»i875 2m. 49^4: sec.

* Stoppages, iSm. 27s. included.
+ Stoppages included.

io6 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Horse-racing. time.

i^ miles — Reform, 3 yrs., 83 lbs., Saratoga, Aug. 20,

1874 3m- 5^sec.

„ — UArtagnan, 3 yrs., no lbs., Saratoga, July
24,1875 • 3m. 6;4sec.

2 miles — True Blue, 4 yrs., 104 lbs., Saratoga, July 30,

1873 3m. 32;^sec.

lyi miles— yl/rt/t', 6 yrs., ii3lbs., Saratoga, July 31, 1875 3m. 4634^560.
2)4, miles — Preakness and Spriiigbrook, 1 14 lbs., dead

heat, Saratoga, J-uly 29, 1875 3m. 56Xsec.

^Yz miles — Katie Pease, 4 yrs., 105 lbs., Buffalo, N. Y.,

Sept. 10, 1874 4m. 28><sec.

3 miles — Norfolk, 4 yrs., too lbs., Sacramento, Cal,

Sept. 23, 1865 5m. 27><sec.

4 i-mles—Felloiucrafl, 4 yrs., 108 lbs., Saratoga, Aug. 20,

1874 7m. I9>^sec.

50 miles — Nell H. Alowry, using 10 horses, changing or

dismounting and remounting at the end of each mile,

San Francisco, Cal., May 29, 1875 -h. -!"• 36^-2 sec.

150 miles — Jack Power, 25 horses, San Francisco, Cal.,

May 2, 1858 6h. 43m. 31 sec.

200 miles — Nell H. Mowry, 30 horses. Bay View Park,

San Francisco, Aug. 2, 1868 ... ... 8h. om. o sec.

300 miles — Nell H. Mowry, 30 horses, as above i4h. 9m. o sec.

Hurdle Races.

1 mile — Lobelia, 143 lbs., four hurdles, Fashion Course,

L. I., Sept. II, 1869 I m. 5 1 34; sec.

2 miles — Capt. Hiitehinson, full weights, eight hurdles,

Columbus, O., July 3, 1875 3111.50 sec.

Steeple Chase.

3 miles (about) — Duffy-, 160 lbs., thirty-six leaps, Sara-

toga, N. Y., Aug. 5, 1873 5m. 4834: sec.

Trotting.

I mile — Goldsmith Maid, in harness, with running horse
at wheel, against time, 2m. 14^ sees.. Mystic Park,
Boston, Mass., Sept. 2, 1874; in 2m. 14^4^ sec, se-
cond heat. Rochester, N.Y:, Aug. 12, 1874 ... 2m. 14 sec.

I mile — Dexter, under saddle, Buffalo, N. Y., Aug. 18,

1866 .., 2m. 18 sec.

I mile — Mambrino Gift (Rochester, Aug. 13, 1870) and
Smuggler (Mystic Park, Boston, Sept. 15, 1874),
second and third heats respectively— fastest stallion
time ... ... ... ... ... 2m. 20 sec.

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, &-c. 107

Trotting {continued).

TIME.

I mile — Judge Fullerton, to waggon, San Francisco,

Cal., Nov. 21, 1874 2m. 20^4 sec.

1 mile — Jessie Wales and Darkness, double harness,

Cranston, R. I., June 22, 1870 2m. 27)4 sec.

2 miles — Flora Temple, in harness, Aug. 16, 1859 ... 4m. so'i sec.

2 miles — General Butler, first heat, June 18, 1863, and

Dexter, second heat, Oct. 27, 1865, both to waggon 4m. 56^ sec.

3 miles — Huntress, in harness, Brooklyn, L. I., Sept. 21,

1872 7m. 2 1 _,'4^ sec.

4 miles — Z'«/t7^;«(i://, under saddle. May, 1836 ... ... lom. 51 sec.

4 miles — Trwj'/t'^, in harness, Union Course, L. I., June 13,

1849 urn. 6 sec.

5 miles — Lady Mac, in harness, San Francisco, Cal.,

April 2, 1874 ... 13m. o sec.

smiles — ZzV/'/fJ/^rr, to waggon, Oct. 29, 1863 13m. 43^4 sec.

10 miles — John Stetuart, to waggon, Boston, Mass.,

June 30, 1868 28m. 2 '2 sec.

10 miles — Prince, in harness, Union Course, L. I.,

Nov. 11,1853 -8m. 8;<sec.

20 miles — Captain McGowan, in harness, half-mile track,

Boston, Oct. 31, 1865 58m. 25 sec.

20 miles — John Steiuart, to waggon. Fashion Course,

L. I., Sept. 22, 1868 59m. 23 sec.

50 m.i\ts— Ariel, in harness, driver weighing 60 lbs., Al-

banjf, N. Y., 1846 3h. 55m. 4o;isec.

50 miles — Spancrle, waggon and driver weighing 400 lbs.,

Union Course, L. I., Oct. 15, 1855 3h. 59m. 4 sec.

100 miles — C6';/$'//6'rf;', in harness. Union Course, L. I.,

Nov. 12, 1853 8h. 55m. 53 sec.

Pacing.
I mile — Billy Boy ce, under saddle, Buffalo, N. Y., Aug. i,

1868 2m. I4;4''sec.

1 mile — Pocahontas,'vi2iggon and driver weighing 265 lbs..

Union Course, L. I., June 21, 1855 ... 2m. i7>isec.

2 miles — Hero, in harness. Union Course, L. I., May 17,

1853 4m. 56>^sec.

3 miles — Oneida Chief, under saddle, Beacon Course,

Hoboken, Aug. 15, 1843 7m. 44 sec.

3 miles — James K. Polk, in harness, Centreville Course,

L. I., Sept. 13, 1847 7m. 44 sec.

i^xviA'fi— Long fellow, to waggon, California, Dec. 31,

1869 lom. 34Xsec.

io8 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

These times may be relied upon as accurate, as
the Americans are very careful in the matter of
timing their races.

Dexter, the idol of Hiram Woodruff's heart, and
one of the best specimens of the trotting horse, is thus
described by the master who loved him so well : —
" Great as the achievements of Dexter have been, I
see no reason to believe that he has yet reached his
highest development. It is now a long time since
I took Mr. Foster to his box, and pointing out his
very remarkable shape — the wicked head, the game-
cock throttle, the immense depth over the heart, the
flat oblique shoulder, laid back clean under the saddle,
the strong back, the mighty haunches, square and as
big as those of a cart-horse, and the good wiry legs
— predicted to him that here stood the future Lord
of the Trotting World."

Mr. Woodruff subsequently remarks that his pro-
phecy had not, at the time of writing his book, been
wholly fulfilled, but he adds, " my faith in its accom-
plishment is not at all shaken." He died in March,
1867; and the grass was not yet green on his
grave in the Cypress-hills Cemetery when his pre-
dictions with regard to Dexter were fulfilled. That
an American can rise to enthusiasm over the sport
of trotting, and that an American driver can write
with something akin to a feeling of true poetry when
he pens a description of a great struggle, let this
passage from Hiram Woodruff's book bear wit-
ness.

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, £-.-. 109

In the summer of 1843, it appears, there was a
Qfreat trottinof match set down for decision between
Americus, Lady Suffolk, and Dutchman. The de-
ciding heat lay between Lady Suffolk and Dutch-
man. Hiram Woodruff drove the latter, and George
Spicer, a celebrated whip, steered the former.

The first heat had been won by Dutchman. The
second, after a stoutly contested race, fell to Americus.
The third heat, after a tremendous race, ended in a
dead heat between the winners of the two first heats.
Lady Suffolk being ruled out for not winning a heat
in three. Here were all the elements of excitement
for the lovers of sport; not an habitud of the Heath
or Epsom but would have willingly journeyed across
the Atlantic to witness such a contest between such
good animals. The enthusiasm of the spectators was
roused to a high pitch, and the betting was very
heavy, the Dutchman having the call, on account of
Hiram Woodruff being his pilot. Now let us hear
the pilot's description of the last and deciding heat.
Says Mr. Woodruff: —

"The long summer day had drawn rapidly to a
close. At the same time the heavens were over-
cast ; and, with fading gleams of dim, yellow light,
the sun sank into great banks of clouds. They
mounted higher and higher, and seemed to lie like
a load on the weary earth. The heat was intense,
and not a breath of air was stirrinqf to break the
ominous repose. With the last flicker of the day the
swift scud began to fly overhead, and the solid-seem-

HO HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

ing clouds to lower up, and come on like moving
mountains. It was dark when we got into our sul-
kies ; and soon after the start the storm burst upon
us with a fury that I have never since seen equalled.
The wind blew a hurricane, and the pelting rain fell
in torrents, as though the sluices of the skies had
opened all at once. Nothing could have over-
powered the mighty rush of the wind and the furious
splash of the rain, but the dread, tremendous rattle
of the thunder. It seemed to be discharged right
over our heads, and only a few yards above us.
Nothing could have penetrated the thick, profound
gloom of that darkness, but the painful blue blaze
of the forked lio-htnincr.

"I could not see, in the short intervals between the
flashes, the faintest trace of the horse before me ; and
then, in the twinkling of an eye, the whole course,
the surrounding country, to the remotest and most
distant thing, would be revealed. We noticed as the
horses faced the howling elements, their ears lay
back flat upon their necks. Between these flashes
of piercing, all-pervading light, and the succeeding
claps of thunder, the suspense and strain upon the
mind were terrible. We knew that it was coming so
as to shake the very pillars of the earth we rode on,
and until it had rattled over our heads we were silent.
Then, in the blank darkness, as we went on side by
side, we would exchange cautions. Neither could
see the other, nor hear the wheels nor the stride of
the horses, by reason of the wind and rain.

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, &'c. in

'"Look out, Hiram!' Spicer would say, 'or we
shall be into one another.'

" A few strides farther on, and I would sing out —

'"Take care, George; you must be close to
me.'"

In the midst of these great difficulties the race
was run, the Dutchman, in the latter part of the
course, gradually losing ground, until, at last, Ame-
ricus drew away, and won easily, Hiram Woodruff
pulling up when he reached the Stand, at the end of
the second mile.

"I have," says the great driver, "seen a great
many summer storms in my time, and have been out
in net a few of them; but of all that I remember,
none quite equalled, in terrific fury and awful gran-
deur, that v/hich burst upon the Beacon Course just
as we began that heat. Spicer says the same."

That passage in which he describes the storm will
be sufficient to prove that Hiram Woodruff could
write, as well as train and drive trotting horses.
The enthusiasm of so single-hearted, simple-minded,
and honest a man for the sport ^ar excellence of
Americans, proves that it is a good sport, and
worthy the attention of more sportsmen in this
country than it receives; and the affection of "Old
Hiram" for his cattle establishes the fact that the
best specimens of the trotting horse are only a little
way behind the "long-tailed uns," beloved of the
Tykes. Such a man as Hiram Woodruff could not
love a bad horse; and no man knew better than he

112 HISTORY OF 7 HE BRITISH TURF.

did what a good horse was, or how to get the most
out of him in the kindest way.

AustraHa is another of our colonies to which
Englishmen have carried their love of the thorough-
bred horse, and in which the Turf is in a flourishing
condition. The dates at which the great events at
the Antipodes come off sound to us all wrong. The
Australian Derby Day, for instance, is November
6th. This race, however, is not the Blue Riband of
the Turf there: the chief event is the Melbourne Cup,
run for at the Spring Meeting of the Victoria
Racing Club, on November 9th — the Prince of
Wales's birthday, which is duly honoured on the
other side of the world — something like a hundred
thousand persons annually congregating on the
course on that day to witness the race for the Mel-
bourne Cup. There are also meetings of some im-
portance in other parts of the Australian colonies.
Not only have Canada, the United States, and
Australia taken a great number of our thorough-
bred horses, but the Cape has likewise been a large
customer. Racing at the Cape was brought to the
front rank by Lord Charles Somerset; but since his
time has suffered a decline. Our blood stock has
also been for many }'ears very largely exported to
Russia, Germany, France, Italy, and Austria — that
Hungary can breed a race-horse of high class is suffi-
ciently shown by Kisber's performance in the Derby
of 1876. The representative buyers of these coun-

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, &^c. 113

tries choose approved sires and mares for the stud
almost exclusively, rarely purchasing young stock.
They are nowadays well posted in the secrets of pedi-
grees and breeding, and generally manage to get good
value for their money. Their favourite colours, for
either stallions or dams, is a dark brown — if these
can be got. Next to dark brown they prefer a dark
bay, and usually object to purchasing chestnuts.

The French and Hungarians have now both
carried off the Derby, and there is no reason not to
suppose that in due course they may repeat their
triumphs on Epsom Downs. They possess some of
our best strains of blood; they have the assistance
and advice of English stud grooms, and admirably
arranged stud farms for the rearing of their foals.

Ever since Gladiateur — believed by some judges
to have been the best horse since Bay Middleton
— carried the greatest honours and profits of the
British Turf across the Channel, a repetition of the
feats performed by the splendid son of young Mo-
narque and Miss Gladiator has been threatened by
French breeders, and for several years was antici-
pated by British prophets. Jennings's lot at New-
market were said, year after year, to be dangerous ; but
nothing like the hero of the Two Thousand Guineas,
Derby, and Leger of his year has been found.

At that time only Count de Lagrange was thought
dangerous; but every year shows a larger list of
French names among the entries for the Derby. In
1876, M. P. Aumont, M. Moreau Chaslon, M. H.

VOL. II. 8

114 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Delamarre, M. E. Fould, M. Lefevre, M. le Baron
Schickler, and the Count F. de Lagrange, all appear
as nominators of one or more animals for our great
prize. All these gentlemen have been distinguished
on the Turf as owners of horses of great excellence ;
but all the performances of French-bred animals are
eclipsed by those of the mighty Gladiateur. Like
the Flying Dutchman, Surplice, Daniel O'Rourke,
and West Australian — all of them good performers
on the Turf, and the last-mentioned, perhaps, a better
horse than the famous Frenchman — Gladiateur was
a complete failure at the stud. Some of his off-
spring won minor races, sweepstakes, and handicaps;
but at his death he had quite out-lived his reputa-
tion, though he had twice been sold for breeding
purposes for large sums of money. To the "lottery
of breeding" — as great a certainty as the "uncertainty
of the Turf" — possibly must be ascribed the failure of
Gladiateur at the stud, as he had every possible ad-
vantage in being put to the best mares, and every-
thinof in his favour.

On the Turf he was facile princeps, performing
moderately well as a two-year old, but at three win-
ning the Two Thousand Guineas ; the Derby, in which
he beat nothing better than Christmas Carol and
Eltham, two as bad animals as ever were placed
second and third in a Derby at Epsom. Their con-
queror, however, beat them in a canter, and crossing
the Channel, won the Grand Prix de Paris; came
back to England, and secured a couple of races at

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, &-c. 115

Goodwood; journeyed to Doncaster, and carried off
the St. Legerfrom Mr. Graham's good mare Regalia,
winner of the Oaks; made another successful
journey to Longchamps, and returning to New^
market, won the Newmarket Derby; and, carrying
the hopeless weight of Qst i2lbs, ran well forward
in the Cambridgeshire.

At four years old he won the Ascot Cup from
Regalia and Breadalbane, and all who witnessed the
extraordinary rapidity with which his immense stride
enabled him to make up his lost ground in that race
will be of opinion that this performance was more
to his credit as a racer than any of his previous
achievements on the Turf. In West Australian's
time, the Grand Prix de Paris did not exist, and
Lord Lyon was unfortunately not entered for it.
For these reasons, perhaps, Gladiateur stands alone
as the only animal that has yet won the Two
Thousand Guineas, the Derby, the Grand Prix de
Paris, and the Great St. Leger Stakes. He took, of
course, a great reputation with him to the stud ; but
disappointment followed disappointment with his
progeny. He was purchased by Mr. Blenkiron
during the Franco- Prussian War, at the sale of
Count de Lagrange's stud; and on the death of the
Middle Park breeder he was sold to Captain Ray
and a friend for a little more than half the sum
which Blair Athol, who was a year his senior, fetched
under the hammer of Mr. Tattersall on the same
afternoon. But although the grand "pale-faced"

8—2

ii6 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

chestnut fetched upwards of five thousand guineas —
twelve thousand five hundred guineas — more than
the only winner of the four great three-year old
events, experience has proved that he was by far
the cheaper purchase of the two.

To judgment and perseverance, quite as much as
to good luck. Count de Lagrange owed the posses-
sion of Gladiateur; and we cannot longer shut our
eyes to the fact that, with a liberal expenditure of
money in the purchase of our best sires and mares,
and in providing every necessary appliance for the
breeding of young stock, our neighbours across the
Channel are likely in the future to become even more
formidable rivals than they have been in the past.
In addition to this great and spirited competition for
the production of first-class racers, the French Go-
vernment have for years employed agents in this
country to buy up sires and mares of a class suitable
to produce good cavalry horses. Russia, Germany,
and Austria have resorted for years past to similar
tactics; and by this means the supply of our sound
thoroughbred horses, suitable for service in country
districts, has been enormously reduced. It is the
opinion of Sir Charles Legard, of Mr. Henry Chap-
lin, and Mr. Edmund Tattersall, three able judges
of matters relating to horseflesh — not only in connec-
tion with the Turf, but in the rural districts — that
the time has come for the British Government to fol-
low in the footsteps of Continental Governments,
and provide a National Stud. And in this opinion

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, &-c. 117

everybody who has calmly considered the question,
will concur. Farmers may be left alone to bring the
breeds of cattle and sheep to the greatest degree of
utility and perfection, because the trade in well-bred
oxen and sheep is more profitable to them at present,
and seems likely to remain so, than any other
branch of agricultural economy. Breeding horses,
however, as every farmer — except here and there,
perhaps, a Yorkshire or Leicestershire enthusiast
who has been exceptionally lucky — will affirm, does
not pay; and for this reason Government should
take the question up, and found a stud worthy of the
historic excellence of the English breeds of horses of
all sorts, and of the vast importance of a plentiful
supply of good sound animals to the nation in time,
not only of war, but of peace. Mr. Chaplin having
recently made a motion on this subject in the House
of Commons, in commenting upon it at a meeting
of the Scarborough Conservative Association, Sir
Charles Legard said "that there was the greatest
possible interest felt throughout the country in
the question of the. supply of horses, and in the
motion brought forward by his friend, Mr. Chaplin,
for preventing their number from diminishing and
their quality from deteriorating. The failure of the
motion was to be regretted, as the matter was one
of the first national importance. In former years
England had enjoyed a proud pre-eminence for her
breed of horses; but we could not ignore the fact
that, during the last twenty-five years, there had been

m8 history of the BRITISH TURF.

a great emulation among foreign nations in this di-
rection, and there had been displayed a determina-
tion to obtain at any cost the best blood of our
country. He did not wish to deprecate this honour-
able competition, but he wished to enforce his
opinion that Mr. Chaplin's motion was one worthy
of support, and that Government — whether Liberal
or Conservative — should take steps for preventing
the country from being drained of its best equine
blood. He contrasted with the conduct of our Go-
vernment that of Prussia, France, and Austria,
who had agents in this country buying up all
the thoroughbred horses. Previous to the late war,
Prussia had had agents in three kingdoms buy-
ing up all the short-legged, sound hackney mares,
and these they had crossed with pure-bred stallions,
producing the fine class of horses ridden by the
Uhlans. The effect of this precautionary action on
the part of the Prussian Government had been
plainly manifest in the late war. The supply of our
thoroughbred horses was far inferior to the demand,
and he urged the necessity of Government taking
up the question, and providing national studs."

Lord Rosebery has also lately brought the matter
before the House of Lords in a very able speech, in
which he strongly urged upon the Government the
necessity of taking early and energetic action in re-
lation to the supply of horses; and Mr. Edmund
Tattersall has thus strongly expressed his views on
the importance of forming a national stud : —

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, b^c. 119

" Having, many years since, brought the sub-
ject before the London Farmers' Club, I need not
repeat my opinion that England ought to have a
national stud for breeding stallions to be distributed
over the country. Austria has about 4,000 stallions,
Germany about 2,000, and Russia, I am told, even
more, belonging to the Governments. What has
answered so well there, surely would answer here ;
and, in the richest country in the world, to talk of
the expense is simply absurd.

" I am not going over the arguments again which
were so well put before the House of Lords by Lord
Rosebery, and borne out by the evidence before the
committee. But there is one point I wish to put be-
fore the public ; and I am sorry, in this instance, to
say that Mr. Chaplin himself will point the moral of
my tale, although, perhaps, he would not like to do
so himself. It has been justly said, ' Mr. Chaplin is
a master of fox-hounds, a spirited agriculturist, an en-
lightened country gentleman. The county of Lincoln
— in which he lives — and the adjoining county of
York are the chief sources from which our horse
supply is drawn.'

"Now, it happens that Mr. Chaplin was the owner
of Dalesman, one of the most powerful thoroughbred
stallions in England, and he had also bought or hired
Knowsley, a magnificent horse of the highest breed-
ing and power for the use of the country. These two
horses represented in value perhaps from ^7,000 to
;^8,ooo. In one week they both died ! Now, how

I20 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

ever rich a country gentleman may be, or however
pubHc-spirited, very few can afford, or would be will-
ing to supply, such a loss. But if these horses had
been the property of the Government, their loss
would have been an item of no great amount, as
such fatalities do not often occur, and the average of
loss over a given number of years would be small.

"The same thing happened to me, on a smaller
scale, as Plaudit dropped down dead soon after I
bought him, and he would now have been cheap at

;^2,000.

" I only quote Mr. Chaplin's case as an additional
reason for having, at all events, national studs of
stallions ; and I hope that Mr. Chaplin will bring the
question before the members of her Majesty's Go-
vernment, who have already done the horse-breeders
of England a great favour in remitting the tax on
horses, which remission is a boon to all classes."

The importance to all classes in this country of
securing a supply of useful animals seems hardly to
require argument; while the uncertainty of life in
costly sires, the " lottery of breeding," and the certain
unprofitableness of breeding horses of any sort, except
under very exceptional circumstances, as compared
with the breeding of cattle and sheep, seem sufficiently
to establish the necessity for. action on the part of
the Government, private breeders being hardly likely
to do more in the future than they are doing now.

Upon the uncertainty of life in connection with
thoroughbred stock, mentioned by Mr. Tattersall, it

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, &-c.

may be remarked that as a rule the most famous
sires of the British Turf have been lone-lived. The
Godolphin Arabian, Flying Childers, Eclipse, and
Highflyer, all lived to a green old age. The Go-
dolphin Arabian lived to be twenty-nine; Flying
Childers died at the age of twenty-seven. Eclipse
and Highflyer at twenty-six. In the present cen-
tury, Touchstone, Bay Middleton, Orlando, Venison,
Slave, Gladiator, the Flying Dutchman, Voltigeur,
Newminster, and Stockwell all lived to a good old
age. But the early deaths of Beadsman, Kingston,
Lord Clifden, and many less famous sires, well justi-
fied the term applied to them by the late Sir Tatton
Sykes — "casualty stock." To take, for example,
the case of Lord Clifden. He won the St. Leeer
Stakes; and subsequently, in 1870, Mr. Gee, an
enterprising breeder of thoroughbred stock, bought
him for four thousand guineas. He died at Dew-
hurst Lodge at the age of fifteen ; while Touchstone,
his grandsire, was vigorous till he was thirty years
of age. If Lord Clifden had lived during another
fifteen years, and retained his reputation, he would
have been the means of putting a large sum of
money into Mr. Gee's pocket. As it was, his compa-
ratively early death was a loss to Mr. Gee and to the
stud, and serves well to illustrate the lottery attend-
ant on all dealings in Sir Tatton's "casualty stock."

The twelve thousand five hundred euinea Blair
Athol is just in his prime at the age at which Lord
Clifden died, and the Stud Company, which owns him,

122 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

may reasonably hope to have the benefit and profit
of his services for another ten years to come ; but he
has more than once been a cause of great anxiety to
those who have charge of him, and who treat Mr.
Tattersall's "finest horse in the world" to the four or
five hours of slow exercise a day which the late Mr.
Blenkiron considered the only sure way of keeping
a stallion in good health.

That the Governments of leading Continental
countries are pursuing a wise policy in sparing no
expense to secure a good breed of horses in large
numbers there cannot be the slightest doubt; and
sooner or later — and it is to be hoped sooner rather
than later — the English Government must follow
their example. France began many years ago by
importing Diamond, the great opponent of Hamble-
tonian in many of his matches; Lottery, Tarrare,
Nunnykirk, Gladiator, Foig-a-Ballagh, Weathergage,
Saucebox, Lanercost, and many other sires have
followed Diamond from the shores of perfidious
Albion to the haras, governmental and private,
of fair France. The Americans, Austrians, Rus-
sians, Prussians, our fellow-subjects in Canada and
Australia — besides the French — have drawn largely
for upwards of a century past upon our supplies, and
have all of them taken . some of our best horses.
The descendants of our blood stock are to be found
in all these countries in great numbers ; and wher-
ever the English racehorse has gone, a taste for
horse-racing has gone with him. Even Italy has

RACING IN THE UNITED STATES, &-c. 123

drawn largely upon us for horses, chiefly for cavalry
purposes, and some attempts have been made by the
young Italian nobles, aided by English committees,
to get up races in the English style. An Italian
Derby, however, is a matter for the far-off future, as
far as a judgment can be formed from present ap-
pearances. Apropos of Italian racing, as the race of
the darberi on the Corso, at Rome, is now a matter
of history, a few words may be said here about
these riderless races, which are of great antiquity.

To the credit of the Italian press and of the upper
classes, be it said, these barbarous sports have been
discontinued since 1872, when they were last run.

These races of horses without riders were run at
Pisa, Lucca, and Florence, as well as at Rome, where
the contests were decided in the narrow and danger-
ous Corso. The animals competing wore feathers
and ribbons on their heads, and had a number in
white on their flanks, by which they were distin-
guished for betting purposes. The sport was cruel,
and, owing to the narrowness of the street in which
the horses ran, was attended with considerable
danger to human life ; for these races formed one of
the most popular features of the old Roman Carnival
with the lower classes, who crowded the Corso in
vast numbers. At the foot of the Obelisk — origin-
ally brought by the Emperor Augustus from the
Temple of the Sun, in Heliopolis, and presented to
the Circus Maximus — tribunes were erected for the
accommodation of the officials of the municipality

124 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

and the princely families. The horses were trained
animals — of late years, often, some of the starters
were weedy English thoroughbreds — used to such
races ; and for a week or ten days before the races
they were walked a few hours daily over the Corso,
from the starting-post to the goal. They were
urged to put forth their powers by prickers fastened
to a surcingle: the faster the horse galloped, the
faster the prickers at his flanks worked. There
were commonly four of these prickers, two on each
side, with four needles in each.

The start was effected in this way : a rope was
drawn across the street, and held at either end by
a soldier : the horses were drawn up to this rope,
which at a given signal was dropped, and the horses
were slipped like greyhounds. Familiar with the
process, they usually showed considerable anxiety to
start, and careered madly over the pebbles of the
narrow street, until they were stopped by running
against a tarpaulin or canvas screen drawn across
the street at the end of the course. By this means
they were readily and suddenly stopped, and at once
caught by grooms and soldiers who were there for
that purpose. The spectacle of half a dozen or
eight jaded "screws" goaded by the prickers into
the semblance of a race, and further urged on by the
shouts and missiles of the crowd, was anything but
edifying ; and it is creditable to the authorities that
this feature of the Carnival has now for several years
been discontinued.

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 125

CHAPTER VII.

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE HIS ORIGIN.

IT is by no means a settled point among men of
science where the ancient Briton first came from:
whether he emigrated from Gaul, crossing the Chan-
nel in a frail and barbarous boat; whether he came
from Ireland or the Low Countries; or whether he
was "developed" on our island itself.

With these theories we need not busy ourselves.
If our remote ancestor emigrated from the main-
land to found the greatest empire the world has ever
seen; or if he began, in farther distant ages, his life
as an indeterminate something — half animal, half
vegetable — on some rocky coast of England or Scot-
land, it seems probable that his horse shared the for-
tunes of the now nobler animal. If he crossed over
from France, he probably brought his horse with him.
If he was " developed " in the course of ages, it is at
least not unlikely that his horse underwent at the
same time similar processes of development, in order,
by the wise and kindly provision of nature, to be on
the spot, ready bitted and groomed, when the newly
perfected lord of creation should be ready to jump on
his back.

126 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

With our earliest progenitors, doubtless, the horse
stood just after the wife and just before the dog in
the order of regard. The British horse was un-
doubtedly small of stature and hardy of constitution,
able to pick up a living off the scant herbage where
a larger and finer animal would have starved; ser-
viceable in carrying weights disproportionate to his
size, sure-footed, and, it is reasonable to suppose,
slow.

When Caesar landed in Britain, he found a large
force of cavalry existing in the island. This fact
seems hardly reconcilable with the statement of the
Venerable Bede that the English first used saddle-
horses in A.D. 631. The statements of the military
and ecclesiastic historians may, however, easily be
made to tally. The horse may have been used by
the barbarian hordes that gave the Roman con-
queror so much trouble only as an implement of
warfare, enabling the heavy cavalry of that time to
move rapidly from one strategic position to another;
while the employment of the animal as a pleasant
vehicle of peaceful locomotion may have first oc-
curred to the minds of the Eno^lish of the seventh
century. The number of horses Caesar found in
Britain will also serve to establish the fact that the
horse had been known to the natives of the island
for a long period of time, as. it is impossible they
could have imported horses in large numbers ; and
under all the circumstances of climate, and means of
feeding, any large increase in numbers, in the ordi-

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 12;

nary way of propagation, would be a work occupy-
ing a long period of time. It is to be presumed that
between the time of Caesar's invasion of Britain, B.C.
53, and the time when Bede wrote, the breed of
horses in Great Britain — or at all events, in southern
portions of it — had greatly improved ; and this, not
by crossings with imported blood, but from the fact
that with the advance from pure savagery to some-
thing approaching civilization on the part of the
master, the horse would be better fed and better
cared for, and more warmly housed ; and in this way,
though the breeding was always in and in, the size
of the animal would increase and his appearance im-
prove. The Romans would introduce into Britain
their knowledge of farriery ; and from the establish-
ment of the Roman empire in Britain, it is probable
the condition and breed of the horse improved from
century to century, until, in Bede's time — the early
part of the eighth century — he would be an animal
well worthy of the saddle the learned priestly his-
torian says was then for the first time placed on his
back.

As civilization advanced, the British breed of
horses improved, till, in the reign of James I,, we
had in England a native breed of horses, stout but
slow, of sterling merit, and of great powers of en-
durance— great " goodness," as capacity for staying
was then termed; and these animals are the stock
from which the British racehorse of more modern
times has been derived, and from judicious crossings

128 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

of which with imported sires the finest breed of
horses the world ever saw has been produced.

The blood stock bred from the Markham and
other Arabians, barbs, and Persian horses and Eng-
lish mares, in the reign of James the First and the
reigns of succeeding monarchs, was, it is stated,
by no means the first appearance of the running
horse in England. In the ninth century it is said
that Hugh, the founder of the royal French house
of Capet, sent over some running horses as a pre-
sent to the King Athelstan. Edward III., Henry
VII., Henry VIII., all kept running hgrses; but it is
by no means clear that they were used for racing
purposes, or that running horse, in those days, meant
any more than a horse that could gallop very fast on
occasion. The last-named monarch was a o^reat ad-
mirer of horsemanship, and himself an accomplished
rider — Wolsey first coming prominently before his
notice, and securing his royal favour, through having
ridden very rapidly on a journey when he was carry-
ing a messagfe to the Kino^.

In the reign of the self-willed Tudor prince, the
native breed of horses had developed in various
species serviceable for a variety of uses. There
were gentill horses or chargers, palfreys, hobys,
clothseks (used for carrying the cloak-bag), chariot
horses, trotting horses, curtals, gambaldynge horses,
and amblynge horses. Though there may have
been little difference between some of these animals,
there was enough to distinguish them by.

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 129

In the reign of Elizabeth, 15S8, when the great
Spanish" Armada was off our coasts, and, happily,
Avrecked, some Spanish horses were washed ashore
in the North, and ultimately conveyed to Newmarket ;
and this is the first important admixture of foreign
blood with that of the native breed — always as-
suming that it is the fact that these Spanish horses
reached Newmarket or other towns of England, for
on this point there is no very strong evidence.

In 1602, in the reio^n of lames L, the breeding of
thoroughbred horses for racing purposes, and the
improvement of tlie native breed generally, received
a great impetus from the penchant of the monarch
for sport. In his reign the first imported Arabian
was brought into England. This was the Markham
Arabian, so called after Mr. Markham. It has
always been said that James gave ^500 for this
stallion; and the error, running from one writer to
another, and appearing last in a work entitled "A
Book of the Horse," is worthy of correction. In
the records of the Exchequer of that reign, it is set
down that the King gave only a little more than
;!^i50 for the Markham Arabian; and it appears
from these records that James never spent more than
.^400 in all, in any one year of his reign, for the pur-
chase of horses. As to the Markham Arabian, there
is this particular entry: —

''Item. — December 2C, 161 6, paid to Master Mark-
ham for the Arabian horse, for his Majesty's own use,

VOL. II. 9

130 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

'^Iteni. — The same day, paid to a man that brought
the same Arabian horse and kept him, ^i i."

This horse is the equine father of the Turf ; but,
as he failed to race well, his performances threw dis-
credit upon Oriental blood in England, and tended to
check the importation of animals of Eastern origin for
some considerable time ; in fact, until the reign ot
Anne, when the Darley Arabian was brought to this
country, and laid the foundation of our present racing
stock. The horses imported from the East of most
note are: —

The Markham Arabian (James I.).

Place's White Turk (Charles II.).

Darley Arabian (Anne).

Brown Arabian.

Honey wood's Arabian.

Sir Thomas Oglethorpe's Arabian.

The Cullen Arabian Mare.

The Newcombe Bay Mountain Arabian.

The Damascus Arabian.

The Lonsdale Bay Arabian.

The Coombe Arabian.

Mr. Bell's Grey Arabian.

The Godolphin Arabian, Barb.

The Curwen Bay Barb.

Mr. Wilkinson's Barb Mare.

Mr. Compton's Barb.

The Thoulouse Barb.

The Marshall or Selaby Turk.

The Byerley Turk.

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 131

The Acaster Turk.

The Belgrade Turk. . .

Duke of Berwick's Turk.

Sir WiHiam Strickland's Turk.

The Helmsley Turk.

Dodsworth (foaled in England).
This list comprises the most celebrated animals
brouo^ht into EnMand from the East durinof a number
of years prior to 1770. The influx of Eastern blood
produced by judicious crossings with our native
stock was of the greatest possible benefit to our
horses, and resulted in the production of a perfect
horse. Of the Oriental sires in this list, the most
famous is the Godolphin Arabian — improperly so-
called, for he was a Barb. He was of a brown bay
colour, stood fifteen hands high, and, it is supposed, was
foaled about the year 1 724. Most of our best horses
trace their pedigree back to the Godolphin Barb.
He was bought out of a cart in Paris, brought to
England by Mr. Coke, given by him to Mr. Williams,
the proprietor of the St. James's Coffee House, after-
wards becoming the property of the Earl of Godol-
phin. His first foal was Lath, a horse pronounced
by the judges of that day to be nearly as good an ani-
mal as Flying Childers. Lath was out of Roxana,
and was foaled in 1732. The Godolphin Barb after-
wards got a great number of excellent foals, which
proved to be the best racers of their day, and effect-
ually established the fame of their distinguished sire.
The Godolphin Arabian died in 1753, and is be-

9—2

132 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

lieved to have been twenty-eight years of age at the
time of his death.

Though always called an Arabian, he is generally
admitted to have been a Barb, as he had all the
characteristics which distinguish the Barbary horse.
His portrait is conclusive evidence that he was not
a Turk, and, situated as Paris then was, it was the
likeliest place to get a thorough Barb, as the French
had prosperous settlements in Africa, especially their
factory on the Senegal. One of their agents there
thus describes the horses of the Moors he saw
brought down to the great annual gum fair: — "The
Moors of the Zahara have a race of horses somewhat
similar to the Arabs, and, like them, they scrupu-
lously keep their alliances and genealogy. In these
cases they devote themselves to rearing and perpe-
tuatine fine races of this animal." This orentleman,
M. Golberry, adds that he found from the Moors
that they would be willing to sell to the French
some of the finest horses of this race for about fifty
pieces of blue cloth a head. The cloth was called
Guinea, and was worth about twenty shillings the
piece. This would make the price the Moors put
upon their best animals, in the first quarter of the
eighteenth century, about fifty pounds each. "These
horses," M. Golberry says, "have not so elegant a
head and rump as those of Arabia ; but the legs,
chest, and body have much more powerful propor-
tions."

This description exactly tallies with the portraits

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE^HlS ORIGIN. 133

of the Darley and Godolphin Arabians, both of
whom possessed greater length, room, power, and
leverage, and covered more ground as they stood,
than the Arab horse.

The Cullen Arabian was brought from Constanti-
nople by Mr. Mosco, who sold him to Lord Cullen.
Mr. Mosco obtained him from the British Consul at
Constantinople, to whom he was presented by the
Emperor of Morocco. He had been bred in that
country at the Royal stud, his pedigree was long, and
the purity of his blood considered undoubted. He
was the sire of Carnullus, Dragon's dam, and other
famous animals.

The Damascus Arabian : This sire stood at New-
market in 1766, and his fee was one guinea. He
got a superior animal in Signal, who first started In
that year, and ran so well that Damascus's price
was raised to five guineas in 1767, and afterwards
to ten cruineas a mare. Advertisements to this effect
in the newspapers describe him as of the purest Ara-
bian blood. He was a fortunate horse at the stud.

St. Victor's Barb was the sire of the celebrated
Bald Galloway. The Bald Galloway was the sire
of Lord Portmore's Snake, and of Cartouche, Lath,
and Cade.

The Strickland Turk was the property of Sir
William Strickland, Bart., and was at the stud from
1720 to 1730, getting some good racers among his
progeny.

Wilson's chestnut Arabian : This sire, the pro-

134 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

perty of Mr. Charles Wilson, was originally brought
into England by the Earl of Kinnoul, Ambassador
at Constantinople, who gave what was thought a
high price there for him, namely, upwards of ;!^200.
He was considered a very highly bred horse by the
Turks, who sold him to Lord Kinnoul. His stock
were none of them first-rate performers, except Prim-
rose and Negro, both of whom could race.

The Newcombe Bay Mountain Arabian was bought
directly from the Sheik of St. John Dirackri by Cap-
tain Burfoot, who sold him to Mr. Newcombe. The
English breeders and cognoscenti of the day were
unanimous in their opinion that the Newcombe Ara-
bian was one of the finest Eastern horses that had
been brought to England, having great bone and sub-
stance, and nearly resembling the Godolphin Arabian
in most respects. His stock began to race in 1768.

The Coombe Arabian, who is also described in
the stud-book pedigrees as Mr. Piggot's grey Ara-
bian, and likewise as Lord Bolingbroke's, was brought
direct from the East. He covered at Chesterton Hall,
near Stilton, in Huntingdonshire, in 1770.

Tarran's Black Barb covered in 1720. Lord Ox-
ford's Arabian in 1 730.

Bethell's Arabian, 1735, was the sire of Selima
granddam, of King Herod. This horse got an im-
mense number of racers, and is almost unrivalled
in his success at the stud.

The Northumberland Arabian, afterwards the pro-
perty of Mr. Leedes, and hence called the Leedes

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 135

Arabian, was foaled in 1755. The Duke of North-
umberland, anxious to contribute to the improve-
ment of the breed of horses in this country, sent
Mr. Phillips, a noted judge of horses, to the East,
to procure, regardless of price, the best Arabian he
could find. Mr. Phillips accordingly purchased this
sire of the King of Sennah in Arabia Felix, for a large
sum of money. He returned to England with the
horse, who stood as a private stallion in the Duke's stud
till 1 766, when he became the property of Mr. Leedes,
and served mares at from three to five guineas.
Mr. Phillips at the same time brought into England
the Golden Arabian, sire of Aurora and others.

Bell's Arabian, brought to England in 1765, stood
near Barnet, Middlesex, and covered at ten guineas.
He was obtained from Beny Suckr, described as the
" Principal Chief of all the Arab Tribes," who gave
his assurance and testimonial that the horse was of
the breed most valued by the Arabs, and of the purest
Eastern blood. His stock were small, but several
amonof them raced.

The Saanah Arabian, history unknown, 1770, got
some orood winners.

Hutton's bay Barb, grandsire of Marske, and great-
grandsire of Eclipse, 1732. His most celebrated
progeny were Black Chance and Black Legs.

Sir Michael Newton had two Arabians, a bay and
a grey, 1735, which got some winners.

Mr. Panton's Arabian, 1 760, was the sire of some
good animals.

136 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Admiral Keppel, 1749, imported a fine Barb mare,
which he presented to the Duke of Cumberland.
Many other noblemen and gentlemen likewise be-
came possessed of mares of pure Eastern blood,
which they often mated with the stallions they had
imported. The breeding from the Oriental stock was
necessarily very much in and in, contrary to the prac-
tice of the present day ; and — contrary, likewise, to
what might have been expected from such a course —
the results were very good, some of our best early
racers having been produced in this fashion of breed-
ing from near relatives on both sides.

The greatest names in the early Stud Books are
undoubtedly Herod, Match'em, and Eclipse. The
pedigree of these horses show how largely they par-
took of the imported Eastern blood.

The Byerly Turk

{. out of a Spanker mare. Spanker
(got by D'Arcy's Yellow Turk.

got

Jjgg

got

Partner . . . out of a Curwen bay Barb mare.

got I' out of a Fox mare (Meliora), Old

j Fox by Clumsy, a son of Wilkes's

Tartar ... -{ Old Hautboy by the white D'Arcy,

or Sedbury Turk out of a Royal

I mare.

got r out of a blaze mare (Cypron) by

... Childers Darley Arabian. Selima,

Herod ...-{,, . ' .

the dam 01 Cypron, was got by

Bethells Arabian.

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 137

got

In the instances of Match'em and Eclipse, the
Eastern blood is quite as prevalent. The pedigree
of the latter great race-horse is given elsewhere;
that of the former is as follows : —
The Godolphin Arabian

got [out of a Bald Galloway

mare (Roxana). The Bald
Galloway, by St. Victor's
Cade ... -, Barb, his dam by Fen-
wick's Why-not (son of
Barb), his granddam a
Royal mare.

out of a Partner mare.

Partner by Jigg, son of

Match'em ... ^ the Byerly Turk, his dam

by the Curwen grey

I Barb.

The descendants of these three great animals, of

course, all of them trace their origin in the male line

from the Byerly Turk, the Darley Arabian, and the

Godolphin Arabian.

The prices at which the imported Eastern horses
covered (bred niares) varied very much; in fact, from
" nothing at all," as was the case with the Damascus
Arabian in his first season in England, to the twenty
oruineas and five shillings at which Oroonoko covered
in 1752. A guinea and a shilling, a guinea and a
half and a shilling, two guineas and four and six-
pence, were common prices. Five and ten guineas
were by no means rare fees; but anything over ten

138 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

guineas was very uncommon. In an advertisement
of the fact that the Damascus Arabian would cover
mares, it is stated that he was bred by a chief of
Arabia noted for his breed of horses, and, when a
foal, presented to the Bashaw of Damascus, and
given by him to a rich Turk merchant of Aleppo,
with whom the Bashaw had great dealings in money
affairs, of whom he was there bought, at two years
old, by an English gentleman, in whose possession
he continued till his arrival in England. This ac-
count may be seen, certified on stamped paper, in
Smeaton.

"N.B. — For the encouragement of breeders, mares
that shall be properly certified to have won a i2st.
King's Plate, or to have had a colt or filly that
ever won a i2st. King's Plate, will, for this season,
be covered for nothing."

Such an advertisement would not, nowadays, prove
any "encouragement to breeders," or any induce-
ment to them to send their approved mares to
an imported sire. But there was in those days
the general opinion among breeders that the way
to obtain valuable produce was to send their mares
to horses of pure Oriental blood. They were very
particular in the matter of genuine history and pedi-
gree, many of the certificates and testimonials being
countersigned by persons of high official position.
Doubts as to the purity of the blood of such sires
were set at rest by the owners of newly imported
horses, as in the following invitation to send mares at

THE BRITISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 139

ten guineas a-piece to Gibson's Grey Arabian: —
"This horse, which is near fifteen hands high,
extremely beautiful, remarkably strong, and in per-
fect health, was purchased at Yedmine, in Arabia
Felix, of the Immaum or King of Sinna, for £apq
sterling."

The way in which these imported Arabians were
brought to England is shown as follows : — Mr. Gib-
son's horse "was brought from Yedmine, down the
Red Sea to Bombay, and from thence to England
on board the Earl Elgin, Indiaman, as upon inquiry
will most undoubtedly appear ; so that, considering
how very few (if any) horses that are called Arabians
have such authentic proof of their being really so,
the distance of the place from whence he came —
famous in Arabia for the best breed of horses — and
the length and hazard of the voyage, it may be pre-
sumed no man could undertake to bring a horse of
equal merit from thence for less than ^2,000."

The mayor of the town could be called upon to sign
the account of the antecedents of an imported sire,
stamping with his authority the genuineness of the
breed. The arts of puffing by advertisement, how-
ever, were looked upon as necessary, as, for instance: —
" There is flowing in Ramper's veins a more extra-
ordinary collection of foreign blood than most stal-
lions can boast of." But Ramper, with all his illus-
trious Eastern pedigree, served at a guinea and a
shilling.

Mr. Bell, who was anxious to procure mares for

140 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

his grey Arabian at ten guineas, announced that he
had been purchased, at the distance of thirty days'
journey from St. John D'Acre, the nearest seaport
to the Desert of Arabia, by an Armenian named
Phihp John, whom he sent out on his mission with
an unhmited commission to buy " the most genuine-
bred horse he could find in all Arabia." Philip John is
described as being perfectly acquainted with the lan-
guage and manners of the Arabs, and of great skill
as a judge of horses. He found the great Sheik
Beny Suckr, and opened the campaign by making
Beny a few useful presents, and finally purchased the
grey Arabian out of the Sheik's own stud. Armed
v/ith an " undoubted assurance and testimonial " of
the horse being of the true Jelfy blood — the most
valued breed in all Arabia — and in every respect a
true and perfect Arab horse, and escorted by ten
Arabs during a journey of thirty days through the
desert to St. John D'Acre, Philip John starts with
his prize. He has still the long overland journey to
Aleppo before he takes ship to England, which in
due time he reaches. Such a recital exhibits the
great difficulty attendant upon procuring Arabian
sires for the use of our stud, the risks run and
trouble taken by Englishmen to secure the best
Oriental blood. It is no wonder that Mr. Bell
" rtatters himself that his having procured this in-
estimable horse, at so very great an expense of time
and money, for the service of the noblemen and
gentlemen breeders, will entitle him to their favour."

THE BRITISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 141

The advertisements, however, were not always so
true in fact as that put forth in 1765 by Mr. Bell;
nor was the animal almost invariably described, not
only as ''allowed by all who have seen him to be the
finest Arabian in this kingdom," but as "the finest
high-bred horse in Arabia Felix," on all occasions
entitled to such a description. A learned writer on
pedigree remarks of one of them, referring to an
Arabian, "nothing can be more absurd than this
advertisement," adding that it serves to show how
little accounts of pedigree are deserving of credit —
the illustrious animal beinof described as havine
been bred in the mountains, by a King who gave
him to a Governor of Mocha at two years old, and
the next year selected him to wear a medal as the
best horse in Arabia.

Good wine, it has long been said, needs no bush.
The truth of this is further shown by the following
notice of the greatest horse of his day: —

"At ten guineas and five shillings, King Herod,
at Nether Hall, near Bur)^ Suffolk. His pedigree
and performances are so well known, it is needless
to publish them."

Ten oruineas and five shillinos for the eroom con-
tinued for a long time to be the price at which the
best and most successful sires of the day rendered
their services at the stud.

Place's White Turk — so called after Mr. Place,
Master of the Horse to Oliver Cromwell — the Helms-
ley Turk, Fairfax's Morocco, and Barb, were the first

142 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

sires to ameliorate and fine the blood of the native
stock. The first really great Eastern horse, how-
ever, that was brought into England was the Darley
Arabian. The Duke of Newcastle, a great sports-
man, and the author of a work on horsemanship, had
written down the Markham Arabian on account of
his small size; and the effect of his Grace's opinion
had been to cause the current of opinion among
breeders to set directly against the infusion of
Eastern blood amonof our own stock. This feeline,
however, had subsided by the time the Darley
Arabian came to do such useful work, and prepared
the way for the Godolphin Arabian, although this
horse was at first thought so little of that he was
employed as a teazer. During twenty years, how-
ever, he served at the stud, and did invaluable ser-
vice to the blood stock of the country. He got Fly-
ing Childers, reputed to be the fastest horse known.
It was not until about the year 1764, however, that
the Stud Book began to make its appearance, con-
sequently the records of the produce of mares before
1760 are very imperfect, and, where they exist,
generally untrustworthy. This is explained, says
a contemporary writer, by the fact that at the time
William, Duke of Cumberland, came to Newmarket,
about 1753, the Turf was at a very low ebb, there
being at the time very few breeders of race-horses ;
indeed, there were but two or three in the North of
England. A few noblemen and gentlemen kept
race-horses, it is true ; but they appear to have main-

THE BRITISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 143

tained this portion of their estabHshment rather from
a love of state, or from the fact that their fathers
kept running horses before them, than from any love
of the sport.

The year 1753, the date of the Duke of Cum-
berland's going to Newmarket, was also the date at
which the greatest sire the turf had then seen died,
full of years, at Hogmagog, in Cambridgeshire.
Nothing is known of the pedigree of the Godolphin
Arabian, none having been given with him when he
was brought to this country. He was a horse of
very good temper, and his only weakness appears to
have been his amiable liking for a cat, a portrait of
which is seen in the pictures of the great Barb. His
most celebrated progeny, perhaps, were Lath, Cade,
Regulus, Blank, Babraham (called after the name of
a village near the Duke of Leeds' estate, at Hogma-
gog, or Gogmagog, in Cambridgeshire), and Bajazet.

Of the celebrated stallions mentioned in the list,
the Helmsley Turk belonged to the Duke of
Buckingham. Place's White Turk belonged to a
gentleman of that name in the time of the Common-
wealth and the reign of Charles the Second. This
horse was the sire of Wormwood, Commoner, and
the great-granddams of Windham, Grey Ramsden,
and Cartouch, whose names appear with credit in
the Stud Book.

Royal mares were so called from Charles the
Second having sent his Master of the Horse to the
Continent with instructions to purchase some foreign

144 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

mares for breeding. These mares (and their pro-
duce very often) have been denominated Royal
mares by the drawers of equine pedigrees.

The Duke of Berwick brought a Turkish horse
from the siege of Buda, in the reign of James the
Second. This animal was the sire of Snake, Brisk
and Piping Peg, belonging to the Duke of Kings-
ton, and Coneyskins, the dam of Hip.

The Byerly Turk was originally a charger ridden
by Captain Byerly in King William the Third's Irish
campaign, 1689. This horse did not cover many
mares of high breeding; but when he did, he was
successful in getting good stock. The Duke of
Kingston's Sprite, reputed nearly as good as the
famous Leedes, the Duke of Rutland's Black Hearty
and Archer, the Duke of Devonshire's Basto, and
Lord Bristol's Grasshopper, were among his progeny.

The D'Arcy White Turk was the sire of Old
Hautboy, Grey Royal, Cannon, and other animals
known to fame.

The D'Arcy Yellow Turk was the sire of Spanker,
Brimmer, and other good performers. The Selaby
Turk — otherwise the Marshall Turk — belonged to
a brother of Mr. Marshall, who .was Stud Master
to three successive Sovereigns — William, Anne, and
George the First. This horse was luckiest in his filly
foals, getting, among others, the dams of Windham
and Derby Ticklepitcher, and the great granddam
of the Bolton Sloven and Fearnought.

The Thoulouse Barb, afterwards the property of

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 145

Sir J, Parsons, was the sire of Bagpiper, Blacklegs,
Motley, and the dam of Cinnamon.

The 'Darley Arabian was acquired by the brother
of a Yorkshire squire of that name. He was a
merchant in the Levant, and, like a true son of the
premier county, he carried his tastes for sport into
the East with him. Being a member of a hunting
club, he was able to form such connections with dis-
tinguished sporting men, among the native princes
and chiefs, as to enable him to get one of their best
horses. Mr. Darley consigned his Arabian, as soon
as he became possessed of him, to England; and
here he soon distinguished himself at the stud.
He covered very few mares except those of his
owner; but he got Childers and Almanzor; brother
to Almanzor, who met with an accident, and never
ran in public; Cupid, Brisk, Daedalus, Dart, Skip-
jack, Uranica, Aleppo, and Lord Lonsdale's and
Lord Tracy's mares.

Curwen's Bay Barb, Muly Ishmael, King of Mo-
rocco, presented to Louis the Fourteenth. Mr.
Curwen procured this horse and the Thoulouse Barb
from Count Byrom and Count Thoulouse, natural
sons of Louis, one of whom was the Master of the
Horse to his father, and the other an admiral in the
French Navy.

The Curwen Bay Barb did not cover many mares
except those of his owner and Mr. Pelham ; but he
got Mixbury and Tantivy (Galloways), Brocklesby,
Little George, Yellow Jack, Bay Jack, Monkey,

VOL. II. 10

146 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Dangerfield, Hip, Peacock, Flatface, and many other
good animals, his reputation at the stud coming next
after that of the Godolphin and Darley Arabians as
a sire of good animals whose progeny have been
famous in racecourse story.

Greyhound was foaled in England; he was got
by King William the Third's white Barb Chillaby,
out of^Slugey, a natural Barb mare. Greyhound
was sire of the Duke of Wharton's Othello, Osmyn,
Rake, Goliah, Favourite, Desdemona, and other
good stock.

Dodsworth, also foaled In England, was a natural
Barb. His dam, a Barb mare, was imported in the
time of Charles the Second, and was one of the
animals called Royal Mares. At twenty years old
she fetched forty guineas, when in foal with Vixen by
the Helmsley Turk. This was after the death of
Charles, and the master of his stud bought her.
Dodsworth, her most famous offspring, was the sire
of many good animals.

The Honywood Arabian, otherwise called Sir J.
Williams's Turk, was the sire of that celebrated pair,
the two True Blues, both the property of Mr. Hony-
wood. For a space of five years the first True Blue
was the best plate horse in England, holding his
own against all comers. It is reported that this
Turkish horse covered no thoroughbred, or as they
were then called "bred," mares, except the dam of
the two True Blues. The Belgrade Turk was taken
at the siege of Belgrade by General Merci, and pre-

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 147

sented by him to the Prince de Craon, who gave
him afterwards to the Prince of Lorraine. Sir
Marmaduke Wyvill afterwards purchased him, and
in his possession he died in 1 740.

Our ancestors enjoy the reputation of having had
the habit of calHng a spade a spade. This honest
virtue was perhaps strained when Mr. Crofts, the
gentleman who owned a beautiful grey Arabian
entire horse, distinguished by a few red ticks on his
rear hip, called his horse Bloody Buttocks. At Mr.
Crofts' death his papers were overhauled to find the
pedigree of this barbarously -named animal ; but
nothing more could be precisely made out than that
he was a horse of Arabian breed, with small red
marks on his hip.

He was the sire of some very good animals, despite
his name. The force of barbarism, however, could
no farther go than when the unimaginative squire
who owned him called his two best daughters Bay
and Grey Bloody Buttocks. But in these days the
nomenclature of the Turf, as the art of naming horses
appropriately has since been called, did not much
avail.

Crofts' Bay Barb was got by Chillaby, out of a
pure Barb mare, known as the Moonah Barb.

The Cullen Arabian was imported by Mr. Mosco.
He was the sire of Camillus, Matron, Sour Face, and
other animals of note.

The Coombe Arabian — otherwise described in the
early Stud-books as the Pigot Arabian — and the Bo-

10 — 2

148 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

lingbroke Grey Arabian, got Methodist, the dam
of ^sop, and others.

The Compton Barb, also called the Sedley Arabian,
got Coquette, Greyling, and others.

These names include most of the great "Pilgrim
Fathers" of the British Turf. Sojourners in a foreign
land, they did their duty, and, at the same time, im-
measurable good for the English breed of horses.
Their histories, with one exception, are unromantic.
The Godolphin Arabian, who arrived at an opportune
moment, and was able to carry on the work begun
by the Turks and Barbs who had preceded him, is
said to have been bought out of a cart in Paris, and
afterwards used at first in England in the perform-
ance of the vicarious functions of a teazer. The
editor of the "General Stud-book" (1808) says,
apropos of this matter, that he was once informed by
a French gentleman, whom he had not afterwards
seen, that the Godolphin Arabian had actually drawn
a cart in the streets of Paris ; and upon this evidence
alone rests the story. That he was a great horse his
progeny abundantly prove, and an immense advance
upon the first Arabian or Barbary horse brought into
England — the Markham Arabian, which the Duke
of Newcastle says he saw: "the above Arabian, a
small bay horse, and not of very excellent shape."

To this introduction of Eastern blood, grafted upon
our stout native stock, we owe our modern race-
horses; and many among our best runners trace their
descent from the Godolphin horse. The accounts

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE-HIS ORIGIN. 149

given of these several important sires and origina-
tors of our racing stock, show that the " fathers of
the flock" were much more largely Turkish and Bar-
bary horses than Arabians; and there seems little
reason to doubt that the greatest of them all — the
Godolphin horse — was a pure Barb.

That the horse of the desert has wonderful pro-
perties, at this day, cannot be denied; that the intro-
duction of Oriental blood into England at the time it
took place was of immense benefit to our stock is on
all hands admitted ; but for nearly a century English
stock has been indebted nothing to the further intro-
duction of Oriental blood, and an English race-horse
would run the choicest steeds of the desert to a stand-
still. At the present day, a second-rate English race-
horse can beat, and easily beat, the best Oriental
animals. The English horse has not only better
pace and better staying powers, but better pluck.
The Arab will not bear the pinch at the finish, and
the late Mr. Atwood was the last man who ran
half-bred Arabs with a view to winning on English
racecourses with them.

It has been seen how the first English race-horses
of merit were bred — namely, by a crossing with
Oriental blood. All English breeders recognize
the authority of the Stud-book, which contains
the pedigrees of our blood stock. If the pedigree
of a horse is wanted, it is traced back to some
well-known racer; or if required from the begin-
ning, to some one or other of the imported sires

ISO HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

of Eastern origin enumerated above, or until it is
lost in obscurity. There are exceptions to the
rule that the best horses of their day have always
been bred from the so-called pure blood of pedi-
gree sires and dams. Bay Malton and Sampson,
two of the best performers of their time, had a
stain of coarse blood in their veins; but such ex-
ceptions may be taken to prove the rule that no
cocktail or imperfectly bred horse has ever been
able to hold his own on the . racecourse with the
best thoroughbreds of his year at weight for age.
For nearly a century every horse foaled has been
duly recorded, and the most exact pedigrees exist of
all our racers. A careful examination of these will
show that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred
there is no flaw or stain in their long pedigrees;
their descent being derived, through generation after
generation, from judicious crossings of the thorough-
bred sire with the thoroughbred mare, in such a way
as to produce a happy "nick" of the two bloods, and
the result of a first-rate horse.

To the descendants of the original union between
the Barbary, Turkish, and Arabian horses and the
native or sometimes imported mares, Englishmen,
with their true love for the horse, have paid the
highest degree of attention ; and to a plentiful
supply of the best food, warmth, properly graduated
exercise, and perfect grooming-, almost as much as to
judicious crossings through succeeding generations,
is to be attributed the excellence of our race-horses

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 151

— a superiority which has been maintained through
a great number of years. Our country is not
naturally so well adapted for the breeding and
rearing of the race-horse as that of more genial and
warmer climates. France has a better climate for
the purpose of raising blood stock than our own —
less damp, less variable, and warmer ; so that foals
in France are earlier, as a rule, and considerably in
advance of ours at a given age. And the French
have been successful in breeding some very fine
animals, several of which — Gladiateur, Fille de I'Air,
Sornette, Boiard, Mortemer, and others — have held
their own against and, more than that, have beaten
the best English horses in the great weight-for-age
races, and over distances of ground in Cup courses.
We have, however, the satisfaction of knowing that
these animals, though born on French soil, came from
English stock, that the stud-farms were directed
by Englishmen, and the animals ridden to victory
by English jockeys : French lads have yet to learn
the arts of jockeydom.

The origin of the native stock mated with the .
first imported Barbs and Turks it is impossible to
trace with clearness ; but the lords of the harem
have a history. The horse in the East is treated
with as much veneration and half as much skill as it
is in Yorkshire. The French General Daumas
asked the Emir Abd-el-Kader what was the origin
of the Arab horse. The Emir, in his poetic way,
called the General " a fissure in a land dried up by

152 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

the sun," but he informed him that Allah created the
horse out of the wind, as He created Adam out of
mud. The Emir's account of the creation of the
horse of his country is that when Allah willed to
create the horse, He said to the south wind, " I will
that a creature proceed from thee — Condense thy-
self!" and the wind condensed itself, and the result
was the horse.

The Emir divides the history of the Arab horse
into four periods — the first, from Adam to Ishmael ;
the second, from Ishmael to Solomon; the third,
from Solomon to Mohammed; and the fourth from
Mohammed to Napoleon the Third. It is with the
last that we are practically interested. The Arabs
require in their race of horses moral qualities com-
mensurate with the physical. The Emir says " the
thoroughbred horse has no vice," though English
trainers will not agree with him on this point; and
he claims for his native breed courage, fire, a proud
bearing, love for their masters, and the unpleasant
habit of letting no one else mount them. The Arab
horse shares the emotions of pain or pleasure ex-
perienced by his master; he consistently refuses to
touch what another horse has left; and he takes
great pleasure in " troubling with his feet whatever
limpid water he may meet with."

The Arabs undoubtedly have for ages paid great
attention to the breeding and rearing of their
horses. They have a preference for mares over
horses, on account of the value of their produce,

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 153

the easiness of their paces, and their greater hardi-
ness.

The Arab notion of a perfect horse is an animal
with large, brilliant eyes, wide apart ; black, broad
nostrils, close together; with long neck, shoulders,
haunches, and buttocks ; broad forehead, loins, flank,
and limbs ; with the back shin-bone and pasterns
short ; the whole accompanied by a soft skin, fine
flexible hair, powerful lungs, and good feet, with
heels well off the ground.

The favourite colours or coats are : —

The White : " Take the horse white as a silken
flag, without spot, with the circle of his eyes black."

The Black : " He must be black as a night
without moon and stars."

The Bay : He must be nearly black, or streaked
with gold.

The Chestnut : " Desire a dark shade ; when he
flees beneath the sun, it is the wind. The Prophet
was partial to chestnuts."

The dark dappled Grey, called " the grey of the
wild pigeon " if resembling the stone of the river :
" He will fill the douar when it is empty, and will
preserve us from the combat on the day when the
muzzles of the guns touch each other."

The Greys are generally esteemed when the
head is of a lighter colour than the rest of the
body.

The Yellow Dun, which must be dark, with black
tail and mane.

154 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

White is the colour for princes^ but does not
stand heat. The black brings good fortune, but
fears rocky ground. The chestnut is the most
active : " If one tells you that he has seen a horse
fly in the air, ask of what colour he was, and if he
replies ' Chestnut,' you must have a chestnut." The
bay is the hardiest and most sober: "If one tells
you that a horse has leaped to the bottom of a
precipice, ask of what colour he was, and if he
replies ' Bay,' believe him."

Ben Dyab, a renowned chief of the desert, who
flourished in the year of the Hijra 955, happening
one day to be pursued by Saad-el-Zenaty, Sheikh of
the Oulad Yogoub, turned to his son and asked,
" What horses are in front of the enemy ? " " White
horses," replied his son. "It is well ; let us make
for the sunny side, and they will melt away like
butter." Some time afterwards, Ben Dyab again
turned to his son, and said, " What horses are in
front of the enemy?" "Black horses," cried his
son. "It is well ; let us make for stony ground,
and we shall have nothing to fear — they are the
negroes of the Soudan, who cannot walk with bare
feet upon the flints." He changed his course, and
the black horses were speedily distanced. A third
time Ben Dyab asked, " And now what horses are
in front of the enemy ? " " Dark chestnuts and
dark bays." "In that case," replied Ben Dyab,
"strike out, my children, strike out, and give your
horses the heel ; for these might, perchance, over-

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 155

take us had we not given barley to ours all the
summer throuo-h."

The coats despised are —

The Piebald : " Flee him like the pestilence, for
he is own brother to the cow." The horse with
white main and tail no chief would condescend
to mount. There are some tribes even that would
not allow him to remain a single night with them.
They call such a one Sefeur-el-ihoudy, "the Jew's
yellow." It is a colour that brings ill luck. " The
iron grey, and the Jew's yellow; if his rider returns
from the flight, cut off my hand."

The Roan : This is called Meghedeur-el-deum, "a
pool of blood." The rider is sure to be overtaken,
but will never overtake.

The horse is to be valued that has no white spots
except a star on the forehead, or a simple white stripe
down the face. The latter must descend to the lips,
and then the owner will never be in want of milk.
It is a fortunate mark. It is the image of the dawn.
If the star is truncated, or has jagged edges, it is
universally disliked ; or if the animal adds to that a
white spot in front of the saddle, no man in his
senses would mount it.

The same authority. General Daumas, in his
" Horse of the Sahara," contributes some interest-
ing, facts as to the treatment of the horse by the
Arabs.

" Grooming," he says, " is unknown to the Sahara.
The horses are merely wiped down with woollen

156 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

rags, and covered with very good djellale, or rugs
that envelop both the croup and the chest. In
truth, labour of this sort is little wanted, the horses
being habitually placed in a healthy spot, on raised
ground, and sheltered from draughts. Arabs who
have observed us grooming our horses morning and
evening with elaborate carefulness, contend that this
continual rubbing of the epidermis, especially with
the currycomb, injures their health, and renders them
delicate and impressionable, and consequently in-
capable of supporting the fatigues of war, or, at all
events, makes them more liable to disease.

When the weather is hot, and facilities exist for
the purpose, their horses are washed morning and
evening. Frequently, in winter time, they are
fastened up inside the tents, which are very roomy,
to shelter them from the sun and rain. The great
thing is to keep them clean. One day a horse was
led up to the Prophet, who examined it, rose up,
and, without saying a word, wiped its face, eyes,
and nostrils with the sleeve of his under-garment.
"What, with your own garments!" exclaimed the
bystanders. " Certainly," replied he ; " the angel
Gabriel has more than once rebuked me, and has
commanded me to act thus."

In winter the covering is kept on day and night,
and in summer until three o'clock, when it is taken
off, but put on again at eight for the whole night, to
preserve the animal from cold and dew, which are
all the more dangerous, say the Arabs, because the

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. i 57

skin has been heated throughout the day by a
burning sun. The following proverb expresses
their dread of the cold of summer nights : — " The
cold of summer is worse than a sabre-cut."

If the Arabs do not, like ourselves, attribute much
importance to grooming, they are, on the other
hand, very careful and particular in their choice of
the food and, above all, the water they give their
horses. " Many a time during the early days of
the Conquest, while on an expedition, after long
marches in an intolerable heat, with a south wind
blowing that choked us and drove the dust and
sand into our faces ; when, horse and foot alike
panting, exhausted, without power of motion, we
delivered ourselves up, worn out as we were, to
a fatiguing sleep, often interrupted by the alerts
caused by the enemy prowling around us — at such
a time I have seen the Arabs (jo a leaQfue from
the bivouac in order to water their horses at some
pure spring known to themselves. They preferred
to risk their own lives to experiencing the pain
of watering their horses at the scanty rivulets in
the encampment, quickly converted into filthy
drains by the trampling of men and beasts of
burden."

The system of grooming and hygiene among
the Arabs, however, is infinitely behind our own.
They have many proverbs about the horse ; they
are very dainty in their choice of the colour of his
coat, or of the spots upon it, which, according to

IS8 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

their traditions, bring good or ill luck to his owner ;
but nobody can inquire into their treatment of the
horse and think that at this day he is in any
respect as well off in the enclosure of an Emir in
Arabia as his kinsman is in the Royal stables of
the Sovereign of England at Pimlico.

It is curious to compare the notions of the Arabs
with our own as to the just proportions' of a horse.
The Arabs assert that they can tell beforehand,
by certain methods, what will be a colt's stature
and character when he becomes a horse. These
methods vary in different localities, but those most
generally adopted are the following: — For the
height, take a cord, and, passing it behind the
ears and the nape of the neck, then bring the two
ends together on the upper lip, just below the
nostrils. Having established this measure, they
apply it to the distance from the foot to the withers.
It is an article of belief that the colt will grow
as high as this last measurement out-tops the
withers.

When it is desired to ascertain the value of a
horse by his proportions, they measure with the
hand from the extremity of the dock to the middle
of the withers, and take note of the number of
palms. They then begin again from the middle
of the withers to the extremity of the upper lip,
passing between the ears. If in the two cases the
number of palms is equal, the horse will be good,
but of ordinary speed. If the number of palms

I

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS PROPORTIONS. 159

behind is greater than in front, the horse will have
no "go" in him. But if the number of palms
between the withers and the extremity of the upper
lip is more considerable than in measuring from
the tail to the withers, rest assured the animal will
have great qualities. The more the number differs
to the advantage of the fore part, the greater will
be the value of the horse. With such an animal,
say the Arabs, they can "strike afar" (go a long
distance), thus expressing the pace and bottom
promised by such proportions. With a little prac-
tice they easily come to judge by the eye, so as
to have no occasion to measure. While a horse
is passing, they compare rapidly, starting from
the withers, the hind part with the fore part
and, without going into details, the animal is
judged.

These proportions are reputed among the Arabs
to constitute the perfect horse. It has never fallen
to the lot of an Englishman to see a horse admitted
to be perfect by the Children of the Desert, unless
it was an animal they wanted to sell, when anything
on four legs would serve for the Arab model
of perfection. But it is generally admitted, not
only by the praisers of things gone by, but by
all judges of horseflesh, that Eclipse was a model
of what a race-horse should be.

Mr. Darvill, an able judge, forty years ago thus
describes a race-horse : — The head of the race-
horse should be small and lean, his ears small and

i6o HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

pricked, his eyes brilliantly large, his forehead broad
and flat. His throat should be clean and fine from
the butt of the ear down to the centre, with a good
space between the jawbones, which latter should be
thin. The neck should be moderate in length, and
wide : a high crest is objectionable. The neck
should be rather of a ewe or deer-like shape than
loaded on the top. The back should be straight,
and moderately long ; the loins should have great
strength and substance of muscle ; the girth should
be deep, and the ribs well-arched. The shoulders
should lie particularly well back, and should be deep,
broad, and have great muscular power. The chest
should be of moderate breadth ; the fore-arm broad
long, and muscular ; the knee-joint should be large,
broad, and flat in front ; the leg from the knee to the
fetlock short, the fetlock-joint large, and the pastern
large and strong. The feet should have a mode-
rately oblique crust and open heels ; the hips should
be wide, having a great breadth between them ; the
hock should be broad and wide, with a clean, lean
appearance ; the hind leg, like the fore one, should
be short, broad, flat, and straight.

So much for the true principles on which the
horse should be formed. Upon his formation
depends his action, and. upon his action his pace.
So important is the exactly correct formation of the
race-horse, that it is observed that the "excellence
of all horses is mechanical, and that the smallest
deviation from a true formation of the acting parts

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS PROPORTIONS. i6i

Operates so powerfully as to render them, under
certain conditions, nearly powerless."

Wind also is of the first importance. The old
race-horses were described as of much speed and
goodness. Goodness meant staying powers, or, as
we say, bottom.

Although it is perfectly true, as stated by Mr.
Blaine in his " Outlines of the Veterinary Art," that
"for racwg we require that the greatest possible
amount of bone and muscle and sinew should be
got into the smallest bulk, and that, in addition to
great flexibility and some length, the limbs must
be strongly united, the chest deep and capacious,
and the hinder extremities furnished with powerful
muscles ; for hunting we must have a similar yet
somewhat bulkier horse, with powerful loins and
more powerful quarters ; and for the hackney, while
we do not undervalue the strength of the loins and
the quarters, we look more to the elevated withers,
the deep and muscular shoulders, and the straight
and well-formed leg" — yet there is a nearer and
truer proportion between the several parts of these
kindred animals than many persons are willing to
allow, and this sketch of them in Eclipse will not
only be interesting but useful to the general horse-
man.

Eclipse's proportions were as follow : —

The length of the head of the horse is supposed
to be divided into twenty-two equal parts, which are
the common measure for every part of the body.

VOL. II, II

i62 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Three heads and thirteen parts will give the
height of the horse from the foretop to the ground.
Three heads from the withers to the ground. „Three
heads from the rump to the ground. Three heads
and three parts the whole length of the body, from
the most prominent part of the chest to the extremity
of the buttocks. Two heads and twenty parts the
height of the body, through the middle of the centre
of gravity. Two heads and seven parts, the height
of the highest part of the chest from the ground.
Two heads and five parts, the height of the per-
pendicular line which falls from the articulation
of the arm with the shoulder, directly to the hoof.
One head and twenty parts, the height of the per-
pendicular line which falls from the top of the fore
leg, dividing equally all its parts to the fetlock.
One head and nineteen parts, the height of the per-
pendicular line from the elbow to the ground. One
head and nineteen parts, the distance from the top
of the withers to the stifle. The same distance also
gives the distance from the top of the rump to the
elbow. One and a half heads the length of the neck
from the withers to the top of the head. The same
measure also gives the length of the neck from the
top of the head to its insertion into the chest. One
head, the width of the neck at its union with the
chest. Twelve parts of a head, the width of the
neck in its narrowest part. The same measure
eives the breadth of the head taken below the
eyes. One head and four parts, the thickness of

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS PROPORTIONS. 163

the body from the middle of the back to the middle
of the belly. The same measure gives the breadth
of the body — also the rump, from its summit to the
extremity of the buttocks; also the distance from
the root of the tail to the stifle ; also the length from
the stifle to the hock; also the length from the
extremity of the hoof to the hock. Twenty parts of
a head, the distance from the extremity of the but-
tocks to the stifle; also the breadth of the rump or
croup. Ten parts of a head, the breadth of the fore
legs from their anterior part to the elbow. Ten
parts of a head, the breadth of one of the hind legs
taken beneath the fold of the buttocks. Eight parts
of a head, the breadth of the ham taken from the
bend; also the breadth of the head above the nos-
trils. Seven parts of a head, the distance of the
eyes from one great angle to another; also the dis-
tance between the fore legs. Five parts of a head,
the thickness of the knees; also the breadth of the
fore legs above the knees; also the thickness of the
hams. Four parts of a head, the breadth of the
pastern or fetlock joint; also the thickness of the
coronet. Four and a half parts of the head, the
breadth of the coronet. Three parts of a head, the
thickness of the legs at their narrowest part; also
the breadth of the hinder legs or shanks. Two and
three-quarter parts of a head, the thickness of the
hind pasterns; also the breadth of the shanks of
the fore legs. Two and a quarter parts of a head,
the thickness of the fore pasterns; also the breadth

II — 2

i64 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

of the hind pasterns. One and three-quarter parts
of a head, the thickness of the fore and hind shanks.
EcHpse's form, peculiar yet beautiful, was the object
of universal comment among the cognoscenti. His
shoulders had great size, lowness, and obliquity ; his
fore-quarters were short, his quarters ample and
finely proportioned, the muscles of his fore-arm and
thigh greatly developed. He ran before the time
of Benson's chronographs, and probably, although
the fleetest racer of his day, was no better than a
dozen horses who have trod the Turf since his de-
cease. The Duke of Cumberland bred him. At
the Duke's death he was sold to a Mr. Wildman, a
sheep salesman, for 75 guineas. Colonel O'Kelly
found out that Wildman had a good horse, and
bought a half-share in Eclipse for 250 guineas —
some months afterwards buying the remaining moiety
for 750 guineas more. He was a thick-winded
horse, moved freely in his gallops, and came out on
the Turf when he was five years old. During one
year and five months — his career on the Turf — he
not only never was beaten, but never was fully ex-
tended; in the words, now proverbial, of Colonel
O'Kelly, it was always " Eclipse first, and the rest
nowhere." Eclipse won the large sum of ^25,000
for his owners. At the stud he got three hundred
and thirty-five winners, who won among them a hun-
dred and sixty thousand pounds, exclusive of Plates
and Cups. This great horse died in 1789, at the
age of twenty-five years. Appended is his pedigree,

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 165

which affords an illustration of the descent of our
thoroughbred horses from pure Eastern blood: —
ECLIPSE

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i66 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Not only does the pedigree of Eclipse exhibit in
a remarkable degree the descent of our greatest
horses from Arabian or other Eastern blood — Bart-
lett's Childers, the Darley Arabian, a Barb mare,
the Lister Turk, the D'Arcey White Turk, Hutton's
Bay Turk, the Leeds Arabian, Hutton's Grey Barb,
the Godolphin Arabian, and a Royal mare, all ap-
pearing among the distinguished ancestry of this
great horse — yet, as Mr. Smith points out (" Breed-
ing for the Turf," p. 5), of these ancestors of Eclipse,
Marsk was sold for a trifle when the Duke of Cum-
berland's stud was dispersed, suffered to run wild in
the New Forest, subsequently purchased by the
Earl of Abingdon for one thousand guineas, and
before his death covered at a fee of one hundred
guineas a mare. Squirt, the sire of Marsk, was res-
cued from an untimely doom by the importunities of
a groom, who saw his merit. He was the property
of Sir Harry Harpur, and was actually being led to
the dog kennel for execution, when he was reprieved
at the last moment, at the intercession of his friendly
groom. Bartlett's Childers, the sire of Squirt, was
never trained at all ; and Snake, the sire of Squirt's
dam, was never trained. On the dam's side.
Eclipse's own dam, Spiletta, only started in one
race in her life, and then was beaten; and her
grandsire, the Godolphin Arabian, was said to have
been purchased out of a water-cart in Paris.

Eclipse, as is seen from his pedigree, was a horse
derived almost entirely from Eastern blood, from the

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 167

imported Arabians, Turks, and Barbs, brought into
this country subsequently to the arrival of the
Markham Arabian in the reign of James the First.
At the time that this Arabian was brought into
England, the wild horse still roamed the plains of
Arabia Deserta; few, if any, can now be found, and
the only wild breeds of horses are those to be found
on the plains of Great Tartary and in various parts
of South America. It is believed that both these
now wild and distinct races of horses are animals
descended from sires and dams once domesticated.
The horse of the Ukraine has no particularly
savage characteristics, and the horse of South
America is believed to be the descendant of
horses that were originally taken over to Peru by
the Spaniards.

Mr. Youatt names the following breeds of horses
now in the old world : —

(i.) The Barb: Native of Barbary, Morocco, and
Fez. Characteristics: Lower than the Arabian. Four-
teen hands one inch maximum height. The shoul-
ders flat, chest round, joints inclined to be long,
head particularly beautiful. Superior to the Arab
horse in form; but without his spirit, speed, or
endurance. The Barb — the Godolphin, so-called
Arabian, being the most distinguished — contributed
largely to the excellence of the British thorough-
bred; some of the best racers are likewise descended
from African mares.

(2.) The Dongola horse, coming from a district

1 68 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

lying between Egypt and Abyssinia, is distinct from
all other Oriental breeds. These horses stand six-
teen hands high, but the length of the body from
the shoulders to the quarter is considerably less.
They are, therefore, different from the Arabian and
the English racer, as both of these horses are longer
by some inches than their height. The Dongola
horse has a long and slender neck, a fine crest,
withers sharp and high, giving a beautiful forehand;
but the breast is too narrow, the quarters and flanks
too flat. It is stated that a horse of this breed was
sold in Cairo in 1 8 1 6 for a sum equal to £ i ,ooo of
our money; but the English stud owes nothing to
the Dongola horse. He has never been used in
England.

(3.) The Arabian, found farther East. Distin-
guished by his bright eye, fine head, small ears,
wide nostrils, and his unique shoulder. His height
rarely exceeds fourteen hands two inches. To this
breed of horses we are largely indebted for our un-
rivalled stock of animals, suited to all purposes of the
Turf, the field, and the road.

(4.) The East Indian horse, whose average height
is fourteen and a half hands, is high-crested and
showy-looking; but has the want of bone below
the knee common to all horses throughout India.
There are four varieties of this horse — the I ranee,
the Cozakee, the Mojinniss, and the Tazsee. The
English stud is not indebted to this race.

(5.) The Chinese horse : ill-formed, weak, and

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 169

Spiritless — conscious that his destination is rather
the stock-pot than the saddle.

(6.) The Persian horse, as beautiful as the Barb
and the Arabian, but not of equal stoutness. This
horse was celebrated long before the Arabian was
known to Europeans. His average height is four-
teen to fourteen and a half hands: on the whole,
taller than the Arab.

(7.) The Toorkoman horse, a native of Turkistan,
part of South Tartary, north-east of the Caspian
Sea. This horse is larger than the Arab, standing
fifteen to sixteen hands high, and said to be " in-
exhaustible under fatigue," of high value — two or
three hundred pounds in his own country — never
imported into England for stud purposes.

(8.) The Tartar and Calmuck horse is almost in
a wild state on the immense plains of Central Asia
and European Russia. Small and badly made, and
easily beaten, on the 4th of August, 1825, by two
English "leather flappers," Sharper and Mina, over
a forty-seven miles course. This pair of fifth-rate
English horses were opposed by the best Tartar
horses from the Don, the Black Sea, and the Ural.
Mina fell lame and gave in, but Sharper completed
the course in two hours and forty-eight minutes,
beating the best of the Tartar horses by eight
minutes. At the start the English horses were out-
weighted, carrying three stone more than the Cos-
sacks, and the native horse that ran up to Sharper
was ridden for twenty-three miles by a mere child.

I70 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

(9.) The Turkish horse: Possibly originally de-
scended from the Barb or the Arab, and crossed
with Persian and other strains. The body is longer
than that of the Arabian horse, and the crupper
more elevated. This breed has contributed largely
to the improvement of our English horses — the
Byerly Turk and the Helmsley Turk being house-
hold words in the Stud-book.

(10.) The German horse is large, heavy, and
slow. The Hungarian is an exception; and in
Prussia proper, judicious crossing and the inter-
mixture of English blood from selected sires has
worked wonders to improve the old breed.

(11.) The Swedish Finland and Norwegian horse:
Twelve hands high, and speedy in proportion to his
height.

(12.) The Iceland horse: According to some
accounts of Norwegian origin, to others of Scottish;
hardy and diminutive.

(13.) The Flemish and Dutch horse: Large,
strong, and well-formed. Our cart horse is largely
indebted to sires of Flemish extraction.

(14.) The French horse: Except in the cases of
the ponies of Auvergne and Poitou, and horses of
Limousin and Normandy, much mixed with English
blood, attended with the best results.

(15.) The Spanish horse: The best is a degene-
rate descendant of the Spanish jennet of former days.
The best horse in Spain is inferior in all ways to a
Yorkshire half-bred.

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 171

The Italian horse: Altoo^ether dea^enerate and
valueless, except when bred in Italy from English
imported stock.

Of all these different breeds of horses, England in
every variety has the best, as might naturally be ex-
pected; and we are indebted to the Barb, Arabian,
and Turk only for the improvement of our native
breed of horses, to securing which result vast capital
and great knowledge and skill, have for generations
been brouofht. When horse-racinof became fashion-
able in this country, it was considered desirable by
breeders to import Eastern sires and mares, and this
was done with the most happy results, but by no
means without demur on the part of many owners of
brood mares of the old stock ; for every horse brought
into the country was by no means perfect, either
in shape or action. Considerable prejudice set in
against the Arabian — or more properly the Barb —
on the Duke of Newcastle's written opinion that he
was not a perfect horse by any means ; and therefore,
for many years after, if a horse was imported, his
chance of being kept at the stud depended in great
measure upon his getting good mares at his first
entry there. If the Godolphin Arabian had been
mated with a bad mare to begin with, it is possible
that he would never have had another. Squirt got
Marsk, and his name was made; Old Traveller got
Dainty Davy and Squirrel, with the same result as
far as he was concerned.

Again, the best runners of those days were by no

172 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

means the best horses at the stud. Little Driver won
;^i,450 in ^50 plates, and only got one good horse
— Cicero. Sloe and Fox Cub, good performers,
were bad sires. Ascham, a horse full of Arabian
blood — being by Regulus out of Mr. Panton's Crab,
granddam by the Bald Galloway, great-granddam
by the Darley Arabian, Regulus by the Godolphin
Arabian, Crab by the Alcock Arabian, Bald Gallo-
way by St. Victor's Barb — stands in like predicament
as a bad stud horse. Mirza (once matched against
Snap for 10,000 guineas, and to give him 4 lbs.).
Old England, Lath, and Bay Malton were all good
runners on the Turf, and very indifferent stallions.
But indifferent performers have made good stallions
— to wit. Blank, Cade, Syphon, Shepherd's Crab, and
Snake.

Three remarkable exceptions about this time,
however, were found in Match'em, got by Cade;
Herod, got by Tartar; and Regulus, got by the
Godolphin Arabian — all three of whom were splen-
did performers on the Turf, raced a great deal, and
afterwards did great service at the stud.

Flying Childers was bred in and in; but his de-
scendant. King Herod, had a numerous and distin-
guished progeny — four hundred and ninety-seven
winners among them, who earned for their owners
upwards of two hundred thousand pounds in
stakes.

These instances tend to show the lottery of breed-
ing; but in the face of these lucky chances, there can

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS ORIGIN. 173

be no doubt that the breeder who enters upon his
difficult and disappointing task with every patience
and skill is very favourably handicapped as against
the man who merely trusts to chance to produce
that great triplet of qualities in thoroughbred stock
— symmetry, temper, and constitution.

174 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE HIS TRAINING AND TREAT-
MENT MODERN METHODS THE OLD STYLE.

T N the old times, when a string of '* running
X horses " was part of the state and estabHsh-
ment of a nobleman or country gentleman, who kept
race-horses rather because his father kept them be-
fore him than for any love either of the animals who
ate his old oats or of the sport they afforded, the
training ground was a gentle slope in the park, the
stables were a little better in point of size, and no
better in point of ventilation, than those his coach-
horses stood in, and the same head groom was at
once breeder and trainer. With the general progress
of the sport it became gradually more common for
gentlemen who owned race-horses to employ a sepa-
rate and superior groom, who came to be called a
trainer. Not, however, until many years after the
private employment of a trainer by owners for their
own studs, and in their own training grounds, did
the public trainer, who took in horses to train for
their engagements from as many employers as his
accommodation permitted, come into existence. For

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS TRAINING. 175

many reasons, however, it is desirable that horses
should be trained on such grounds as Langton
Wolds, Middleham Moors, or Newmarket Heath,
rather than at home in the parks of their owners.
At Newmarket, from the Valley to the Warren
Hill, there is every variety of gallop afforded; and
with the exception of the Curragh of Kildare, which
is in all respects as good, the grounds about New-
market afford the best training grounds in the United
Kingdom, and perhaps in the whole of Europe.
Different trainers have different methods of dealing
with the animals entrusted to their care. Some are
guided by the good old rule of thumb which served
to train Eclipse, Match'em, and Herod; others are
scientific veterinaries as well as able and trustworthy
masters of the peculiar art of " winding up " a horse
to the "concert pitch" which shall enable him to
fulfil his engagements, and win a fair share of them.
Upon general principles, it may be said that it is
admitted that in the case of horses of strong con-
stitution that by severe exercise in gallops and
sweats their wind is improved, they are relieved of
any grossness or superfluous fat, and their lungs
have room to expand. The amount of exercise, the
distances to be compassed in the many gallops, and
the nature of the diet, will depend upon the distance
of the course to run over in the actual race, the ex-
perience of the trainer, and the constitution of the
horse. Hearty feeders put on flesh in an incredibly
short time, and therefore require constant sweating

i;6 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

to keep them in condition; horses of spare habit, on
the other hand, require only gentle and regular
exercise. All must depend upon the trainer's own
opinion. In the stable he ought to be absolute as
the captain of a man-of-war on the quarter-deck.
Whether he is fit for his command will be shown by
what his horses do at the post, when he has some of
the right sort under his charge. Skill in the trainer
may save a groggy leg or nurse a doubtful wind ; but
no skill can make a slow, bad horse perform to
advantage in good company. It is the practice in
giving sweats to horses of different ages to send a
two-year-old two and a half miles, a three-year-old
three and a half miles, a four-year-old four miles, and
five, six, and aged horses five miles for their sweat,
at a fair pace. But this rule must be variable, ac-
cording to the constitution of the horse and the time
of the year. Horses intended to run in public
in March or April will begin their sweats in Fe-
bruary; and horses that lay on their flesh quickly
will require a gallop of the nature of a sweat three
times in a fortnight. The length of the ordinary
gallop for two-year-olds is from half to three-quarters
of a mile; late in the autumn, a mile; and in open
weather in winter, as a three-year-old, he may be
sent habitually a mile and a-half. Older horses are
galloped daily over the length of ground of the
course for which they are being trained. Air in
plenty, water in plenty, clean straw, hay, and corn of
the best quality, perfect grooming and cleanliness.

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS TRAINING. 177

regular and suitable exercise, absolute quiet in the
stables when the horses are at rest, in illness all
that the best veterinary skill can do — these are the
conditions under which the modern race-horse is
trained; and the men who have charge of him, en-
trusted with great responsibility, bring to the dis-
charge of the onerous and anxious duties a careful
and scientific training, energy, professional ability,
and in most cases integrity, hardly exceeded by per-
sons engaged in any other calling.

In the matter of physic, although every trainer
has some pet nostrums of his own — handed down
to him, perhaps, from his grandfather as valuable
secrets of what was then called farriery, but now is
veterinary medicine, and in which he sincerely be-
lieves, and very likely with every reason for doing
so — still it is no lonsfer the rule for the trainer to
be also the physician, and there is almost always a
veterinary surgeon of repute within easy call of the
training stable, public or private, to the great advan-
tage both of the horse and his owner. What used
to be done to the horse in the way of physicking
him for ailments, real and imaginary, may be
gathered from the extracts which follow from the
" Gentleman's Jockey," now a rare book, which ran
into eight editions, the eighth being published in 1687,
and sold at the Maiden- Head, against St. Dunstan's
Church, in Fleet-street. Many of the recipes given
are marked ** Proved," " Approved," and not a few,
" This is approved and infallible." As samples of

VOL. II. 12

178 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

the veterinary practice of the seventeenth century,
let us take four prescriptions which are by no means
exceptional in this curious catalogue of horse-me-
dicines : —

" The master medicine of all medicines for a
back sinew-strain, or any grief, pain, straightness,
shrinking, or numbness of joints or sinews : —

" Take a fat suckling mastive whelp, slay it, and
bowel it ; then stop the body as full as it can hold
with gray snails and black snails ; then roast it at a
reasonable fire. When it begins to warm, baste it
with six ounces of the oyl of spike, made yellow
with saffron, and six ounces of the oil of wax ; then
save the drippings, and what moisture soever falls
from it, whilst any drop will fall from the whelp, and
keep it in a gaily pot. With this ointment anoint
the strain, and work it in very hot, holding a hot bar
of iron before it ; and thus do both morning and
evening, till the cure be finished."

"An admirable water for any sore eye, or to
clear any dim sight, as the Moon Eyes and the
like :—

. " Take the stone called Lapis Calaminaris, and
heat it red-hot in the fire ; then quench it in half a
pint of white wine, and thus do twelve times to-
gether. Then add unto it half so much of the juice
of houseleek, and with, this bathe the eye twice or
thrice a day, and it is excellent against any imper-
fection therein."

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS TRAINING. 179

" For a horse that hath got an over-reach, or a
tread of the heel : —

" First, search it well to the bottom, and take out
all the gravel, and wash it with stale ; then take a
good handful of nettles and a good handful of salt,
put them in a cloth, and bind them to the sore. Do
this two or three mornings together, then set the
shoe on with a leather under it ; then pour in some
hogs'-grease scalding hot ; after pour in rosin scald-
ing hot, presently after which put in some wheat-
bran. "Approved, Pepper."

" For a horse that is mangy : —

" Take a gallon of strong ale and a pound of
tobacco-stalks, half a pound of allum, a pint of salt,
one pennyworth of mercury ; boil these all together
until they be half boiled away ; the day before, let
the horse blood, and curry him with a comb ; when
the horse is dressed, wash the manger with scalding
water, and smoke the saddle with allum or brim-
stone, smoked hay or straw.

"Approved, Mr. Willes."

It will be seen from these that the treatment of
that age was not homoeopathic, and was brutal to
a degree. The " Gentleman's Jockey " had ten
authors, who contributed their recipes, " collected by
long practice, experience, and pains." The popu-
larity and reputed value of the work is shown by its
having reached an eighth edition, and no doubt
"mastiff whelps" were slain, and tobacco-stalks,

12 — 2

i8o HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

alum, and strong ale, salt and mercury, boiled to-
gether and administered in liberal applications to the
long-suffering "friends of man" who had the mis-
fortune to live in that age. Of the ten authors, the
last and greatest was a farrier, of the highest repute
in his profession, Mr. Nathaniel Shaw. The nine
authors contribute ninety-eight " proved " recipes :
Mr. Shaw, out of his great experience, furnishes
more than double that number. It has hitherto been
believed by veterinary surgeons to be impossible to
make a horse vomit : Mr. Shaw, however, could do
it, and this is how he went about it : —

" Here follow Nathaniel Shaw's receipts, which are
all approved things ; and he is accounted as able a
farrier as any in London. I have both proved my-
self and seen him prove most of them, both inward
and outward ; and although the former receipts in
this book will do much good, yet these go beyond
them in many things, both for cheapness and readi-
ness of the cure.

" A rare receipt to cause a horse to vomit : —
" Take two of the greatest roots of Polypodium as
you can get from the oak, wash and scrape them
very clean, and tie it to his snaffle or bit ; then let it
be steeped in oil of spike a whole night, and in the
morning, fasting, put on his bridle with the roots
tied to his bit, and ride him softly an hour or better
with it in his mouth ; and if he be troubled with any
rheumatick or flegmatick humour, or with any cold
or filthy matter, which may any way pester, clog, or

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS TRAINING. i8i

annoy his stomach, this very thing will force him to
vent or vomit it up at his mouth or nose, or it will
cause him to cough and sneeze much, that you shall
see him to send forth a great abundance of filth and
evil slimy matter from his stomach and head, and in
a short time he will become very clean in his body ;
for this will both refine his blood and exhaust all the
waterish humours in such sort as, by temperate order-
ing of him and doing as heretofore is prescribed, you
may keep him a long time sound, perfect, and ser-
viceable ; and this you may give to an horse newly
taken from grass, or to any other horse that hath
taken a cold, or to any other filthy, foul, foggy, or
pursy horse whatsoever ; and this, upon trial, upon
all occasions before mentioned, you shall find to be
most admirable. This being done, I conceive it to
be very good to give them white wine and honey,
and the cordial formerly set down."

It is only natural that a large portion of the two
hundred and sixty odd pages of which the " Gentle-
man's Jockey" consists should be devoted to the
proper mode of training the running horse, and
it is very curious and interesting to compare the
method of training in use at that day with that
adopted in our own. This remarkably interesting
book begins as follows : —

"An Introduction to the Reader; or, a gaining of
satisfaction to all reasonable practicers, and confuting
the wilful self-conceited.

i82 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

" I will not dispute the several opinions of men in
this kingdom touching the keeping of the running
horse, because I know many are idle and frivolous,
some uncertain, and a few in the right way; only in
this I would clear one paradox which is strongly
maintained and infinitely pursued by many of our
best professors, and that is the limitation and length
of time for the preparing or making ready of a horse
for a match or great wager. There be divers — nay,
some which I know carry the goddess Isis on their
backs — that affirm a horse which is exceeding fat,
foul, newly taken from grass or soil, or lofty, liberal,
and unbounded feeding, cannot be brought to per-
formance of his best labour under six months — five is
too little, and four an act of impossibility — by which
they rob their noble masters of half a year's pleasure,
thrust upon them a tiring charge to make the sport
loathsome, and get nothing but a cloak for ignorance
and a few false-got crowns, which melt as they are
possessed. Yet, as heretics cite Scripture, so these
find reasons to defend want of knowledge : as the
danger of so early exercise; the offence of grease
too suddenly broken ; the moving of evil humours
too hastily, which leads to mortal sickness ; and the
moderation or helping of all these by a slow proceed-
ing, and bringing of the horse into order by degrees
and time, or, as I may. say, by an ignorant sufferance.
These reasons, I know, have the show of a good
ground, for the early exercise is dangerous, but not
if free from violence. ....

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS TRAINING. 183

" Of the running horse and divers other choice
secrets not formerly published : —

" The first ordering of the running horse, accord-
ing to the several estates of their bodies. — Where a
horse is matched (or to be matched) for a running
course, you are principally to regard the estate of the
body in which the horse is at the time of his match-
ing, and this estate of body I divide into three several
kinds.

" I. The first is, if he be very fat, foul, and either
newly taken from grass or soil.

" 2. The second, if he be extreme lean and poor,
either through over-riding, disorder, or other in-
firmity.

" 3. The third, if he be in a good and well-liking
estate, having had good usage and moderate exercise.

"If your horse be in the first estate of his body,
you shall take longer time for matching, keeping,
and bringing into order, as two months at the least,
or more, as you can conclude your wages.

"If your horse be in the second estate of body —
that is, very poor — then you shall also take as long
time as you may; yet you need not so much as in
the former, both because grease cannot much offend,
and exercise may go hand in hand with feeding.

"If your horse be in the third estate of body
(which is a mean between the other extremes), then
a month or six weeks may be time sufficient to diet
him for his match.

" Now, as you regard these general estates of

l84 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

bodies, so you must have an eye to certain particular
estates of bodies ; as, if a horse be fat and foul, yet
of free and spending nature, apt quickly to consume
and lose his flesh, this horse must not have so strict
a board ; neither can he endure so violent exercise
as he that is of a hard disposition, and will feed and
be fat upon all meats and exercises.

"Again, if your horse be in extreme poverty
through disorder or mis-usage, yet is by nature very
hardy, and apt both soon to recover his flesh and
long to hold it, then over this horse you shall by no
means hold so liberal and tender a hand, nor forbear
that exercise which otherwise you would do to the
horse which is of a tender nature, a weak stomach,
and a free spirit — provided always you have regard
to his limbs, the imperfection of his lameness.

"Thus you see how to look into the estates of
horses' bodies, and what time to take for your
matchings.

" I will now descend to their several orderings
and dietings; and because in the fat horse is con-
tained both the lean horse and the horse in reason-
able estate of body, I will in him show all the secrets
and observations which are to be employed in the
dieting and ordering of all three, without any omis-
sion or reservation whatsoever. For truth, sir, I
have vowed unto you, and truth I will present you.

" How to diet a horse for a match that is fat, foul,
and either newly taken from grass or soil, being the
first fortnight : —

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS TRAINING. 185

"If you match an horse that is fat and foul, either
by running at grass or standing at soil, or any other
reasons of rest, or too high keeping, you shall, for
the first fortnight at least, rise early in the morning,
before day, or at the spring of day, according to the
time of the year, and having put on his bridle,
washed in beer, and tied to the rack, take away the
dung and other foulness of the stable; then you
shall dress the horse exceeding well — that is to say,
you shall first curry him all over from the head to
the tail, fram the top of the shoulder to the knee,
and from the top of the buttock to the hinder cumbril ;
then dust him all over, either with a clean dusting
cloth or with an horse's tail, or such like thing, made
fast to an handle; then curry or rub him all over
with the French brush, beginning with his forehead,
temples, and cheeks, so down his neck, shoulders,
and forelegs, even to the setting on of his hoofs, so
along his sides, and under his belly; and lastly, all
about his buttocks and hinder legs, even to the
ground. Then you shall go over all those parts
which the brush hath touched with your wet hand,
and not leave, as near as you can, one loose hair
about him, nor one wet hair; for what your hands did
wet your hands must rub dry again. Then you
shall take an hair cloth, and with it rub the horse all
over in every part, but especially his face, eyes,
cheeks, between the chops, on the top of his fore-
head, in the nape of the neck, and down his legs, fet-
locks, and about his posterior.

1 86 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

" Lastly, you shall take a clean woollen cloth,
and with it you shall rub the horse all over, be-
ginning with his head and face, and so passing
through every part of the horse's body or limbs
which hath been before mentioned; then take a
wet mane-comb, and comb down mane and tail.
When this work is finished, take a fair large body-
cloth, of thick, warm housewife's kersey (if it be
in the winter season, or of fine cotton or other
light stuff if it be in the summer season), and fold
it round about the horse's body; then clap on his
saddle, and girt the foremost girth pretty straight,
and the other girth somewhat slack, and wisp it
on each side the horse's breast, that both the girths
may be of equal straightness; then put before his
breast a warm breast-cloth, and let it cover both his
shoulders. When the horse is thus accoutred and
made ready, you shall take a little beer into your
mouth, and spit it into the horse's mouth, and so
draw him out of the stable, and take him back,
leaving some ordinary groom behind you to trim
up your stable, to carry forth your dung, and stake
and top up your litter. For you are to understand,
and it is a general principle, that your horse must
stand upon good store of fresh dry litter continually
— both night and day ; and it must ever be of wheat-
straw if possible, or oat-straw if forced by necessity;
as for barley-straw and rye-straw, they are both
unwholesome and dangerous- — the one doth heart-
burn, the other causeth scouring.

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS TRAINING. 187

" When you are thus mounted, you shall walk
forth your horse a foot pace (which we call rocking)
— for you must neither amble nor trot — at least,
a mile or two, or more, upon smooth and sound
ground, and as near as you can to the steepest hills
you can find; there gallop your horse very gently
up those steep hills, and rock or walk him softly
down, that he may cool as much one way as he
warmeth another. And when you have thus ex-
ercised him a pretty space, then, seeing the sun be-
ginning to rise, or prettily risen, you shall walk your
horse down either to some fresh river or some clean
pond that is fed with a sweet spring, and there let
your horse drink at his pleasure. After he hath
drank, you shall gallop and exercise him moderately,
as you did before ; then walk him a pretty space, and
after, offer him more water; if he drink, then gallop
him again ; if he refuse, then gallop him to occasion
thirst; and thus always give him exercise both be-
fore and after water.

" When he hath drunk (as you think sufficiently),
then bring him home gently, without a wet hair about
him.

" When these things are performed, you shall then
bring the horse into his stall, and first tie his head
up to the rack in his bridle, then with hard wisps
rub all his four legs down with as great strength as
you can; then unloose his breast-cloth, rub his head,
neck, and breast exceeding much with a dry cloth ;
then take off his saddle and hang it bye; and after

i88 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

take off his body-cloth ; then rub over all the horse's
body and limbs, especially his back, where the saddle
stood; and then clothe him up, first with a linen
sheet, then over it a good strong housing-cloth, and
above it his woollen body-cloth, which in the winter
is not amiss to have lined with some thin cotton or
other woollen stuff, but in the heat of summer the
kersey itself is sufficient.

"When you have girt these clothes about him,
stop his surcingle round with reasonable big, soft,
and thick wisps: for with them he will lie at best
ease, because the small, hard wisps are ever hurt-
ful.

"After your horse is thus clothed up, you shall
then pick his feet, and stop them up with cow dung,
and then throw into his rack a little bundle of hay,
so much as a halfpenny bottle in a dear inn, well-
dusted and hard bound up together; and this he
shall tear out as he standeth on his bridle.

" After the horse hath stood on his bridle for
more than an hour, or an hour and half, you shall
then come to him and rub his head, face, and the
nape of his neck with a clean rubber, made of new,
rough hempen cloth — for this is excellent for the
head, and dissolveth all gross and filthy humours;
and then you shall draw his bridle, and, with a
very clean cloth, make the manger as clean as may
be; and if he hath scattered any hay therein, you
shall gather it up, and throw it back into his rack.
Then you shall take the quantity of a quart, or better,

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS TRAINING. 189

of sweet, dry, old, and clean-dressed oats, of which
the heaviest and the whitest are the best, as those
which 'we call the Poland oats, or the cut oats, for
those only are wholesome — the others which are
unsweet breed infirmity; those which are moist
cause swelling in the body; those which are new
breed worms and pain in the belly; and those which
are half-dressed deceive the stomach, and bring the
horse to ruin. As for the black oats, though they
are tolerable in the time of necessity, yet they make
foul dung, and hinder a man's knowledge in the state
of the horse's body.

" This quart of oats you shall put into a sieve that
is somewhat less than a riddle, and a thought bigger
than a reeving-sieve, such a one as will let light oats
go through, but will keep a full oat from scattering.
In this sieve you shall reeve, drop, and top your oats
very much, that there may be neither dust nor any
other foul thing in them; and so give them to the
horse to eat ; and if he eat them with a good stomach,
you may then sift and give him as much more, and
so let him rest till it be near eleven of the clock.
Then come to the stable again, and having rubbed
the horse's head, neck, and face, you shall then take
another quart, or better, of oats, and, as before, top
and reeve them through your sieve, and so give them
to your horse. Then, closing up your windows and
light, that the horse may remain so dark as possible,
leave it till one of the clock. And here you are
to understand that the darker you keep your horse

igo HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

in your absence, the better it is; and it will occasion
him to feed, lie down, and take his rest, where other-
wise he would not. And therefore we commonly
use to arm the stalls wherein those horses stand,
round about, and aloft, and over the rack, with strong
canvas, both for darkness, warmth, and that no filth
may come near the horse.

" At one o'clock, or thereabouts, come to the horse
again, and sift and dress him another quart of oats,
as before showed, and give them him, after you
have rubbed well his face, head, and nape of the
neck; then making the stable clean and sweet, give
him a little knob of hay, and so leave him till four
o'clock in the evening if it be in the summer, after
three if it be in the winter and the short season.

" At four o'clock in the evening come again to the
stable, and having made all things clean, then bridle
up the horse ; having wet the snaffle with beer, and
tied him up to the rack, then take off his clothes,
and dress him in all points, and every way as was
showed you in the morning. After he is dressed,
then clothe and saddle him as was also showed for
the morning; then bring him out; then mount his
back and ride him forth, as you did in the morn-
ing, but not to the hills, if possible you can find
any other plain and level ground, as meadow
pasture, or any other earth, especially if it lie along
by the river. But in this case you can be no chooser,
but must take the most convehient ground you can
find, to make a virtue of necessity. There air your

THE ENGLISH RACE-HORSE— HIS TRAINING. 191

horse in the evening, as you did in the morning, gal-
loping him both before and after his water; then
rocking him gently up and down.

" After you have watered your horse, and spent
the evening in airing till within night (for nothing is
more wholesome or sooner consumeth foulness than
early and late airings), you shall then air him home
to the stable door, there alight, and whatsoever you
did in the morning, either within doors or without,
do the same also now at night, and so leave the horse
on his bridle an hour, or an hour and a half; then
come to him again, and as you did in the forenoon
so do now — rub him well, draw his bridle, cleanse
the manger, put up his scattered hay, sift him a quart
and better of oats, and give them him, and so let him
rest till nine of the clock at night.

" At nine of the clock at night, which is bedtime
both for your horse and yourself, come unto him, and
first rub down his legs hard with hard wisps, then
with a clean cloth rub his face, head, chaps, nape of
the neck, and fore parts. Then turn up his clothes,
and rub over his fillets, buttocks, and hinder parts ;
then put down his clothes, and sift him a quart of
oats, and give them him. Then put into his rack a
little bundle of hay (as hath been before showed), top
up his litter, and make his bed soft, and so betake
both him and yourself to your rests till the next
morning."

From this quaint account of the ordering of the

192 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

racer, or running horse, two centuries ago, in the days
of heats, matches, and six and eight mile courses, we
see that there is a considerable resemblance, though
there is a wide difference in many parts, between the
old and the new systems of training the thoroughbred
horse for his engagements. Under both dispensa-
tions the object aimed at by the trainer is, by diet
and exercise and a proper system of hygiene, to take
off superfluous flesh, improve the wind, and discipline
the animal to great endurance at a high speed. This
question of training has ever been of the first import-
ance in racing matters, as winning or losing undoubt-
edly depends upon it. A good horse badly trained
can rarely win a race, but good training will some-
times make a bad horse win. In a word, there is all
the difference in the world between a horse in good
and the same horse in bad "form." "Form," in its
application to racing matters, means that condition of
the animal in which he is in a state to go his best
pace over his best distance, in company with other
good horses, and accredit himself something more than
respectably, without feeling unduly the effects of such
races. When in " form," he is in fine condition, fresh,
healthy, vigorous, bright in the eye, and clean in the
coat, clear in his wind, straight and handsome, and
without any jot of superfluous flesh or adipose mem-
brane about his frame. To bring a horse at the
right time into this condition is the end of the
trainer's art.

THE FARRIER'S AR'l . 193

The " Gentleman's Jockey," as previously stated,
was published in 1687, ^-"^ shows the state of the
farrier's" art, and the methods of training horses in
vogue towards the end of the seventeenth century.
The "Complete Sportsman," published about 1770,
a book of high repute and authority in its day, which
ran through several editions, enables us to estimate
the advance made by farriers and trainers in a cen-
tury, and to compare the state of things existing at
the close of the eighteenth century with that we
know obtained at the end of the previous hundred
years. Another century has passed since the pub-
lication of the work under consideration. The
modern trainer's art is enormously in advance of
the practice laid down in both the " Gentleman's
Jockey" and the "Complete Sportsman;" while
veterinary science — especially surgery — has arrived
at a state that may, in the hands of such professors
as Mr. Barrow of Newmarket, be accurately de-
scribed as perfection.

The first edition of the " Complete Sportsman ;
or, Country Gentleman's Recreation," by Thomas
Fairfax, Esq. ; title page without date, but probably
published about 1770, "contains the whole Arts"
of English sport generally; the author recommend-
ing his book to a large circle of readers by the fol-
lowing lines, which appear on his title page: —

" A Sportsman's Skill, whoever means to claim,
Must read our Book, and then he'll know his Game ;
'Twill Bowlers, Coursers, Racers, Hunters suit.
Or teach the Fowler flying Birds to shoot."

VOL. II. \%

194 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

The following are among Mr. Fairfax's volumi-
nous directions: —

Suppose a horse is to run for a Plate, and that
the hour of starting is at hand, when the drum beats,
or the trumpets sound, according to the custom of
the place where you run, to give notice for stripping
and weighing, be sure, in the first place, to keep out
the wind and to strengthen you. If you are light,
you must carry weight; let it be equally quilted in
your waistcoat; but it is better if you are just
weight, for then you have no more to do than just
to dress you according to your own fancy. Your
cloaths should be of coloured silk, or of white holland,
as being very advantageous to the spectators. Your
waistcoat and drawers must be made close to your
body, and on your head a little cap, tied on. Let your
boots be gartered up fast, and your spurs must be of
good metal; then mount, and com.e to the starting-
place, when, going off briskly or gently, as occasion
requires, make your horse perform the course or
heat according to your intended design. Particu-
larly as you run the same, and that your horse
excels in goodness more than speed, start him
roundly, and run him to the very top of what he
can do during the whole course or heat; and by
that means, if the horse you run against be not so
(Tood at the bottom, though he has more speed, you
will beat him, because he will run off it a great way
before he comes to the end. But, on the contrary,
if your horse's talent be speed, all you can do is to

FAIRFAX'S DIRECTIONS. 195

wait upon the other horse, and keep behind him till
you come almost to the Stand, and then endeavour
to give a loose by him. Sometimes, when you are
to run more heats than one, it will be your policy to
lose a heat, and in that case you must, for the easing
and safeguard of your horse, lie behind as much as
you can, provided you bring him within distance.

The position to be observed is that you place
yourself upon your twist, with your knees firm, and
your stirrups just at a length, that your feet, when
they are thrust home in them, you can raise yourself
a little in the saddle ; for your legs without that
allowance will not be firm when you come to run.
The counterpoise of your body must be forward, to
facilitate your horse's running, and your elbows must
be close to your body. Be sure, above all things,
that you do not incommode your horse by swagger-
ing this way or that way, as some do; for since
weight is a great matter in running, and that a
troublesome rider is as bad as so much more weight,
there is no need to say how necessary it is to take
great care of your seat and hand. But these things
are but learned by experience and practice.

A Plate being run for in heats, every man that
rides must be just weight at starting, in great scales
for that purpose, and at the end of the same heat;
for if you want of your weight at coming in, you
shall lose your heat, though you are the first horse.
You have half an hour between the first and second to
rub your horses, and at the warning of the drum and

13—2

196 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

trumpet again you mount, &c., as before, and so till
all is done, which is three, and sometimes three heats
and a course.

If you do not breed racers yourself, be sure you
buy no horse that has not extraordinary good blood
in his veins, for the charge of keeping is great, and
a good one eats no more than a bad, and requires no
more attendance. Some, to save twenty or thirty
guineas in the price of a young horse, have lost
hundreds by him afterwards.

Perhaps the most noteworthy points in Mr. Fair-
fax's instructions are the starting of horses and warn-
ing of the time for stripping and weighing, answer-
ing to our saddling bell, being given commonly on our
racecourses by sound of trumpet or drum, "according
to the custom" of the place, and the extreme severity
of the races run in heats in old-fashioned times.
The author of the "Complete Sportsman" was not
the first Englishman to find out that "a good one
eats no more than a bad one, and requires no more
attendance;" but the axiom will be admitted, without
the smallest show of argument, by every owner who
has had the misfortune to possess his share of ani-
mals of the "wrono- sort."

An attempt was often made at this time — 1770,
A.D. — to get the right sort from the East direct; but
the difficulties thrown in the way of the country
gentleman desirous of obtaining a true Turk con-
tinued to be very great. As far as Turkey was
concerned the price was high; and the Grand Vizier,

PRICES IN TURKEY. 197

while ready to oblige Christian Princes and great
nobles, was anxious to restrict the exportation of
bloodrstock from the lands of the Faithful.

The would-be Darleys of Yorkshire and Cam-
bridgeshire miofht well take alarm at such an account
as that given in the following extract from a con-
temporary record: — "Some merchants tell us that
there cannot be a more noble and diverting sight to
a lover of horses than to walk into the pastures near
Constantinople about soiling time, when he may see
many hundred gallant horses tethered; and every
horse has his attendant, or keeper, with his little tent
placed near him to lie in, that he may look to him
and take care to shift him to fresh grass.

" The price of a Turkish horse is commonly one
hundred or one hundred and fifty pounds ; and when
bought it is difficult to get a pass, the Grand Signior
being so very strict that he seldom, but upon very
extraordinary occasions, permits any of his horses to
be exported. But if you should attain a liberty so to
do, and travel by land, unless you have a Turk or
two for a convoy, you will be sure to have them
seized on by the way."

Under such restrictions, and subject to such acci-
dents and mischances, the importation of horses into
England from Constantinople was hardly likely to
be thought an attractive or lucrative pursuit.

A comparison between the practice of 1770 ^^^
1670 in farriery does not show much advance in a
century. On all occasions that a horse requires physic

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

he is to have administered to him something nasty
or intoxicating. If the expression may be permitted,
the whole veterinary pharmacopoeia was unnatural
and awful, as were the bleedings and drenchings,
and the leeches and boluses, with which the phy-
sicians and surgeons of the day treated their patients.
The treatment of the sick horse was undoubtedly far
worse, improbable as it may seem, than that of the
sick man.

Mr. Fairfax teaches the stud-grooms of his day: —

How to order a horse for a Match or Plate. — If
he appear sluggish or melancholy, then give him half
an ounce of diapente in a pint of good old Malaga
sack, which will both cleanse his body and revive his
spirits.

Eggs were as much article of diet as spirits, ales,
and wines, and nearly as often prescribed as aloes or
resin: —

Take two pecks of beans and a peck of wheat,
and let them be ground together, but not too fine;
and dress one peck of the meal through a fine range,
and knead it up with new ale yeast, and the whites
of a dozen new-laid eggs, and bake this in a loaf,
which is to be given the horse when you set him,
and the other (without the eggs) at ordinary times.

It had probably been found, in the experience of
most trainers, that the food mentioned above pro-
duced no inconsiderable amount of thirst in the sub-
jects to whom it was administered. Accordingly, Mr.
Fairfax : —

ANCIENT RECIPES.

199

If he is parched, he Is to liave a julep, made of
gin, two quarts ot barley water, and two ounces of
syrup of lemons. During the last fortnight of his
training he is to have more whites of eggs — twenty
at a time — with half a strike of oats, "stirred to-
gether, let lie all night to soak, and spread abroad
next morning in the sun till they are dry."

So numerous and so potent are the drinks ordered
for animals in training for a Match or Plate, that
cases of intoxication must have been frequent even
among the most temperately-disposed horses. A
heated state of the blood followed, as a matter of
course, and then the trainer had to "cool him" again,
but even this was done with ale and brandy.

His body is to be cooled and kept moist with ale.
In a morning a toast or two of white bread steeped
in sack. His legs are to be chafed with piece-grease
and brandy warmed together. His exercise in his
final preparation is to be taken in galloping after
hounds following the drag of an unsavoury cat.

Mr. Fairfax says: — " He is to be trained on train-
scents of a dead-cat following hounds."

From these directions it will be learned that the
preparation of a horse for a four-mile race run in
heats in the days of our great-grandfathers was a
fearful and wonderful achievement. Both groom and
steed must have had iron constitutions to stand it.
Probably the principle of the selection of the fittest
was in full operation, and the weakest went to the
wall. The horse whose legs could not stand the

200 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

brandylngs, or whose weaker stomach essayed to
reject the daily doses of gin, must have succumbed
to the system; while there can be not the slightest
doubt that, assuming Mr. Fairfax's instructions were
literally obeyed, no horse of that time could ever
have won a race sober.

The old-fashioned method of training a race-horse
and getting him into proper form was, as we have
seen, unscientific and rough; but we cannot doubt
that it was infinitely in advance of the veterinary
art as practised by our earliest stud-grooms. The
modern system of training boasts all the advantages
that long experience, running hand in hand with
considerable scientific knowledge, can give; and it
is a very doubtful matter if horses will ever be
better trained than they are now, by our best
trainers, by any system that may be devised in the
future. The present treatment of racing stock when
in the hands of the trainer has recently received
attention from a writer of great practical experience,
who, professedly writing for " muffs," might well
take counsel with experts on this subject of the
highest interest and importance to the lovers of the
English thoroughbred. As the papers referred to
contain all the latest practical information on the
subject of the race-horse in training, they may fitly
be reproduced in an abridged form here. Succinctly
put, the following is the story of the racing colt or
filly, from the stud-farm to the winning-post: —

All the horses are, of course, thoroughbred.

THE MODERN SYSTEM. 201

Three-fourths of them are of noted blood. The
best of them are worked so early, and run so hard
and so often, that most of them are done up some-
how or other at three or four years of age, although
many last for some years longer. When, from any
cause they become hors de combat, they are put to
the stud ; and as the age of a horse counts from
New Year's day, no matter how much later in the
year he is foaled, breeders naturally try to have
them as early in the spring as possible — say from
February to April. Ordinary horses, half-breeds,
&c., come into the world, at farms and elsewhere,
some months later in the year. Thoroughbreds,
like others, are weaned when about six months old.
While with their dams they learn to eat corn early,
there being a manger for the dam in one corner of
the hovel (in and out of which they can run at plea-
sure), and a smaller one for the foal, with bars across
through which the mare cannot get her full-grown
nose and eat her foal's corn, in another corner.
When weaned the foals are shut up three or four
together in a loose box for two or three days, so
that they may forget their dams and become accus-
tomed to each other. After that they are let out
into a paddock together, the same three or four. A
paddock contains some four acres, where there is
some good grass for them to feed on ; but besides
this they have plenty of green food, and a peck of
corn amongst four of them three times a-day, the
last feed being a double one, because they are shut

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Up early and it is a long time till morning. The
reason why, unlike common foals, they are shut up
at all is that, being wild, high-spirited things, they
might hurt themselves in the night or early morn-
ing, when no one was near to prevent them. Ol
course, in addition to other food, they have always
plenty of hay. They will follow the stud-groom or
paddock man into the hovel as sheep follow their
shepherd. A colt or filly is called a yearling till he
or she is fifteen or eighteen months old. Up to this
time they have nothing on their necks but "foals*
collars." Then, however, the trainer puts on a
cavasson and bit simultaneously — which is not gene-
rally done with common horses. With these they
are led about for a few clays. Of late years they are
" broken in " in a couple of weeks ; but many expe-
rienced men think it takes a month to do this pro-
perly. After being led in bit and cavasson for a
few days, a roller, side-reins, cheek martingale, crop-
per, and flank girth are put on. The flank girth is
unknown to ordinary horsebreakers; it is strapped
over the loins and under the flanks. When first put
on, many of the young things go half-mad, kick-
ing, rearing, and squealing. The idea — contrary to
Rarey — is to let them get the mischief out of them-
selves. It might be thought it would teach them to
kick. No dumb jockey, German rider, or anything
of that kind is used. When they have been treated
a week or so thus, the saddle is put on, and they are
driven, like a horse in a plough, with long reins, till

EARLY TRAINING. 203

they are fit for mounting — another week or fortnight
— and, when once mounted, the o-rooms do not
" Rareyise " them, they master them.

Horses' mouths are spoiled by ploughmen; but
with experienced stable-boys, who, unlike the stable-
men in a London mews, are most of them between
thirty and fifty, and have served long apprenticeships
to the treatment of race-horses from birth to death,
the long rein plan is the best for " mouthing " a colt
or filly in a short time. When the grooms can get
them to walk before them at whatever pace they
please, and can turn them about in every direction,
they consider them fit for mounting. It is a common
practice to tie a wisp of straw to the crupper, across
the loins, and let it flap about as it may. This has
a sort of aggravated effect of the flank girth already
spoken of. It makes the yearlings kick and plunge
furiously sometimes, and the plan followed is to let
them kick themselves quiet. They find, like the
wilful boy who has the good fortune to be in firm,
judicious hands, that sulk, obstinacy, and violence
are of no avail, and they succumb to their master
and to circumstances, as, in the long run, most beasts
must do. With the treatment indicated, the most
refractory of yearlings will soon be fit for mounting.
The instructions on this point are almost ver-
batim these: — "Throw yourself across the saddle;
don't use stirrups. Do this at both sides, to ac-
custom the yearlings to anything; though, of course,
the near side is the proper one to mount at. Pat

204 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

him " (z>., pat, caress, or, as poor Rarey used to say,
" gentle him ") ; " go on in this manner for a day or
two, till you can see you can get fairly into the
saddle. Do all this by yourself alone with him.
Never have another man to bother him or you.
Once in the saddle, ride him about quietly at a walk
for two or three days before you begin to trot or
canter him, making him used to the short bridle-
reins as you sit on your saddle, during which time
you 'mouth' him, as common horsebreakers call it.
This requires 'hands' and judgment; often a com-
mand of temper, and some nerve. After this, trot
or canter him, on roads or anywhere, for a few days,
to get him steady before you put him to any sort of
work. He will be now, say, eighteen or twenty
months old, but he would be called a two-year-old;
then begin to ' train' him. Suppose you break him
now — July, 1879 — by New Year's-day he is a real
two-year-old, and you begin to train him for his
two-year-old performances in 1880."

In training a young thing, the usage is to com-
mence with canters on the Heath about a quarter of
a mile long, two or three times a day, till he becomes
used to his work. This sort of thing is continued
for a few weeks. Then he is put into regular work
for his engagements. "Work" means a change
from the previous mere exercise into a faster pace
and longer distances. At this stage of his career
he should have two or three canters of a half or
three-fourths of a mile daily. It often happens

ROUTINE LIFE. 205

that frost interferes with this part of the prepara-
tion.

Owners want to have them tried by New Year's-
day. Some bring them up five months before; but
three months are sufficient. Too early training is
a great mistake. Some begin at them by the begin-
ning of August, and many of them are worn out
before they are wanted. They are "tried" in this
way: — An old horse, whose pace is known, leads;
seven or eight two-year-olds, belonging, perhaps, to
different people, but in the hands of the same trainer,
are tried together. The gallop is five or six fur-
longs long. The trainer's head man starts them;
the trainer himself is, on his hack or pony, a sort of
winning-post. The lads do their utmost to get to
the front, as if they were riding the latter part of
a real race. And this is the first trial of a horse's
pace and pluck. He is half-trained already, and he
is kept on in work for seven or eight days longer.
Then he is tried again, to see if he has been fairly
proved. All this takes place before New Year's-
day. Some seem bad for the first or second time ;
but they are kept in work, for they often improve.
As the most experienced nurse or parent cannot
predict the development, mental or physical, of a
child, so the sharpest trainer may be deceived in a
yearling or a two-year-old colt or filly.

Once in training, the routine life of all horses in
training is pretty much as follows : —

Suppose, for example, a winner of the Derby who

2o6 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

is a favourite for the Leger. Suppose he won the
Derby, or had had a sharp finish for it. He would
afterwards have a couple of days' rest, walking exer-
cise, and comfort inhis box. It must be remembered
he has been doing hard preparative work before.
These horses are as used to railway travelling as
men are — from their qtiasi babyhood. After the
short rest, the training is continued, and the Derby
winner is put into strong preparation for Doncaster.
This training is a question of judgment. Some
horses want very much more work than others;
and, irrespective of a tendency to accumulate fat and
useless flesh, their legs have, of course, to be con-
sidered. Very often the legs will not do the work
the gross body may require. The Turkish bath — •
which one would think might be of material use in
such cases — does not seem to be in good repute.

The daily life of a horse " in training " is somewhat
like this :— The groom, stableman, or whatever else
he calls himself, goes to him at, say, five o'clock a.m.
He is then dressed over; he has a couple of double
handfuls of corn without water ; is saddled. Then
he goes out to his work. That varies. As a sort
of average, it may be said to consist in an hour's
walk, one or two canters, and then a sharp gallop of
a couple of miles in clothes. He comes in warm, if
not actually sweating. He is then dried and dressed,
and, when cool, may have as much water as he
chooses. Then he gets a double feed of corn and a
small armful of hay, and is left alone till five o'clock

MR. THOMAS DA WSON. 207

p.m. Notice that he is out only once a day, which
is thought quite enough, considering the work he
gets while he is out. At five p.m. he is dressed
again and watered, and has a quartern or a quartern
and a half of corn — in fact, as much as he will eat.
Then he is left till eight in the evening, when he is
"set fair," as it is called in the language of the
stable, and that means that he is bedded and made
comfortable for the night.

In the manner above set out is the modern tho-
roughbred trained for his engagements.

Mr. Thomas Dawson, of Middleham, is the ori-
ginator of the modern and improved system of train-
ing thoroughbreds. He was the first trainer to see
the fallacies of the old method and to act upon his
own well-considered opinions. He did away with
the drenchings and profuse sweatings, and the short
supplies of water, introducing in their stead plenty of
old oats and hard work. Messrs. Joseph, Matthew,
and John Dawson learnt their art of their brother at
Middleham, where for many years there were upwards
of a hundred and twenty horses in training, forty or
fifty of which were Mr. Thomas Dawson's own pro-
perty. Mr. Matthew Dawson to this day quotes
" my brother Tom " as an oracle on horseflesh, and
the thanks of owners are certainly justly due to him
for the radical and salutary change he has effected
in the training world.

Prominence has been eiven to the " Gentleman's

2o8 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Jockey " and Mr. Fairfax's " Complete Sportsman "
as two representative books — one belonging to the
seventeenth and the other to the eighteenth century;
and this position they deserve, as they enjoyed a
large circulation and great popularity, and for a great
number of years were looked upon as works of autho-
rity upon the subjects they treated of. It must, how-
ever, by no means be supposed that the first of them is
the earliest book of the kind in the English language.
The records of the sports of hunting and hawking
are of greater antiquity than those relating to horse-
racing and the breeding of horses. Two curious
manuscripts of the year 1380 exist in the Cottonian
collection at the British Museum, giving full rhyming
directions how to acquire the whole secrets of the
" crafte of hontynge " as practised by those worthy
gentlemen, John Gyfford and William Twety, " yat
were wyth Kyng Eduard the Secunde." This
manuscript, which is profusely illustrated with paint-
ings of the chase, is entitled " Explicit le Venery
de Twety and of Maystr. John Giffarde." Another
famous manuscript on hunting is that called " The
Mayster of the Game." As a trustworthy descrip-
tion of the ancient English chase, this manuscript is
unrivalled. The book, which is divided into thirty-
six chapters, is the work of Edmund de Langley, of
Langley, near St. Albans, who married Isabel, daugh-
ter of Peter, King of Castile, created Duke of York
1385, having twenty years earlier been ennobled as
Lord of Tindal and Earl of Cambridge.

BOKE OF ST. ALBANS. 209

To the Lady Juliana Barnes, a " gentlewomyn of
excellent gifts," who wrote the far-famed " Boke of
St. Albans" — "so called because it was printed in
yt town, a thin fol., in 148 1 " — -we are indebted for
the earliest extant description of what our ancestors
in the fifteenth century deemed desirable in a horse.

The Lady Juliana Barnes probably quoted rather
than orio^inated the followinsf lines : —

o o

The Proprytees of a Good Horse,

A good horse sholde have xv. proprytees and condycons.
That is to wyte — thre of a man, thre of a woman, thre of a foxe,
thrc of a hare, and thre of an asse.

Of a man, bolde, prowde, and hardy.

Of a woman, fayr-brested, fayr of heere, and easy to lippe upon.

Of a foxe, a fayr taylle, short eeres, wyth a good trotte.

Of a haare, a grete eye, a dry hede, and well runnynge.

Of an asse, a bygge chyn, a flatte legge, and a good hove.

The black letter of Dame Julyan Berners, or
Barnes, who flourished in the time of Henry the
Sixth, is very rare, especially in a perfect state.
The Bodleian boasts two copies, and the King's
Library at the British Museum has an excellently
preserved copy, " Emprynted at Wesmestre by
Wynkyn de Worde, the yere of th' yncarnacion of
our Lorde M.CCCC.LXXXXVL"

One hundred and fifty fac-siinile copies were
issued in London by Harding and Wright, in 18 10,
v/ith genealogical tables and biographical sketch of
the interesting authoress, whom Holinshed describes
as a " gentlewoman endued with excellent giftes
bothe of body and of minde. She wrote certaine

VOL. II. 14

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

treatises of hawkinge and huntlnge, delighting
greatly herselfe in those exercises and pastimes."
Oldys alludes to her as " a second Minerva in her
studies, and another Diana in her diversions." Bale
speaks of her as "an illustrious female, eminently
endowed with superior qualities, both mental and
personal. Among the many solaces of human life,
she held the sports of the field in the highest estima-
tion." She was a fine horsewoman; her "proprytees"
show that she knew what a horse should be ; and she
is the mother of sporting prints of all kinds, for she
wrote the first treatise on sporting ever issued from
the printing press.

MODERN NE W MARKET. 2 1 1

CHAPTER IX.

MODERN NEWMARKET NOTES ON JUDICIOUS CROSSES —

STRAINS OF BLOOD SOUNDNESS.

WITHIN the memory of men yet young, New-
market has been transformed as with the
wand of a fairy. Twenty-five years ago
the place was almost deserted, property was unsale-
able, the tradesmen were poor, and without even the
hope of becoming rich. When Mr. Driver, the well-
known auctioneer, offered for sale the Royal Palace,
which was put up for sale by the personal directions
of her Majesty and the late Prince Consort, in dread
of a return of the days of Royal Turfites, not a bid
could be got for at least half an hour; then the
thirty people present insisted on the reserve price
being declared, and, when the auctioneer yielded, an
advance of about ^100 on the reserve was made,
and the property knocked down to a speculative
buyer. Owners of race-horses would not send them
to Newmarket. It was said to be impossible to
train a Derby winner on the Heath. When things
were almost at their worst. Lord Exeter died, and
wise men shook their heads, and said that the glory
of Newmarket had perished for ever. From 1848,

14 — 2

212 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

when Surplice won, down to 1863, no Derby winner
was trained at head-quarters; and from 1848 down
to 1865 no winner of the St. Leger, except the
mighty Stockwell, hailed from the Suffolk town.
It seemed as if Hayhoe and Godding \Yere fighting
against destiny. Suddenly the wheel of fortune
made a marvellous revolution. Mr. Joseph Dawson,
with Lord Stamford's horses, came to Heath House,
Newmarket, and won the Two Thousand Guineas
with Diophantus, in 1861. In 1863, Mr. Naylor's
Macaroni, trained by Mr. Godding, won the Two
Thousand Guineas, and defeated Lord Clifden by a
head in the Derby. Then Count Lagrange sent his
stud to Newmarket, and Mr. Jennings, in 1865, won'
all the great three-year-old races with Gladiateur.
Mr. Matthew Dawson, following his brother, migrated
from Ilsley to Newmarket, and was entrusted with
the care of Lord Falmouth's horses. Mr. John
Dawson also came, and trained for Prince Batthy-
any. Baron Rothschild, who for years had bred and
trained horses with moderate success, astonished the
world in 1871 with a series of brilliant victories with
Favonius, Hannah, and Corisande. Mr. Savile, in
the following year, with Cremorne, and Mr. Joseph
Dawson, w^ith Prince Charlie, won fresh triumphs for
Newmarket; where also Captain Machell had esta-
blished himself. The necessary result followed:
Newmarket again became all the fashion. The great
trainers, the wealthy owners, the. speculative owners
poured into it their talent and their money; houses,

MR. WILLIAM BARROW. 213

and stables, and land rose In value — not cent, per
cent., but from hundreds to thousands; and at this
moment it is almost as difficult to buy a plot of
ground in Newmarket as it is in London. One
thousand horses are in training, and an army of men
and lads wait upon the lords of the equine race.
The wants of both horses and men, in lodging, in
clothing, in saddlery, in food, and in luxuries, have
made the Newmarket tradesmen busy and pros-
perous. Everywhere new houses have been erected,
many of these in exquisite taste, and with lavish
expenditure both outwardly and inwardly; while the
new stables, new. boxes, and new paddocks pass the
wildest dreams of magnificence! The old town has
become a paradise of men and horses, and if it could
only rid itself of its two evils — " touts " and the
" credit system " — it might dare to call itself happy.
Certainly, in no town in England is there less crime
or less disorder. The only improvement wanted is
an arbitrary power to expel for ever some fifty worth-
less fellows who prowl about for " information," and
who seek to corrupt weak and foolish lads to betray
the secrets of their masters.

One of the most singular facts connected with
Newmarket is, that the medical and surgical attend-
ance on this immense array of horses is practically
monopolized by one man. For more than thirty
years Mr. William Barrow has been the veterinary
of Newmarket, and there is not a trainer in the town
who would for one moment hesitate to call in that

214 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

gentleman, however necessary secrecy as to the pre-
cise condition of a horse mi^ht be. Trainers know
to whom they may trust; and Mr. Barrow, in his
morning rounds, passes from stable to stable laden
with knowledge for which the " backers" and the
"bookmakers" would willingly give thousands. It
is also a sufficient proof of Mr. Barrow's extra-
ordinary ability and assiduity, that in all these years
no one has successfully endeavoured to wrest from
him a solid share of the Newmarket business. When
Galopin won the Derby, in 1875, Prince Batthyany
acknowledged the services rendered to the horse by
Mr. Barrow, by presenting to him a gold tankard of
the value of eight hundred guineas; while an ad-
mirable portrait of the beautiful Springfield, given to
Mr. Barrow by Mr. Houldsworth, bears testimony
to the skill with which that horse was cured of a
fractured pelvis.

In all ages of the Turf there has been a cry of the
degeneracy of horses. There are certainly more bad
horses bred now than there ever were, but there are
also more good horses bred; and, unquestionably,
the best of modern horses are superior to those of
bygone days. Upon this point the opinion of Mr.
Gilbert may usefully be cited. Mr. Gilbert was
brought up at Danebury, in the palmy days of
John Day the elder, when Mr. Pad wick and Mr.
Gully were invincible, and saw such animals as
Mendicant, Virago, Andover^ Hermit (1854), and
Scythian trained there. Yet Mr. Gilbert held that,

MODERN BREEDING. 215

even within his memory, race-horses had improved,
and certainly he had never seen so perfect a horse
as Cremorne, whom he trained for Mr. Savile from
1 87 1 to 1873. But if we go farther back in history,
to the horses of the last century, there can be no
question of the superiority of the modern horse
in. speed and courage, in shape and temper. Such
horses as Lord Clifden, Blair Athol, Blue Gown,
Rosicrucian, Boiard, and Cremorne, would have de-
feated Flying Childers, Herod, or Eclipse at any
distance. Just as in Leicester and Southdown
sheep, in short-horn oxen, Devons and Herefords,
so also in thoroughbred horses has the improvement
been regular and decided during the last sixty years.
In modern breeding the fault has been excess in
numbers, and readiness to use second-class stallions
and third and fourth class mares. People have been
dazzled by the fabulous prices given for yearlings,
and have imagined that a short cut to money and
fame could be made by the production of thorough-
bred stock. The work was done haphazard, and
with inferior material, and yet it was fondly hoped
that luck would wait on such efforts as these. To
a certain extent there is chance in breeding; but
wealth and intelligence in this, as in all matters terres-
trial, leave but little room for the work of the blind
goddess. Year after year Mr. Tattersall has been
called upon to sell by auction whole squadrons of
yearlings, the buyers of which have had little but
disappointment for their money. The great prizes

2i6 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

have gone to the owners of horses bred privately, from
the best blood with the best judgment. Mr. Blenkiron
sent to the hammer one thousand yearlings, and re-
ceived for them more than ^200,000. Yet, with the
exception of Caractacus, who won the Derby in 1862,
Hermit, who won the Derby in 1867, and Seesaw,
who, as a three-year-old, won the Cambridgeshire in
t868, carrying 8 st. 2 lbs., one can hardly recall a first-
class horse bred at Middle Park; yet Mr. Blenk-
iron ranked in knowledge of breeding first among the
owners and managers of public breeding studs. More-
over, auctions are, in one sense, the ruin of yearlings.
Unless they come to the hammer with sleek coats,
and with what has been vulgarly called "horse-
dealer's putty," the public will ■ not bid. So the
sportsman buys a fatted calf, not a race-horse; and
the animal breaks down in his joints or sinews, while
the trainer is vainly trying to replace the "blubber"
with honest hard flesh and muscle. Too many foals
are also bred within a given area. The soil sickens
of them, just as it does of ewes and lambs, and
peculiar disorders break out among foals and year-
lings. The colts have to be let out in the paddock
in turns, and instead of exercising themselves during
the whole daylight, are restricted to one, two, or three
hours a day. So that, even with the best blood and
the most lavish expenditure, large studs are at a
disadvantage; but when, neither capital, nor good
mares, nor first-class stallions are available, what but
failures can be expected on crowded pastures, and

STRAINS OF BLOOD. :ii7

with fatted yearlings? On the other hand, two out of
three of the winners of the Derby for the last thirty
years have been bred privately, and have not been
put up as yearlings by the auctioneer.

The extraordinary success of Lord Falmouth on
the Turf has dealt a heavy blow at the prospects of
public studs, and racing men begin to ask themselves
whether it is worth while to pay prodigious sums at
auction for public yearlings, only to see them break
down or suffer easy defeat.

It would be beyond the province of this book
to enter upon a dissertation on the theory of the
"strains" in thoroughbred stock. But the events
of the last twenty-five years have gone far to show
that a complete knowledge of pedigrees is abso-
lutely essential to success in breeding. The most
splendid triumphs of the Turf have been achieved
by horses bred from special combinations of size
and strength in one parent, with what is called
"quality" in the other parent. Thus, Stockwell,
Rataplan, and King Tom are the modern types of
big, stout, or even coarse horses. The first two
were by The Baron, by Irish Birdcatcher, their dam
being Pocahontas by Glencoe. King Tom was also
from Pocahontas by Harkaway. On the other hand,
in Sweetmeat by Gladiator by Partisan, in Queen
Mary by Gladiator, in Parmesan by Sweetmeat, and
in Macaroni by Sweetmeat, that symmetry, high-
bred refinement, bloodlike appearance, and elastic

2i8 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

activity which go to form " quaHty " are conspicuous.
So also in Touchstone and his son, Orlando, and in
the mares by them; and in Teddington, son oi
Orlando, and the mares by him, the " quality " is
typical. The Marquis, who was second in the Derby
and first in the St. Leger in 1862, was by Stockwell
from Cinizelli by Touchstone. Baron Rothschild's
Favonius, who won the Derby in 187 1, and the Good-
wood Cup in 1872, and who was as handsome as horse
could be, was by Parmesan from Zephyr by King Tom.
Cremorne, who for constitution, temper, looks, speed,
and staying power, has never been excelled, was by
Parmesan from Rigolboche by Voltigeur (Lord Zet-
land's big " coach-horse "), her dam by Rataplan.
Again, Blair Athol was by Stockwell from Blink
Bonny by Melbourne from Queen Mary by Gladi-
ator by Partisan. Lord Lyon, who in 1866 won
the Two Thousand Guineas, Derby, and St. Leger,
was by Stockwell from Paradigm by Orlando.
Achievement, who in the following year won the
One Thousand, St. Leger, and Doncaster Cup, was
own sister to Lord Lyon. Doncaster, who won the
Derby in 1873 and the Doncaster Cup in 1875,
was by Stockwell from Marigold by Teddington.
Regalia, who won the Oaks in 1865, was by Stock-
well from The Gem by Touchstone.

Mr. Joseph Dawson's Prince Charlie, who won
the Middle Park Plate in 1871, and in 1872
defeated Cremorne by a head for the Two
Thousand Guineas, and who subsequently acquired

" BREEDING IN." 2 1 9

the title of "the Prince of the T.Y.C." by his
extraordinary speed, was by Blair Athol from
Eastern Princess by Surplice by Touchstone from
Crucifix; so that he had the strain of strength
and stoutness through Pocahontas and the Bird-
catcher blood; while through Blink Bonny he had
the Gladiator "strain," and through Surplice the
Touchstone "strain." In these pedigrees the pre-
dominance of Stockwell is manifest. In the whole
history of the Turf no stallion has surpassed his
achievements as a sire; and all sportsmen acknow-
ledged his supremacy when, in 1866, his three sons —
Lord Lyon, Savernake (brother to St. Albans), and
Rustic — were first, second, and third in the Derby.
The theory of " breeding in " with a strain of
" quality" has, on the other hand, received support
by the triumphs of that elegant horse, Petrarch,
winner of the Middle Park Plate, Two Thousand,
St. Leger, and Ascot Cup. Petrarch was by Lord
Clifden by Newminster by Touchstone, and his
dam was Laura by Orlando by Touchstone.

Another class of celebrated horses in recent years
owed its descent to the famous mare Mendicant,
who was the property of Mr. Gully, for whom she
won the One Thousand and Oaks in 1846. In
1855 Mendicant bore Beadsman to Weatherbit, and
although Beadsman won the Derby and ^80,000 in
bets for Sir Joseph Hawley, breeders declined to
believe in the horse as a sire. He was "voted"
small, and only fit to get park hacks. For some

HISTORV of the BRITISH TURF.

years he stood at Mr. Barrow's paddocks at New-
market, and the public preferred Yellow Jack — who
never got even a decent race-horse — to him. At
last Sir Joseph took Beadsman home to Kingsclere,
mated him skilfully, and was rewarded within the
space of two years with Blue Gown, winner of the
Derby in 1868; Green Sleeve, winner of the Middle
Park Plate in 1867; Rosicrucian, one of the most
exquisite horses of modern times, who carried 9 st.
to victory in the Ascot Stakes of 1871; and Pero
Gomez, who won the Middle Park Plate in 1868,
was beaten by a very short head for the Derby in
1869, and was victorious for the St. Leger. Rosi-
crucian's dam was Madame Eglantine by Cowl,
brother to Surplice — one of the smallest mares ever
trained, and, as we have already said, Beadsman was
a small horse. But Rosicrucian stands sixteen hands,
and is a grand, lengthy horse, showing his kinship
to Surplice, who stood nearly seventeen hands when
he won the Derby. It is also to be observed that,
through Mendicant and Cowl, Rosicrucian is doubly
descended from Touchstone.

The history of modern breeding has also gone
far to prove the truth of the theory that a stallion
cannot be too old, and that "stayers" cannot be
bred from young sires, although "speedy" horses
can. Stockwell was nine years old when he
begat St. Albans, eleven years old when he
begat Blair Athol, and twenty years old when
he begat Doicaster and Gang Forward; while

DIFFERENCES OF OPINION. 221

between these two last dates come Regalia, Lord
Lyon, and Achievement. Blair Athol was put to
the stud at the early age of four years; but, with an
abundant supply of good mares, he begat his first St.
Leger winner, in Craig Miller, when ten years old,
and his first Derby winner, in Silvio, when twelve
years old. The success of Beadsman, who was
hardly employed at all as a sire until ten years old,
has been already mentioned; and the cases of Par-
mesan and Adventurer may be added. These facts
are entirely in accord with what reason would sug-
gest, and they will probably be supplemented by
abundant examples in the future.

Among breeders there is the greatest difference
of opinion as to the amount of influence of sire and
dam respectively upon the offspring. Luck must
enter largely into the fortunate result of a profitable
breeding stud, for many men of great judgment and
experience have bred for many years from the best
sires and mares obtainable, without any adequate
results. Yet their endeavour has always been to
make a successful "nick" by crossing certain strains
of blood, sometimes in conformity with theories uni-
versally respected, at others at the dictates of their
own eccentric convictions. Sir Joseph Hawley, one
of the most successful breeders of modern times,
was, as has been pointed out previously, one of the
least scientific.

Lord Falmouth, a breeder much more fortunate
even than Sir Joseph was, acts upon the opposite

222 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

plan, and carefully mates his mares on certain prin-
ciples warranted by experience, and generally held
to be sound by breeders of thoroughbred stock.
Derby winners, therefore, it may be admitted, may
be produced by either method — the capricious or the
scientific — given a lucky man as owner of the stud
farm. The problem of the joint and proportionate
transmission of qualities from parents to offspring is
an old one. Horace, for instance, says "horses have
in them the quality of their sires;" but his critic
points out — first, that he knew nothing whatever of
his subject; and secondly, what in his case is more
important, that his metre would not allow him to write
matrum instead of patrum. And so from the days
of the poet to the present, dogmatizers on crosses
there be as plenty as blackberries, but they convince
few but themselves. The true art of "nicking" so
as to produce with unerring certainty colts and fillies
that will race is a philosopher's stone as yet undis-
covered. For instance, the union of Stockwell and
Blink Bonny, two animals of high celebrity, produces
— as might be reasonably expected — a fine offspring,
Blair Athol. On the other hand, Gladiateur and
Fille de I'Air are matched: they too should produce
a valuable foal; but Eole, their offspring, is worse
than a selling plater. As regards his sire, Gladiateur
would seem to owe his racing powers to his own
sire, Monarque ; for Miss Gladiator, his dam,
though trained for some time, never won a race,
and was withdrawn from training for the very good

SOUNDNESS. 223

reason that she could not race. Her case, however,
would fit in very well with Admiral Rous's dictum
on the subject: — " Mares which have never carried
a saddle are preferable to those which have been
trained or hard ridden, unless they have distinguished
themselves by their performances." Miss Gladiator,
it is true, had carried a saddle on a few occasions,
but she had carried it very badly, and was neither
much trained nor hard ridden. The Admiral's mean-
ing clearly was that all mares were injured as breed-
ing animals by being trained for racing, but that
mares of first-rate capacity on the Turf were not so
much injured by being raced as to reduce them to
the level of second-rate untrained mares.

Monarque, Gladiateur's sire, may reasonably be
credited with havino' derived more of his orood
qualities from his dam. Poetess, one of the best
mares ever bred in France, than from his sire.
The tendency is rather to credit the sire than the
dam with the good qualities of their offspring; but
in the well-known cases of Stockwell and Kine
Tom, surely Pocahontas will get the chief credit.
As an opposite illustration. Paradigm's case may
be taken, who threw both Lord Lyon and Achieve-
ment to Stockwell. In these cases the honour was
to the sire, and Paradigm was forgotten. There is
no satisfactory explanation of these cases, but perhaps
the least unsatisfactory is that there exists a happy ac-
cident of combination whereby an admirable medium
is found for the transmission of the paternal gifts.

224 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

It has been said that modern race-horses are not
so sound as their forefathers were ; and to demon-
strate this proposition, the instances of horses run-
ning at the ages of ten and twelve years in ancient
times are put forward. But the question is whether,
if the horses of our time were reserved to the age of
maturity, they would not stand training for many
years. If attention be paid to the work they do at
the early ages of two and three years, this question
must be answered in the affirmative. We may well
regret to see horses removed to the stud at the very
moment when they seem to reach perfection ; but
while the great prizes of the Turf are given to young
horses, and while the services of fashionable sires are
so much in request, it is vain to regret the unavoid-
able. Moreover, it is but fair to note that nearly
all our best sires are sound in limb, and that such
soundness is to a great extent essential to health,
for without it exercise cannot be obtained. In one
matter modern breeders are open to reproach. The
folly of breeding from roarers can hardly be over-
rated, for roaring is pretty well acknowledged to be
an hereditary weakness. The French are wiser
than our own people in this respect, for they actually
prohibit the use of roarers at the stud. Perhaps
Parliament would do well to pass a law to stop the
use of roarers as sires, not only for thoroughbred
stock, but for all other purposes. It is a mischief
that can be stamped out, and that ought to be
stamped out.

JOHN SCOTT. 225

CHAPTER X.

OLD MR. SCOTT JOHN SCOTT WHITEWALL

BARON MARTIN SIR JOSEPH HAWLEY.

FOR sixty-seven years connected with a racing
stable, and for half a century a prominent
character on the Turf, John Scott passed away at
the ripe old age of seventy-seven, on the 4th of
October, 1871. Of all the sterling characters num-
bered among the lovers and followers of Turf pur-
suits, none was greater than the Yorkshire trainer
whose marvellous feats caused him to be called the
Wizard of the North.

" Wedded to duty, girt with self-respect,
' His every action as the daylight clear,

A Bayard of the Turf, he walked erect

Among his kind ' without reproach or fear.' "

For more than a generation the owner of White-
wall was universally regarded as the chief of
English trainers, and indisputably first in his [pro-
fession. The occupant of the quiet brougham,
the portly old gentleman, with the keen eye,
silvery locks falling from under the broad-brimmed,
high-crowned hat of unchanging shape, and massive,
honest English features, was known on every race-

voL. II. 15

226 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

course of note in England. In his later years, it
was in an almost reverential whisper that the wearer
of the spotless white scarf, black coat, drab knee-
breeches and gaiters, was pointed out to the un-
initiated as the great John Scott. The famous
trainer owed his origin to Suffolk, and not, as
has generally been thought, to the premier county.
By birth he belonged to the South, by long re-
sidence and association to the North; but he lived
long after the railways had altered all the old
relations between the two schools of horsemanship,
and removed much of their ancient rivalry. Mr.
John Scott was born on the 8th of November,
1794, at Chippenham, near Newmarket. His father
was a trainer, well known in the racing world in the
latter part of the last century, living at Chippenham,
where he trained, and in his earlier years he rode
for Sir Harry Featherstone, a great cockfighter and
supporter of the Turf of that day. The eccentric
Counsellor Lade also at one period of his career
entrusted his horses to the care of the elder Scott.
From Chippenham, still carrying on his business as
a trainer, Mr. Scott removed to Oxford, and became
" mine host " of the Ship there, until, declining years
having rendered him unfit any longer for the active
business of life, he gave up his inn and went to live
at Brighton, where he died, in 1848, at the great age
of ninety-seven years.

His son at a very early age was introduced to
the " long tails" in the stalls at the Chippenham

JOHN SCOTT. ■ 227

establishment. Old Mr. Scott was not long in dis-
covering, to his great satisfaction, that he had in
young John a son likely to ** train on" into a man
after his own heart, and as long-headed as himself.
At ten the boy was riding the horses in his father's
training-stable in their exercise gallops. When he
was three years older, he was, in his father s opinion,
competent to ride in a race. They had a mare named
Tenbones entered for a Plate at Blandford, and the
young jockey was started off from home with in-
structions not to bring the mare back on any account,
but to sell her to somebody for thirty pounds. Fol-
lowed by his terrier Viper, he started from Oxford,
and after crossing Salisbury Plain, and nearly getting
lost, owing to the snow on the ground, young John
reached Blandtord. He won the fifty-pound Plate,
sold the mare for fifty pounds, and was driven home
a proud young jockey in the Oxford coach. From
that win he dated the commencement of his good
fortune in lite.

His first post of trust was with Croft, at that time
in extensive practice at Middleham; but prior to this
engagement John Scott had been engaged to ride
light weights by old Sir Watkin Wynn, with whom
he did not remain long, but, crossing the Border
again, rode for Sir Sitwell Sitwell, Mr. Saddler of
Alsworth, and Mr. Stevens of Bointon-on-the-Hill.
One of the first important pieces of business en-
trusted to his charge by Croft was the taking of
Filho da Puta on his journey from Middleham to

15—2

228 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Newmarket, on the occasion of his great match with
Sir Joshua. At head-quarters, the Chifneys took the
horse under their charge, and, being of opinion that
he had not done enough work, made him, in John
Scott's opinion, over-trained and stale; and to this
he attributed the loss of the match.

Shortly after this, he was engaged as private
trainer to Mr. Houldsworth, going to live at Rock-
hill, in Sherwood Forest, and training his horses on
the velvety turf of the forest glades. Here he mar-
ried Miss Baker, the daughter of an innkeeper at
Mansfield. The next ten years of his life were
spent at Rockhill, in Mr. Houldsworth's service;
and upon that gentleman's retirement from the Turf,
he trained for two years for Mr. Petre, at his Not-
tinghamshire quarters. In 1825, Whitewall House
and stables were in the market. Mr. Scott bought
them, and removed to Malton, where he resided
for the remainder of his long life, and "became,
as it were, sovereign of the place." Whitewall,
with its owner for host, was a charming house to
stay a day at; and many were the distinguished
followers of the sport who sat at John Scott's
liberal table, and chatted about Derby and St. Leger
cracks, or bygone heroes of Epsom Downs or Don-
caster Town Moor, over the walnuts and port. In
the morning, breakfast over, a visit to the stables
followed, or the guests were up at cockcrow with
the trainer to see the horses gallop. Breakfast at
Whitewall .was a cheery meal, lighted by the host's

AT WHITEHALL. 229

genial smile. " Never were muffins and pikelets
finer, or toast more deliciously browned, or sheep's-
head — a favourite morning dish there — rump-steak
and kidneys, better done." The sideboard bore
silver cups and pieces of plate, trophies of the vic-
tories of John Scott's horses ; over the fireplace was
the painting by Herring of the host's two favourite
hunters ; from the window, "Brother Bill," the famous
jockey, could be seen piloting the string of horses to
the exercise ground. On the stable doors were the
names and plates of many horses whose fame was
world-wide. The stables themselves, the yards and
curtilage of the great Northern establishment, were
models of method, tidiness, and order.

In 1832, the hot, dry weather had made the
summer training ground on Langton Wold so hard
that it was impossible for the horses to be galloped
on it. Accordingly, a ploughed gallop was hired at
Pigburn, near Doncaster, which was used for many
years; and Newminster, among other horses, owed
his victory in the St. Leger to its existence. After
185 1, however, the tan gallop on the Wold and
the preserved exercise ground at Leatherhead were
found to be efficient substitutes, and the ploughed
gallop was given up. For a long period John Scott
had the best horses in England under his care, year
after year; and that he handled them with extra-
ordinary skill was never questioned. No man ever
excelled, and few ever rivalled, him in his art. He
was fortunate in both his wives, and the second

230 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Mrs. Scott especially was of great assistance to him
in his business, as was his secretary-, Mr. John Peart,
and his veteran head lad, Jem Perren.

Among the many noblemen and gentlemen who,
durine his lone tenure of Whitewall, entrusted their
racers to his care, were Lords Exeter, Derby, and
Fitzwilliam, and Mr. Bowes. The last-named gen-
tleman was his oldest patron. With the brilliant
and oft-repeated successes of the black and gold
some of John Scott's greatest achievements in laying
on that •' Whitewall polish" which was so famous
were associated; and to the Malton veteran Mr.
Bowes's allegiance was true to the last.

Eminent lawyers have taken a deal of interest
in the pastime of the Turf, and one who is yet
alive was, during his career at the Bar, a part owner
of race-horses. Among the distinguished guests
entertained by John Scott at Whitewall may be
mentioned Baron Martin, who put an end to his
partnership with Mr. H. Hill on being elevated to
the judicial bench ; but his lordship always found it
possible to visit Epsom on the Derby Day. He
was a judge of great ability, and an excellent lawyer;
but was not a literary nor an hi-storical character.
When travelling as judge on the Western Circuit,
he was invited to dine with the Warden of Win-
chester College. The evening passed very plea*-
santly, and, after bidding his guest good-night, the
venerable warden turned to a friend, and said, " The

LORD AILESBURY. 231

judge is a man of great common sense and shrewd-
ness; but, for a gentleman, he is the most ignorant
man I. ever met. He had never even heard of Wil-
ham of Wykeham ! " As Baron Martin drove away
in his carriage from the Warden's lodge, he ex
claimed to his Marshal, "Well, for a learned man,
the Warden is the most ignorant man I ever met,
for he did not know that John Day had training
stables at Danebury!"

Lord Ailesbury, a devoted follower ot the Turf,
was born in 1804, in Mayfair; and having been
called to the House of Lords in the lifetime of his
father, the name of Lord Bruce was much more
often printed in the pages of Weatherby than in
those of Hansard. In 1840 he began to figure as
an owner, with Chasseur, by Actseon, trained by
Montgomery Dllly, and a winner of four races in
that season, includino- the Queen's Plate at Win-
Chester. It was twelve years later, however, before
the Savernake colours were seen to advantage on the
Turf, when, in 1852, Knight of the Shire ran third
to Weathergage and Lady Evelyn for the Cesare-
witch, and a fortnight later won the Cambridgeshire,
beating Hobble Noble, the trusted horse of Dane-
bury, and a field of twenty-one runners. Bribery ran
well in the next ten years in the afterwards highly
popular colours, borne to the front at Epsom by
her descendants. The St. Albans victory in the St.
Leger, and the head defeat of Savernake in Lord

232 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Lyon's year, were the most remarkable incidents in
Lord Ailesbury's Turf career. He was an enthusi-
astic sportsman, and a orood supporter of racing; but
he kept but a small string of horses, under Alec
Taylor's charge, and his colours were proverbially
unsuccessful whenever he tried to win a great race.

Rarely, if ever, have any colours been more
popular on the Turf than the cherry jacket and
black cap of Sir Joseph Hawley. The third of his
race, Sir Joseph was born in 1814, and, in due course
entering the army, served for a short time as a
lieutenant in the Lancers. The life of a soldier in
a crack regiment, however, was not in harmony with
his tastes ; and in his schooner, The Mischief, he
visited Greece, the Mediterranean, and Italy. In
Florence, where for a time he resided, there were
some English and native sportsmen, a club was
formed, and, in confederacy with Mr. J. M. Stanley,
Sir Joseph Hawley imported a few platers to run in
races against the Italian horses.

On his return to England, the confederacy was
renewed ; but before that Sir Joseph began to race
on his own account. His name first appears in " Wea-
therby " in 1844, when Vibration, Venus, and The
Bishop of Romford's Cob composed his small stud,
under the care of Beresford, at Newmarket. His
first ventures were unsuccessful; but in 1846 he
carried off the July Stakes with Miami, beating a
great favourite in The Cossack — a Danebury " in-

SIR JOSEPH HAWLEY. 233

vincible" of those days. To win the Ascot Cup the
Kentish Baronet bought Mendicant of Mr. Gully,
giving, nearly 3,000 guineas for her. She lost the
Cup, but laid the foundation of future successes,
and gave a string of poverty-stricken names to Sir
Joseph's horses in the time to come. The original
outlay was repaid with interest, as her son Beads-
man won the Derby, and by his victory his owner
netted ^80,000 in bets alone, as well as the rich
stakes. This, however, was years after. Tedding-
ton's was Sir Joseph's first Derby victory, though
the horse was really the property of Mr. Stanley,
but running in the name of his confederate. Alec
Taylor, who trained for the two friends, sent Ted-
dington to the post in splendid condition; and,
before or since, probably no Derby winner has ever
looked better. He was a light-framed horse, of grey-
hound-like appearance, with an action that was
almost perfect. The betting that year was very
heavy. Davis's fortunes were at their zenith, and
the " leviathan " lost a hundred thousand pounds
over the race. Job Marson, for his riding in this
race, received nearly three thousand pounds — Mr.
Stanley and Sir Joseph Hawley giving him a thou-
sand pounds a-piece, and other winners on the event
more than half that sum between them.
• Suffering under great annoyance after he had won
the Doncaster Cup with The Ban, owing to the dis-
cussion as to the legitimate sale of Vatican prior to
the race, and disgusted with' Breba's in and out

234 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

running, Sir Joseph sent the greater portion of his
stud to the hammer in that year. He kept back,
however, The Cowl, The Confessor, Mendicant —
whose reserve price of 500 guineas was not reached
at the sale — and half a dozen brood mares. But in
a small stud there was not excitement enough for
Sir Joseph, and about a year after the sale he sent
some horses to John Day, at Danebury, to train
for him ; but his luck during the two years he
remained there was so very bad that he determined
to try a private trainer, and accordingly engaged
Manning for that purpose, renting some ground on
Cannock Heath, where tradition says Eclipse him-
self was trained.

Fitz-Roland and Beadsman were soon doing their
gallops together — the former he had purchased at
the Royal Sale for 4ioguineas/the latter he had bred
from his mare Mendicant — and to the two fell the
two great spring and summer three-year-old events.
Musjid, who started first favourite for the Derby,
Sir Joseph bought at Tickhill as a two-year-old, for
a very moderate figure ; and again, after the memor-
able finish with Marionette, Trumpeter, and The
Promised Land, the cherry and black was successful,
and the popular baronet won a very large stake.

There were yet greater triumphs to come. A few
years later saw Sir Joseph and Porter with Blue
Gown, Rosicrucian, and Green Sleeve, all in the
stable at one time, and all bred at Kingsclere. Blue
Gown, the Derby winner of '68, is the horse with

KINGSCLERE. 235

which Sir Joseph Hawley's name will always be
most associated in the public mind and memory.
He was the public horse, though his owner preferred
the chance of another of his team, and never appears
to have appreciated the colt's merit, letting him go,
in March, 1870, for ^5,000 to the Prussians.

Blue Gown, bred by Sir Joseph in '65, by Beads-
man out of Bas-Bleu by Stockwell, her dam Vexa-
tion by Touchstone — Vat by Langar — Wire by
Waxy. Beadsman, his sire, was also bred by Sir
Joseph Hawley, in 1855, by Weatherbit out of Men-
dicant by Touchstone. His stock first came out on
the Turf in 1863 — Arapeile, The Palmer, Belphegor,
Blue Gown, Green Sleeve, and Rosicrucian have
been among the best of his progeny.

Blue Gown was remarkable for compactness and
wear and tear character, but he had not the blood-
like elegance of conformation possessed by his half-
brother and sister, Rosicrucian and Green Sleeve.
In temper he was one of the best animals ever
trained. His two-year-old winnings were not very
large, about ^1,500 in all; but at three-years-old he
won over ^10,000 in Stakes.

He was trained by Porter, at Kingsclere, near
Newbury, on the famous range of Downs stretching
away from Ilsley. Blue Gown's victory in 1868 gave
Sir Joseph his fourth Derby — Teddington, 1851;
Beadsman, 1858; Musjid, 1859. He ran the colt out
of pure sportsman-like feeling. When he knew in the
winter that the public were on him to a man, he said,

236 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

"Then they shall have a start;" but he never liked
the horse, and did not win a shilling in bets by the
success of his colt, though if Rosicrucian or Green
Sleeve had won he would have been a large winner.

The Derby was called "sensational," but the most
exciting episode in Blue Gown's Turf career was at
Doncaster, when as a two-year-old he carried off the
Champagne Stakes. There were twelve starters,
Mr. Merry's horse was left at the post, and Sir
Joseph Hawley's colt came in first, but did not get
the Stakes. Wells, no longer the " Tiny" of old
days, could not ride the weight. Other jockeys
knew this, and when he returned to scale he was
watched. Watson seized the beam, and appealed
to Mr. Chaplin, one of the Stewards. He ordered
Wells to sit in the scale till the Admiral could
be summoned. There followed a bad ten minutes.
The Admiral came, and pronounced against the
winner for over-weight. Mr. Chaplin inquired what
weight the winner had carried. " No, no," replied
the Tribune ; " this is bad enough — the public need
not know how much Hawley's horse really carried."
As a fact, Blue Gown had won carrying as nearly as
possible 9 St., and this performance the public, who
stuck to him through evil report and good report,
never forgot.

" Dangerous Sir Joseph " was true not only of
his horses when they were "meant," but of himself
when suffering under what he deemed an unpro-
voked attack. Dr. Shorthouse, then of Carshalton,

DR. SHORTHOUSE'S LIBEL. 237

the founder of the Sportmg Times, found this out to
his cost after the writing of the hbel on the Kentish
Baronet was proved, and a sojourn of some weeks
in Coldbath-fields Prison was the result of the ver-
dict of a British jury in Sir Joseph Hawley's favour.
The prosecutor would not join in the request for a
remission of the sentence, though asked to do so
by many influential Turfites ; but imprisonment sat
lightly on the shoulders of the Doctor, though he
by no means pretended to be one of those excep-
tional persons for whom —

" Stone walls do not a prison make,
Or iron bars a cage."

The Carshalton Doctor's prison allowance ot
champagne was a bottle a day, and when that was
drunk up it is understood that he devoted the rest
of his waking hours to his favourite subject of re-
search, the Blacklock blood.

He was liberated on the 12th of March, 1870,
and he found the sporting world busy in the dis-
cussion of Sir Joseph Hawley's proposals of Turf
Reform. Sound common sense and long expe-
rience in racing matters qualified the *' lucky
Baronet " for the task of a Turf reformer, which he
imposed on himself at this time. The Jockey Club,
as might be expected, opposed him; but he had
public opinion outside the charmed circle with him
and his work. Starting with the proposition that
he conceived it impossible to disguise the fact that
racing is no longer a national sport, but has become

238 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.}

a mere trade with most of its followers, he asked
the Jockey Club to appoint a committee to consider
the "present condition of the Turf." The three
Stewards of the Jockey Club were ex-officio to serve
on this committee. "The public are now convinced,"
Sir Joseph stated in his proposals, " that the system
which has been of late years rapidly growing up in
no way tends to improve the breed of horses, but is
one of simple gambling, and in this state of things
the Jockey Club silently acquiesce. Such an im-
pression," he continued, " rightly or wrongly framed,
is most dangerous alike to the Sport and the reputa-
tion of those who mix in it ; but so long as the
recognized authorities remain passive, and make no
effort to bring about a better order of things, it
would be impossible to remove it." There could be
no doubt of the sincerity of the reformer; but, as
the facts existed, it was not unnatural that it should
be remarked that at this very time the cherry and
black was being carried at Northampton and other
Spring fixtures by Kingsclere two-year-olds, and
that in the winter Sir Joseph had taken ^40,000 to
^600 a-piece about his five fillies in the Derby.

Sir Joseph's first proposal was that no horse should
run in any flat race after November 15th or before
March 24th, and no two-year-old before September
ist — ^any horse so running to be disqualified from
entering or running at aiiy meeting where the Jockey
Club rules are in force.

The principal consequence of this proposal being

TURF REFORM. 239

carried into effect would have been to orive to Don-
caster and the three Newmarket Autumn Meetings
a monopoly of two-year-old racing, one of the most
interesting features in the year's sport.

The next proposal was that no entries for two-
year-old races should be made more than " fifteen
days before the day advertised for running." If it
was Sir Joseph Hawley's object to put an end to
two-year-old racing altogether, these two rules, if
they had become racing law, would have done it
most effectually.

His third proposal was that no entry of any horse
under four years old should be received in any han-
dicap; his fourth, that no public money, cup, or other
prize should be given in any race to which two-year-
olds were admitted, to any race under a mile, or to
any handicap. His fifth, that all entries should be
made in the real name of an owner or part owner.
Public meetings of the Jockey Club were also pro-
vided for; and by the last of the proposals It was
provided, further, "that the basis of the Club be
extended, and that not only more gentlemen who
are large owners of race-horses, but those who take
interest in racing as a means of preserving the breed
of horses, be invited to become members."

These propositions were very fully discussed, both
in the Sporting Press and among racing men, at the
time they were made. They are interesting, not
only as conclusions at which a shrewd, practical, and
earnest owner of horses of many years standing had

240 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

arrived, but as being more or less the panacea pre-
scribed by all Turf reformers.

What would have become of the Turf during its
transition state, if Sir Joseph Hawley's third pro-
posal had been carried out, it is difficult to imagine.
Nor is it easy to see with what sort of races the
gap created by the withdrawal of two-year-old
racing, and the omission of three-year-olds from
handicaps, would have been filled up.

Number four, however, would have furnished the
ruin begun by its predecessors. To the proposal
that the basis of the Jockey Club should be extended,
and that the practice of using assumed names on the
Turf should be done away with, there seems to be
little, if any, objection.

Opposed pretty generally in the Turf Senate, the
proposals were not carried, though some alteration
in two-year-old racing was made, such races begin-
ning on May ist, and not before; but this concession
to public opinion did not last long.

Sir Joseph Hawley died April, 1875; but left no
subsequent tenant of Leybourne Grange to follow in
his footsteps as a supporter of the Turf. Firm with
servants, he was on occasions most lavish in reward-
ing them. He gave Wells the stakes for the Derby,
and put Job Marson on a large sum to nothing on his
Derby or St. Leger mount. He forgave Wells his
overweight in the Doncaster Champagne Stakes on
Blue Gown ; indeed, he never lost his temper at the
time; and after the seizure which prevented his old

SIR JOSEPH HAWLEY. 241

jockey from riding again for him, he behaved to him
with great Hberality. As a breeder, Sir Joseph
Hawley was most fortynate, but he was hardly what
would be considered a scientific student of crosses.
One year he would send all his mares to Asteroid,
another to Beadsman, another to Fitz-Roland. Men-
dicant was the foundation of the fortunes of his
stud, and by her union with Weatherbit the Sheet
Anchor line, threatened with extinction, was per-
petuated.

Sir Joseph was a heavy bettor when he saw the
chances reasonably in his favour, but never a mere
gambler, and on no occasion a plunger. He con-
stantly expressed his detestation of the "plunging
school," and considered it a disgrace to the Turf.
He employed his trainer solely to train his horses.
Their trials he always made himself, and he will
always be recollected as one who excelled all other
men in the nice art of "putting horses together."

VOL. II. 16

242 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

CHAPTER XI.

LORD GLASGOW ADMIRAL ROUS.

LORD GLASGOW, whose long and honourable
career of fifty years on the Turf had made his
name a household word among the followers
of the sport, was born on the loth of April, 1 792. For
some years he was in the naval service of his country,
and rose to the rank of commander; but there were
attractions ashore he could not resist, and as early
as 18 19, Lord Kelburne ran a horse, called Chance,
in a match at Newcastle, the first horse he owned,
and the first appearance of his colours on a race-
course. He soon after made additions to his stud,
and became a breeder of thoroughbred stock on an
extensive scale, confining his entries for races, how-
ever, to the North — York and Doncaster, and the
Caledonian Hunt and Ayr Meetings. One of the
first good animals he acquired was Jenny, winner of
the St. Leger Stakes, whom he purchased after the
race. Actaeon, also, was a horse of considerable
celebrity, and was used by Lord Glasgow for se-
veral seasons afterwards, passing into the Royal
Stud.

Retainer and Retriever were two good horses,

LORD GLASGOW. 243

bred by Lord Glasgow, and the former started first

favourite for the St. Leqfer; but it was never h

£>

ns

good luck to win the great Northern or Southern
Race, much as he desired it — General Peel, the best
horse he ever bred, running second only for the
Derby. 1864 was a year of great three-year-olds,
and among them General Peel was one of the best.
He was an unlucky horse, like Savernake; for had
Blair Athol been out of the way, in one season he
would have carried off the Two Thousand Guineas,
the Derby, the St. Leger, and the Doncaster Cup.
As it was, he won the Two Thousand Guineas and
the Doncaster Cup, and was second for the other
two great races, whilst in the following year he ran
a dead-heat for the Ascot Cup. He was then put
to the stud, but was unsuccessful in getting winners,
and during the present summer, the old horse, still
in his prime, sound, and probably with many years
of life before him, has been sold for twenty-five
guineas, at a public auction. Happily, however,
contrary to the fate that such a price suggests, he is
to finish an honourable but unlucky career as a sire
of hunters in Ireland. Of the horses that made
1864 a famous year in the annals of Turf history.
General Peel and Ely alone have proved failures at
the stud. Blair Athol and Scottish Chief are favourite
and fortunate sires. Kincsem's fiftieth victory in an
unbroken series of triumphs tells of Cambuscan's
quality; and Cathedral, who was unplaced in the
Derby of that year, has done well at the stud. A

16 — 2

244 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

field comprising five such horses as Blair Athol,
General Peel, Scottish Chief, Ely, and Cambuscan,
has rarely been seen ; and it has been often said that
the worst of them was good enough to win four
Derbys out of five.

Lord Glasgow was elected a member of the Jockey
Club in 1839, and on his succeeding to the family
title and estates, three or four years later, he mate-
rially strengthened and increased his string of horses
in training and at the stud. In 1845 he had a dozen
horses running in his name, but out of these eleven
were nameless themselves. For many years after,
when his colours were seen borne on the back of
some roan or skewbald to the starting post, or hope-
lessly toiling thence in the rear and behind the ruck,
people simply said, " Oh, something of Lord Glas-
gow's!" for it was taken as a matter of course that
his colts and fillies should be nameless, and from
unnamed sires and dams. Persons who had to write
of sporting events complained very frequently and
loudly of the inconvenience caused by these long,
nameless pedigrees; but Lord Glasgow only blessed
them in characteristic fashion for their trouble. This
habit he had got, it was said, during his days afloat,
when, in the King's uniform, he was cock of the
gun-room, at a time when "the British Navy was
the British Navy, sir." It was generally admitted
by his friends that he was facile princeps in the
art of "blessing with a rough tongue," notwith-
standing the very considerable pretensions of the

THE NAMELESS YOUNGSTERS. 245

late Lord Southampton, and of a popular Royal
Duke.

About the year 1844, Lord Glasgow was so far
over-persuaded by his friends against what he
thought his better judgment, that he consented to
name three of his horses. He called one colt He-
has-a-name, another he labelled Give-him-a-name,
and a third He-isn't-worth-a-name, which was, un-
fortunately, but too true of most of the horses he
bred. He always said a horse should not be named
till it had earned a name by winning a race, and as
his horses rarely, taking their number into con-
sideration, occupied this position, they were for the
most part shot unnamed. At last the brother to colt
by So-and-so, and sister to filly by Something-else,
became in a high degree misleading and bewilder-
ing. General Peel, a horse of which he was with
reason very fond, he named in honour of his old
friend and companion.

Lord Glasgow's reluctance to name his young
stock was one of many eccentricities of character he
consistently displayed during his long life ; but unlike
many of his others, which were calculated to prove
inconvenient to himself alone, this was a great
nuisance and stumbling-block to the sporting world
generally.

What would result in the records of the year's
racing the Stud-book and the return lists if many
large owners followed such a line of conduct needs
not be pointed out. In pleasant contrast appear

246 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

the neatly named colts and fillies of the late Sir
Joseph Hawley, than whom no owner was ever more
happy in the names he bestowed upon his youngsters.
Beadsman, from Mendicant; his son, Pero Gomez
the Spanish Beggarman, from Salamanca; Rosicru-
cian, the Red Cross Knight with his vow of poverty;
Blue Gown, by Beadsman from Bas Bleu; and King
Cophetua, "who loved the beggar maid" — will
always attest the soundness of Sir Joseph Haw-
ley's judgment in the matter of Turf nomenclature,
which is an art in itself, though it be but a small one.
It was not, however, among the list of Lord Glas-
gow's accomplishments.

As a breeder, the wealthy Scotch earl supported
his favourite pastime with a lavish expenditure,
rather priding himself than not upon laying out
;^6o,ooo a year on the Turf. But money does not
always command success at the stud or on the race-
course. Lord Glasgow had an unprecedented run
of bad luck, which seemed however to be turning
a little during the last year or two of his life. The
ill-fortune that attended his efforts was generally
assigned to his obstinate persistence in continuing to
breed from particular strains of blood not well-suited
to each other.

Lord Glasgow was ever opposed to letting a good
horse leave our shores, though he did not always
agree with other critics as to what a good horse was,
and experience has proved the soundness of the
policy. The foreign buyers have ever been guided

FOREIGN PURCHASES. 247

by the best opinions of the merits, breeding, and
soundness of our horses that they could procure
from persons whose judgment, in their beHef, was
most worth followinof. The French stable has for
years past bought freely at high prices of our best
blood, and Verneuil's dam. Regalia, and Chamant's
dam, Araucaria, were no haphazard investments.

The Austrians, when they took away from us
Buccaneer and Mineral, were well advised, and the
produce, Kisber, carried off the English Derby in
1876, Their neighbours, the Hungarians, bought
Cambuscan after his not over-successful career on
the English Turf; but then buyers were assured he
was not a horse to be missed at any reasonable
price. His daughter, the splendid Kincsem, returned
to her sire's native land to win one of the most
highly coveted prizes of our Turf — the Goodwood
Cup {1878). Carnival, Sweetmeat's great son, and
Blue Gown, perhaps the second best horse of Stock-
well's get, also went to Hungary; but, thanks to the
praiseworthy policy of the Cobham Stud Company,
both these sires were brought back again to England,
and the folly and disgrace of our having parted
with them is removed. Carnival, unfortunately, did
not live to anything like equine old age; but his
2,500 guineas son, Maraschino, may keep his memory
green for many a year.

Parole, perhaps the best American-bred racer we
have yet seen, is by Leamington, the luckiest purchase
the Yankees have made from us, as many of his stock

348 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

have raced well in the States. Leamington won the
Chester Cup twice, in the days of its glory as one of
the greatest handicap contests of the Turf. Parole
is by Leamington, out of Maiden by Lexington out
of Kitty Clark by Glencoe, who also was* the sire of
that famous heroine of the stud, Pocahontas. Leam-
ington's sire was Faugh-a-Ballagh (own brother to
Irish Birdcatcher by Sir Hercules) out of a Panta-
loon mare, and was a sufficiently convincing proof
of the excellence of the cross of Whalebone with the
Pantaloon blood, Sir Hercules being a son of Whale-
bone.

But not any of the horses the foreigner carried
from our shores would have been likely to arrest the
attention of Lord Glasgow, or cause him to loose his
purse-strings. The result of his application of his
reading of Stud-book lore was too often a weedy
roan ; but his lordship must be credited with having
the courage to shoot his ** rubbish " very liberally.
He would have his own way in everything. At the
same expense that he produced animals of curious
colours, of irregular limbs and slow paces, he might
have bred sound, true-shaped racers. Of all things,
he wanted to win, for his love of the SjDort and the
glory of the thing, the great races ; but his theories
of breeding stood in the way. An open-handed and
really kind-hearted master, he might have been sur-
rounded by old racing servants who had served him
for a generation. His peculiar theories of obedience
due from employed to employer were a hindrance,

CHANGES OF SERVANTS. 249

and he was continually changing his jockeys and
trainers — Harlock, John Scott, and the Dawsons in
his later years, most frequently having charge of his
curious collection of quadrupeds, whilst the crimson
and white jacket was taken away from Aldcroft, to
be given back again at a moment's notice. " My lord
says so," and it was more than any of his servants'
places were worth to oppose him.

He alwa^^s gave his jockeys strict injunctions how
to ride in his races and matches, and he expected im-
plicit obedience in riding to orders. But compli-
ance with the Earl's orders was not always easy.
A waiting race could always be accomplished; but
if the orders were to come away from the first,
compliance was not so easy a matter. Let one
example serve. When Achievement started for
her One Thousand Guineas, it was long odds on
her winning if no accident happened to her in the
race. Lord Glasgow swelled the field with one of his
roan fillies, unnamed and unknown to fame. His
orders to his jockey were to make the running, and
cut down his field. The wretched filly carrying the
Glasgow colours was last, outpaced from the start.
The jockey was joined after passing the post by
Lord Glasgow on his cob, and in a most unplea-
sant frame of mind. The Earl accompanied his
jockey to the Bird-cage, riding a couple of yards
behind him, and remonstrating with him. " You
disobedient young gentleman, did I not tell you to
make the running, eh?" and variations fortissimo.

250 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Achievement could probably have given the unfor-
tunate filly two stones and a handsome beating.

In his younger days the Earl was a great bettor,
and would lay very heavy wagers from time to time
after dinner, or over the card table. There is a story
told of Lord Georgfe Bentinck lookinof in at Crock-
ford's on the eve of the Derby, and offering to take
three to one about his horse Gaper.

" I'll lay it you," said Lord Glasgow.

" Yes," said Lord George, in his rather mincing
way; "but then I want to do it to money."

" I'll lay you ninety thousand to thirty," was the
response.

Lord Glasgow was not only a whole-hearted sup-
porter of the Turf; earlier in life he had been an
enthusiastic, though always eccentric, M. F. H., and
had hunted the Lanark, Renfrewshire, and Ayrshire
foxhounds. In the days when, as Lord Kelburne,
he was ready to ride anywhere or bet to any amount
upon almost anything under the sun, Mr. Apperley
paid a visit to the country he hunted, and gives a
characteristic and interestinof sketch of Lord Glasorow
as a master. " Nimrod's Northern Tour" says: —
" There are attributes in the nature and tempera-
ment of some men which, if I may be allowed the
expression, half make a huntsman, and many of those
Lord Kelburne possesses. For example, his zeal
and love of everything belonging to fox-hunting
appear to have no bounds. He is as regular in his
kennel hours as an old maid at her tea-table, and he

LORD GLASGOW. .' 251

is as fond of his hounds as they are of hun. Add
to all this, he is a person of acknowledged good
abilities, which enables him to take advantage of
circumstances, a point much insisted on by Wil-
liamson; and justly so, in a science which, like fox-
hunting, is beset and opposed by them at every step.
Then, again, he is a horseman of the first class for
nerve and straightforward work in the field, which
gives him no slight advantage. That he erred from
letting his hounds get the mastery of him from
motives of kindness and good feeling, he is himself
ready to acknowledge; and it is much to be lamented
that his principle — he had all but abolished the use
of the lash — will not succeed. Nothing is more true
than that hounds should be encouraged, not rated,
to cry, and that whipping faulty hounds makes good
hounds shy; still, as there are in all packs many
hounds that will do what is wrong, and very few that
will always do what is right, the use of the lash and
the rate are inseparable from discipline in the field.
There are points in which Lord Kelburne excels in
his system of hunting hounds. His method of laying
them on a scent is perfect, and in his casts when at
check he appears to know exactly the time they
ought to be allowed to try and make it good them-
selves; and this is a point of no small importance,
especially in a country like the one I saw him in,
where a fox has so many advantages over hounds.
In drawing his coverts, his lordship appeared to me
to be rather too far from his hounds, which accounted

252 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

for their once or twice slipping away with their fox,
unobserved by him; but as far as I could judge of
him in chase — and I saw him in some trying situa-
tions— he appeared equal to giving them all the
assistance required. His country, like most parts of
Scotland, that I hunted in, however, is calculated to
keep every huntsman in a fidget, from the quantity
of open drains which invite foxes to go to ground.
I thought his hounds to the eye equal, if not
superior, to any other in Scotland. And why
should they not be so ? They are the blood of two
of the most celebrated kennels in England — the
Lambton and the Beaufort — chiefly the former; but
of their steadiness I cannot say much. His lord-
ship, however, I hear, altered his system, got a new
and active whipper-in, when the hounds behaved as
steady as bricks. In the stable I counted five-and-
twenty hunters, besides hacks — almost all of which
were thoroughbred, and many of them, 'not un-
known to fame,' having been good racers in their
time. Amongst them was a beautiful little grey
mare, ridden by the second whip, which won a six
hundred guineas stake at York ; also May Day, who
won the FItzwilliam Stakes, beating Dr. Syntax;
and she also beat him in the Cup Stakes, although
she did not win. His lordship's own horses were all
thoroughbred, except one called Scott's horse, so
named from having been purchased of ' Old Scott,'
as the huntsman to Mr. Ramsay's hounds is called,
at the stiff price of 250 guineas. Lord Kelburne's

THE LEGACIES. 253

favourite horses, however, were Collier, by Comus,
out of a Waxy mare; and Daredevil, by Viscount,
out of. an Orville mare. In the paddocks, I wit-
nessed a sight such as I wish I could say is oftener
to be witnessed than it is. I saw a lot of old hunters
turned out for the rest of their lives, and enjoying
themselves at their ease — one of them a fine grey
gelding, which his lordship told me he had ridden
fourteen seasons, ' never having turned him out in
the summer,' he said, 'after reading Nimrod's letters
on the condition of hunters.' Lord Kelburne had
two countries — the one the home country in Ren-
frewshire, the other in Ayrshire, which is, I believe,
by far the better of the two. Previous to Lord Kel-
burne, Sir David Baird hunted these countries, and
after him Mr. Oswald, of Shield Hall."

Lord Glasgow, with all his curious traits of cha-
racter and eccentric vagaries of conduct, had the
happiness to make some warm friends, and keep
them. Among these were Mr. George Payne and
General Peel; and by his will he left them pecuniary
legacies and all his horses, with the condition, how-
ever, that they should not sell any of them, but if
they did not choose to accept the legacy they were
to destroy the horses. A number of worthless
animals at the Doncaster paddocks were despatched.
The best horses in training were retained, and were
always run in Lord Glasgow's crimson and white by
Mr. Payne, out of regard for their old master.

254 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

The Stallions remained to be dealt with, and their
case presented a difficulty, as neither Mr. Payne nor
General Peel desired to carry on a breeding stud on
an extensive scale, such as that owned by their old
friend.

The legatees under the will, therefore, decided to
let the Glasgow legacy stallions by auction, and this
was accordingly done at Doncaster, in the late
autumn of the year of their old master's death. The
experiment — regarded with little faith by the old-
fashioned breeders, who looked upon it as a " new
thing," and therefore bad — was successful. Nobody
was more surprised at the result than Mr. Payne,
when he found that the ten stallions had averaged
277 guineas. Knowsley's price was 820 guineas;
General Peel let for 600 guineas. Rapid Rhone
was let to Mr. Chaplin for 300 guineas. He was
the best of numerous roans bred by Lord Glasgow;
but few people care for the colour in racers, and
there are many owners who have refused to train
even a good-looking roan colt or filly they have bred.
These prejudices against certain colours are founded
on the fact — ascertained by a long experience — that
they rarely make race-horses. Against greys there
is almost, if not quite, as strong a prejudice on the
Turf; and duns are almost unknown at the starting-
post — old Duenna, a hurdle racer, being, it is said,
the only dun ever trained. Toxophilite and The
Drake were among the other stallions let by the
legatees under Lord Glasgow's will.

SIR MARK WOOD. 255

James Carr Boyle, K.T., fifth Earl of Glasgow,
Lord Lieutenant and Sheriff-Principal of Renfrew-
shire, died March II, 1869, in the seventy-seventh
year of his age. He married, in 182 1, Georgiana,
daughter of Mr. Mackenzie, of Newhall; but leaving
no issue, was succeeded in the title and Scotch
estates, worth some ^60,000 a year, by his half-
brother, Mr. G. F. Boyle; while the English estates
passed to his sister, the widow of Lord Fitz-Clarence.

The old Scotch Earl was perhaps too careless of
the feelinofs of others in matters which he himself
regarded as of small importance, and was in this
respect in strong contrast to his old acquaintance
Sir Mark Wood, who was in many respects a man
with a singular and particular regard for the pro-
prieties of life, both spiritual and temporal. Of Sir
Mark, this anecdote is told: — On one occasion
he had experienced some difficulty in obtaining
a supply of straw for his race-horses, and on meet-
ing a gentleman who lived about three miles from
Hare Park, he asked him whether he could obliofe
him with a waggon-load, adding that it was wanted
as soon as possible. Mr. Witt, who was always
anxious to oblige gentlemen connected with the
Turf, and more than one of whose sons have been
lovers of the sport, ordered the straw to be loaded
forthwith, and sent early on the following morning
to the Hare Park. The next day happened to be
Good Friday, and it was and is the custom through-

2S6 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

out Cambridgeshire for labourers to be employed
until noon on that day, but to be paid wages for the
whole day. The straw was sent off in the ordinary
course, and arrived at the Park about eight a.m. on
Good Friday morning. Sir Mark Wood was taking
an early stroll, and, seeing the waggon, walked up
to the waggoner, and asked who sent the straw.
On being told, he exclaimed, "Good heaven! Is
your master a heathen ?"

The late Admiral Rous, as will be readily admitted
by every person acquainted with the history of the
Turf during his connection with it, held an altogether
unique position. From what we know of Sir Tregon-
well Frampton's connection with the Turf of his day,
it appears that he held to some extent the place of a
dictator, from knowing more of the arts of training
than his fellows ; but he was by no means an amiable
or estimable character, and his influence extended
no further than his superior knowledge would carry
it. In his time, though the love of the sport was
becoming deeply rooted in the hearts of the people,
the number of horses trained with professional skill
was few, and, with the exception of Newmarket, the
attendants at race meetings were only numerous as
they were purely local. Nevertheless, wholly oppo-
site as were the characters of the two men, there
may be some comparison made between the Admiral
and the old keeper of the King's running horses:
both in their respective times were looked up to as

LORD GEORGE BENTINCK'S INFLUENCE. 257

the final authorities on matters relating to the sport.
In the history of our Turf, only one other person
can be found whose influence over the sport and its
patrons can be said to compare with that of Admiral
Rous. Lord George Bentinck, during ten years,
from 1836 to 1846, exerted a great influence over
all Turf matters, and was generally regarded by the
habituds of racecourses as the highest authority
on every subject connected with the pursuit. But
Lord George Bentinck s power and authority never
equalled those wielded by Admiral Rous for the
quarter of a century which preceded his death, though
his personal influence was greater than that of any
man ever connected with the Turf, except his who
was by universal suffrage elected Dictator. Lord
George Bentinck had raced privately and without
the knowledge of his father for some years as " Mr.
Bowe," but only in a small way. When he appeared
publicly on the scene, his two brothers were security
for him at Messrs. Drummond's Bank for ^300,000,
besides the sum his own credit supplied for the pur-
poses of his racing expenditure. He began on the
grand scale, and soon dwarfed by his operations
most of the figures which peopled the betting-ring
in his day. It was not until after Lord George had
disappeared from the busy scenes that he loved so
well that Admiral Rous began to assume that posi-
tion he filled so long, with the greatest honour and
credit to himself, and benefit to all interested in the
welfare of the Turf.

VOL. II. 17

258 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

The Hon. Henry John Rous was the younger
son of Sir John Rous, a Suffolk baronet, who, on
the occasion of the accession of George the Fourth,
was created Earl of Stradbroke. The future ruler
of the Turf world was born at his father's seat. Hen-
ham Hall, which is near the sea-coast, a fact which
may account for his subsequent choice of the sea
as his profession. From his earliest years he was
acquainted with the points of a thoroughbred horse;
for his father kept a small stud of racers, which,
under the care of the stud groom, were trained at
home, on the greensward of the Park. The date ot
the Admiral's birth was some time in the middle of
January, 1795; that of his lamented death June 19,
1877. His constitution was naturally of great
strength and vigour; during the whole of his
long life he was rarely ailing, and until within a
month of his death his faculties were as bright and
his will as strong as they had ever been. He had
been deaf for some years, but that was all, apparently,
that had happened in the course of nature to make
him an old man.

Having decided upon a seafaring life in the
service of his country in one of His Majesty's ships
of war, in 1809 he joined that branch of the service
made glorious beyond compare by the victories of
our great Captain, Lord Nelson. He went aboard
the Repulse in that year as a midshipman, having
received his previous education at Westminster
School. In the Repiilse\\^ took part in the Flushing

ADMIRAL ROUS. 259

Expedition, and was shortly afterwards transferred
to the Bacchante, commanded by Captain Sir WilHam
Hoste. Under this officer, he was at an early age
entrusted with the command of a boat more than
once in boat actions fought in the Gulf of Venice.
At the age of seventeen he nearly lost his life
through a leak having been sprung in a prize vessel
of which he was in charge. With his crew, he held
on to the gunwale of the water-logged ship for four
hours, when rescue came, and captain and crew were
carried safely into Ancona. In 181 7, Lieut. Rous
was made a commander, and for eight years served
on board various vessels, till in 1825 he was made
a post-captain. For four years following he had
command of the Rainbow, a period which was not
characterized by any adventure. Then came a plea-
sant six years, during which Captain Rous was
ashore, and could indulge his taste for the Turf.
But in 1835 he went to sea again, for the last time,
in command of the Pique, a frigate of thirty-six guns.
With this vessel he performed a great exploit, which
Is held by nautical men to be almost unsurpassed for
daring and resolution, even in the grand annals of
our navy. Without a rudder, and leaking badly
all the way. Captain Rous brought the Piqzce home
from Newfoundland, standing bravely by his ship,
and luckily escaping a watery grave beneath the
Atlantic.

From the date of his landing in England, in 1836,
to the day of his death, in 1877, Admiral Rous

17 — 2

26o HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

devoted himself entirely to his favourite sport, which
he thenceforward, to the great advantage of the
public, made the business of his life. In 182 1,
together with his elder brother, the Earl of Strad-
broke, he had been elected a member of the Jockey
Club, and in 1838 he was made a Steward for the
first time; and two years later he was willingly per-
suaded by his friend the Duke of Bedford to act as
an amateur master of the horse, and take upon him-
self the entire direction of affairs in the Duke's large
stud. There was no post in the world that the
Admiral would have liked better. He was generally
very successful with the Woburn Abbey horses,
especially in making winning matches; but his
reiofn had also its mistakes: on some occasions he
gave too high a price for horses that turned out to
be comparatively worthless, and he sold to Mr. Parr
Weathergage, a Goodwood Stakes and Cesarewitch
winner subsequently, for the trifling sum of thirty-five
pounds. The Admiral's management, however, gave
satisfaction both to the Duke of Bedford and to
William Butler, his trainer, and by his will the Duke
left to Admiral Rous any horse in the stud he
thought fit to select. His choice fell upon that good
horse Asteroid, whom he sold to Sir Joseph Hawley
for 1,500 guineas. The Admiral never had many
horses of his own in training to carry the harlequin
jacket, and these he ran almost exclusively in
matches. In makino; this class of races he was most
successful, being generally considered by such men

ADMIRAL ROUS. 261

as Sir Joseph Hawley, General Peel, and Colonel
Anson rather better than they were at the weights.
Certainly, there never was a man on the Turf who
won so many of the matches he made; and pro-
bably no man ever lived who had made so many
matches. Admiral Rous married, in 1836, Miss
Cuthbert, daughter of Mr. J. R. Cuthbert, of Gros-
venor-square.

In 1850, his book "On the Laws and Practice of
Horse-Racing" was published. It gave a succinct
account of the introduction and subsequent develop-
ment of the thoroughbred Eastern horse into Eng-
land. This was followed by the Newmarket Rules
of Racing, and the Admiral's remarks on the rules — a
running commentary, clear and practical, as was all
he wrote. The duties of racing officials occupied a
chapter, and then followed a collection of racing cases,
the judgments of the Racing Bench forming the case
law of the Turf Most of the cases cited by the
Admiral are very old-fashioned, and refer almost
without exception to the ancient races in heats, now
almost unknown to racecourses. Some of the cases,
however, are interesting and curious. At Melton
Mowbray, in August, 1728, a Plate of £20, lost.
each, two miles, was run for in three heats. Two
horses competed — Lord Essex's Bay Motte and Mr.
Bertie's White Stockings. In the first heat both
jockeys fell, and the rider of Bay Motte was so
much injured that he was unable to mount again;
but Lord Essex's groom being near, he immediately

262 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

mounted the horse and saved his distance. Bay
Motte won the second and third heats, and his race
affords the first instance on record of a change of
iockeys in running.

A singular case occurred at Oxford, in August,
1832. Three horses started for a purse of twenty
guineas — John Trot, Conqueror, and Merry Tom.
In running the third heat, Conqueror and John Trot
fell, just at or very near the ending post, which gave
rise to a question whether either of them had sup-
ported his weight past the post, or whether the heat
should be given to Merry Tom. The dispute was
decided in favour of John Trot, upon a bystander
making an affidavit that before he fell his weight,
at least, had passed the ending post. But out of
the fifty-eight cases set forth at length by the
Admiral, perhaps the most remarkable, and cer-
tainly the worst, is that of Cabbage, i3st. 11 lbs.,
and Trinket, i3st., who, at Newmarket, in 1763,
actually were matched to race and did race five
times round the Round Course; the times being
— first round, 12 rnins. ; second, 10 mins. 46 sees. ;
third, II mins. 7 sees. ; fourth, 10 mins. 42 sees.;
fifth, 10 mins. 55 sees.; and Cabbage won, the
race having lasted fifty-five minutes and thirty
seconds.

After explaining with great perspicuity the rules
of betting, the Admiral proceeds to state a num-
ber of curious betting cases and decisions, among
them the oft-repeated query, "Whether any horse,

ADMIRAL ROUS. 263

according to any authentic documents, ever ran the
space of one mile in one minute of time? — Signed,
Thomas Hurst, John Ives."

The matter had been the subject of dispute, and
had, as usual, ended in a bet. Messrs. Hurst and
Ives being unable to settle the matter satisfactorily,
very properly refer it to the Jockey Club, who, on
April 24th, 1 801, through Mr. Weatherby, send the
following reply: —

" There is no authentic document of any horse
having run one mile in one minute of time, and
the report of Childers having done so is not be-
lieved.

" Signed (per order), E. W."

In spite of this decision, however, the tradition
that the Flying Childers on one occasion galloped a
mile in a minute on Newmarket Heath is still gene-
rally current in horse-loving Yorkshire villages, and
it is rank heresy to discredit it.

From a period soon after the publication of his
" Laws and Practice of Horse- Racing" to the day of
his death. Admiral Rous occupied the position of
Dictator of the Turf. He discharged for many
years the laborious duties of a public handicapper,
and his many admirable handicaps are the best testi-
mony to his judgment in matters of horseflesh. He
could estimate the merits and capabilities of a horse
with great nicety — "to an ounce," it was said. Rarely
could dust be thrown in his eyes. He was always

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

there on the Grand Stand, with his glass, looking
out with keen gaze for non-tryers " doing a shunt,"
with a view to the autumn handicaps at Newmarket,
or other great events of the year; but the veteran
handicapper was very rarely to be caught napping,
and horses owned by shifty men generally received
at his hands the just weight they ought to carry,
notwithstanding numerous purposely unplaced per-
formances.

Against the qualities of manliness, unsullied in-
tegrity, amiability of character, experience, and
remarkable skill in what really had become his
profession, displayed by Admiral Rous, must be
placed not a few crotchets, some recklessness of
assertion, impatience of contradiction, and an auto-
cratic rule; but they counted as little in the estimate
of the Admiral formed by his friends, the habittiijs of
the Turf, and the public generally.

Strongly averse to betting in large sums, he once
proposed that any "person" winning more than
^30,000 over one race should forfeit his winnings,
and that any member of the Jockey Club winning
more than ^50,000 should ipso facto cease to be
a member of the Club.

He had long controversies on the subject of Turf
reform from time to time, the principal being with
Sir Joseph Hawley, whom he opposed tooth and
nail; but outsiders were unable to see much differ-
ence in the remedies for Turf decay prescribed by
the rival doctors. The Admiral loved a paper war

PRESENTATION TO ADMIRAL ROUS. 265

with all his heart, and was never tired of writing and
publishing replies to Sir Joseph, or anybody else
who contradicted him or ran counter to his opinions.
The principal points at issue were remedies for ex-
cessive gambling and the assumed deterioration ot
our breed of race-horses. Of all that was said or
done on the subject of Turf reform by Sir Joseph
Hawley, there remain but two enactments at present
on the Racing Statute-book — viz., the limitation of
the racing season, and the enactment that two-
year-olds shall not run in handicaps until the
autumn.

In 1865, the friends and admirers of Admiral
Rous presented him with his own portrait and three
handsome pieces of silver plate in the form of can-
delabra. They were given to him at a public dinner
in his honour, at which Earl Granville presided, and
Mr. George Payne made the speech of the even-
ing. The picture and candelabra, it was stated,
were given " by the noblemen and gentlemen
of the British and foreign Turf for his distin-
guished services, extending over a quarter of a
century."

The guest of that evening had seen Sir Charles
Bunbury s Smolensko win the Two Thousand Gui-
neas and Derby in 181 3 ; he lived to see Lord Fal-
mouth's Silvio win the Derby in 1876. During
that lon2[- career he had borne himself without re-
proach. His death left a gap in racing circles that
will not readily be filled; but his memory will live

266 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

for generations as perhaps the greatest figure the
Enehsh Turf has ever known.

'£>

" Round his honoured grave
Let the wind whisper and the tall grass wave
The wild bird warble of the free, fresh air,
Dear to the sailor's soul who slumbers there;
And the 'white rose' that mocks the marble's snow
Tell of the blameless life of him who rests below."

REMARKS ON BETTING. 367

CHAPTER XII.

REMARKS ON BETTING THE OLD BETTORS ROUND

DAVIS, THE "leviathan" MR. DODGSOn's METHOD I

GAIN = LOSS =r NIL ODDS AGAINST DERBY WINNERS

CURIOUS BETS DREAMS.

TWO of Admiral Rous's lifelong friends — men
as devoted to the Turf, though in different
ways — were Mr. George Payne and General
Peel. They survived him but a few months, and
their deaths have left the Jockey Club with but two
septuagenarian members who take an active part in
racing affairs — Prince Batthyany and the Earl of
Wilton. Mr. Payne had the spirit of gambling as
strongly developed in him as perhaps it was in any
man who ever lived. With him, as with the famous
Whig statesman of the last century, the greatest plea-
sure in life, next to winning, was losing; and in a long
life devoted to the odds he lost three large fortunes.
This may not be an inappropriate place for the
insertion of a few remarks on betting. In the
earliest days of the pursuit of horse-racing by our
ancestors, there was considerable difficulty in making
such wagers as they desired. It might easily — and,
as a matter of fact, frequently did — happen that my

268 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

lords and all the sporting squires of the country-side
fancied the same animal for the contest between
Lord Speedwell's and Squire Stirrup's horses for
the County Plate or one hundred guineas a-side
match. In such a case there could be no betting,
and the owner had the mortification of seeing the
favourite win, hands down, unbacked even for a
guinea. For a great number of years, in order to
be able to back a horse for any considerable amount,
it was necessary that he should be opposed by some
other animal with a o-ood following of confident ad-
mirers at his back. But as racing became rather
professional than amateur, a class of men sprang
up, generally in their origin grooms or the hangers-
on of the stable-yard, who were ready to lay the
odds against any event happening, against any horse
winning, not from any prejudice against the animal
itself, but from a lively and extensive experience
that the field often contains the best horse, and that
in a match odds were frequently laid on the wrong
one. So, to the great convenience of the sporting
gentlemen, the bettor round, or leg, came into exist-
ence to supply a "felt want;" the ranks of these
fielders being recruited from time to time by a few
broken-down gentlemen, and some who were not
broken-down. But to a great extent the betting
round was in the hands of " horsey " persons of low
extraction, many of the most successful being to their
dying day unable to do more than sign their name
with the venerable Saxon sign manual — X ^^^ mark.

THE OLD BETTORS ROUND.

But if these early Ring men, who had made for
themselves a not unpleasant or unprofitable place in
this world long before the days when Board schools
came to be a trouble to little jockey boys and
grooms, were unable to write, they could, in the
phrase of their great North Country leader, "soom."
Figures they were independent of; but numbers
they knew well, and could do their "sooms" in their
heads with wonderful readiness and accuracy. Some
of their feats of mental arithmetic were astounding,
and their memories of odds and bets retentive as
a vice. They carried all the variations of such a
table as the following in their minds, and employed
them constantly in their daily business of making
bets. In calculating the amounts they could lay, it
was their practice to calculate the odds in hundreds
— one hundred was the unit of their book. They
remembered that

1 1

to

10

6

5

5

4

65

40

6

4

7

4

13

8

1 1

8

100

to

90 in

100

83^

100

80

100

/^ T 1 S

100

66^

0

100

57^

100

6ttV

100

7 ? T r

Besides the simple matter of laying the odds one
after another against all the horses in a race, the
earlier races of bettors were often asked to lay the
odds against two or more horses taken together,
against double and treble events happening, and

270 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

to bet upon complicated events which it would
puzzle their better-educated successors in the Ring
of to-day to calculate with a slate and pencil.

There were wanted to the complete happiness of
the followers of the Turf in ancient times three
things — a pious and loyal wish added made the
rhyme that was in the mouth of every old-fashioned
votary of racing —

" A long winter, a green spring,
A fine summer. God bless the King!"

To these blessings in time, however, a fourth was
added, which supplied a great necessity — the means
of getting money on when there was a good horse
in the stable.

Nor could the Jerry Cloveses and Crutch Robin-
sons, who formed the first generation of really pro-
fessional legs, complain of want of customers ; for it
was soon noised abroad that they always paid after
the race the wagers they had lost, while the gentle-
men who, to oblige their friends, had laid against
the favourites, on occasion took time before handing
over the guineas and bank notes. If, however, at
Newmarket or in London business was dull, these
cheerful ignoramuses would bet for pastime one with
another, just to keep their hands in and their fine
powers of memory from growing rusty before the
opening of the spring campaign, and they doubtless
found —

" The pleasure is as great
In being cheated as to cheat."

MR. DAVIS. 271

Cloves and Robinson were well known all over
the kingdom wherever a race-meeting was held ; but
of the. Ring men Crockford was the first to make
himself conspicuous a head and shoulders above his
associates in pencilling the odds. He may be taken
to have been the prototype of Davis, the Leviathan,
whose name was better known to the general public
of his time than that of any betting man before or
since; of Mr. Steel, a later leviathan bettor; of Mr.
Jackson of Fairfield, and other very large speculators.

Davis, who is a typical instance of what luck,
a clear head, and physical energy can do in the
Ring, was originally a carpenter and joiner, em-
ployed by Messrs. Cubitt and Co. It may safely
be assumed that every successful professional layer of
the odds began as a backer. This was the case with
Davis. By good luck it chanced that he was one of
a number of men employed to build the Subscrip-
tion Rooms at Newmarket, and, having been suc-
cessful as a backer in small sums, he was enabled to
start a book, laying the odds in half-crowns among
his fellow-workmen. The time was propitious; the
meetings were going on at the metropolis of the
Turf, and trade was brisk; Davis, at the end of
the job, left Newmarket a winner of a few pounds,
which to him at that time was a considerable sum.
His success was continuous. He backed Sir Tatton
Sykes for the Two Thousand Guineas, and won
enough money to extend his operations and carry on
business on a wider scale. He gave up his trade, and

272 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

devoted himself solely to betting, rapidly gaining the
confidence of the small bettors at the sporting houses
at the West-end of London by the punctuality of
his payments. At that time betting was not fet-
tered and restricted by administrative interference
as it is now. Davis's customers were very numerous,
and he had in the course of a day to reply to innu-
merable questions as to the price of the competitors
in different races. He was a man out of the common,
capable of striking out new paths. A happy idea
struck him, by which he could save himself great
labour and trouble, and be able to give his whole
time to bookinor his bets. He originated the bettincr-
list system, which continued in vogue in London
until the Act for the Suppression of Betting-houses,
which received the Royal assent on the 20th of
August, 1853, P^t ^^ ^^*^ to it. But in the country
towns a few years ago lists in the bars of public-
houses were common enough, and possibly in some
places they are permitted to this day. The first of
his lists Davis hung up at the Durham Arms, in
Serle-street, Strand. The locale was admirable, the
trade done was enormous, and the landlady of the
public-house retired in a few years with a substantial
fortune, the result of the trade the list brought to the
house. At a house known as Barr's, in Long Acre,
a second list was posted; Davis and his clerks stood
at a huge banker's ledger and entered the bets. Such
was the certainty that claims on him would be paid
on demand, that a winning ticket of his was as nego-

THE LIST HOUSES.

VI

tiable among his customers and others as a bank-
note. To Davis's credit, it must be said that he
never would book a bet to a boy, so that there
should be no chance of his being the means of
causing a lad to rob his master's till. On the Derby,
he was, as a rule — it is believed, without an exception
— unfortunate, and by such Derby winners as the
Flying Dutchman, Teddington, and West Australian,
he lost a fortune, having handed over to single indi-
viduals a cheque for twenty, thirty, and even forty
thousand pounds, besides the large sums he had to
pay in smaller amounts. His invention, the betting-
list, was rapidly copied; its history, till it became
a crying scandal and the list-houses were swept
away by an Act of the Legislature, has been traced
in an earlier portion of this work. In the full swing
of Davis's best time, the inclination of the public to
patronize the list-houses was very great ; and every
rogue and vagabond set up in the business who
could steal or scrape together the small capital sum
required to start in the business. " Then a smooth-
faced, white-chokered, greasy-haired fellow, fresh
from Whitecross-street, had but to give ten shillino-s
a week for a room in a thoroughfare, and lay out a
trifle in the purchase of the coloured print of the
dead heat between Charles XII. and Euclid for the
St. Leger, and, with half a yard of green baize, he
was certain of at least five pounds a week, which,
during the winter, would certainly keep the wolf
from the door."

VOL. II. 1 8

274 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

After the suppression of the list-houses, streets
and open spaces became places for the exposure of
lists of prices, on portable stands, or carried in the
hand, or hung round the necks of the fielders. The
vacant space in Farringdon-street, and the back of
the Brewery, near Tottenham-court-road, were in
London daily open-air betting markets. The Lane
in Liverpool and certain streets in our larger towns
were applied, without the interference of the police,
to a similar purpose. The persons who had done
their business at the list-houses now made their bets
in the streets, and many of the keepers of such lists
were men of the highest respectability, and dis-
charged their obligations as punctually as the best
and biofOfest men in the Rino^. Similar lists were
also displayed on racecourses, and the action of the
magistrates enforcing penalties against their display
seems an ill-judged policy. It is difficult to see the
difference in the moral effect of bets made in the Bet-
ting Enclosure, with a peripatetic who calls the odds,
and bets made just outside it, with a stationary man
who exhibits his prices on a card affixed to his desk.

That the open-air betting in such places as Far-
ringdon-street, or in sham clubs off Fleet-street, was
really in the same category as that at the list-houses
cannot be denied; and in these instances the magis-
trates were right in exercising their powers and
putting a stop to it, if they sympathized with the
Betting-houses Suppression Act, and desired to give
effect not only to its letter but its spirit.

THE PSEUDO-CLUBS. 275

After the "pass along" of the policeman, and his
numerous summonses for obstruction and for betting
in the streets, had made street betting almost impos-
sible in London, apocrj^phal clubs sprang up, where
the same bookmakers and the same backers met
daily. One of the most successful of these was an
old paved yard in Whitefriars-street, roofed in for
the purpose. There was the form of proposing and
seconding, which occupied two minutes, and some-
times an entrance fee was taken : the election about
thirty seconds. The place was put down, but not
until the proprietor had made a fortune, and the
policemen on the beat had grown as obese as septua-
genarian Aldermen.

But little betting now goes on in London, except
at the clubs, of which, besides Tattersall's and the
Victoria, there are four or five others, of great re-
spectability though of less importance.

For the time, the days of heavy betting have
passed by, and there are not one-fourth of the
small ready-money transactions there were a dozen
years ago. Driven from the list-houses, from the
streets, from the pseudo-clubs, a tithe of the class
that supported the bookmakers there now meets
them on the sly in little back lane public-houses
about Paternoster-row, the warehouses of St. Paul's,
in Mincing-lane, in the purlieus of Covent Garden,
about Knightsbridge, in the Borough-road, and in
some other localities. The business, however, is done
with some difficulty and some danger; and a man is

18—2

276 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

almost as much afraid of being seen by a policeman
booking a bet as picking a pocket, or of being found
in possession of a betting-book as of a smasher's kit.
Davis carried on his great business before the
respectable members of his craft had been driven by
the rigour of the law first to Scotland, next to Bou-
logne. He had no anxieties but those which legiti-
mately arose out of his transactions, and these were
great enough; for after the Flying Dutchman's
Derby he had paid away almost every penny of his
capital. He had laid heavily against Essedarius for
the Liverpool Cup, and was alarmed lest he should
be unable to pay his losses. He was taken ill on
the morning of the Cup day, but the victory of the
little Irish outsider, Bon Mot, restored him to health.
Davis's career on the Turf was not a very long one.
Physically, his constitution was iron, and his lungs
were leather — it was said on his retirement that he
left his voice to Mr. Steel — but the excitement and
harass of his immense business told upon him, and
he had the good sense to lay down his pencil for
ever at the end of the season of 1857. On the
Friday in the Houghton Meeting of that year, he
retired into private life, taking with him the hand-
some fortune he made for himself. Such is the
story of the success of the most famous among the
Ring men; and his history, in the main, is that of most
of the bookmakers — Greeks, as they were termed
in the days of the Duke of Cumberland — bettors
round, legs, layers of odds, fielders, Ring men,

BOOKMAKERS. 277

or whatever other term it has been the fashion
of the day to call them: of the Gullys, Justices,
Tanfields, Hills, and Blands. Their life is la-
borious, their habits are tolerably abstemious, and
they have the virtue of paying with punctuality.
If they have to work harder than many of the class
from which they have risen, their profits are greater.
That even the smallest fry of the fraternity get
money is proved by their appearance week after
week at every successive race-meeting. Generation
after generation of backers passes away, but the
fielder lives for ever. For him there is the recurring
" turn-up," coming round once in so many times with
mathematical certainty: once in so many races he
escapes laying the winner altogether; and once in
so many races he has the happiness to see an out-
sider come romping home, or perhaps be landed on
the post by a head; once or twice in a season, if he
is clever, he " skins the lamb" over a great race.

In olden times it used to be an axiom that the
basis of the calculations of the odds by the bettor
round was that the first favourite won once in every
four times. Now there seems to be but little in
the bookmaker's art, beyond bellowing " The field a
pony!" or what not, over-laying the favourite, trust-
ing to luck generally, and getting the earliest touted
information from the training-grounds about " stiff
uns," " dead uns," and the whole army of the halt
and maimed, the lame, and the great class of sufferers
from owners' intentions and " pencil fever."

78

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

It is, however, quite possible to reduce betting on
horse-races to an exact science, as was shown some
years ago by Mr. Charles Dodgson, mathematical
lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford — a gentleman also
well known in walks of literature more generally
agreeable than the dry study of pure mathematics.
Mr. Dodgson thus makes a book, with this result —
Gain = Loss = Nil.

Write all the possible events in a column, placing
opposite to each the odds offered against it: this
will sfive two columns of fissures. For the third
column add together the odds in each case, and find
the least common multiple of all the numbers in this
column. For the fourth column divide this least
common multiple by the several numbers in the
third column. For the fifth and sixth columns mul-
tiply the original odds by the several numbers in the
fourth column. These odds are to be given or
taken, according as the sum total of the sixth column
is greater or less than the least common multiple.
The last two columns give the relative amounts to
be invested in each bet: —

A

... 2 to 3 .

•• 5 •

. 6 .

.. 12 to iS

B

... 4 to I

• 5 •

. 6 .

.. 24 to ■ 6

c-

... 5 to I

6 .

• 5 •

• 25 to 5

D

... 9 to I

.. ID .

• 3 •

.. 27 to 3

The Field

... 14 to I

.. 15 •

. 2

.. 28 to 2

An example will make this clear: — Suppose that
in a race about to be run there are four horses in

MR. DODGSON'S BOOK. 279

the betting, the odds being 3 to 2 on the favourite,
which is equivalent to 2 to 3 against. The least
common multiple of the third column is 30, and the
sum total of the last 68, and as this is greater than
60, the odds in this case are all to be given in
the relative amounts given in the fifth and sixth
columns. Suppose, for example, that I multiply
these columns by 10, and make the bets in pounds —
that is, I take £z^o to ^240 on A., I give ^480 to
£120 against B., and so on. Now, suppose C. to
win the race; in this case, I lose ^500, and win
£z^o + £120 -\- £60 + £/^o= £^^0. It will be found
on trial that I win the same sum, ^80, in each of
the five events. If all bettinor men tried to work
this system, they would either be all offering odds
or all taking odds on each event, and so no bets
could be made. But the fact that this system of
winning is ever possible arises from the odds being
unevenly adjusted, so that they do not represent the
real chances of the several events. Supposing this
system to be applied only in cases where the odds
were evenly adjusted, the sum total of the sixth
column would always be equal to the least common
multiple, and thus, whether the odds were given or
taken, the concluding entry in every betting-book
would be " Gain = Loss =:iV27" — a most desirable
result.

It is needless to point out that such interesting
exercises as these and others of their class have
no practical utility. As a well-known Nottingham

28o HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

bookmaker has often remarked, when entertained
with remarks on the subject of rules of figures in
their appHcation to his calHng, " I don't want 'reth-
matick ; I want to lay six to foor o' the field" — a
sentiment representative in its comprehensiveness.
The only necessary rules of arithmetic to book-
makers are multiplication and addition.

In the old days it was possible to bet round on
the large races, as a crowd of candidates received
the support of the public, and the quotations ap-
peared in the papers weeks and often months before
the race. If a man could lay the odds of 20 to i
against each of twenty-five horses, it was clear he
would win on his book. In Davis's time not only
was betting heavier and more general than is at
present the case, but a larger number of horses
were backed for the great events, giving the
bookmakers a much better chance of laying good
prices and getting round. Davis, unlike most
of his modern successors, confined himself strictly
to laying against horses. His rewards, in the
way of the great races, if few in number, were
rich indeed. Among many other instances, the
Cesarewitch and the Cambridgeshire were won in
1^53 t)y two rank outsiders — Haco and Little David
— and the current rumour of the day was that upon
the two races Davis won not a less sum than an
^gg^egate of ^50,000. Upon the same great autumn
handicaps, however, by pursuing the opposite plan of
backing the horse, and laying against the rest, the

FIRST FAVOURITES. 281

leviathan bookmaker of to-day and his partner
"skinned the lamb" when Rosebery won, and
gained a still larger sum by his double victory.
The Derby, or any great race, will serve to illus-
trate the principle on which the book is made, and
the reason the bookmaker wins if the transactions
are spread over a series of years. In the Derby,
where the form of the competitors ought to be
known better than in any other race, from the careful
watching the horses engaged receive from a host of
Argus-eyed touts, the first favourite has won, since
the institution of the race in 1780, nearly exactly
one-third of the races decided; counting, however,
among the successful first favourites, Emilius, who
won the race in 1823, and the Flying Dutchman,
who credited the Epsom race to Lord Eglinton in
1849, though these two horses only started co-equal
favourites with Tancred, who ran second to Emilius,
and Tadmor, who was placed third in " the Dutch-
man's year." Twenty-one or two first favourites
have finished second, including Gang Forward, who
in 1873 ran a dead-heat with Kaiser, behind Mr.
James Merry's Doncaster. Eight or nine have ob-
tained the third place, and almost exactly one-third
of the first favourites have failed altogether during
a century of Derbys to catch the eye of the judge.
In the first quarter of the century, 1780-1805,
when the number of runners was smaller than has
been the case since that time, the first favourites
were oftener seen first past the post — eleven

282 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

first favourites having won in the twenty-five
years.

In 1807-8 the winners started at 20 to i. In
1 81 7, against Mr. Payne's Azor 50 to i went
begging. Frederick started at 35 to i in 1829.
Spaniel's victory in 1831 was a 50 to i chance;
Dangerous, a couple of years later, 30 to i; 1837,
Lord Berner's Phosphorus, 40 to i. After this, for
three years following, backers were likewise alto-
gether wrong in their estimate of the competitors'
merits; for in 1838-9 and 40, three great favourites —
Grey Momus, Sleight of Hand, and Launcelot — were
all beaten, respectively by Sir Gilbert Heathcote's
Amato, Mr. Ridsdale's Bloomsbury, and Mr. Robert-
son's Little Wonder. The first two started at 30
to I, the last at 40 to i. In 1844, General Peel's
Orlando was awarded the Stakes. He started at
20 to I. This was a sensational Derby indeed,
for not only was the horse actually first past the post
a four-year-old, but a horse called Leander, who had
been heavily backed, had the misfortune to break
his leg during the race. He was rather too hurriedly
buried on the course; but an inkling of something
wrong leaking out, he was dug up by order of the
Stewards, and discovered to be a four-year-old. As
far as the Derby is concerned, these form the only
instances in which any fraud with regard to a horse's
age has been discovered; but many Turfites who
have been identified with the sport for the last five
and twenty years insist that twice in that period

DERB V FA VO URITES. 283

two winners of the Derby who got the Stakes and
their owners the bets, without demur, were a twelve-
month older than they should have been. In 1845,
Mr. Gratwicke's Merry Monarch won at 40 to i.
To the delight of all Yorkshire, in 1850, Lord
Zetland's 16 to i chance, Voltigeur, carried off the
prize. 1852 saw Daniel O'Rourke, owing to the
temporary indisposition of his great stable com-
panion, Stockwell, scamper home with odds of 25
to I laid against him. In 1856 and 1857, Admi-
ral Harcourt's Ellinofton and Mr. I'Anson's Blink
Bonny both started with odds of 20 to i against
them. In 1861, Colonel Towneley's Kettledrum
was a 16 to I chance; while in 1862, a great fa-
vourite, in the Marquis, was beaten by Caractacus,
who had been competing in all the handicaps in the
spring with a light weight, and whose prospects
were deemed so hopeless that 50 to i could be had
on all hands by only asking for it. In 1864, the
great Blair Athol stood at 14 to i when he defeated
General Peel and Scottish Chief. The belief that
Hermit was "all to pieces" was the secret of his
starting at 66 to i, in 1867. Blue Gown started at
a good price the next year, when Lady Elizabeth
was favourite. In 1870, Lord Falmouth's Kingcraft
was a 20 to I chance. 1873 saw Mr. Merry's Don-
caster, a 40 to I chance, carry off the Blue Riband
of the Turf; and the present year an outsider in Sir
Bevys, at 20 to i.

Nearly one-third of the whole number of Derbys

284 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

run, it will thus be seen, have ended in the success
of first favourites; another third in the victory of
horses which, though not absolutely first favourites,
were still in pretty good favour; and the remaining
third of the whole number of races for the great
prize have resulted in the victory of horses which,
from the long prices laid against them at the start,
ought to have resulted in a good profit to the
fielders. But, probably, in comparatively few of
these races could a large profit have resulted by
what is called legitimate bookmaking. Large profits
in this calling, like high interest for invested money,
mean large risks, and are only secured by saving a
horse — a "cockboat," as he is called — by backing
one horse and laying odds against the remainder of
the competitors, by greatly overlaying the book
against one or more of the favourites, by "pepper-
ing" a horse or horses about whom information has
been received that they are, for one reason or
another, natural or artificial, in the expressive
phraseology of the Ring, "as good as dead uns."
Upon the mere fair laying of the amount of the
book at the fair market odds, no great profit would
accrue ; but, on the other hand, such a profit is steady
and unfailing, involves no risks when spread over a
series of events, and in its acquisition occasions no
anxiety. The "glorious uncertainty of the Turf,"
coupled with the certainty that once in so many
times the fielder will have a substantial success oyer
the backer, enabling him to " stand the racket," as

DEAD HEATS. 285

he terms It, of several losing races, have been the
causes which have produced the Ring as it has, in
larger or smaller proportions, existed for some forty,
or fifty, or even sixty years. As an example of the
spirit of fielding which animates the heart of the
Ring, take the case of dead heats. The Ring will
always take the odds after a dead heat ; for natural .
reasons, the better favourite in the race being gene-
rally the favourite in the dead heat. After an actual
performance before their eyes, it would be thought
that the cognoscenti would be able, with no great
trouble, to pick the winner; yet it is a proverb in the
Ring that, after a dead heat, the odds are invariably
laid on the wrong one — a saying deduced from a
long experience of the large number of times the
worse favourite of the two has won the race.
Among the most famous dead heats are those
between Cadland and the Colonel for the Derby
of 1828; between Governess and Gildermere, for
the Oaks of 1858. In 1839, between Charles XII.
and Euclid; and in 1850, between Voltigeur and
Russborough, for the St. Leger. In 1868, be-
tween Moslem and Formosa, for the Two Thou-
sand Guineas Stakes; between Fervacques and
Patricien, in 1867, for the Grand Prix de Paris.
After the exciting event of a dead heat having
occurred, a sight few men probably can look at
unmoved, it is always more satisfactory— except,
perhaps, to the horses and one section of the
bettors — that a deciding heat should take place,

286 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

than that the stakes should be walked over for
and divided between the two dead-heaters. The
authorities have done what they could to bring
about such a result ; for " in order to promote sport,"
says Admiral Rous, "and to prevent Stakes and
Plates from being compromised, after dead heats,
the horses are penalized in all future events to carry
any extra weight which the winner of the whole stake
would be entitled [sic) to carry." Two notable in-
stances in which backers selected the losing horse
after a dead heat were those of Buckstone and Tim
Whiffler, and Ely and General Peel, on two memor-
able occasions at Ascot. A calculation extended over
the dead heats of ten years, however, shows that
backers have been right in their choice nearly twice
for every once they have been wrong.

To see two or more horses run two or more suc-
cessive dead heats is not likely to happen to even
the most constant attendant of races more than once
or twice in an ordinary lifetime ; but there have been
incidents of this kind. Such an incident occurred at
Epsom on the Oaks day, 1873, when Arcesilaus and
Cranbourne ran a dead heat -for the Durdans Selling
Stakes, and on essaying to run it off, it resulted again
in a dead heat — Arcesilaus winning, the third time
of asking, by two lengths from Cranbourne. The
course is five furlongs.

A dead heat between three horses has been by no
means so uncommon on our Turf as two successive
dead heats between the same horses ; but, as may be

DEAD HEATS. 287

supposed, such spectacles are rare. Instances of
a dead heat between three horses are afforded by
the Cesarewitch of 1857, when a dead heat occurred
between Prioress, El Hakim, and Queen Bess; by
the Corporation Stakes at Doncaster, in 1869, when
Normanby, Mount Pleasant, and Indian Ocean ran
a dead heat for second place to Barrier; in 1875, at
Newmarket Craven Meeting, when Trombone, Her-
mitage, and Cat's-eye finished so closely that Judge
Clark was unable to separate them in the Bushes
Handicap. There are in earlier years several other
instances of these interesting and exciting results.

How a very pretty quarrel about a bet may be
occasioned by a dead heat is to be gathered from the
officially reported case of A. betting B, 25 to 10 that
in a certain sweepstakes Reuben and Caliph would
not be first and second. Reuben came in first, but
Caliph and Skilligolee' ran a dead heat for second
place. The Stewards, to whom the bet was referred
for decision, "were of opinion that this case must be
put on the footing of two events or matches, where
the first event was won and the second event termi-
nated by a dead heat ; they therefore recommended
that the money should be put together and divided."
The decision may have been equitable enough to
dissatisfy both A. and B., but it affords ground for a
long argument. Nor is the wording of the bet quite
clear: it is not plain whether Reuben and Caliph
were to be respectively first and second, and a dead
heat for first place between Reuben and Caliph

288 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

might have raised another difficult question. As
the case is stated, it does not appear that there was
any money for the second horse; if so, the stakes
were not affected by the dead heat, and this would
seem to take it out of the category of those dead
heats which cause a division of the betted money in
accordance with the division of the stakes, and to
make it a simple question of whether the judge did
or did not assign the first and second places to two
specially named horses. It would appear, moreover,
to be of the very essence of the bet that the two
events should be inseparable, which, no doubt,
rendered an Alexandrian solution of the Gordian
knot appear easier than any other.

The fashion of making everything in life the
subject of a bet — though an offer to stake money
still affords as pretty a proof of sincerity as any other
— has died out, like the habit of snuff-taking and the
art of inventing appropriate occasional oaths; and
sane English, if not Irish, gentlemen have ceased to
wager their fortunes on a race between two maggots,
furnished by the filberts, over the polished surface of
a dining-table; or a struggle, "first to the bottom,"
between two rain-drops on the window-pane of a
postchaise ; or to gamble away their estates upon the
momentous issue of who, during a wet quarter of an
hour, should pull the longest bent out of the shelter-
ing hayrick. The literature of the subject is very
interesting, and has been well represented by a
recent writer in an evening journal, who cites the

CURIOUS BETS. 289

followinof as amonsf the most curious bets on record:
A wager on the punctuality of a cook; upon the
singularity of a dress ; upon personal ugliness ; upon
whether a man were alive or dead ; upon which of two
persons should die first. The last-mentioned event
is said to have been the subject in recent years of
a wager between the late Lord Hastings and the
late Mr. Jackson, of Fairfield.

When a passion for punctuality leads to heavy
betting, and such betting leads to murder, it is
obviously carried too far; but so it was at the com-
mencement of the seventeenth century, in the case
of Sir Thomas Holte, of Aston. As this gentleman
was returning from a hunting excursion, he laid large
bets with his companions that dinner would be ready
to the minute on their arrival at the Hall. By some
mischance, however, the usually punctual cook was
at fault on this occasion, and the irritated baronet
was not only considerably out of pocket, but kept
waiting some time for his dinner. His friends, un-
fortunately, thought it great fun to fill up the inter-
val by jokes at their host's expense. At length he
became frenzied with passion, and, rushing to the
kitchen, murdered the poor cook. The Holte family
is said to owe the presence on its coat of arms of the
" bloody hand " to this circumstance.

One of the strangest wagers ever made was for
the sum of five shillings, only about eighty years
ago. In Yorkshire, where the affair occurred, any
sporting event is sure to excite interest; and the

VOL. II. 19

290 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

excitement became great when it was known
that two gentlemen of position had wagered as to
which of them could adopt the most extraordinary
costume. On a certain morning, accordingly, the
Castle-yard at York was crowded by spectators,
anxious to see the rivals submit themselves to the
decision of a duly appointed judge. One had his
coat trimmed with bank notes. Ten-Guinea notes
formed the lapels and pocket-flaps, and five-guinea
notes the waistcoat and collar band. His hat was
trimmed with notes, and a purse full of gold coins
was Its additional ornament on the brim, while a
paper pinned to his back bore the words " John
Bull." His rival displayed less money, but more
ingenuity. Looking at him on one side he was
a negro, woolly-headed, booted and spurred; whilst
on the other he was a woman, with a petticoat, silk
stocking, and a slipper, with a cheek rouged and
patched. It would seem at first sight that the latter
of the competitors should have received the five
shillings ; but the jury thought otherwise, and
awarded it to the man with the bank notes. Pos-
sibly the display of so much wealth overawed
them; or perhaps they were tickled at the satirical
allusion to John Bull's fondness for ten-guinea notes.
Another bet depended on a question of rival
ugliness. George H. had a Master of the Revels,
named Heidegger, a native of Zurich, and the son
of a clergyman. Though tall and well made, he
was excessively ugly, and used to be fond of

CURIOUS BETS. 291

joking respecting his ugliness. He regarded it, in-
deed, as a distinction. On a certain occasion two
young gentlemen offered to wager that Heidegger
was the ugliest human being in London; and the
wager having been accepted, the metropolis was
ransacked for specimens of uncouthness, with very-
fair success; but it was only after some time that, in
St. Giles's, an old woman was found whose unsight-
liness seemed to surpass Heidegger's. She was
brought face to face with the Master of the Revels,
and the latter admitted that he was the less hideous
of the two. One of Heidegger's supporters, how-
ever, was not to be so easily defeated; and having
remarked that the old woman owed much of her ex-
pression to her bonnet, suggested that, to make the
contest perfectly fair, Heidegger should be allowed
also to appear under that particular head-dress. This
proposition having been assented to on all hands,
Heidegger appeared in the bonnet, and looked so
excruciatingly ugly that the Master of the Revels
was allowed to have maintained his position of being
the ugliest man in London.

Horace Walpole tells a very grim story of a bet
which came under his own observation. The story
dates a hundred years ago, when "White's" was the
most frequented of the St. James's-street clubs. It
happened on a very hot day that a member was seized
with sudden illness on entering the hall of the club, and
dropped down apparently dead. The group of idlers
standing about at once divided themselves into two

19 — 2

292 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

parties, one of which declared that the man had only
fainted, whilst the other was equally positive that
he was dead. Heavy bets were made on the sub-
ject; and when a doctor, who had been called In,
prepared to bleed the insensible man, the members
of the club who had staked their money on the fact
of his death interposed, declaring that it would be
unfair that the surgeon should interfere, and give the
man a chance of recovering.

Of the many bets which have been the subject of
litigation, a noticeable one is the following: — Lord
March sued a Mr. Pigot for ^500, the amount of
a waeer laid between them as to whether Sir Wil-
liam Codrinofton or old Mr. Pisfot should die first.
Now, as Mr. Pigot senior was already dead at the
moment when the bet was made, Pigot junior con-
tended that the bet was null. When the matter,
. however, came before Lord Mansfield and a special
jury at Westminster, it was settled .that the bet was
a good bet, and Lord March recovered the money.

The cases in which a man has been induced to
stake his money in consequence of having dreamt
that a certain horse, colour, or jockey had won a
given event, are innumerable; and a great number
of them crop up in the pages of the old sporting
magazines, and in corners of country newspapers.
They have the peculiarity of other classes of
"strange coincidences." If the horse, jockey, or
colour dreamt about win, it is i*ecorded as a singular
and lucky occurrence or an inspiration, according

LUCKY DREAMS. 293

to the temperamen.t of the dreamer. If the event
dreamt of does not happen, it is never mentioned
again. . Men who are all day thinking of horses and
jockeys are the most likely, of all others, to dream
of them; and sometimes their dreams will be realized.
Wives have the habit, too, of dreaming winners, and
their tips from Dreamland are those most eagerly
backed, as it is presumed they can have had neither
prejudice nor interest in the matter, and that in their
case the dream cannot be father to the wish. But if
these cases were sifted to the bottom, it would be
found that the ladies all had lords who talked to them
of races and horses, and so laid the foundation for
the prophetic revelations of their pillows.

To take two well-authenticated cases as examples
— Lord Vivian's dream about Aldrich's City and
Suburban, and that of an American merchant carry-
ing on business in the City of London about the
victory of Sir Bevys this year in the Derby, may be
selected.

The account of his dream and the events that
followed it are thus given by Lord Vivian himself.
He says : —

" I dreamt on the morning of the race for the City
and Suburban Handicap that I had fallen asleep in
the weighing-room of the Stand at Epsom prior to
that race, and that after it had been run I was
awakened by a gentleman — the owner of another
horse in the race — who informed me that The
Teacher had won. Of this horse, so far as my

294 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

recollection serves me, I had never before heard.
On reaching Victoria Station, the first person I saw
was the gentleman who had appeared to me in my
dream, and to him I mentioned it, observing that I
could not find any horse so named in the race. He
replied, ' There is a horse now called Aldrich, which
was previously called The Teacher.' The dream
had so vividly impressed me that I declared my
intention of backing Aldrich for ^loo, and was in
course of doing this when I was questioned by his
owner as to why I was backing his horse. I replied,
* Because I dreamt he had won the race.' To this I
was answered, ' As against your dream I will tell
you this fact. I tried the horse last week with a
hurdle jumper, and he was beaten a distance.' (I
afterwards learnt that the trial horse was Low-
lander!)

" I thanked my informant, and discontinued back-
ing Aldrich. General Taylor, who had overheard
what passed, asked me, if I did not intend backing
the horse again for myself, to win him ^i,ooo by
him. This I did by taking for him i,ooo to 30
about Aldrich.

" Such," adds Lord Vivian, " is the true account
of my dream, and of General Taylor's profit from
It.

Mr. Van D.'s dream was, perhaps, more extraor-
dinary, as he is a gentleman ignorant of everything
appertaining to racing matters, and was not well
acquainted with the names of the horses in the

L UCK Y DREA MS. 295

betting. He dreamt, some three weeks before the
Derby of the present year, that Sir Bevys had won.
He told his dream to several friends, but the name
of the horse was unfamiliar, and — very naturally
indeed — they ridiculed the idea of its winning.
The dreamer, however, said, "Well, I will bet you
2 to I that it does win," naming a small stake. His
friend demurred, pointing out that he ought to take
20 to I against the event, instead of laying 2 to i on
its happening. The bet, however, in its original
terms, was insisted upon; odds of 2 to i on the
event were laid three weeks before its decision, and
when the horse was quoted at 20 to 30 to i. As all
the world knows. Sir Bevys won. Such a dream on
the part of a person wholly ignorant of and uninte-
rested in racing is to be accounted for, probably, by
his having read the names of the list of horses in the
betting, and having been peculiarly struck for some
reason by the name of the winner, and accordingly
he dreams it will win.

It is hardly necessary to multiply the examples of
lucky dreams and lucky coups in consequence, as no
great event of the Turf ever comes off without at
least several people having, in a dream, got the
name of the winner; while a very much greater
number of persons have dreamt of losers concerning
which, after the event is decided, they are silent.

296 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

CHAPTER XIII.

MR. GEORGE PAYNE THE DE ROS ACTION

ANECDOTES.

ONE of the figures best known to Turfites has
lately disappeared from the scene. Mr. George
Payne, who died in September of last year,
had been an habitudoi every racecourse in England for
upwards of fifty years, and not even Admiral Rous
was better known by sight to the public attending
the meetings than the gentleman in the drab
trousers, black frock coat, and checked gingham
neckerchief — the Payne tartan — who had a few bets
on every race, however small. His was the fourth
portrait published in Baily, now nearly twenty years
ago. "Conspicuous," said the memoir which accom-
panied it, "among the squirearchy of England is
Mr. George Payne, who for many years has been
regarded and pointed out as the beaic iddal of an
English sportsman, equally well known in the hunt-
ing-field as on the racecourse, in the drawing-room
or at the club, investing all his actions with a
chivalrous honour which has created for him not
only an English but an European reputation." And
these words were true to the last, for his sound con-

MR. GEORGE PA YNE. 297

stitution permitted him to continue his favourite
pursuits almost up to the time of his lamented
death.

Mr. Payne came of one of the oldest families in
that line sporting county, Northamptonshire. His
father was Mr. George Payne, of Sulby Hall, his
uncle the Mr. Payne who won the Derby of 181 7
with Azor. Unhappily, his father lost his life while
the son was still a little child, being shot in a duel
on Wimbledon Common by Mr. Clark. Left, with
a younger brother and two sisters, to the care of one
of the fondest of mothers, Mr. Payne still suffered
from the loss of a father's guiding hand ; and had his
father lived his friends generally believed his career
would have been altogether different, and that the
Cabinet of the State and not of the Jockey Club
would have been ruled by his counsels; for he was a
man of commanding ability.

From 1 8 16 to 1820 he was at Eton, where his
bright and lively disposition, and amiable temper
which nothing could ruffle, won him troops of friends.
Christ Church followed in due course. Few institutions
have been more changed in some important respects
in the space of sixty years than our two great Uni-
versities. Especially is this the case in the matter
of discipline among the undergraduates. Young
men of fortune are now treated by the authorities
in pretty much the same way as penniless young
sappers and grinders, who have every step of their
own way to make in the world. In Mr. Paynes

298 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

time the Dons regarded with a lenient eye the esca-
pades and laches of the class to which he belonged.
But even for the port-drinking, slippered, easy-going
tutor of that day, Mr. Payne was too much. He
achieved what was at that time a rare feat in a young
man of great fortune and great prospects. He out-
raged the feelings of the College authorities, and,
after much of delay and long-suffering, they at last
requested him to quit the University — a request
with which he willingly complied.

For a period of fifty-four years — from 1824 to
1878 — Mr. Payne's name was prominently before
the public. He came of age in 1825, and into
possession of the family seat at Sulby and the
Northampton estates, whose rent-roll at his ma-
jority was not less than £ij,ooo a year. But,
in addition to this, during his minority of fifteen
years a large sum of money had accumulated. On
the day he was twenty-one years of age Mr. Payne
came into possession of upwards of ^300,000 in
ready money, or, say, ^12,000 a year more, making
some ^29,000 a year, derived from lands let at mode-
rate rentals to a substantial and attached tenantry,
and from moneys put out upon mortgages at the
legal rate of interest. Altogether, with an ancestral
house — one of the most charming seats in a county
famous for the number of its resident gentry and the
fineness of their seats — added, the owner of Sulby
was in a position which in the days of sixty years
ago would have been considered a sufficient one

MASTERSHIP OF THE PYTCHLEY. 299

even for the needs of a nobleman of no second-rate
pretensions.

This income, however, was wholly incapable of
keeping pace with the lavish extravagance and
ruinous gambling of its possessor. Sulby passed
from his hands, the cash slipped through them in
a few years, as afterwards did two other large for-
tunes he successively inherited from relatives. In
1826, Mr. Payne of Sulby served the office of High
Sheriff of his native county, his tenantry were
pressed into the ancient service of javelin-men, and
he met the Judges with a state and show never
witnessed before or since in the county of North-
ampton. His position in the county, fondness for
field sports, and skill as a horseman, rendered it
almost a matter of course that when a vacancy oc-
curred in the Mastership of the Pytchley Hounds he
should be elected by the universal suffrages of his
fellow fox-hunters to fill it. His tenure of office
was marked by a splendour unsurpassed even in
Lord Chesterfield's time, and on his giving up the
Mastership, the whole of the Pytchley country united
to present him with a suitable testimonial — a silver
epergne, three feet six inches in height, and 600
ounces in weight, with a representation at its base of
Mf. Payne, as Master, running into a fox at the foot
of a tree. It bore this inscription, " Presented to
George Payne, Esq., of Sulby Hall, by upwards
of six hundred farmers, tradesmen, and others, of
Northamptonshire, as a testimonial of their high

30O HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

esteem for him, and gratitude for his unceasing
efforts to promote the manly and healthy sports
of the county." At the banquet at which the pre-
sentation was made upwards of five hundred persons
sat down to dinner. The Mastership of the Pytchley
before this time was marked by another event. A
splendid foxhunter's y"^/^ was given at the Assembly
Rooms, George Hotel, Northampton, to five hun-
dred people, on February nth, 1825. Of this y?/^
Mr. Payne was one of the chief promoters, the
guests included " the dlite of England, and for mag-
nificence of detail and gorgeous luxury it has never
since been equalled."

On the Turf, Mr. Payne's experiences were never
those of a lucky man. It is a moot point if he ever
was a really first-rate judge of conformation and
pace in a thoroughbred. His own horses, and those
of his confederates, ill-luck too often marked for its
own. In connection with Mr. Greville and the
Marquess of Ailesbury, Mr. Payne had his horses
trained for many years by the Dillys, at Lyttelton,
near Winchester. A few good handicaps and a
second to Crucifix for the Oaks with his filly Welfare
were all his Turf successes of any consequence during
these years. When the Dillys retired from business,
Mr. Payne sent his string to George Dockeray, at
Epsom. After this trainer's death, Mr. Payne sent
his horses to Alec Taylor, at . Fyfield, and they re-
mained with him to the last. Nat Flatman was a
favourite jockey with Mr. Payne at the time when

THE BLACK AND WHITE STRIPES. 301

\

he had most horses in training, and for some time
he had the first call on his services.

The origin of the famous black and white stripes
was as follows : — Mr. Payne's first confederate on
the Turf was Mr. Bouverie, of Delapre Abbey, near
Northampton, adjoining whose park stands the best
preserved of the Eleanor crosses. Mr. Bouverie's
colours were all black, while those of his friend were
all white. It was suggested that the confederates
should amalgamate their colours. They did so, and
hence the stripes and the pattern of Mr. Payne's
lifelong neckerchief, which his friends called the
Tartan.

Those colours, popular through a great number
of years with the public, were never associated
with any greater Turf successes than the occasional
winning of a good handicap. The best horse Mr.
Payne ever owned was Musket, one of the Glasgow
legacy horses, but he never carried the magpie
stripes; the good son of Toxophilite always being
ridden in the white and crimson, out of compliment
to the memory of his former owner.

Together with General Peel, Mr. Payne for some
years managed the Glasgow stud at Enfield, from
which paddocks, in later years, Sefton was turned
out. Mr. Crawfurd bought him as a yearling, and
his victory made up for a long series of disappoint-
ments, defeats, and losses; and no one was more
delighted than Mr. Payne, who had watched him
with affectionate eye from his infancy. He had

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

seen plenty of Fyfield failures at Epsom, including
in the first rank the head victory of Lord Lyon over
Savernake, Kingcraft's defeat of Palmerston, Cre-
morne's overthrow of Pell Mell, and Doncaster's
defeat of Gang Forward and Kaiser. It was, there-
fore, with greater pleasure that Mr. Payne won a
good stake over Sefton — a colt that was a credit
to the stable with which Lord Ailesbury, Sir John
Astley, Mr. Stirling Crawfurd, and Mr. Payne were
so long associated. For fifty-four years — 1824 to
1878 — Mr. Payne had been an owner of racehorses,
yet he had rarely, if ever, possessed a really good
horse.

The only unpleasant feature in an otherwise
entirely noble character was an infatuation for the
gaming table, or, indeed, for gambling of any sort,
of an intensity most remarkable. Early in his career
an incident connected with his play led to a very
disao-reeable result. Lord de Ros had been a con-
stant player, chiefly at whist and dcarU^ at the West-
end clubs, and during the winter of 1836 most dis-
paraging rumours as to the cause of his frequent
winnings were circulated about town. These pre-
monitory warnings, of course, did not reach the ears
of him whom they chiefly concerned, and he went
on playing as usual at Brookes's and other places of
resort. He was closely watched on several occa-
sions, by preconcerted arrangement, by members of
the club in the habit of playing at whist and dcartd.
He was on these occasions detected in the act of

LORD DE ROS v. GUMMING. 303

marking the cards, and performing also the sleight-
of-hand feat, so common among conjurors and card-
sharpers, known as sautcr la coupe. He had many
accusers, but the chief among them were Mr. Payne,
Mr. Brooke Greville, Lord Henry Bentinck, and
Mr. Gumming. Against the last-named. Lord de
Ros brought an ill-advised action for libel, and on
the loth of February, 1837, Lord Denman, with a
special jury, tried the cause celcbre of Lord de Ros
V. Cumming. The Times gave an actual verbatim
report of the trial, introducing it with these re-
marks:— "The great anxiety which has been for
many months excited in all classes, but more par-
ticularly amongst the members of the higher classes
of society, by the grave charges which had been
publicly made against the noble plaintiff, was more
strongly manifested this morning by the dense crowd
with which every avenue leading to the Court
was assailed. At an early hour the various en-
trances to the Court were completely filled, and
long before the arrival of Lord Denman the body
of the Court was closely crammed, and the galleries
themselves occupied by ladies and gentlemen, many
of whom mingle in the most illustrious presence."
Sir John Campbell (Attorney-General), Sir William
Follett, and Mr. Wightman were for Lord de Ros;
whilst the then Mr. Thesiger, and two other counsel,
appeared for Mr. Cumming; who, with Messrs. Payne
and Greville, and Lord Henry Bentinck, had signed
the letter which contained the libel. The charge was

304 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

that Lord de Ros had been repeatedly guihy of
marking the cards and cheating in other ways, and
specific dates were mentioned by the four signatories
to the letter. A great many witnesses were put
into the box, especially for the defence. Mr. Payne's
evidence was very important, and, as being cal-
culated to have a great effect on the minds of
the jury, he was put into the box last, in days when
no second speech was allowed. All that could be
elicited in favour of Mr. Gumming, and in direct
proof that Lord de Ros had cheated at cards on the
specific occasions named, having been got from Mr.
Payne by counsel for the defence, he was cross-
examined by Sir William Follett, as follows: —

" You have been a good deal connected with
gambling transactions, have you not?" — "Yes, I
have."

'* Spent a great deal of money on the racecourse,
and also been connected with racing proceedings,
and with cards?" — ** Yes, a great deal."

" Have you been in the habit of playing with
Lord de Ros?" — "Yes."

" Li the early part of your career, Mr. Payne, you
was very unfortunate, I think?" — "Very much so."

"And lost a considerable fortune?" — "I lost a
considerable sum of money, certainly."

"You lost, I believe, the whole of your patri-
mony ? " — " My lord, am . I bound to answer that
question ? And yet I do not see why I should not.
Yes, sir, I lost a considerable part of it."

THE DE ROS ACTION. 305

"You have been more fortunate since, though?".
— No ; my old luck has continued pretty much
throughout."

Sir John Campbell made the speech for the plain-
tiff in reply upon the whole case. It was what is
styled a slashing address, but exceeded the just
bounds even of licence in an advocate. He spoke
in disparagement of Mr. Payne, as " Payne the pro-
fessional gamester," meaning the jury to conclude
that he was and had been a penniless adventurer,
living upon the proceeds of his skill, and something
worse, at cards and dice. He called upon the Court
to adopt his opinion. "And I will call upon you," he
said, "to form the same opinion — that Payne has
confederated with Brooke Greville to get up this
charge against Lord de Ros."

Mr. Payne was naturally very much annoyed at
the language used by Sir John, and the aspersions
he had thought fit to cast upon his character as a
man of honour. Particularly he was chagrined at
a phrase used in cross-examination, that, "having
started as a dupe," in reference to the loss of his
property, "he had soon crystallized into something
worse." Had Mr. Payne caught the eminent
Scotchman within a few days after the trial, he
would have had cause to remember his undue use
of disparaging language, for Mr. Payne waited about
the neighbourhood of Westminster Hall, with a very
stout horse-whip in his hand, for some afternoons,
about the time Sir John Campbell usually left the

VOL. II. 20

3o6 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Courts. Sir John apologized, through the medium
of Colonel Anson, and Mr. Payne at once good-
naturedly forgave him.

A vast number of card-playing anecdotes are told
about Mr. Payne, who spent a large portion of his
time for above half a century at the card table, or in
"shaking his elbow." Of these stories perhaps two of
the best were told by an able and accomplished
writer in the weekly organ of the country gentle-
men:—

Ecart6 was, about forty years ago, the fashionable
private game of the day, and many was the merry
bout thereat which Mr. Payne fought out with
several distinguished adversaries. It is a tradition
of Limmer's that he and Lord Albert Denison, after-
wards the first Lord Londesborough, sat up all night
at the famous but now extinguished hostelry, and
that when they separated in the morning Lord
Albert, having lost about ;^30,ooo, proceeded to
the adjoining temple of Hymen at St. George's,
Hanover-square, to be married to his first wife.
Miss Henrietta Maria Forester, the sister of Lady
Chesterfield, Mrs. Anson, and Lady Bradford.
With the same antagonist, and playing at the same
game, Mr. Payne once set out from London in a
post-chaise to pay a visit to a country house in the
New Forest. They played all day, and when night
fell a lamp in the roof of the chaise was lighted, and
they proceeded to deal and propose without inter-
mission. Mr. Payne was in the midst of a capital

DEALINGS IN P. Y. C. 307

run of luck, with ^100 staked on each game, when
they both became aware that the chaise had stopped,
and that the bewildered postboy, who had lost his
way, was tapping lustily with the butt-end of his
whip at the window of the post-chaise to solicit the
attention of its occupants. "What do you want?"
said Mr. Payne, testily. " Please, sir, I have lost
my way." " Come and tell us when you have found
it," was all the rejoinder that he could elicit.

There was nothing in which Mr. Payne would not
dabble ; and he loved, in his own inimitable fashion,
to tell a story at his own expense with regard to
what he called "a shot at tallow," in which he once
indulged. During the Crimean War a friend advised
him that tallow was sure to go up, and recommended
him to buy a lot of P. Y. C, or "prime yellow
candle." He was then living, as he long did, at
Stevens's Hotel in Bond-street; and, acting upon his
friend's advice, he went early into the City, and
betook himself to a broker in Mincing-lane, whose
address had been furnished to him. Havingf mven
instructions that ever so many tierces of tallow should
be bought for him, he added the information that his
address was at Stevens's Hotel, and was asked by
the clerk whether it was "for delivery." Not under-
standing the question, he answered thoughtlessly in
the affirmative, and forgot all about the matter until,
a fortnight later, he was astonished, being at break-
fast in his hotel, at having a greasy document put
into his hand, with an announcement from the waiter

20 — 2

3o8 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

that "the man had come with the tallow." Going to
the door, he found a cart full of tallow casks stand-
ing before it, and, as far as the eye could reach, a
strine of similar carts behind it. " Never trust me,"
he exclaimed to a knot of friends whom he found at
the Turf Club, "if Bond-street was not choked with
tallow carts the whole way up to Oxford-street."
"That," as he often said subsequently, "was my first
and last transaction in tallow."

In the enjoyment all his life of the most admirable
physical health, endowed with high mental capacity,
and amiable as a man could be, Mr. Payne had hosts
of warm friends and admirers, and, through his long
life, no enemies. Such was his popularity that at
any time during fifty years the southern division of
his native county would have sent him to Parlia-
ment without one penny of expense to himself, and
such the kindly feeling with which he was regarded
that Mr. Padwick has said he would have under-
taken to collect ^•;^ 1 0,000 for George Payne in a
week had he needed the money. It may be added
that Mr. George Payne had spent more time at the
card table, and more money on post-chaises and rail-
way travelling, than any other follower of sport.

THE EARL Y ST A TUTES. 309

CHAPTER XIV.

THE PROGRESS OF THE LAW RELATING TO HORSE-RACING

AND WAGERS THE EARLY STATUTES ENACTMENTS

OF CHARLES II., ANNE, GEORGE II. STATUTES NOW

IN FORCE.

MR. OLIPHANT stated in his "Law of
Horses," that the first Arabian horse on
record in these islands was introduced in
the reign of Henry the First, a.d. 1121, by
Alexander, King of Scotland, who presented it
and its furniture to a church. Wagering may
have existed, no doubt, among our ancestors long
before that time ; the Roman soldier, centuries
before, may have made it his favourite pastime
to gamble with the gentle, guileless Briton for his
pocket-money; the rude men from the North, the
Teuton, and the Gaul, may have all brought with
them their own peculiar methods of playing for gain ;
but the Statute-book is silent on the subject until
the twelfth year of the reign of Richard the Second,
A.D. 1389, when servants in husbandry or labourers
were prohibited from playing at tennis, football,
quoits, dice, casting of stone, kails, or such like
importune games.

3IO HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Prohibition was apparently insufficient to check
the tendency of the hinds to stake their pieces of
black bread on a cast of the dice or the throw of
a quoit, so the terrors of the dungeon were tried
twenty years later, a statute being passed in the
reign of Henry the Fourth, a.d. 1409, confirming
and extending the enactment of Richard, and im-
posing an additional penalty of six days' imprison-
ment. Henry the Seventh, a.d. 1494, passed a law
that nobody should export a horse or mare, or carry
it beyond sea, except for his own use. With this
exception, any mare of three years old or upwards,
whose price was not above six shillings and eight-
dence, might be exported ; the owner, however, being
compelled to sell her at the port to any person who
should bid him seven shillings.

In the reign of Henry the Eighth, a.d. 1530, it
was enacted, in addition to the foregoing statute,
that any person conveying horses, mares, or geld-
ings to any parts beyond the sea without the King's
licence, should forfeit forty shillings for every poll.
The Acts passed in this reign referring to the mul-
tiplicity of "■ little stoned horses and nags of small
stature and little value," and the steps taken by the
King and Parliament to improve the breed of horses,
have already been dealt with in an earlier chapter.
In this reign, also, were made a number of regu-
lations with regard to gaming. The most compre-
hensive of these Acts was that of 33rd Henry VIII.,
c. 9 — a " Bill for the maintaining Artillery and the

MNES UPON EXPORTATION. 311

debarring- unlawful Games." Such wicked games as
logetting in the fields, slide-thrift, and shove-groat,
were especially aimed at by a parental Government,
and a penalty of forty shillings a day was imposed
on persons found keeping any common house,
alley, or place of bowling, coyting, cloyshcayles,
half-bowl, tennis, dicing-table, or carding; but there
is as yet no mention of wagers on horse-races.
A man, however, could obtain a placard to have
common gaming in his house. Noblemen and per-
sons with an income of ^100 a year could play
at anything they liked, either in their houses or
orchards, and they had the privilege of licensing
their servants to do the same. Edward the Sixth's
reign saw no addition to the laws against gaming;
but further steps were taken to prevent, by legis-
lative enactment, the exportation of our horses, but
permitted the exportation of any mare whose value
did not exceed ten shillings.

It is not clear whither the English horses were
sent, or proposed to be sent — probably it was to
Germany, Holland, and France; but from these
enactments from time to time in successive reigns,
limiting or prohibiting altogether the exportation
of horses from England, it is plain that our breeds
of horses were even at that time better than those of
the Continent, and that they were desired and would
have been purchased for export to "parts beyond the
sea," if the stern hand of the law had not been out-
stretched to prevent them from leaving our shores.

312 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Up to the close of the reign of Henry VI., it
will be observed that all the statutes against gaming
were directed against such games because they were
more attractive to the men of England than archery,
and it was feared the practice of that manly and
necessary sport would decline. The reign of Philip
and Mary, however, saw enactments against gaming
for another reason. Through the keeping of houses,
gardens, and places for bowling, tennis, dicing, white
and black, making and marring, and other games,
many unlawful assemblies, conventicles, seditions,
and conspiracies had arisen, to the breach of their
Majesties' peace, and the undoing of the State;
therefore — a.d. 1555 — an Act was passed "to avoid
divers licences for houses where unlawful games be
used;" and accordingly, after the passing of this Act,
all placards, licences, and grants to keepers of gar-
dens and houses were made void.

The enactments of previous reigns having been
found insufficient to prevent the exportation of
horses to the detriment of the State, the 5 Eliza-
beth, c. 19, revoked the permission given by previous
statutes to take horses abroad when sworn to be for
the personal use of the persons so taking them.
Elizabeth's long reign added little to the Statute-
book as far as the breeding of horses was concerned,
and nothing as regards gaming. The reign of
James the First was marked only by the trifling
alteration made by the repeal of the statute of
Richard the Second, a.d. 1623. The reign of the

ENACTMENTS OF CHARLES II. 313

Scotch Prince, however, was of the highest import-
ance to the Turf. Of it and the two succeeding
reigns Mr. Ohphant says: —

" But an important change took place with regard
to horse-racinof. Before this time horse-races were
mere trials of speed and strength, without any ac-
knowledged system, and were mixed up with other
exercises of skill and activity. The pastime had
continued on the same footing since the time of
Henry the Eighth; but this reign maybe considered
the era in which racing began to be ranked as a
distinct sport. James the First was extremely fond
of field sports. He established races on a new
footing. Under his patronage rules were promul-
ofated for their reofulation, and his favourite courses
were Croydon and Enfield Chase. From this period
also began the practice of breeding a distinct kind
of hoFse for the special purpose; and we find that
about this time an Arabian horse, and also the
White Turk, the Helmsley Turk, and Fairfax's
Morocco Barb, were brought into the kingdom, and
a considerable improvement in the breed of the
animal was thus effected.

" Charles the First established races in Hyde Park
and at Newmarket; yet, though these were discon-
tinued during the Protectorate, attention was not
withdrawn from breeding, and Cromwell had his
stud of race-horses.

"On the Restoration, a new impulse was given to
gaiety and amusement of every kind, and the New-

;i4 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

market meetings were revived. Charles, who was
a great patron of horse-racing, encouraged it by the
gift of Royal Plates at the principal courses. He
purchased brood mares and stallions in the Levant,
which were principally Barbs and Turks; and the
breed was also much improved by horses brought
over from Tangiers as part of the dowry of his
Queen, Catherine of Braeanza."

Horse-racing now became fully established as a
national sport, and the Act i6 Car. H., c. 7, was
passed to repress those evils which from its first
institution had attended it. This Act came into
operation a.d. 1664. It is intituled, "An Act to
restrain deceitful, disorderly, and excessive gaming,"
and in it horse-racing is mentioned for the first time
in the English Statute-book. This Act contained
the salutary provision that all persons found winning
by fraud, or cheating at cards, dice- tables, tennis^
bowles, kittles, shovel-board, bumble-puppy, cock-
fightings, horse-races, dog matches, foot-races, and
all other games and pastimes, should forfeit three
times the sum or value of the money so won. In
the preamble it was recited that all lawful games
and exercises should not be otherwise used than as
innocent and moderate recreations, and not as con-
stant trades or callings to gain a living, or make
unlawful advantage thereby; and that by the im-
moderate use of them many mischiefs and incon-
veniences arise, to the maintaining and encouraging
of sundry idle, loose, and disorderly persons in their

ENACTMENTS OF ANNE. 315

dishonest, bad, and dissolute course of life, and to
the circumventing, deceiving, couzening, and de-
bauching of many of the younger sort both of the
nobility and gentry and others, to the loss of their
precious time, and the utter ruin of their estates and
fortunes, and withdrawing them from noble and laud-
able employments and exercises. It was further
provided by this statute that every person losing
above ^100 on ticket or credit at any of the games
and pastimes mentioned in the Act, or at any other
games and pastimes not so set out, was discharged
by the statute from paying any part of the money ;
and this whether he took an active part in them as
one of the players, or only betted as a spectator
upon the issues of the play of others. And by
section 3 of the Act all securities given on account
of such bets or play, as promises to pay and the
like, were to be void, and the winner was to forfeit
treble the sum so won. It was held in Edgebicry
v. Rosindale (2 Lev. 94, S. C, i Ventr. 253) that an
agreement to run a horse-race for more than £\o
a side was prohibited by this important statute.

We come next to the Act 10 and 1 1 William III.,
c. 17, which was passed a.d. 1699. This Act re-
cites that certain games called lotteries had been
generally set up in England and Wales, and by
means of them great sums of money had been
fraudulently got from many persons, and from the
children and servants of several gentlemen and mer-
chants. This Act was called an Act for suppressing

3i6 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Lotteries, and imposed a penalty of ^500 on every
person detected keeping a lottery, and a fine of ;^20
upon every person playing at a lottery.

The reio^n of Anne saw still orreater mischief
arising from the spirit of gambling then existing
among all classes of society, which the Act of
Charles the Second had been unable effectually to
repress. Accordingly, the Act 9 Anne, c. 14, "An
Act for the better Preventino; of Excessive and
Deceitful Gaming," was passed a.d. 1710. This
statute recited in the preamble that the existing
laws in force had been proved insufficient for pre-
venting the mischief that had happened or might
happen from gaming. The Act of Queen Anne
enacted that all mortofaofes and securities, where
the consideration was for money won by gaming
or betting, or for repayment of money lent at gaming
or betting, were to be ipso facto void. All property
encumbered for a like consideration was to devolve
to such person as would have been entitled to it in
case the owner were dead, and all grants and con-
veyances made to prevent this were to be deemed
fraudulent and void.

It was further enacted by the 9th of Anne that if
a person lost ;^io or more by playing or betting at
any game, he might sue for the money he had so
lost at any time within three months of the date of
his losing it; if the loser himself did not take this
step any other person might do so, and recover
treble the value lost — one moiety to go to the

ENACTMENTS OF GEORGE I. 317

informer and the other to the poor of the parish
where the offence was committed. In addition to
this, any person betting or playing at any game and
winning above ^10 at one sitting, and any person
winning by fraud, by betting, or playing might be
indicted. On conviction, they were to forfeit five
times the value so won, and if they had cheated be
considered infamous, and suffer corporal punishment
of such kind as was commonly inflicted in cases of
wilful perjury. Tv/o Justices of the Peace might
cause persons suspected of having no honest means
of subsistence, and who appeared to support them-
selves by gaming, to be brought before them, and
find sureties for their good behaviour for the space
of twelve months. But the Queen, and many ot
her courtiers, being fond of sport, the Act tenderly
excepted any of the Queen's palaces during her resi-
dence there, in which places this Act was not to
prevent gaming. As the word "games," used in
this Act, was Held by the judges to comprehend
horse-races, it was adjudged that any horse-race for
£\o 2, side or upwards was illegal.

In the reign of George the First no further inter-
ference with gaming was thought to be necessary,
beyond an attempt by legislative enactm.ent to fur-
ther repress internal lotteries, and prevent foreign
lotteries from being carried on in this kingdom. In
that of George the Second, the lot of the gambler
and follov/er of the sport of horse-racing was less
happy. Several Acts were passed, dealing again

31 8 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF. \

with these matters. It was believed by the Legis-
lature, whether true or not, that gaming had largely
increased in England since the reign of Anne; and
accordingly there was passed, in 1739, an Act for
the more effectual preventing of excessive and de-
ceitful gaming, which declared the games of ace of
hearts, pharaoh, bassett, and hazard to be games or
lotteries wath cards or dice, within the meaning oi
the Act, and imposes a penalty of ;^200 upon every
person setting up such games or lotteries, and a
penalty of ;^50 upon every person adventuring at
them. It was also found that after the passing of
the statute of Anne the number of races run for
Plates of small value had vastly increased, and it
was thought that with this increase in the number of
inconsiderable races the breed of strong and valu-
able horses was prejudiced, and his Majesty's lieges
encouraged in idleness and dissolute habits. The
Legislature set to work, therefore, with its usual
zeal and diligence, as we have seen other Legisla-
tures in other reigns set to work before it.

In 1 740 was passed an Act to restrain and prevent
the excessive increase of horse-races (13 Geo. II.,
c. 19). Among the leading interesting provisions
of this Act were the following: — All horses were to
be entered for races by their real owners, and no-
body was to start more than one horse for the same
Plate, under pain of forfeiting the horse. It was
declared illegal to run for a Plate of less value than
£^Q\ the penalty for starting a horse for a Plate

ENACTMENTS OF GEORGE II. 319

of less value being fixed at a forfeit of £200, while
the person who advertised such a race to be run for
was liable to a penalty of ^100. This Act also pro-
vided that every race was to be begun and ended on
the same day, that the entrance money was to be
given back to the second horse, and that gifts left
for annual races were not to be altered. It also
fixed a standard of weights for horses of various
ages; a five-year-old horse was to carry lost., a six-
year-old iist., and a seven-year-old I2st., and the
penalty for carrying less than these weights respect-
ively in any race was ^200. An exception in
favour of Newmarket and Black Hambleton in the
matter of matches has been deduced from the Act,
though the language is by no means clear. It
seems, however, to have been the intention of the
Legislature that matches for less than ^50 might be
run at those towns, though races might not.

It was necessary a few years later — 18 Geo. II.,
c. 34 — to pass another Act to amend that whose pro-
visions are above set out. Roulet or Roley-poley
was the game chiefly aimed at, and heavy penalties
were to be inflicted upon those convicted of playing
at it. The weights carried by horses under the
former Act were found to be very inconvenient, and
useless to secure the object with which they had
been imposed; it was therefore declared lawful for
any person to start and run for any Plate worth ^50
or upwards at any weights, and at any place, without
being liable to the penalties of the previous Act re-

320 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

lating to weights, in the same manner as if that
Act had not been made. The fact that thirteen
Royal Plates of one hundred guineas each were
annually given by his Majesty to be run for in
various parts of the kingdom, and the high prices
constantly given in this and the two preceding
reigns for horses of size and substance, capable of
winning a King's Plate, were considered sufficient
encouragement to breeders to raise the breed of
horses to the highest point of size, combined with
speed and strength, or staying powers. Certainly
these circumstances were much more likely to effect
the object desired than an arbitrary scale of weights,
such as that established by the Act of 1740.

The good old times when George the Third was
King saw no interference of any kind with the sport
of horse-racing, which continued to be developed
apace. In 1809, ^" -^ct was passed by which the
duty payable on the exportation of a horse, mare, or
gelding was fixed at two guineas each, and on their
importation at four guineas. Ten years afterwards
this Act was repealed, and £^ 13s. \A. a head was
fixed as the duty payable on importing horses, and
they were permitted to be exported without duty.
The reign of that horse-loving Prince, George the
Fourth, was not marked by any important Acts
bearing upon the Turf; but in the next reign, in
1835, an Act was passed, which is still in force, for
the purpose of amending the law relating to securi-
ties given for considerations arising out of gaming.

RECENT ACTS. 321

This Act repealed portions of the statutes of Charles
the Second and Anne, and made the important
alteration in the law that securities given in connec-
tion with gaming and other illegal transactions
should not be deemed void, but to have been given
for an illegal consideration.

At the present time, most restrictions with regard
to racing have been removed, and contracts entered
into in connection with racing are governed by the
same laws as all other contracts. It may, perhaps,
be said that an excise duty of £2) ^ 7^- payable upon
every horse kept for racing amounts to a restriction ;
but- practically this is not found to be the case. A
race-horse is defined, for the purposes of the Act
(19 and 20 Vict., c. 82) which imposes this duty, as
follows: — "A race-horse is any horse which shall
start or run for Plate, prize, sum of money, or any
other thing."

The whole effect of the legislation of previous
reigns, certainly up to the time of George the Fourth,
had been to harass and restrain owners of horses,
and the accession of Her Majesty found the law of
racing, wagers, and gaming in a most unsatisfactory
condition. The Acts passed in the present reign,
from first to last, have been designed to benefit the
object for which the Turf is supposed to exist —
namely, the breeding of stout and speedy horses.
In 1837, the statutes of Henry the Eighth, of
Charles, of Anne, four statutes of George the
Second, and one of William the Fourth, were in

VOL. II. .21

322 • HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

force. The famous case of Applegarth v. Colley
came on demurrer before the Court of Exchequer,
and Baron Rolfe's decision that money might legally
be given to a race, whatever the amount, by third
parties, and that sweepstakes of less than ^lo each
were legal, brought about a change in the law.
This change was hurried on by the y/« /«;;2 actions
brought by common informers for the penalties
Incurred under the practically obsolete statutes of
Charles the Second and Anne. The law was gene-
rally amended by 8 and 9 Vict, c. 109, an Act to
amend the law concerning games and wagers. By
this Act, all the objectionable sections of the old
Acts were repealed, and racing and betting placed
on a more common-sense footing. From that time
to the passing of the Act for licensing racecourses
within ten miles of the metropolis, of the present
session of Parliament, several minor Acts, relating
directly or Indirectly to horse-racing, have been
passed, of which the principal Is the Suppression ot
Betting Houses Act of 1853. The statutes relating
to wagers, gaming, and horse-racing, passed before
the accession of Queen Victoria, and still In force
in part or wholly, are the ^^i Henry VHI., c. 9; 2
George H., c. 28; 12 George H., c. 28; 13 George
H., c. 19; 18 George H., c. 34; and 5 and 6 William
IV., c. 41, which incorporates and alters 9 Anne,
c. 14.

GENERAL PEEL. 323

CHAPTER XV.

GENERAL PEEL — STOCKWELL, WEST AUSTRALIAN, AND

VOLTIGEUR BARON ROTHSCHILD MR. MERRY' —

MR. BLENKIRON AND MIDDLE PARK.

THE Right Honourable Jonathan Peel — dear to
all sportsmen as General Peel — was the life-
long friend and companion of Admiral Rous
and Mr. George Payne. The naval service had given
to the Turf its dictator ; the army supplied in the
General a contemporary whose sagacity, shrewd-
ness, and kindness of heart knew no superior, and
who equalled his two old friends in his devotion to
Turf pursuits, and knowledge of its affairs. He
was born on the 1 2th of October, 1 799, the fifth son
of Sir Robert Peel. His eldest brother, afterwards
the great Sir Robert, was bred by his father to
politics; his other three brothers had already taken
to themselves professions when he joined the army
as ensign in a marching regiment, in the month of
June, 181 5. The peace that followed Waterloo pre-
vented him from seeing service, and his subsequent
steps in his profession were obtained by purchase.

Genferal Peel's connection with the Turf began
about 1 82 1, when he was part owner of some horses

21 — 2

324 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

with the Duke of Richmond and Lord Stradbroke,
trained at Goodwood by Kent. His own name first
appears in the Calendar in 1830, when he raced in
confederacy with his relative, General Yates. In 1832
he had taken a leading position on the Turf, winning
the Two Thousand Guineas with Archibald, and
beating the St. Leger winner, Margrave, for the
race of the same title at Newmarket. For years
after, he had always a lot of good horses in his
stable, and won many races with them, his good
fortune perhaps reaching a culminating point in
1844, when the Derby was adjudged to his Orlando,
and his Ionian was second. The General's high
sense of honour was conspicuously shown in relation
to this race. He had laid his friend Lord Glasgow
^10,000 to ^100 against his horse Ionian. When
he tried him in the spring, he was surprised to find
that the colt was nearly as good as his stable com-
panion, Orlando; and owner, trainer, and jockey
came to the conclusion that, if anything should
happen to Orlando, Ionian must win. Under these
circumstances, the General got his money covered
at some sacrifice, and told Lord Glasgow to give
his own orders to the jockey who was put up. The
result proved the correctness of his judgment.

General Peel had an experience of the Turf
extending over sixty years. His race-horses may
be said to have begun with Fille de Joie, bred by
him in 1822, the winner of several two-year-old
races, and second for the Oaks in Cobweb's year,

GENERAL PEEL. 325

and to have ended with Peter, the speedy animal who
won the Steward's Cup at Goodwood this year. Peter,
a son of The Hermit, was appropriately named; but
there was a further meaning in the name General
Peel gave to the last good colt he owned. A group
of old friends had nicknamed Lord Glasgow Peter
many years before, and had never called the touchy
old Turfite by any other name. The purple jacket
and orange cap familiar on our racecourses for nearly
six decades was borne to victory by many good
animals, the most celebrated among them being
Archibald, Slane, Tom, Orlando, Tadmor, Vulture,
Hardinge, and Longinus. The General had two
trainers — Cooper, who trained through the times of
Orlando and Tadmor; and Joseph Dawson in later
years, down to the time of Peter. His favourite
jockeys were Arthur Pavis and Nat Flatman. The
kindest and gentlest of men — too amiable, it was
said at the time he was Secretary for War, to make
a good Cabinet Minister — General Peel possessed
the warmest regard of his friends, and the devoted
attachment of his servants. He died at his beau-
tiful seat. Marble Hill, Twickenham, in February of
the present year.

The following extract has reference to the his-
torical associations connected with the house and
park: — " In her ' Life of Samuel Richardson,' the
author of ' Clarissa Harlowe,' Mrs. Barbauld, tells
us that one day, when going to Hampstead in the
stage coach, she had for her companion a French-

326 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

man, who was making an excursion to that famous

northern suburb of London for the express purpose

of seeing the house in the Flask Walk where

Clarissa Harlowe lodged. 'What a compliment

to the creative genius of Richardson!' exclaimed

Samuel Rogers, when the story was related to

him by Mrs. Barbauld. That it is the privilege of

genius to

' Give to airy nothings
A local habitation and a name,'

has long been an accepted maxim. But the force
and realistic power of imagination never received a
more striking illustration than in the circumstances
and surroundings of Marble Hill, the house which
General Peel had inhabited for the last quarter of
a century, and in which his declining years were
passed. It was once the suburban villa of Mrs.
Howard, afterwards the Countess of Suffolk, who
was long the ckere amie of George II.; and in his
' Heart of Midlothian ' Sir Walter Scott represents
— not without an exaggeration of poetic licence —
that George's Queen, Caroline of Anspach, was a
visitor at Lady Suffolk's villa upon the occasion
when ^the famous Duke of Argyll and Greenwich
carried Jeannie Deans into the presence of her
Majesty, to plead for the life of her condemned
sister, Effie. The ideal scene that ensued in the
garden of Marble Hill has so passed into the
domain of actual history, that the avenue of elm
trees extending from the house down to the bank

STOCKWELL AND WEST AUSTRALIAN. 327

of the adjoining Thames has long borne the name
of 'Jeannie Deans's Walk.' It has been curiously
scrutinized by thousands of passengers, who have
scanned it from the boats which wafted them to and
fro upon the river, and who have forgotten that
Jeannie and Efifie Deans and their stiff-necked old
father are merely ' the shadows of a dream.'"

A newer — and, to the lover of the Turf, not less
interesting — association will always be attached to
the house, in that it was the residence of that most
upright and honourable man and veteran sportsman.
General Peel.

Stockwell and West Australian died within a few
days of each other, in May, 1870 — the former at the
stud farm at Hooton, the latter in France. Stock-
well was bought as a yearling by Lord Exeter for
^180, with a contingent ^500 more if he won the
Derby.

He began at the stud in 1856, and his stock
began to race in 1858, when out of twenty colts and
fillies foaled in 1856 two proved winners of ^270
between them. From that year to 1869 he got 420
colts and fillies, and they won, between 1868 and the
end of 1869, ^302,319. Lord Londesborough died in
i860. The Yorkshiremen's minds had been stirred
to their utmost depths by attempts to solve the great
problem whether Stockwell would sell for more than
Westy. With true local pride, they hoped he would
not, but yet felt sure he would ; and the speculation in

328 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

crowns and pots principally ran on the point whether
or not the chestnut would touch five thousand and
the brown four. St. Albans brouo^ht the former
gallantly up; and the thousand soon became four
thousand five hundred. Such a price bid in a ring
had never been heard of before, and yet there was no
apparent enthusiasm — all of it was reserved for the
"West." "Here comes the pick of England," said
they, as he emerged from a gate behind, and
strode, with his beautiful white, roach head aloft,
into the ring. There was quite a thrill as the
bidding slowly rose to three thousand, and a sort
of burst of suppressed impatience and vexation
when no one could beat Count de Morny. "He
. can't be released," said a Tyke, in a melan-
choly strain, and down went the hammer. Stock-
well was purchased for the Rowcliffe Stud Com-
pany, and while standing at its paddocks he
got Blair Athol, Regalia, The Duke, Ostregor,
Breadalbane, and Broomielaw. At the end of 1862
he became Mr. Naylor's own property, and went
to Hooton; and Lord Lyon, Savernake, Rustic,
Achievement, and Belladrum were perhaps his best
representatives in recent years.

West Australian was bred by Mr. Bowes in 1850. '
He gave early promise of his future excellence, and
was one of the finest movers ever seen. He won
the great treble event as a three-year-old. At four
years old he won two races at Ascot and one at
Goodwood, which was his last appearance in public.

VOLTIGEUR. 329

Lord Londesborough bought him for ^4,000, with
a further contingency of ;^750, which money Mr.
Bowes also received. He then stood for several
seasons at Kirkby Stud Farm, near Tadcaster, with
Stockwell. After the Due de Morny's death, he
became the property of the late Emperor Napoleon,
at the price oi £1,^00. At the stud. West Austra-
lian was a perfect failure in France, as he had been
in England — the only two horses he got here of
any merit being Summerside and the Wizard.

Voltigeur came to his end, February 21, 1874. It
was found necessary to destroy him, his thigh having
been broken by a kick from a man. Mr. William-
son discovered the merits of Voltigeur after the year-
ling had been returned unsold from Doncaster, and
bought the colt, for a long figure in those days, for
his brother-in-law, during a run with hounds in the
following season. The story is told that negotia-
tions were opened at the covert side, and the bar-
gain struck with " I'll have him," at the first check.

The colt grew to be the most popular and best-
abused horse in England. All Yorkshire was on
him to a man when he ran for the Derby ; but he
did not please the cognoscenti, and one critic of the
Press offered to eat him if he won the race. The
coach-horse did win the Derby, and the St. Leger
also, after a dead heat with Russborough; and in
the same Doncaster race-week he beat the then
reported best horse in the world for the Doncaster
Cup. From this race there followed the most bril

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

liant match on record, in which Voltigeur was
beaten; but he won fame afterwards, beyond that
he had acquired on the Turf or at the stud, at the
Horse and Hound Show, at Middlesbrough, in i860.
From the very best class ever got together in a show-
yard, he won the ^100 prize as being "best calcu-
lated to improve and perpetuate the breed of the
sound and stout thoroughbred horse, not only for
racing, but for general purposes." Among the com-
petitors were The Cure, Fandango, Saunterer, Lord
Fauconberg, The Hadji, Hunting Horn, Windhound,
Claret, Neville, and other celebrated stallions. On
the Turf, Voltigeur was identified with Lord Zetland
and the famous " Yorkshire spots;" and he only sur-
vived by a few months the amiable nobleman
whose favourite horse he had been.

Baron Meyer de Rothschild was for a number of
years an ardent supporter of the Turf, and was equally
and deservedly popular, with all classes, both as a
master of hounds and an owner of race-horses. He
devoted his time, talents, and large means to the
pastime, and to improving the breed of our thorough-
bred horse, and was one of the veritable pillars of
the Turf. The ample figure astride the five hun-
dred guinea grey cob, strong as a cart-horse, was
much missed and regretted when his favourite Heath
knew him no more. Most of his horses were bred
at his admirably-arranged stud farm at Mentmoi'e,
and he very rarely had a horse in a race, carrying

BARON ROTHSCHILD. 331

the popular dark blue and yellow cap, that he had
not bred himself.

During the earlier years of his connection with
the Turf, Misfortune marked him for her own, and
disappointment followed disappointment; but his
long perseverance reaped in the end a rich reward.
It had been thought "the tip" to follow the Baron
at Ascot, as on the Royal Heath his horses had
generally been more fortunate than on other courses.
It became later the best advice to be given — follow
the Baron at all the principal Meetings; and for two
or three years his string, trained by Hayhoe, of
Newmarket, were almost invincible. In 1871, he
carried off the Derby, Oaks, One Thousand Guineas,
St. Leger, Cesarewitch, and many other races of less
importance. It was the Baron's year, and his horses
carried all before them. King Tom was a great
favourite with his owner; but his descendant, Fa-
vonius, was the best horse Baron Rothschild ever
bred. After the Baron's lamented death, which
took place on the 6th February, 1874, it was learned
with great satisfaction that the Mentmore stud was
not to be dispersed. Most of the two and three-
year-olds in training, however, were dispersed by
Mr. Tattersall, at Newmarket — twenty lots fetching
14,305 guineas, or the high average of 715-^ guineas;
Marsworth, by King Tom — Queen Bee's dam,
reported one of the best animals the Baron ever
bred, being knocked down to Count Lehndorff for
5,000 guineas.

332 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

The name of such a man as Mr. James Merry
carries the mind back to an era when the Lowlands
of Scotland teemed with owners of famous race-
horses, and when the canny merchants of Glasgow
and Paisley caught the Turf contagion fresh from
such ardent sportsmen as Lord Eglinton, Lord
Kelburne — afterwards the Earl of Glasgow — Sir
James Boswell, Mr. Ramsay, Mr. Robertson of
Ladykirk, and Mr. Meiklam. In those days, such
horses as Lanercost, Inheritor, The Doctor, and
Myrrha taught Englishmen to respect the meaning
of Scotland's national motto, " Nemo me impune
lacessit;" and the little race meetings at Ayr,
Paisley, Perth, and Edinburgh were, in Scottish
phrase, "trysts" at which the country families
gathered in force from the whole country round.
In those times the insiofnificant Scotch town of
Gullane rivalled Maltoil as a training centre; and
it is additionally deserving of respect from all sports-
men worthy of the name, because it was the birth-
place of the four Dawson brothers, who rank among
the best trainers and most honourable men that the
English Turf has ever seen, and was also once the
home of William I'Anson, the subsequent owner and
breeder of Blink Bonny and Blair Athol. Mr. James
Merry was born at a time when the Ayr Cup was re-
garded by Scotchmen as the first race in the world,
and he owes it probably to the locality of his birth
that horse-racing should have been the form of amuse-
ment to which in his maturity he devoted himself.

MR. MERRY. 333

Mr. James Merry, whose name, through his long
connection with the Turf, had been for many years
a household word, began his racing career forty
years ago, appearing as an owner and at the same
time gentleman rider at Stirling in 1838. He rode
his horse Patriot for the Hunters' Stakes, but was
beaten; his next essay was luckier, for at the Royal
Caledonian Hunt Meeting, on the same course, he
beat Lord Eglinton on Crocus for a sweepstakes.
His horses when at Gullane, the best and most
extensive training ground in Scotland, were placed
under the charge of George Dawson, a contemporary
of John Smith, James Croft, and other famous old-
fashioned Yorkshire trainers, and the father of the
four brothers Dawson, so successful and eminent in
their profession. For the first four or five years of
his patronage of the Turf, Mr. Merry only ran his
horses in Scotland; but in 1843 his colours appeared
for the first time in England, in the Liverpool
Tradesmen's Cup. Mr. Merry's representative was
unplaced, but three of his countrymen owned the
first, second, and third horses — Mr. Meiklam, Mr.
Bell, and Lord Eglinton. Though Mr. Merry had
rather a long string in training during the period of
his career on the Turf before 1847, it was in that
year that he first became the owner of a really good
horse. This was Chanticleer, whom he bought of
Mr. Christopher St. George, after the famous horse
had run fourth, carrying 8st. 4lbs., in the Liverpool
Tradesmen's Cup of that year. With the great

334 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

grey — son of Birdcatcher, out of Whim, from whom
he got his colour, by the savage Drone — Mr.
Merry won many races and a large sum of money.
In 1848, Chanticleer ran no fewer than fourteen
times, winning some good races, including the Good-
wood Cup, under the astonishing weight of Qst. 2lbs.,
beating fifteen other horses; and the Doncaster Cup,
beating Van Tromp. Out of his fourteen essays, the
gallant grey won, in ten times, stakes amounting to
^3,460; and his owner was credited with having won
^50,000 in bets besides, for the astute Mr. F. Swin-
dells was the commissioner, and Chanticleer started
usually at a good price. The founder of Mr. Merry's
fortunes on the Turf was put to the stud the year
after, and was very successful as a sire.

It was not until about the year 1852 that Mr.
' Merry turned his attention to the great two and
three-year-old prizes of the Turf. In that year,
having an eye to the Derby, Mr. Merry bought
Hobbie Noble, at Newcastle, after he had won the
July Stakes. Lord John Scott, his breeder, received
the then unprecedented price of 6,500 guineas for the
colt. He became the winter favourite for the Derby,
and his defeat by Daniel O'Rourke in the sensa-
tional race of that year, when, owing to the heavy
downfall of rain, the going on the Epsom Downs
was fetlock deep, saved the Ring a vast sum of
money.

After the Houghton Meeting of that year, Mr.
Merr)^ sent his horses to William Day, at Woodyeates.

MR. MERRY. 335

Among them was Lord of the Isles, who first ap-
peared at Goodwood. Here he won the Levant
Stakes by a head from Paradigm, afterwards the
dam of Lord Lyon and Achievement, After Lord
of the Isles had won the Two Thousand Guineas
for Mr. Merry, he became the favourite for the
Derby; but before the day of the race he had to
yield the pride of place to Wild Dayrell, who started
at evens, one of the hottest favourites ever known.

Lord of the Isles was very lucky at the stud,
for, having been mated with Marmalade, in his very
first year he got the flying Dundee. Mr. Merry now
came to the conclusion that it would be better for
him to have his horses privately trained ; and accord-
ingly he leased Russley, which had at one time
been the training quarters of the late Baron Roths-
child, before he removed to Newmarket. Here for
a short time John Prince had sole charge of the
horses; but on Mr. Merry's purchasing Lord John
Scott's stud in 1857, which he did by the advice of
Matthew Dawson, that able trainer was associated
with Prince in the management of the Russley stud.
This management was a brilliant success, led off by
Sunbeam, a flying daughter of Chanticleer and Sun-
flower. After the St. Leger winner had been beaten
by her old opponent, Toxophilite, for the Port
Stakes at Newmarket, owing to some remarks made
about the filly's condition Prince ceased to be em-
ployed by Mr. Merry; Matthew Dawson reigned
alone at Russley, and the good fortune of the stable

33^ HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

continued in the ascendant — Saunterer havincr been
purchased from Mr. Jackson for 2,000 guineas by
the trainer's advice, i860 saw ^21,000 placed to
Mr. Merry's credit at Weatherby's, won by Thor-
manby, Dundee, and other good animals. When
Thormanby carried off the Derby, Mr. Merry, who
backed his horses heavily when he fancied their
chances, won ^^40,000 in bets.

The names of Buckstone, Scottish Chief, Ted-
dington. Marksman, Belladrum, Doncaster, and
Marie Stuart — all popular favourites, trained by
Dawson or Peck — will always be associated with
pleasant recollections of Mr. Merry, and the honest
struggles for victory over all our national courses
and in all oyr great races of the " boy in yellow."

In 1873, Mr. Merry, whose health was beginning
to fail, decided to retire from the Turf. His horses
in training, sold at Tattersall's, realized 7,360 guineas.
Mr. Gee bought Scottish Chief for 5,600 guineas.
Mr. Houldsworth gave 2,100 guineas for the brood
mares Lady Morgan and Lioness. But the two
cracks of the stud — the Derby and St. Leger
winners — were sold privately. Peck, who had been
for some years installed at Russley in the place of
Waugh, gave 10,000 guineas for the horse, and Mr.
Stirling Crawford paid 3,500 guineas for the mare.

Mr, Merry, who died at his town house in Eaton-
square, in February, 1877^ was the eldest son of Mr.
James Merr)^, a wealthy Glasgow merchant. He
was born in 1805, and received his education at the

MR. MERRY. 337

University of Glasgow, afterwards going into busi-
ness and becoming a leading ironmaster and pro-
prietor of extensive works in Lanarkshire and
Ayrshire. In politics Mr. Merry was an advanced
Liberal. He was a popular member of Parliament,
but never took an active part in political life.
Questions on his public appearance before his con-
stituents turned generally on his horses quite as
much as on politics. For example, at Hamilton, in
July, 1865, when addressing the electors, various
questions were put to him, among them the follow-
ing:— Mr. James Strang: "What is your opinion of
the Derby?" Mr. Merry: " In reply to that ques-
tion, I can only say that in regard to the next Derby,
I will do my best to carry it off — as I have done on
several other occasions — for the sake of old Scot-
land." But Student failed to fulfil the expectations
of his owner and trainer, and of the good people of
the Falkirk burghs.

"It was" we read "a favourite amusement with
Cobbett to indicate in his Daily Register the names of
those few Members of Parliament who could write an
ordinary letter without mistakes in spelling. If the
old Hampshire yeoman told the truth, the unre-
formed Parliament from 1820 to 1830 contained a
grievous array of ignoramuses; but it is probable
that the worst of them was not inferior to the late
wealthy Member for the Falkirk Burghs. When he
first appeared upon the hustings, Scotland was con-
vulsed with laughter at stories about the maladroit

VOL. II. 22

338

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

answers rendered by Mr. Merry to perplexing ques-
tions; and it was recorded that, having promised to
vote against Church Rates, the Law of Hypothec,
and sundry other abominations in Scotch eyes, he
was finally questioned as to his opinion with regard
to the Decalogue. The word was not less incom-
prehensible to the unfortunate candidate than the
characters upon the Rosetta Stone, but he boldly
solved the difficulty connected with the various
matters submitted to him, including the last, by
avowing in his broad Lowland Scotch dialect that
he would 'abolish them all.' The late Lord
Valentia, with whom Mr. Merry was intimate in
his youth, used to relate that when 'the Glasgae
body,' as he termed himself, paid his first visit to
London, no workhouse child was ever more ignorant
of the world and its ways."

The late Mr. Blenkiron first had a sale of blood
stock at Middle Park in 1856, when thirteen lots
were sold at an average price of 1 1 1 guineas. The
results of seventeen years' sales at the great esta-
blishment at Eltham were as follows: —

Year,

Lots.

Total.

Average.

1856 .

. 13 •

. ;^i,447

;^iii

1857 . .

. 23 .

2,691

. . 116

1858 .

. 22 .

2,196

. . 100

1859 . .

23 •

2,396

. . 104

i860 .

31 •

. 3,955

. 127I

1861 .

37 .

9>559 •

. 258

1862 .

33 • •

7,746

. 235

1863 .

. 41 •

7,917

• 193

MIDDLE PARK.

339

Year.

Lots. Total.

Average.

1864 .

43 • ;^ii,8S5 •

;^275^

1865 .

45 •

, 14,401 , .

230

1866 .

42 .

, 18,720 .

. 445

1 866 (2nd sale)

. 22 .

. 7,125 .

. 324

1867 .

. 42 .

. 19,525 •

. 446

1S67 (2nd sale)

35 . .

12,620 , ,

360I

1868 .

47 .

. 13,890 .

• 295I

1868 (2nd sale)

. 43 •

6,980 .

162J

1869 .

. 52 •

. 12,630 .

243

1869 (2nd sale) .

35 . .

4,930 . .

140

1870 .

49 •

16,306 .

333

1870 (2nd sale) .

38 . .

5,360 .

. 141

1871 .

46 . .

14,525 . .

315!

187 1 (2nd sale)

40 .

4,540 .

"3^

1872 (ist sale)

58 .

17,095 .

■ 295

The above tabulated statement of results in con-
nection with the sales of produce from this monster
breeding establishment, from its institution in 1856,
is of great interest. Among the famous sires sold
were Gladiateur (that fell to Mr. Blenkiron's nod at
the immense price of 5,800 guineas), Marsyas, Blair
Athol (bought for 5,000 guineas), and King John, a
special favourite with the founder of the great stud.

It is no secret that, as a commercial speculation,
the Middle Park stud farm paid its public-spirited
proprietor a handsome return on his outlay during
his lifetime. In support of this, it is only necessary
to say that the average price of all the yearlings
sold at Middle Park from the first establishment of
the stud was over 250 guineas.

Besides the sires, the best of the Middle Park
brood mares — several of them rich in strains of
blood now hard to be got for love or money — re-

22 — 2

340 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

malned in the liands of Enorlishmen. Such mares
as Rosa Bonheur (that cost 2,000 guineas), Margery-
Daw (dam of See-saw), Defenceless, and Seckision
(dams of Derby winners), England's Beauty, Terrific,
Reginella, and other ci-devant flyers, attracted much
attention.

The stud formed by the late Mr. Blenkiron was
sold pursuant to the instructions of his will, and the
greatest interest was felt in the dispersion of the
matchless collection of blood stock located at Middle
Park by many persons who are never seen on a
racecourse, as well as by those immediately inte-
rested in Turf pursuits. And the representatives
of foreign Governments and sportsmen contested the
best lots very keenly; but the universal wish was
that the five hundred and odd head of thoroughbred
stock left by the late owner of Middle Park might
fetch a price that would remunerate his representa-
tives for his great enterprise and outlay in bring-
ing them together. Mr. Blenkiron's liberality was
shown in many ways — conspicuously, however, in
his founding the great two-year-old race at New-
market, to which he contributed ;^ 1,000 a year,
until the Jockey Club decided to relieve him of this
tax for the future, and give the added money them-
selves. The Nestor of that Club and of the Turf
— Admiral Rous — paid a just tribute to Mr. Blenk-
iron's munificence when he said: — "The extra-
vagant prices which good-looking yearlings com-
mand in the market have given a very great impulse

MIDDLE PARK. 341

to breeding establishments, the majority of which
enjoy wholesome profits ; but, with the exception of
the owner of Middle Park, I cannot discover, among
the gentlemen who breed race-horses for sale, one
person who is willing to contribute the slightest per-
centage of his gains to form a fund for a great na-
tional prize, although the value of their stock will be
enhanced in proportion to the amount of the prizes
in prospectus " Extravagant prices," indeed, were
given for good yearlings many times in the history
of the famous meadows where Caractacus and The
Hermit first trotted beside their dams. But the fact
remains that very few of the "extravagantly" dear
youngsters ever earned their corn after they left
Eltham. The sisfht of the rinof round Mr. Tatter
sail's hammer on that Saturday afternoon recalled
many memories of the past — of the day when, in the
old and brief plunging era, a few young men who
inherited great fortunes and great names, only to
make ducks and drakes of the one and trail the
other in the dirt, gave thousands apiece for year
lings that never won them back as many farthings:
prices that had never been heard of before that day,
and have never been reached since. But when a
nobleman, hardly more than a boy in years, boasted
that he could win a quarter of a million if he won
the Derby, and "meant to try it on," what did it
matter if he gave two thousand apiece for the colts
from which his Epsom champion was to be chosen ?
That day has gone by. Some of the men who

342 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

made its history are dead — some are ruined. With-
out being uncharitable, the present generation of
noble and gentle Turfites may learn a lesson from
the fate of the moths whose wings were so hope-
lessly burnt in the seasons of 1864, 1865, 1866, and
1867. Lord Falmouth's experience is that the sport
of seeing horses run may be very interesting without
wagering a penny on the result; and, for the
honour of the ancient and thoroughly English sport,
let it be said that many of its most influential patrons
are content to follow it in this wise. A hundred
years ago, a man was satisfied to match his horse
for a hundred guineas over the Beacon Course.
Why should not moderate winnings satisfy his de-
scendants? But it is an appetite for winning large
sums — planning to "pull off" a great coiip — that has
tended to degrade the sport, and, making the horse
Lord Derby's "instrument of gaming," that has
demoralized the habitiUs of the racecourse. We want
more gentlemen who will race for honour and the
stakes, and the palmy days of the Turf may be re-
vived. There are many hopeful signs, and none
more suggestive than that conveyed in the career of
such a man as the late William Blenkiron. The
story of his stud has often been told, but it will bear
telling again, for it is a story of great enterprise
and sagacity rewarded by great success. After his
lamented death in September, 1871, a writer in
a sporting paper thus told the tale of the rise
of the Middle Park stud : " Mr. Blenkiron was

MR. BLENKIRON. 343

born at Marrick, a small village about seven
miles from Richmond, in Yorkshire. He was ori-
ginally brought up a farmer; but abandoning that
pursuit, he came to London, and began the manu-
facturine business he and his son carried on for
many years in Wood-street, Cheapside. Just twenty-
four years ago, he became possessed of the founda-
tion of the great Middle Park stud. This was
Glance, a filly, by Venison out of a Whisker mare,
bred by Lord George Bentinck. When a youthful
courier arrived one Sunday afternoon with the news
that a foal was born, Mr. Blenkiron, who had some
friends to dinner, deserted his wine and walnuts in a
trice, and ran the quarter of a mile to the shed at
a pace truly surprising. In due time the colt was
trained, and was ultimately changed away for three
mares, and thus did a good part towards founding
the stud. About 1852 Mr. Blenkiron removed from
Dalston to Middle Park, and brought with him seven
or eight brood mares, and Neasham, the head of the
list of Eltham sires."

Mr. Blenkiron's first sale brought him, in 1856,
100 guineas a-head for his produce; at the best sale
he ever had, two yearlings brought him 4,500
guineas between them. When he began his enter-
prise, he had to lead Glance through his front door
into a shed in his garden, where she was stalled.
He left Middle Park by far the finest haras in the
country.

The Stud Company followed ; but these companies

344 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

have not been successful either in breedinof grood
horses or in paying their proprietors a dividend.
At the time of the dispersion of Mr. Blenkiron's
animals, the principal North of England public
studs were the Moorlands, Sheffield -lane, and
Neasham, which had stepped into the places of
renown once filled by the Rawcliffe, Fairfield, and
other once famous names.

STEEPLECHASING. 315

CHAPTER XVI/

STEEPLECHASING DUKE OF NEWCASTLE LORD ST.

VINCENT MR. CLARK "THE DRUID " MR. HEATH-
COTE THE JOCKEY CLUB.

A FEW matters remain to be mentioned before
bringing these volumes to an end. The
popular sport of steeplechasing is of much
more modern orio-in than flat-racinor. It is said to

o o

have partly owed its origin to a hurdle-race, a *'* lark
over sheep-pens," in which George the Fourth, when
Prince Regent, Mrs. Fitzherbert, and their gay
companions indulged for the first time one after-
noon on Brighton Downs. Mr. Blaine, in his
"Encyclopaedia of Rural Sports," relates that towards
the close of the last century the Prince Regent and
Mrs, Fitzherbert comm.only amused themselves by
hunting the hare on Brighton Downs with a pack
of lap-dog beagles. The loth Hussars, of which
the Prince was colonel, were at that time quartered
at Brighton, and many of his brother officers followed
him across country. Hares were generally found
for the party by shepherds well fee'd for providing
the sport, but on one afternoon no hare could be
found. Hunting was, therefore, out of the question,

346 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

but the Prince proposed that some jumping matches
should take place over the hurdles within which the
Southdown sheep are folded at night. Hurdle
jumping followed, and a mare by Enterprise so
much distinguished herself that the Prince wished
to buy her for Mrs. Fitzherbert. The purchase
could not be made, as the owner was unwilling to
sell his flying animal, but from that afternoon hur-
dle-racing dates its origin. Steeplechasing became
fashionable soon after. The origin of the word is
somewhat obscure ; several derivations have been
given, but perhaps the true one is that adopted in
Dr. Latham's Johnson, in which steeplechase is
defined as a " race across country on horseback from
the starting-point to some conspicuous object (either
a steeple or something equally visible at a distance)
as a winning post."

Although the spontaneous growth of this form, of
sport has been very marked during the past thirty
or forty years, there were steeplechases at Liverpool,
Newport Pagnell, Leamington, St. Albans, Chelten-
ham, and Worcester, when no such body as the
Grand National Hunt Committee had come into
existence. The old stamp of steeplechase horses —
old-fashioned, well-made hunters, such as Grimaldi,
Lottery, and Cigar — has given place to a generation
of thoroughbred racers, whose firmness of bone,
clearness of wind, and elasticity of muscle qualify
them for leaping better across country than the
horses Colonel Charretie and Captain Beecher rode

THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE, 347

to victory. Since the early days of Jem Mason and
Tom Oliver, two of the best natural horsemen ever
seen in silk, several generations of jockeys have
overcome the obstacles of a Liverpool Grand Na-
tional or Punchestown course ; but the sport con-
tinues and maintains its popularity, and is likely to
do so as long as riding well to hounds figures among
the manly sports of English, Scotch, and Irish
gentlemen.

A few words may be said of the Duke of New-
castle and Lord St. Vincent, both of whom have
died during the present year, and both of whom,
though in very different ways, v/ere patrons of the
Turf. The Duke began to race as early as 1856,
when Earl of Lincoln, having a few horses in Mr.
Parr's stable, at Benhams, near Wantage. The
venture was eminently unsuccessful ; his father, the
popular Whig statesman, objected to his keeping
race-horses, and for a time he was a spectator only.
The next start the Duke made was in William
Goater's stable, at Findon ; but no good luck came
to the violet and white hoops until the Duke secured
the services of Matthew Dawson, who had just left
Mr. Merry. The purchase of Mr. Padwick's stud
followed, and racing was begun on an extensive
scale. A complete breeding establishment was ■
formed at Clumber ; but both on the Turf and at the
stud the Duke's efforts were unsuccessful. Julius
was the best horse he owned, but the Cesarewitch

348 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

victory of Julius could not stem the tide of disaster.
Thirty-five thousand acres of land and a rent-roll of
nearly seventy-five thousand pounds a year proved
insufficient to provide the means for the Duke's
"plunging" tastes, while his connection with the
usurers completed his ruin. The estates were placed
in the hands of trustees, and the contents of the
family mansion on Carlton House-terrace, the heir-
looms only excepted, were dispersed under the ham-
mer. The Duke's death was sudden. It occurred
on February 21st of the present year, at his apart-
ments at the Park Hotel, Park-place, St. James's.
The Duke had been ailing with gout for about ten
days, and, it is stated, had been attended by a homoeo-
pathic physician, but a fatal termination to his illness
was not expected. On Saturday morning his valet
took him his coffee as usual, and found him com-
paratively well, and without complaint ; but some
short time afterwards, on returning to his Grace, he
found him dead in his room.

Henry Pelham Alexander Pelham-Clinton was the
sixth Duke of Newcastle, and was born in 1834, suc-
ceeding to the title in 1864. Having been educated
at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, he sat as
M.P. for Newark 1857-9, and was attached to Earl
Granville's Special Embassy to Russia in 1856. He
was a deputy-lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, and late
lieutenant of the Sherwood Rangers. He was also
Grand Master of the Fremasons of the province of
Nottinghamshire in 1865. In 1861 his Grace married

LORD ST. VINCENT. 349

Henrietta Adela, only daughter of the late Henry-
Thomas Hope, Esq., of Deepdene, Surrey, by whom
he left issue two sons and two daughters.

Lord St. Vincent, with whose brown jacket and
silver braid the public, a few years ago, were very
familiar, had long since ceased to race. His first
Turf venture was a half-share in Klarikoff, bought at
a high figure from his owner, Mr. Padwick. Klari-
koff was at the time the favourite fot Kettledrum's
Derby. Later, Lord St. Vincent had a filly named
The Orphan, who had shown good form, and from
whom great things were expected at home. On his
first appearance in public Lord Clifden beat her
easily. Mr. "Jack" Holmes was entrusted with the
commission to buy him. He was lucky enough to
secure the colt for Lord St. Vincent, and the brown
and silver were often carried to victory on his back.
The winner of the Doncaster Champagne Stakes
became in great request for the Derby, and on the
Saturday before the Epsom event, it was a close run
between Lord Clifden and Macaroni for the position
of first favourite. The week was wet, and the muddy
state of the ground caused Lord St. Vincent's horse
to be driven back to 10 to i. In the race he made
a gallant struggle, and many persons believe to this
day that he won. To Lord St. Vincent the putting
up of Macaroni's number was a cruel blow, for he
had already been congratulated by his friends upon
his victory, and was on his way on to the course to

350 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

lead back his horse to scale. The St. Leger, how-
ever, brought consolation, for, starting first favourite,
Lord Clifden won the great Yorkshire race, and Mr.
Jackson paid over to his owner eleven one thousand
pound notes which he had lost to him over a bet
aoainst the horse laid at Brighton. After Lord
Clifden's retirement from the Turf, Lord St. Vincent
had several other attempts at winning the great
races. With the exception of the soft Redan, how-
ever, who ran a dead heat with Lord Lyon for the
Doncaster Champagne Stakes, he rarely, if ever,
afterwards owned a moderately good horse.

The son and grandson of a racing judge, Mr.
John Francis Clark has occupied the box for
twenty-seven years, having been installed in Daniel
O'Rourke's year, though he had before that on a
few occasions appeared as his father's deputy. Mr.
Clark is an architect by profession, and has planned
and carried out a great number of race-stands through-
out the country. The first professional racing judge
was Mr. John Hilton; before his day one or other
of the stewards had always filled the office of judge.
After an occupancy of thirty-six years, Mr. Hilton
retired in 1806, when Mr. Clark's grandfather was
made judge. He resigned his post in favour of his
son in 1822 ; so that for some seventy-three years this
important office has been held in the family. It is
wholly superfluous to praise Mr. Clark's administra-
tion of his high ofiice ; he has always been an upright
judge, as his father and grandfather were before him.

THE JOCKEY CLUB. 351

Mr. Heathcote, the Epsom squire, died in March,
1869. He raced in an cld-fashicned way, as his
father had done before him, and thoroughly under-
stood and enjoyed the sport, as he did hunting. He
was one of the most popular men on the Turf with all
classes, and the crimson jacket, carried by " that old
Beeswing," or other horse of his, was cheered most
lustily when it was victorious.

Henry Hall Dixon. " the Druid," one of our best,
but least methodical sporting writers, died at the
early age of forty-eight, in the spring of 1870.
Educated at Rugby, and Trinity College, Cam-
bridge, Mr. Dixon came to London in 1850, and
began at once a series of Turf pencillings in the
Sporting' Magazine. His first book, " Post and
Paddock," appeared in 1856, and the other volumes
of the series followed at short intervals. He contri-
buted also to the Mark Lane Express, to the Daily
News, and to the Gentleman s Magazine.

There exists no chronicle to tell us in what year
the Jockey Club sprang into being; but it is certain
that between 1750 and 1760 a few noblemen and
gentlemen, many of whom rode their own horses
and were their own jockeys, banded themselves
together to form the Club which now occupies, and
has for a long period occupied, a large and distin-
guished place in the social life of England. Though
the objects of the Club were from its institution clearly
defined, there appears to have been no particular

352 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

qualification imposed as a condition of membership,
except that there may be quoted, in contravention,
the original title to enrolment on the Jockey Club
books — "that none but members with boots and
spurs" be admitted. The average strength of the
Club of late years has been about a hundred
members all told ; but though this is nominally the
strength of the Club, for legislative purposes con-
siderable deductions must be made, as in this total
are comprised the honorary members, who have not
the right of voting at the different meetings. These
honorary members are the President, Vice-President,
and the three Stewards of the French Jockey Club;
the President of the American Jockey Club; Comte
de Lagrange and M. Lupin, who were elected out
of compliment to the owners of French race-horses;
and the Director of the Royal Meeting at Ascot.
There are also the Royal members of the Club,
who rarely, if ever, vote. The business meetings
are usually attended by from fifteen to twenty
members who are habittids of the race meetings. It
has often been said that the Turf owes much more
to Parliament than to the Jockey Club, and this is
true; but attempts to popularize the Turf Council
and extend its basis have hitherto failed, and perhaps
it is for the best interests of the Turf that it should
remain in constitution what it has always been.

When the oldest members of that Club were boys,
there were but sixty annual race meetings in Eng-
land and Wales, five in Scotland, and four in Ireland.

SUPPORTERS OF RACING. 353

In 1 8 16, the fixtures had grown to eighty-four in
England and Wales, to nine in Scotland, and eight
in Ireland. In 1839, there were 132 race meetings
in England, nine in Wales, nine in Scotland, while
Ireland, counted but three. The wonderful progress
of the sport since that date has been duly noticed
in these pages. Nor are the prizes of the Turf
incommensurate with its growth and popularity.
The old Duke of Grafton or the fifth Earl of Jersey
would have stared at the value of the stakes and the
magnitude of the bets — the Derby won by Lord
Lyon having been worth ;f 7,350, while that won by
Bay Middleton was worth little more than half the
amount; at the same time the public interest in the
sport is so great that, by means of the sporting
journals and tipsters' circulars, many a vigilant
reader of the training reports knows more of the
doings of the horses which are in work at New-
market and other great training grounds than the
owners themselves.

It has been thought best in these pages, as a rule,
to draw the line at those supporters of the Turf and
other actors on the busy scene who have passed
away. It may be well, however, to make honourable
mention of the followinof noblemen and orentlemen
who form the mainstay of the sport at the present
time: — SirJ.D. Astley, Duke of Beaufort, Mr.Bowes,
Mr. H. Chaplin, Sir G. Chetwynd, Lord Coventry,
Mr. W. Crawfurd, Lord Falmouth, Mr. Gretton,

VOL. II. 2\

354 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

Duke of Hamilton, Lord Hartington, Sir F. John-
stone, Captain Machell, Mr. R. C. Nay lor, Lord
Rosebery, Mr. H. Savile, Lord Stamford, Duke of
Westminster.

To their names misfht be added those of a num-
ber of jockeys and trainers distinguished in their
profession, all of them men as honest and as skilful
as any to be found in the classic lists of bygone
times.

The Derby, as a representative race, has for a
long period of years maintained its hold upon the
affections of the people, and has been signalized
by the owners of the winners in various ways. In
1834, Mr. Batson promised his tenants that if Pleni-
potentiary won they should hold their farms rent
free for a year. In the next year, when the great
Southern race was won for the first time by a horse
coming from the North, the victory of Mundig was
celebrated by Mr. Bowes by merry peals from the
church bells, and by setting the counties of York
and Durham ablaze with bonfires. In 1838, when
Sir Gilbert Heathcote's Amato won, the Stock Ex-
change took a holiday, and Mr. Crockford paid
them, in the aggregate, ^30,000. From that day to
this a victory in the great race at Epsom has be n
the wish dearest to every honourable owner's heart.
It may be that in the distant future the greatest
equine contest of the year will be decided on some
region remote from Epsom Downs : it may pos-

THE DERBY. 355

sibly be in the United States of America, in Aus-
tralia, or in New Zealand. It may be, by that time,
that Heine's lampoon of the British aristocracy, in
which he summarized them as asses that talk of
horses, will have become obsolete. But at present,
with such support as the British Turf boasts, it is
highly improbable that any one now living will see
the end in Enorland of that

o

"Sport which Grafton loves;
Which Spencer, Portland, Albemarle approves;
Which Kings have fostered, and a country's pride,
Protest who may, will never cast aside."

35^

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

RULES OF RACING. 357

RULES OF RACING.

PART I. — iNTERrRETATION AND APPLICATION OF TUESE RuLES,

1. General Definitions. — "Race" includes plate, match, or sweepstakes,
but does not include or refer to a steeplechase, hurdle race, or a hunters' race
on the flat.

" Horse " includes mare or gelding.

" Plate " means a race to be run for money or other prizes given without
any stake being made by the owners of the liorses engaged to go to the
winner.

" Sweepstakes " means a race in which stakes are to be made by the owners
of three or more horses to go to the winner ; and any such race is still a sweep-
stakes, even although the money is reduced by death to two subs. , or although
money or any other prize be added, and although the word "plate " be used
in the official or ordinary name or description of such race.

"Recognized meeting" or "recognized race," used with reference to a
foreign meeting or race, means a meeting or race included in the list of foreign
meetings and races to be made as directed in these Rules.

A "maiden" means a horse which has never won a plate or sweepstakes at
any meeting in Great Britain, or at any recognized meeting in any other
countiy.

A match at " catch weights" means a match in which the riders need not
weigh before or after the race. Catch weights are permissible only for
matches.

"Registry office" means such office as is for the time being appointed as
the registry office by the Jockey Club ; and expressions in these Rules or in the
programme or conditions of any meeting or race referring to Messrs. Weatherby's
mean the registry office as herein defined.

The "Racing Calendar" and the " Stud-book " mean the works published
under those names respectively for the time being authorized by the Jockey
Club.

The "Sheet Calendar," the "Monthly Calendar," and the "Book Calen-
dars " of " Races Past " and of " Races to Come" mean the parts or editions of
the " Racing Calendar" as published under or usually known by those names
respectively.

The Channel Islands and the Isle of Jlan are not included in the expression
" Great Britain," but they are included (with Ireland) in the expression "the
United Kingdom."

" Month " means a calendar month.

2. Ai)2)lication of these Rules. — (i) These Rules apply to all meetings held
under the control of the Jockey Club, or advertised in the " Racing Calendar "
to be held subject to these Rules ;

(ii) If a horse run in a race at any meeting in Great Britain which is not so
advertised, he is perpetually disciualified for all races to which these Rules
apply.

(iii) The Stewards of the Jockey Club may at their discretion prohibit the
advertisement of any meeting in the official " Racing Calendar."

358 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

3. CmiiDicncemcnt of these Hides. — These Rules shall come into operation on
the first day of January, 1877, and any other Rules of Racing shall be annulled
as from that day, without prejudice to then existing rights or liabilities.

PART II. — Management of Meetings and Powers of Stewards.

4. Meetings. — (i) Every meeting must be advertised in tlie "Racing
Calendar;"

(ii) The advertisement must state that the meeting is to be subject to the
Rules of Racing, and must state as soon as practicable the days on which the
meeting is to Ijegin and end, and the names of two or more persons as stewards,
and of the judge, starter, and clerk of the scales ;

(iii) No meeting shall be advertised in the " Racing Calendar" unless the
money added be not less than 300 sovs. per day, 150 of which at least shall be
added to races of a mile and upwards, and the minimum so required to be
added shall be given, notwithstanding any condition to the contrary, if there
be five entries, and three horses the property of different owners start ;

(iv) No race shall be run earlier than in the week which includes the 25th
March, or later than in the week which includes the 22nd of Novemlier.
Exception : If the week including the 25th of March is the week next before
Easter Sunday, races may be run in the week next but one before Easter Sunday ;

(v) A meeting shall be deemed to commence at ten in the morning of the
day for which the first race is advertised, and to conclude at ten in the evening
of the last day of the races ;

(vi) The stewards in case of urgent necessity may from time to tim« put off
any races from day to day until a Sunday intervenes.

Powers of Stewards.

5. General Powers of Steivards. — (i) The stewards of a meeting shall have
full power to make all such arrangements for the conduct of a meeting as they
think fit ; and to regulate and control the conduct of all officials, and of all
jockeys, grooms, and persons attendant on horses ; and to determine all ques-
tions or disputes arising between any persons at or in relation to anything
done or omitted in reference to racing, except only disputes or claims relating
to bets ;

(ii) They shall have power to punish at their discretion any official or jockey
or other person subject to their control with fine or with suspension from acting
or riding at the same meeting, and to report to the Stewards of the Jockey Club
any further punishment which they consider necessary :

Provided that they shall not fine any person more than £50 (unless they are
Stewards of the Jockey Club, in which case they may impose any fine not ex-
ceeding ^100) ;

(iii) They shall exclude from ,the stands, enclosures, saddling paddocks,
weighing-rooms, and other places under their control, every ]ierson who has
teen warned off Newmarket Heath for corrupt practices on the Turf, and every
jockey who has been suspended for corrupt practices on the Turf, so long as
the sentence against such person or jockey remains in force. Tliey shall in
like manner exclude any person who has been declared by the Turf Club in
Ireland, or by the stewards of any recognized meeting in any country, to have
been guilty of any corrupt or fraudulent practice on the Turf ;

(iv) If any case occur which is not, or which is alleged not to be, provided
for by these Rules, it shall be determined by the stewards in such manner as
they think just, and they shall report the case with their decision (and with
their consent to an appeal, if they give such consent) to the Stewards of the
Jockey Club for confirmation ;

(v) The decision of the stewards, or of the Stewards of the Jockey Club,
in case of appeal, shall be final, and shall not be questioned in any court ex-
cept by leave of the stewards by whom it was made.

RULES OF RACING. 359

6. Stewards and Deputies. — A steward may ai)poiut a deputy at any time.

7. lowers of Stewards after Conclusion of Meeting. — The powers of tho
stewards continue after the meeting for all j)urposes relating to disputes, ob-
jections, penalties, and disi|ualifications.

Judges, Starters, and Other Officals.

8. Jud'jcs, Starters, cOc. — A judge, a starter, and a clerk of the scales shall
be appointed for every meeting, subject to the approval of the stewards.

No judge, starter, clerk of the course, clerk of the scales, or other official can
employ a deputy or substitute during the hours of racing without the consent
of the stewards.

A race cannot be decided unless the judge or his authorized deputy or sub-
stitute, or a steward, occupy the judge's box at the time when the horses pass
the winning post.

The judge shall send a report of the result of the race, signed by him, to
the registry office.

PART III. — General Conditions and Restrictions. — Age of Horses.

9. General Itulc tcith reaped to Age. — (i) The age of a horse shall be reckoned
as beginning on the 1st of January in the year in which he is foaled;

(ii) Yearlings shall not run for any race. Two-year-olds .shall not run for
any handicap before the 1st of September, nor after that date with any but
two-year-olds ;

(iii) Two-year-olds shall not 11m more than six furlongs before the 1st of
September, nor less than four furlongs on or after that date ;

(iv) Three-year-olds and upwards shall not run less than five furlongs for a
plate or sweepstakes.

Weights and Alloavances.

10. Weiglds and Allowances. — (i) No horse shall carry less than 5st. 71bs, ia
any plate or sweepstakes.

(ii) The top weight in a handicap shall not be less than 8st. 12lbs., and if the
highest weight accepting be less than this it shall be raised to 8st. 121bs., and
the other weights shall be raised in proportion ;

(iii) No horse shall receive allowance of weights, or be relieved from extra
weight, for having been beaten in one or more races : provided that this rule
shall not prohibit maiden allowances ;

(iv) No horse shall carry extra weight for having run second, or in any lower
place in any race or races : provided that this rule shall not exempt a horse
which has received £100 or upwards for having been placed, from being de-
barred from maiden allowance by the conditions of any particular race;

(v) Allowances and extra weights shall not be allowed or incurred in respect
of matches or private sweepstakes, and penalties are not cumulative unless so
declared by the conditions of the race.

Miscellaneous,

11. Miscellaneous Rules with respect to Conditioiis of Races. — Subject to the
exi)ress provisions of the conditions of a race, the following rules shall apply
to all conditions of races ; —

(i) "Winnings during the year shall include all prizes from the commence-
ment of the racing season to the time appointed for the start, and shall apply
to all recognized races in any country, and winning shall include walking over
or receiving forfeit ;

(ii) The value of prizes not in money must lie advertised ;

(iii) In estimating the value of a race, there shall be deducted the amount
of the winner's own stake and entrance, and any money payable to other

^6o HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

horses, or out of the stakes by the conditions of the race, or by the general
conditions of the meeting, except discount, clerks' fees, stakeholding, and
weighing fees ;

(iv) Conditions referring to maidens shall mean maidens at the time of the
start.

12. Minimum Value of Plate or Stakes. — No plate or sweepstakes shall be
run for imless the clear value to the winner (calculated under Kule 11), in case
the race be run by two or more horses, will amount to ^£100. ]3at if the value
would amount to .£100, if the race were so run, a horse may walk over,
although he thereby receives less than £100 ;

13. One Horse only to he run for « Plate by the same Person, — No person can
run for a plate, either in his own or any other name, two horses of which he is
wholly or partly owner, unless permitted to do so by a special clause in the
conditions.

PART IV. — Entry and Subscuiption for Races.

14. Horses must be duly entered for Plate or Sweepstakes. — A horse shall not
be qualified to run for any plate or sweepstakes unless lie has been and con-
tinues duly entered for the same.

15. Tunc and Place of Entry. — A time and place or places for the entiy of
horses for every plate or sweepstakes must be advertised in the " Sheet Racing
Calendar." Provided that if the time so advertised falls during a Ne\v^uarket
race week, any entry to be made at Messrs. Weatherby's may be made at New-
market, whether so advertised or not.

Tlie list of entries shall be closed at the advertised time, and no entry shall
be permitted in any case or on any terms to be made after that time.

If no hour is fixed for closing, the list shall not be closed till midnight on
the advertised day.

All entries made elsewhere than at Messrs. Weatherby's office (except entries
made during the week of the meeting or on the Saturday preceding the meet-
ing) shall be lodged at that office on or before the seventh day after the day
of closing, or tlie receiver of nominations shall be fined ten sovs., and the
nomination shall be void, unless the nominator can prove to the satisfaction
of the Stewards of the Jockey Club that the entry was made in due time.

16. Entry, how tmide. — Entry shall be made by writing, signed by the owner
of the horse or by some person deputed by him, or by telegraph, which shall
be equally binding. Entries by telegram must, however, be confirmed in
writing at the earliest possible opportunity, and in all cases before the time of
weighing, or the horse shall not be allowed to start.

It shall state the name of the owner and the name or description of the
horse, and (if the race is for horses of different ages) the age which the horse
will be at the time of the race.

Entrance money must (if so required) be paid at the time of entry.

Allowances must be claimed at the time of entry, except when otherwise
specified, or the)' shall not be allowed.

1 7. Dcseription of Horse in First Entry. — In entering a horse for the first time
he shall be described by stating his colour (when possible), and whether lie is
a horse, mare, or gelding, and the "Calendar" or "Stud-book" names of his
sire and dam. If the dam was covered by more than one stallion the names
of all must be stated, and by which stallion the mare was last covered. If the
sire or dam has no name in the "Calendar" or "Stud-book," such further
pedigree and description must be added as will clearly distinguish the hoibe
entered from all other horses, and if the pedigree of the sire or dam be unknown,
such further particulars as to where they were purchased or obtained must be
given as will identify them.

18. Name or Description in subsequent Entries. — The description as in the
last rule mentioned must be repeated in eveiy entiy of the horse until an
entry of him by description, with a proposed name, has been published in the

RULES OF RACING. 361

"Racing Calendar." In any entry after such publication it will be sufficient
to enter him by such name without description.

If a horse be entered with a proposed name for the fii'st time in several races
closing on the same day, the description need not be added in more than the
first of such entries.

19. Change of Name. — Whenever the name of a horse which has nm is
changed, his old name as well as his new name must be given in every entry
until the change has been published in two "Monthly Calendars" or the
"Book Calendar."

20. Siuiilar Names. — A name may be claimed for a horse, either by entry
and publication as mentioned in the foregoing Rules, or at any time by sending
the pedigree to the registry office. When a name has been claimed for a
horse in either of the above ways, any other horse for which the same name is
afterwards claimed must be distinguished by the addition of the numerals II.
or III., &c., and by the names of the sire and dam. If the same name is pro-
posed or claimed for two or more horses at the same time, the order of priority
shall be determined by lot by Messrs. Weatherby. Any person entering a
horse in contravention of this Rule shall be liable to a fine not exceeding
^50.

21. Assumed Names of Owners. — No assumed name of an owner sliall be
used in any subscription or entry unless such assumed name is duly registered,
as follows : —

(i) The person intending to use an assumed name must register it annually
at the registry ofiice. A registration continues etfectual during the current
year ;

(ii) A person cannot have more than one assumed name registered at tlio
same time, nor can he use his real name in any subscription or entiy so
long as he has a registered assumed name ;

(iii) An assumed name may be changed at any time by registering a new
assumed name ;

(iv) A person cannot register as his assumed name a name which has been
already registered by any other person, or the real name of any other person
who runs horses in races in such other person's real name ;

(v) On every registration or change of an assumed name there must be j^aid
at the registry office, to the credit of the Jockey Club, a fee of twenty-five
guhieas ;

(vi) Out of the fees received under this Rule, a per-centnge, to be fixed from
time to time by the Jockey Club, shall be paid to the Bentinck Benevolent
Fund, and the remainder shall be carried to the Racing Fund of the Jockey
Club.

22. Subscriptions arc transferable. — A person who subscribes to a sweepstakes
lias the right of transferring the right of entry under any one or more of his
subscriptions to any other person or persons.

23. Subscriidions and Entries cannot be struck out. — A subscription cannot
be withdrawn, but an entry of a horse under a subscription may, before the
time of closing, be altered bj'^ substituting another horse.

24. Death of Person who has made a Subscription or Entry. — Subscriptions
and all entries or rights of entry under them become void on the death of the
Buljscriber.

Entries (except entries made under another person's subscription) become
void on the death of the persons in whose nanaes they are made.
If either party to a mati;h die, the match is ofi'.

25. No Alteration of Entry after Closing. — No alteration or addition shall be
made in any entry after the time fixed for closing, except that when a horso
has been duly described a name or number may be added.

26. Partnership in Horses. — Ahorse cannot be entered in the real or assumed
name of any person as his owner unless that person's interest or property in
the horse is at least equal to that of any other one person.

362 HIS TORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

PART V. — Stakes and Foufeits.

27. LiaMity for Stakes and ForfcUs. — A person entering a horse for a race
thereby becomes liable for the entrance money and stake or forfeit.

A subscriber to a sweepstakes is liable for the stake or forfeit; but if he
transfer the right of entry to any other person he is liable only in case of de-
fault by the transferee, and in that case he may recover it from the transferee.

A person taking an entry under another person's subscription, where forfeit
must be declared by a particular time, if he do not declare forfeit by that
lime shall be considered to have taken the engagement upon himself, and
the original suliseriber shall cease to be liable.

28. Fajpncntand Applicationof Stakcs.and Forfeits. — Entrance money, stakes,
and forfeits must be paid in cash (if ref[iured) to the clerk of the course or
authorized stakeholder. If any clerk of the course allow a horse to start in a
race without his stake for that race having been paid, such clerk shall be
liable for it himself.

.Stakes and forfeits in a race belong to the winner, except as otherv.-ise
declared in the conditions, and the stakeliolder shall render an account to
him, or his agent, and pay over all stakes and added money within tifteen
days of the conclusion of the meeting. If the race be never run or be void,
they shall be returned.

Entrance money shall be paid into the race fund of the meeting, except in
the case of a sweepstakes where no money or less than ^50 is given from the
race fund or other public source, in which case the entrance money shall go
to the winner, or to some other horse or horses in the race.

29. Stake and Arrears must be 2'aid before starting. — A horse shall not start
for a race unless there have been duly paid before weighing (1) any stake,
entrance money, or fee payable in respect of that race; and also (2) all arrears
due from any person for such horse, or due for the same or any other horse
from any person by whom such horse is wholly or partly owned, or in whose
name or under w-hose subscription he is entered.

In this Rule "arrears" includes any sums payable for fmcs, fees, entrance
money, stakes, or forfeits in I'cspect of any race at the same or any other
meeting in the United Kingdom, and any sum in respect of which a jierson
lias been declared a defaulter : Provided that arrears of forfeits in respect of a
meeting at any other place than the ])laee at which the race is run shall not
be included, unless notice of such forfeits being overdue has been ])ublished
in the Unpaid Forfeit List or Steeplechase Forfeit List, or delivered in
writing, signed by tlie party claiming the arrears, to tlie clerk of the course
or stakeholder, or to the person indebted, before ten in the evening preceding
the race.

This Eule shall apply to arrears at the Curragh and other recognized meetings
in Ireland, or at any steeplechase meeting in the United Kingdom held under
the Grand National Steeplechase IJules, or Irish National Hunt Steeplechase
llules.

The Unpaid Forfeit List.

30. Unpaid Forfeit List.—(i) An Unpaid Forfeit List shall be kept at the
registry office, and shall be published in tlie Sheet Calendar after the New-
market July Meeting and again at the conclusion of the racing season in every
year. It shall include all due and unpaid entrances, stakes, fines, and forfeits
which have been notified as hereinafter mentioned, and shall state the real
name or names, and alsj the assumed name or names (if any) of the persons
from whom, and the horses (if any) in respect of which the same are due.
Entrances, stakes, fines, and forfeits which have been so publislied must be
paid directly into the registry office, and until so paid they shall not be re-
moved from the list ;

(ii) Any person to whom any entrance, stake, fine, fee, or forfeit is pnyable
(whether as an official or otherwise) may (or shall, if he be an official, within

RULES OF RACING. 363

a month of tlie publication of tlie next Forfeit List) notify the same in writing,
signed by him, to the registry office, or to tlie clerk of the course, and every
such statement received by the cleik of the course shall be forthwith trans-
mitted by him to the registry office ;

(iii) So long as the name of a person is in the Unpaid Forfeit List he cannot
subscribe to any sweci)stakes, and no horse can be entered by him, or under
his subscription for any race, whether acting as an agent or otherwise ; and no
horse wliich has been entered by him, or in his name, or under his subscrij)-
tion, or of wliich he is wholly or partly the owner, or which, after the default
has been twice published in the "Racing Calendar," shall be proved to the
satisf.iction of the stewards to be under his care, training, management, or
sujierintendence, shall be qualified to run for any race ; and so lon^ as any
horse is in the Unpaid Forfeit List, such horse shall not be entered or run ibr
any race ;

(iv) A corrected alphabetical index of the horses and owners in the last
Forfeit List and Irish Foifeit List shall be publislied in the lirst " Calendar"
of every montli during the racing season. Such monthly list sliall commence
not less than three years before the time at which it is published, and shall
be carried down to and include the latest Forfeit List which has been pub-
lished in the " Sheet Calendar," as above mentioned;

The clerk of the course at every meeting shall put up in his office during
such meeting two copies of the last Monthly List for the time being ;

(v) If any horse which, or the owner of wliich, is in any Forfeit List bo
allowed to start, the clerk of the course shall be fined £10 ;

(vi) If a horse which, or the owner of which, is in any Forfeit List be entered
for any race, the owner of such horse shall be lined £^Q.

PART VI. — The Race — Weighixg-out and Starting.

3L Startiiuj and Wcirjhinfj-out. — (i) A horse shall not be qualified to run
in a race unless his name has been notified as a starter to the clerk of the scales
on the day of the race, and his number exhibited one quarter of an hour before
the time appointed for the race. If anj'' alteration be made in a number after
it has been exhibited, the stewards nmycall upon the owner, trainer, or jockey
for an explanation, and if no satisfactory explanation be given, tlie ownei',
trainer, or jockey maybe fined, and the horse shall not be allowed to start nor
the jockey to ride again until the fine is paid ;

(ii) Every jockey who is to ride in the race shall weigh at the appointed or
usual place, unless esjiecially excused by the stewards ;

(iii) No person shall, without special leave from the stewards in writing, be
admitted to the weighing-room except the owner, trainer, and jockey, or other
person having the care of a horse engaged in the race ;

(iv) If a jockey intend to carry over-weight exceeding by more than two
pounds the weight at which his horse is to run, he must declare the amount
of such overweight. The declaration must be made to the clerk of the scales
not later than twenty minutes before the time appointed for the start ; and the
clerk shall exhibit the amount of such extra weight with the number of the
horse ;

(v) If a horse carry more than two pounds over-weight, which has not been
duly declared, he is disqualified ;

(vi) Any over-Aveight exceeding two pounds which has been carried, whether
it has been duly declaimed or the horse has been disi]ualified, shall be published
in the "Racing Calendar," and the clerk of the scales shall send a return
thereof to the registry office ;

(vii) The horses must be started by the official starter or his authorized deputy
or substitute. No horse when once under the starter's hands shall be allowed
to go back and correct his weight, unless some accident has occun-ed to him.

(viii) The starter may give all such orders and take all such measures as are
necessary for securing a fair start ; and in particular he may, if he think it

564 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

necessary order the horses to be drawn up in a line as far behind the starting-
post as he thinks necessary ;

(ix) The horses must be started from a walk. If the starter allow a start to
take place in front of the starting-post the start is void, and the horses must be
started again, and the starter shall forfeit a sum not exceeding ^50 ;

(x) The horses shall (so lar as is practicable) be drawn up before the start
in an order (reckoned from the whip hand) to be determined, when the
stewards think fit, by lots to be drawn by the jockeys at the time of weighing,
out;

(xi) Every horse which comes up to the post in time to start shall be liable
for his whole stake.

RUXXTNG.

32. Cro'iSMg, JostUii'j, Ac, in the Race. — (i) Ahorse which crosses another
is disqualitied, imless it be proved that he was two clear lengths ahead of the
other when he crossed ;

(ii) If a horse or his jockey jostle another horse, or the jockey of another
horse, the jockey which jostles the other is disqualified, unless it be proved
that the jostle was wholly caused by the fault of some other jockey, or that the
other horse or his jockey was partly in fault ;

(iii) If a horse run the wrong side of a post, he must turn back and nin the
couise from tlie post at which he left it.

03. Ilunning over again. — If a race has been run by all the horses at wrong
weights, or a wrong distance, or when the judge is not in the box, tlie stewards
shall order it to be run after the advertised time of the last race of the same
day.

"\Veighixg-ix.

31. JFcighing4n. — (i) Every jockey must, immediately after pulling up,
ride his horse to the place of weigliing, and there immediately dismount and
be weighed by the clerk of the scales : Provided that, if a jockey be pre-
vented from riding to the place of weighing by reason of accident or illness,
by which he or his horse is disabled, he may walk or be carried to the
scales ;

(ii) If a jockey do not weigh-in, or be short of weight, or be guilty of any
fraudulent practice with respect to weight or weighing, or dismount before
reaching the scales, or touch (except accidentally) any person or thing other
than his own equipments before weighing-in, his horse is discpialified, unless
lie can satisfy the stewards that he was justified by extraordinary circum-
stances ;

(iii) It is optional for the jockey to weigh out or in with his bridle, and the
clerk of the scales shall allow one pound for a curb or double bridle ; but no
weight shall be allowed for a snatfie bridle unless it is put into the scales before
the horse is led away, and no whip or substitute for a whip shall be allowed in
the scales.

If a horse run in a hood or clothing it must be put into the scale and in-
cluded in the jockey's weight.

Dead Heats.

35. Dccul Heats. — (i) A dead heat for the first place shall be run off after
the last race on the same day (except by special permission of the stewards)
unless the owners agree to di\dde. The other horses shall be deemed to have
been beaten, but they shall be entitled to their places (if any) as if the race
had been finally determined the first time ;

(ii) If a dead heat be run by two or more horses for second or any lower i)laca
in a race, the owners shall divide, subject to the provisions of Part VII., where
the winner is objected to, and if they cannot agree as to which of them is to
have a cup or other prize which cannot be divided, the question shall be deter-
mined by lot by the stewards ;

RULES OF RACING. 365

(iii) "VVhen owners divide they shall divide eqxially all the moneys or other
prizes which any of them could take if the dead heat were run off ;

(iv) Horses running a dead heat for a race or jilace shall be deemed winners
of the race or place until the dead heat is run off or the owners agree to divide,
and if the owners agree to divide, each horse which divides shall be deemed
a winner of the race or place for wliich he divides.

Second Money.

36. Second Moiwj. — Any money or prize which by the conditions is to go to
the horse placed second, or in any lower place in the race, shall, if the winner
lias walked over, or no horse has been so placed, be dealt with as follows,
namely : —

(i) If it be part of the stakes or plate, it shall go to the winner ; or,

(ii) If it was to be given as a separate donation from the race fund, or any

other source, it shall not be given at all ; or,

(iii) If it is entrance money for the race, it shall go to the race fund of the

meeting.

PART VII. — Objections and Complaints.

37. Judge's Decision fina?, subject to Objections. — The determination of a
judge, declaring a horse to have won or to be entitled to a place sliall be final
uqIcss an objection is made and allowed on the ground of disqualification :
Provided that this rule shall not prevent a judge from correcting any mistake.

(i) Objections. — Every objection must be made by tlie owner, jockey, or grooni
of some other horse engaged in the same race [or by the starter], or by a stew-
ard, and must be made to oue of the stewards, or to the judge, clerk of tlie
course, or clerk of the scales. The person to whom it is made may require it
to be put in writing and signed ;

(ii) If an objection to a horse engaged in a race be made not later than half-
past ten in the morning of the day for the race, the stewards may require his
qualifications to be proved before the race, and in default of such proof being
given to their satisfaction, they may declare him disqualified ;

(iii) An objection to a horse, on the ground of a cross or jostle, or of his not
having run the proper course, or of any other matter occurring in the race, must
be made within a quarter of an horn- after the finish;

(iv) An objection on the ground of fraudulent or wilful mis-statement or
omission in the entry under which a horse has run, or on the ground that the
horse which ran was not the horse which he was represented to be in the entry
or at the time of the race, or was not of the age which he was represented to
be, or on the ground that he is disqualified by reason of any default entered
in the Unpaid Forfeit List, may be received at any time within twelve months
after the race;

(v) In any other case an objection shall be made before the conclusion of
the meeting;

(vi) Every objection shall be determined by the stewards and their deter-
mination shall (if they are not the Stewards of the Jockey Club) be subject
to appeal to the Stewards of the Jockey Club, through the stewards of the meet-
ing and with their consent and with that of the Stewards of the Jockey Club,
and not otherwise ;

(vii) If an objection to a horse which has won or been placed in a race be
declared valid, the horse shall be regarded as having been last in the race, and
the other horses shall take positions accordingly;

(viii) When a dead heat is run for second place, and an objection is made to
the winner of the race, if such objection be declared valid in time for the dead
heat to be run off on the day of the race, the stewards may direct it to be run
oH" accordingly. Otherwise the horses which run the dead heat shall divide;

(ix) Every objection which cannot be decided by the stewards during a meet-
ing must be made in writing and lodged with the clerk of the course ;

366 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

(x) An oLjection made in writing cannot be withdrawn without leave of the
stewards;

(xi) AH costs and expenses in relation to determining an objection shall be
paid by the person decided against;

. (xii) If the stewards decide an objection to be frivolous they may order the
person making it to pay a fine not exceeding j£20 to the Bentinck Benevolent
I'und.

38. Effect of pending Objection. — Pending the determination of an objection,
any money or prize which the horse objected to may have won or may win in
the race shall be withheld until the objection is determined, and any forfeit
payable by the owner of any other horse shall be paid to and held by the clerk
of tlie course for the person who may be determined to be entitled to it.

When any race is in dispute both the horse that came in first and any horse
claiming the race shall be liable to all the penalties attaching to the winning
of that race till the matter is decided.

39. Stewards incuj order Examinations ami call for Proofs. — (i) The stewards
shall have power at any time, and either upon or without objection made, to
order an examination by such person or persons as they think tit, of the mouth
of ail}' horse entei'ed for a race, or who has run in a race ;

If a horse be declared to be of the wrong age, the expense of such examina-
tion shall be paid by his owner. Otherwise it shall be paid by the person (if
any) at whose request the examination is ordered, or out of the race fund of
the meeting, as the stewards direct ;

(ii ) The stewards shall also have power to call on any person in whose name
a horse is entered to produce proof that the horse entered is not the ])roperty
either wholly or in jjart of any person whose name is in the Unpaid Forfeit
List, or otherwise disqualified, or to produce proof of the extent of his interest
or property in the horse, and in default of such proof being given to their
satisfaction they may declare the horse disqualified.

PART VIII. — Special Conditions — (Claiming and" Selling Races — Pno.
DUGE Races — Post Races — Handicaps — Sale with Engagements).

Houses Entered to be Sold.

40. Any horse running for any race "to be sold," shall, if the winner, bo
liable to be claimed for the selling price, and if it be a condition of the race
that the winner is to be sold by auction the sale shall take place immediately
after the race, and the surplus over the selling price shall be divided between
the owner of the second horse and the race fund of the meeting. If sold, the
horse .shall not leave the place of sale until authorized by the clerk of the
course to do so ; and if the horse be not paid for, or the clerk of the course
satisfied with the securitj"-, within a quarter of an hour, he may order the-
horse to be jiut up a second time, and the purchaser at the first sale shall be
responsible for any deficiency arising from the second sale, and shall be
declared a defaulter until it is paid.

All other horses running to be sold may be claimed for the selling price
and the amount of the stakes or plate by the owners of horses running in the
I'ace.

In no selling race shall the lowest selling price be less than 50 sovs.

Owners of horses placed shall have priority in the order of their places, and
if the owners of two or more horses, having equal rights, claim, they are tO'
draw lots. The owner of the winner has the last claim.

Xo person can claim more than one horse.

Every claim must be made to the clerk of the scales within a quarter of an
liour after the race.

'Die price of every horse claimed or sold or bought in must be paid to the
clerk of the course, and an order given by him'for the delivery of the horse.

In till' case of a horse being claimed, if the price be not paid before seven

RULES OF RACING. 367

o'clock in the evening of the day of the race the claimant forfeits his right.
If none of the other jiersons entitled accept the horse, the owner may insist
on the first claimant taking and paying for it, and if he refuse or neglect to
do so he shall be declared a defavdter in respect of the price. If a liorse
valk over for a selling race he shall not be liable to be sold unless the addel
money be given.

Provisiox in Case of Objfxtion or Dead Heat,

41. Special Bule vhcre Horse objected to. — The foregoing Rules relating to
claiming and selling races shall be subject to the following provisions in cases
where a horse is objected to under the provisions of Part VII. of these
Rules : —

(i) If the objection has not been made until after the horse has been
claimed or bought, the person who claimed or bought him shall, if the objec-
tion be declared valid, have the option of returning him or retaining him at
the price of a beaten horse ;

(ii) If the objection be made before the horse has been claimed or bought,
the time for delivering him is thereby postponed until such time after the
determination of the objection as the stewards appoint, and if the objection
be declared valid, the person who has claimed or bought him shall have the
same ojition as in the last-mentioned case.

42. Special Rule iclicre Dead Heat. — If a dead heat be declared for the first
or any other jdace in a race, the time for claiming or selling the horses
running the dead lieat is thereby postponed until the dead heat is run off, as
the stewards appoint. In case of a division, each of the horses dividing is
a winner for the purposes of these Pailes relating to claiming and selling, and
any surplus (in the case of a selling race) shall be divided between those
liorses and the race fund.

Pr.oDiTCE Races.

43. Produce Haces. — (i) A produce race is one for which horses are named by
whose produce the race is to be run ;

(ii) The produce is entered by entering the dam and sire, or sires ;

(iii.) If the produce of a mare be dropped before January 1, or if there be no
produce, or if the produce be dead wlien dropped, the entry of such mare is
void, and the entrance money (if any) shall be returned;

(iv) Conditions of a produce race referring to allowances to the produce of
untried horses, extend only to the produce of horses whose produce never won
a recognized race in any country, and any such allowance nmst be claimed
before the expiration of the time for naming.

Post Races.

44. Post Ecices, — A post race is a race for which a subscriber must enter two
or more horses, and may run any one or more of them, as the conditions
prescrilie.

Handicaps.

45. Handicaps. — (i) A "handicap" is a race in which the weights which
the horses are to carry are to be adjusted after the time limited for entering or
naming, according to the handicapper's judgment of the merits of the horses,
for the purpose of equalizing their chances of winning ;

(ii) In a handicap (other than a free handicap) the horses must be entered
in the usual way, and a person entering a horse 1 )ecomes liable for the stake or
forfeit, whether he accc})ts or not ;

(iii) A free handicap is one in which no liability for stake or forfeit is in-
curred until acceptance, and no entry need be made ; and acceptance shall be
considered as equivalent to an entry and as a representation that the horse is
of the age and description stated in the list of weights, and if the horse l)e not
in fact of that age and description he shall be disqualiiicd. There shall not be

368 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF.

a greater difference than 4st. 71bs. between the highest and lowest weight in a
handicap to which there is a second forfeit.

Sale with Engagements.

46. Liability for Engacjements of Horses sold. — When a horse is sohl with his
engagements, or any part of tliem, the seller cannot strike the horse out of
any of such engagements, and he remains liable for the amount of the forfeits
in each of the engagements, but he may, if compelled to pay them by the pur-
chaser's default, place the forfeit on the Forfeit List, as due from the purchaser
to himself.

In all cases of sale by private treaty, the written acknowledgment of both
parties that the horse was sold with the engagement is necessary to entitle the
seller or buyer to the benefit of this Paile, and if certain engagements be
specified it is to be understood that those only are sold with the horse ; but
when a horse is sold by public auction the advertised conditions of the sale are
sufficient evidence, and if certain engagements only be specified, it is to be
understood these only are sold with the horse, and if he has been claimed as the
winner of a race of which it was a condition that the winner was to be sold
with his engagements, this also is sufficient.

When a person is entitled, by purchase or otherwise, to startler any engage-
ment a horse which was entered by another person, and he is prevented by
these Rules from starting the horse without paying forfeits or fees to which he
would not otherwise be liable, he may, if he pay such forfeits or fees, start the
liorse and place the forfeits or fees on the Forfeit List, with the names of the
horses in respect of which they are due as due to himself.

PAET IX, — Miscellaneous— Foreign Horses.

47. Fureign Certificates, <Lc. — A horse foaled out of the United Kingdom shall
not be qualified to start for any race until there have been deposited at the
registry office (1) such a foreign certificate, and (2) such a certificate of age,
as are next mentioned, that is to say —

(i) The foreign certificate must state the age, pedigree, and colour of the
horse, and any mark by which it may be distinguished, and must be signed by
the secretary or other ofllicer of some approved racing club of the country in
which the horse was foaled, or by some magistrate, mayor, or public officer of
that country ;

The Stewards of the Jockey Club may from time to time approve any racing
club for the purpose of this Rule, and prescribe the magistrate, mayor, or piib-
lic officer by whom a foreign certificate must be signed. They may also require
any further proof or confirmation in any particular case, and may declare any
liorse disqualified in default thereof;

(ii) The certificate of age must be signed by a veterinary surgeon in the
United Kingdom, approved for this purpose by the Stewards of the Jockey
Club either by general order or in the particular case.

Kote. — The Stewards of the Jockey Club have approved generally of cer-
tificates given by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, and by persons
holding the Highland and Agiiculture Society's diploma.

A horse Avliich has been out of the United Kingdom (otherwise than as a
foal at the foot of his dam) before having run for any public plate or 'sweep-
stakes in Great Britain, shall not be qualified to start for any public race until
a certificate of age signed as in the last Rule mentioned has been deposited at
the registry office.

Corrupt Practices and Disqualifications.

48 Penalties for Corriq^t Practices on the Turf. — (i) If any person corruptly
give or olfer any money, share in a bet, or other, benefit to any j^erson having
official duties in relation to a race, or to any jockey ; or

RULES OF RACING. 369

(ii) If any person having oflScial duties in relation to a race, or any jockey,
corruptly accept or oflfer to accept any money, share in a bet, or other
benefit; or

(iii) Wilfully enter or cause to be entered or to start for any race a horse
which he knows to be disqualified ; or
- (iv). If any person be detected watching a trial, or proved to the satisfaction
of the Stewards of the Jockey Club to have employed any person to watch a
trial, or to have obtained surreptitiously information respecting a trial from
any person or persons engaged in it, or in the service of the owner or trainer
of the horses tried, or respecting any horses, in training from any person in
such service ; or

(v) If any person be guilty of any other corrupt or fraudulent practices on
the Turf in this or any other country ;

Every person so offending shall be warned off Newmarket Heath and other
places where these Rules are in force.

49. Disqurdification for Corriopt Practices. — When a person is warned off
Newmarket Heath under these Rules, and so Ions; as his exclusion continues, he
shall not be qualified, whether acting as an agent or otherwise to subscribe
for or to enter or run any horse for any race either in his own name or in that
of any other person, and any horse of which he is wholly or partly the owner,
or which after the fact of his being warned off has been twice published in the
" Racing Calendar," shall be proved to the satisfaction of the stewards to
be under his care, training, management, or superintendence, shall be dis-
qualified.

If a person be so excluded for any fraudulent practice in relation to a parti-
cular horse wholly or partly belonging to him, such liorse shall be perpetually
disqualified for all races, and such person shall return all money or prizes
which such horse has won in any race at any meeting.

50. BisquaHjication for Default in Bets. — If any person be reported by the
Committee of the Subscription Rooms at Newmarket or at Tattersall's as being
a defaulter in bets, he shall be disqualified as in the last Rule mentioned until
his default is cleared, provided the complaint shall have been lodged with such
'Committee within three months of the bets being due.

51. Fines. — All fines shall be paid to the Beutinck Benevolent Fimd.

Omission of Conditions.

52. Omissions, how supplied — of Weight ; of Course ; )f Day^ — (i) When any
match or sweejistake is made, and no weight mentioned, the horses shall
carry 8st. lOlbs. each, and if any weight be given the highest weight shall be
8st. 121 bs.;

(ii) When any match or sweepstakes is made and no course mentioned, the
course shall be as follows : —

If at Newmarket.

If two-year-old, six furlongs T.Y.G.

If three-year-old, one mile ... ... ... R.M.

If four-year-old, two miles ... ... ... D.I.

If four-year-old, or upwards, four miles ... B.C.

And if the horses be of different age, the course shall be fixed by the age of
the youngest ;

(iii) If no day be mentioned for a race, it shall be run on the last day of the
meeting, unless otherwise agreed by all the parties engaged.

Jockeys' Fees,

.53. Jockeys' Fees. — In the absence of special agreement the fee to a winning
jockey shall be five guineas, and to a losing jockey three guineas, and no further
charge except for expenses shall be allowed.

In the absence of special agreement, a jockey who accepts a retainer cannot
VOL. II. , 24

370 HISTORY OF THE BRITISH TURF

terminate it otherwise than by three months' notice in writing, ending at the
close of a season ; and failing such notice his retainer continues for the next
season, and so on from season to season until duly terminated by such notice
as above-mentioned ; provided the same or any agreed retaining fee is paid in
advance in respect of each season before the commencement thereof.

Employers retaining the same jocke}' have precedence according to the
priority of their retainers. A retainer which is continued as above-mentioned
has priority as from the date of its first commencement.

If a jockey be prevented from riding by suspension for fraudulent practices,
or other misconduct, any person who has retained him may cancel the re-
tainer.

Tlio Stewards of the Jockey Club shall have power to release a jockey from
his retainer for any cause appearing to them sufiBcient.

Calculation of Time.

54. Sundays omitted. — When the last day for doing anything in relation to
a race falls on a Sunday, it may be done on the following Monday, unless tlie
race to which such act relates is appointed for that day, in which case it must
be done on the previous Saturday.

Foreign Meetings.

55. Foreign Meetings. — The Stewards of the Jockey Club shall cause a list
to be from time to time published and kept, as they think fit, of meetings and
races in countries other than Great Britain, which are to be deemed recognized
meetings and races for the purposes of these Rules.

New Ivules.

56. New Rules. — No new Rule of Racing can be passed, nor can any exist-
ing Rule be rescinded or altered, without being previously advertised three
times in the " Sheet Calendar," and notice given of the meeting of the Jockey
Club at which it is to be proposed ; and no new Rule, or repeal or alteration
of a Rule, shall take effect until it has been confirmed at the meeting ensuing
that at which it was passed, and until it has been twice published in the
" Sheet Calendar." Any owner of race-horses or persons affected by such new
Rule, rescission, or alteration, may, before it is made, petition the Jockey
Club through the Secretary. All such petitions shall be laid before the meet-
ing before the question is put.

LIST OF WINNERS

OF THE

DERBY, ST. LEGER, OAKS, TWO

THOUSAND. AND ONE THOUSAND

GUINEAS.

24 — 2

( 372 )

WINNERS OF THE DERBY, WITH

Run at Epsom ; distance,

1780

1781

1782

1783

1784

1785

1786

1787

1788

1789

1790

1791

1792

1793

1794

1795

1796

1797

1798

1799

1800

1801

1802

1803

1804

1805

1806

1807

1808

1809

1810

1811

1812

1813

1814

1815

1816

1817

1818

1819

1820

1821

1822

1823

1824

1825

1826

1827

1828

1829

1830

1831

1832

1833

1834

1835

Owner.

Sir C. Bunbury
Major 0' Kelly-
Lord Egremont
Mr. Parker ...
Colonel O'Kelly ..
Lord Clermont
Mr. Panton
Lord Derby
Prince of Wales ..
Duke of Bedford . .
Lord Grosvenor
Duke of Bedford ..
Lord Grosvenor
Sir F. Poole
Lord Grosvenor
Sir F. Standish ..
Sir F. Standish ..
Duke of Bedford ..
Mr. Cookson
Sir F. Standish ..
Mr. Wilson
Sir C. Bunbury
Duke of Grafton . .
Sir H. Williamson
Lord Egremont
Lord Eijremont
Lord Foley...
Lord Egremont
Sir H. Williamson
Duke of Grafton . .
Duke of Grafton . ,
Sir J. Shelley
Mr. Ladbroke
Sir C. Bunbury
Lord Stawell
Duke of Grafton . ,
Mr. Lake ...
Mr. Payne ...
Mr. Thomhill
Duke of Portland .
Mr. Thornhill
Mr. Hunter
Duke of York
Mr. Udny ...
Sir J. Shelley
Lord Jersey
Lord Egremont
Lord Jersey
Duke of Rutland .
Mr. Gratwicke
Mr. Chifney
Lord Lowther
Mr. Ridsdale
Mr. Sadler ...
Mr. Batson...
Mr. Bowes ...

WiNNKR.

Sire.

Diomed

Young Eclipse

Assassin

Saltram

Serjeant

Aimwell

Noble

Sir Peter Teazle
Sir Thomas ...
Skyscraper
Rhadamanthus
Eager ...

John Bull

Waxy

Daedalus
Spread Eagle ...

Didelot

Sis. to Pharaniond colt

Sii' Harry

Archduke

Champion

Eleanor

Tyrant

Ditto

Hannibal

Cardinal Beaufort
Paris ...
Election

Pan

Pope

Whalebone

Phantom

Octavius

Smolensko

Blucher
Whisker
Prince Leopold
Azor ...
Sam
Tiresias
Sailor ...
Gustavus
Moses ...
Emilius

Cedric ...

Middleton

Lapdog
Mameluke
*Cadland

Frederick

Priam

Spaniel

St. Giles
Dangerous
Plenipotentiary
Mundig

Florizel

Eclipse

Sweetbriar

Eclipse

Eclipse

Marc Antony ...

Highflyer

Highflyer

Pontac

Highflyer

Justice...

Florizel

Fortitude

PotSos

Justice...

Volunteer

Trumpator

Fidget

Sir Peter Teazle
Sir Peter Teazle

Pot8os

Whiskey

Pot8os

Sir Peter Teazle

Driver...

Gohanna

Sir Peter Teazle

Gohanna

St. George

Waxy ... ...

Waxy

Walton
OiTille...
Sorcerer
Waxy ...
Waxy ...
Hedley

Selim

Scud

Soothsayer

Scud

Election

Whalebone

Orville...

Phantom

Phantom

Whalebone ...

Partisan

Andrew

Little John ...

Emilius

Whalebone

Tramp

Tramp

Emilius
Catton

Rider.

S. ArnuU ...

Hindley

S. ArnuU ...

Hindley

J. Arnull ...

Hindley

J. White ...

S. Arnull ...

W. South ...

Chifney, sen.

J. Arnull ...

Stephenson...

Buckle

Clift

Buckle
A. Wheatley
J. Arnull ...
J. Singleton
S. ArnuU ...
J. Arnull ...

Clift

Saunders ...
Buckle

Clift

W. ArnuU ...
Fitzpatrick...
Shepherd ...
J. ArnuU ...
CoUinson ...
Goodison ...

Clift

Buckle
W. ArnuU ...
Goodison
W. ArnuU ...
Goodison ...
Wheatley ...
Robinson ...
S. Chifney ...

Clift

S. Chifney ...
S. Day
Goodison ...
Buckle
Robinson ...
Robinson ...
Dockeray ...
Robinson ...
Robinson ...
Forth
S. Day
Wheatley ...
Scott
Chappie
ConoUy
Scott

* After a dcad-licat with the

( 373 )

THE SECOND AND THIRD HORSES.

ONE MILE AND A

HALF.

Betting against

03

o

Second House.

Third Horse.

AViNNER

AT Starting.

CO

Time.

Boudrow

Spitfire

6 to 4 agst

36

9

Crop

Prince of Orange

10 to 1 ,,

35

15

Sweet Kobin ..

Fortunio

5tol „

35

13

Dungannou ..

Parlington

5 to 2 „

34

6

Carlo Khan ..

Dancer

3tol „

30

11

Grantham

Verjuice

7tol ,,

29

10

Meteor

Claret

30 to 1 „

29

15

Gunpowder . .

Bustler

2tol „

33

7

Aurelius

Feenow

6 to 5 on

30

11

Sir George

Brother to Skyl.rk ...

7 to 4 on

30

11

Asparagus

Lee Boo

5 to 4 agst

32

10

Vermin

Proteus

5 to 2 ,,

32

9

Speculator

Bustard

6 to 4 on

32

7

Gohanna

Triptolemus

12 to 1 agst

50

13

■^

Eagged Jack . .

Leon

6 to 1 „

49

4

Caustic

Pelter

6 to 2 „

45

11

rM

Stickler

Leviathan

45

11

C3

Esculus

Plaistow

10 to 1 agst ...

37

7

^

Telegraph

Young Spear

7 to 4 „

37

10

2

Gislebert

Eagle

12 to 1 „

33

11

"-!3

Tag

Mystery

33

13

Fidget colt

Remnant

31

11

-|J

Young Eclipse

Orlando

7 to 1 agst

30

9

o

Sir Oliver

Brother to Stamford ...

7 to 2 „

35

6

V

Pavilion

Hippocampus

3 to 1 „

33

8

o
o

Plantagenet ..

Goth

20tol „

39

15

£

Trafalgar

Hector

5tol „

39

12

3

Giles Scroggins

Coriolanus

3 to 1 „

38

13

o
o

Vandyke

Chester

25tol „

38

10

Wizard

Salvator

20 to 1 „

45

10

o

f3

The Dandy ..

Eccleston

2 to 1 „

45

11

«o

Magic

Third not placed

5tol „

48

16

00

Sweep ...

Comus

47

14

^

Caterpillar

Illusion

Even on

51

12

a>

Perchance

Third not placed

5 to 2 agst

51

14

i^

Ra[ihael

Busto

8 to 1

51

13

Nectar

Pandour

20tol „

51

11

o

Young Wizard

Third not placed

50 to 1 ,,

56

13

+s

Raby

Prince Paul

7 to 2 „

66

16

§

Sultan

Euphrates

5 to 2

54

16

'>

Abjer

Tiger

7 to 2 .,

52

15

2

Reginald

Sir Hildebrand

2tol „

54

13

Ph ■

Figaro

Hampden

6 to 1 „

53

12

Tancred

Third not placed

11 to 8 „

60

11

Osmond

Third not placed

9 to 2 „

58

17

Rufus

Hogarth

7 to 4 „

58

18

Shakspere

Third not placed

50tol „

57

19

Glenartney

Edmund

9 to 1 „

89

23

The Colonel ..

Zinganee

4tol „

89

15

The Exquisite

Oatlands

40tol „

89

17

Little Red Rover

Mahmoud

4tol „

89

23

Riddlesworth ...

Incubus

50tol „

105

23

Perion...

,,

Trustee

3tol „

101

22

Connoisseur ...

,,

Revenge

30 to 1

124

25

Shillelagh

..

Glencoe

9 to 4 „

126

22

Ascot ...

Pelops ...

6 to 1 „

128

14

lion. E. Petre's The Colonel.

( 374 >

DEEBY WINNERS—

OWKEE.

Winner.

SlllE.

ElDEE.

1836

Lord Jersey

Bay Middleton

Sultan

Robinson ...

1837

Lord Berners

Phosphorus

Lamplighter

G. Edwards

1838

Sir G. Heathcote ...

Amato

Velocipede

Chappie

1839

Mr. "W. Eidsdale ...

Bloomsbury

Mulatto

Templeman

1840

Mr, Eobertson

Little Wonder

Muley

Macdonald ...

1841

Mr. Rawlinson

Coronation

Sir Hercules

ConoUy

1842

Colonel Anson

Attila

Colwick

Scott

1843

Mr. Bowes

Cotherstone

Touchstone

Scott

1844

Colonel Peel

*Orlando

Touchstone

Flatman

1845

Mr. Gratwicke

Merry Monarch

Slane

F, Bell

1846

Mr. Gully

Pyrrhus the First

Epinis

S, Day ...

1847

Mr. Pedley

The Cossack

Hetman Platoll'

Templeman

1848

Viscount Clifden ...

Surplice

Touchstone

Templeman

1849

Lord Eglinton

The Flying Dutchman

Bay Middleton

Marlow

1850

Lord Zetland

Voltigeur

Voltaire

J. Marson ...

1851

Sir J. Hawley

Teddington

Orlando

J. Marson ...

1852

Mr. Bowes

Daniel O'Rourke

Irish Birdcatcher

F. Butler ...

1853

Mr, Bowes

West Australian

Melbourne

F, Butler ...

1854

Mr. Gully

Andover

Bay Middleton

A. Day — ..-

1855

Mr. Popham

WildDajTell

Ion

R. Sherwood

1856

Admiral Harcourt . . .

Ellington

The Flying Dutchman

Aldcroft

1857

Mr. W. I'Anson ...

Blink Bonny

Melbourne

Charlton . . .

1858

Sir J. Hawley

Beadsman

Weatherbit

Wells

1859

Sir J. Hawley

Musjid

Newminster

Wells

I860-

Mr. Merry

Thormanby

Windhound

Custance ...

1861

Colonel Towneley . . .

Kettledrum

Rataplan

Bullock ...

1862

]Mr. C. Snewing ...

Caractacus

Kingston

Parsons

1863

Mr. R. C. Naylor...

Macaroni

Sweetmeat

T. Chaloner

1864

Mr. "W. lAnson ...

Blair Athol

Stockwell

J. Snowden

1865

Ct. F. de Lagrange

Gladiateur

Monarque

H. Grimshaw

1866

Mr. R. Sutton

Lord Lyon

Stockwell

Custance ...

1867

Mr. Chaplin

Hermit

Newminster

J. Daley ...

1868

Sir J. Hawley

Blue Gown

Beadsman

Wells

1869

Mr. J. Johnstone ..

Pretender

Adventurer

J. Osbonic ...

1870

Lord Falmouth

Kingcraft

King Tom

T. French ...

1871

Baron Rothschild ...

Favonius

Parmesan

T. French ...

1872

Mr. Savile

Cremome

Parmesan

Maidment ...

1873

Mr. Meny

Doncaster

Stockwell

F. Webb ...

1874

Mr. Cartwright

George Frederick

Marsyas

Custance . . .

1875

Prince Batthyany . . .

Galopin

Vedette

Morris

1876

Mr. A. Baltazzi

Kisber...

Buccaneer

Maidment ...

1877

Lord Falmouth

Silvio

Blair Athol

F. Archer ...

1878

Mr. W. S. Crawfurd

Sefton

Speculum

Constable ...

1879

Mr. Acton

Sir Bevj's

Favonius

Fordham ...

* A horse, falsely described as Runninrj Rein, by The Saddler out of Mab, by Duncan Grey,

(afterwards Zauoni), by Gladiator, dam

1780. — Run on Thursday, May 4. 50 guineas each, h ft, for three-year-olds; colts, 8st.; fillies,

7st. 111b. Last mile of the course.
1782. — First year that the second received iOO sovs. out -of the stakes.
1784. — Weights and distance increased, the former being raised to — colts, 8st. 3lb.; fillies, 8st.;

and the distance to the " last mile and a half."
1786. — Run on Wednesday.
1791. — Run, for the first time, in June (the 9th).
1801. — Weights again altered to — colts, 8st. 3lb. ; fillies, 7st. 12lb.; and was the fii'st Derby won

by a filly — Eleanor, who also won the Oaks.
1803. — Weights once more altered, as follows: — colts, 8st. 51b.; fillies, 8st.
1807. — Weights again altered, this time to— colts, 8st. 71b.; fillies, 8st. 21b.

The race has been run in June in the following years :— 1791, 1794, 1797, 1802,

Continued.

( 375 )

Betting against

p

1

Second House.

Third House.

Winner

Time. I

AT Starting.

m

H

Gladiator

Venison

7 to 4 agst

123

21

Caravan

Mahometan

40 to! ,,

131

17

Ion

Grey Momus

30tol ,,

134

23

Deception

Euclid

25 to 1 ,,

143

21

Launcelot

Discord

50 to 1 „

144

17

Van Amburgh

Mustapha Muley

5 to 2 „

154

29

Robert do Gorliam ...

Belcceur

5tol ,,

180

24

Gorhambury

Sirikol

13 to S ,,

155

23

Ionian

Bay Momus

20tol „

153

29

.s

o

Annandale

Old England

15 to 1 agst Forth's Id

i 137

31

S

cc

Sir Tatton Sykes

Brocardo

8 to 1 agst ...

193

27

2

55

War Eagle

Van Tromp

5tol „

188

32

2

52

Springy Jack

Shylock

Even on

215

17

2

48

Hotspur

Tadmor

2 to 1 agst ...

237

26

3

0

Pitsford

Clincher

16 to 1 „

205

24

2

50

Marlboro' Buck

Neasham

3 to 1 „

192

33

2

51

Barbarian

Chief Baron Nicholson

25tol ,,

181

27

3

2

Sittingbourne

Cineas

6 to 4 ,,

194

28

2

55i

King Tom

Hermit

7 to 2 ,,

217

27

2

52"

Kingstown

Lord of the Isles

Even on

191

12

2

54

Yellow Jack ...

Cannobie

20 to 1 agst ...

211

24

3

4

Black Tommy

Adamas

20tol ,,

202

30

2

45

Toxophilite ...

The Hadji

lOtol ,,

200

23

2

54

Marionette

Trumpeter

9 to 4 ,,

246

30

2

59

The Wizard

Horror

4tol ,,

224

30

2

55

Dundee

Diophantus

12tol ,,

238

18

2

43

The Marquis

Buckstone

40tol ,,

233

34

2

45J

Lord Clifden

Rapid Rhone

lOtol „

255

31

2

50i

General Peel

Scottish Chief

14tol ,,

234

30

2

43|

Christmas Carol

Eltham

5 to 2 ,,

249

30

2

46

Savemake

Rustic

6 to 5 on

274

26

2

50

Marksman

Vauban

66 to 1 agst ...

256

30

2

52

King Alfred

Speculum

7 to 2 „

262

18

2

43|

Pero Gomez

The Drummer

5 to 4 „

247

22

2

52i

Palraerston

Muster

100 to 6 „

252

15

2

45

\ Albert Victor )
1 King of the Forest (

dead-heat for second . . .

lOtol „

208

17

2

50

Pell Mell

Queen's Messenger ...

3tol „

191

23

2

45

'Kaiser ... )
i Gang Forward \

dead-heat for second...

40tol „

201

12

2

50

Couronne de Fer

Atlantic

9tol „

212

20

2

46

Claremont

Repentance colt

2tol ,,

199

18

2

47

Forerunner

Julius Cffisar ...

7 to 2 ,,

229

15

2

44

Glen Arthur

Rob Roy

100 to 9 „

245

17

2

50

Insulaire

Childeric

100 to 12 ,,

231

22

2

56

Palmbearer

Visconti

20tol „

279

23

3

2

came in first, but was subsequently proved to be a four-year-old colt, called Maccabeus

by Capsicum, and was disqualified.

1825. — Conditions altered to 50 sovs. each, li ft.

1838. — Day altered to Wednesday, the race having previously been nm on Thursday, except in

1786.
1839. — Run in a snowstorm.
1848. ^Run on the New Course for the first time.

1857. — Second year won by a filly — Blink Bonny, who also won the Oaks,
1862.— Weights again altered— colts, 8st. lOlb. ; fillies, 8st. 51b.
1865. — Won for the fii'st time by a horse bred in France — Gladiateur.
1867. — Snow fell on the day of the race.

1869. — The second received 300 sovs., and the third 150 aovs.
1872.— The start made from the New High Level Starting-post for the first time.
1808, 1810, 1813, 1821, 1824, 1829, 1832, 1835, 1840, 1862, 1870, 1874, and 1878.-

( 376 )

WINNERS OF THE ST. LEGER, WITH

Run at Doncaster; distance,

<

Owner.

Winner.

Sire.

Rider.

1776

Lord RockingliaHi..

Allabaciilia

Sampson

J. Singleton

1777

Mr. Sotheron

Bourbon

Le Sang

Cade

1778

Sir T. Gascoigne ..

Hollandaise

Match-'em

Hearou

1779

Mr. Stapleton

Tommy

Wildair

G. Lowry, sen.

1780

Mr. Bethell

Ruler

Young Marske

Mangle

1781

Colonel Radcliffe ..

Serina ...

Goldtinder

Foster

1782

Mr. Pratt

Imperatrix

Alfred

Searle

1783

Sir J. L. Kaye

Phenomenon ...

Herod ...

Hall

'

1784

Mr. Coates .'..

Omphale

Highflyer

Kirton

1785

Mr. Hill

Cowslip

Highflyer

Searle

1786

Lord A. Hamilton..

Paragon

Paymaster

Mangle

1787

Lord A. Hamilton..

Spadille

Highflyer

Mangle ... .

1788

Lord A. Hamilton..

Young Flora

Highflyer

Mangle ... j

1789

Lord Fitzwilliam . .

. *Pewett

Tandem

Singleton ...

1790

Mr. Dealtry

Ambidexter ...

Phenomenon

Searle ... i

1791

Mr. Hutchinson ..

Young Traveller

King Fergus ...

Jackson

1792

Lord A. Hamilton..

Tartar

Florizel

]\Iangle

1793

Mr. Clifton

Ninety-three ...

Floiizel

Peirse

1794

Mr. Hut-nhinson ..

Beningbrough

King Fergus ...

Jackson

1795

Sir C. Turner

Hambletonian

King Fergus

Boyes

1796

Mr. Cook son

Ambrosio

Sir Peter

Jackson

1797

Mr. G. Crompton ..

Lounger

Drone ...

Shepherd ...

179.3

Sir T. Gascoigne ..

Symmetry

Delpini

Jackson

1799

SirH. T. Vane ..

. Cook fighter

Ovtrton

Field

1800

Mr. Wilson

Champion

Pot8os

Buckle

1801

Mr. Goodricke

Quiz

Buzzard

Shejtherd ...

1802

Lord Fitzwilliam ..

. Orville

Beningbrough

J.SingletonJr.

1803

Lord Strathmore ..

Remembrancer

Pipator

Smith

1804

Mr. Mellish

Sancho

Don Quixote ...

Buckle

1805

Mr. Mellish

Sfaveley

Shuttle

Jackson

1806

Mr. Clifton

Fyldener

Sir Peter

Carr

1807

Lord Fitzwilliam ..

Paulina

Sir Peter

Clift

1808

Duke of Hamilton..

Petronius

Sir Peter

Smith

1809

Duke of Hamilton..

Ashton

Walnut

Smith

1810

Duke of Leeds

Octavian

Stripling

Clift

1811

Mr. Gascoigne

Soothsayer

Sorcerer

Smith

1812

Mr. Rob

Otterington

Golumpus

Johnson

1813

Mr. Watt

Altisidora

Dick Andrews

Jackson

1814

Duke of Hamilton..

William

Governor

Shepherd ...

1815

Sir W. Maxwell ..

Filho da Puta

Haphazard

Jackson

1816

Sir B. R. Graham..

The Duchess

Cardinal York

Smith

1817

Mr. Peirse

P>bor

Orville...

Johnson

1818

Mr. Peirse

Reveller

Comus ..

Johnson

1819

Mr. Ferguson

Antonio

Octavian

Nicholson ...

1820

Sir E. Smith

St. Patrick

Walton

Johnson

1821

Mr. T. 0. Powlett..

Jack Spigot

Ardrossan

Scott

1822

Hon. E. Petre

Theodore

Woful

Jackson

1823

Mr. Watt

Barefoot ... ■ ...

Tramp

Goodisson ...

1824

Mr, Gascoigne

Jerry ...

Smolensko

Smith

1825

Mr. Watt

Memnon

Whisker

Scott

1826

Lord Scarborough . .

Tarrare

, Catton

Nelson

1827

Hon. E. Petre

Matilda

Comus

Robinson ...

1828

Hon. E. Petre

The Colonel

Whisker

Scott

1829

Hon. E. Petre

Rowton

Oiseau...

Scott

1830

Mr. Beardsworth ..

Birmingham ...

Filho da Puta

ConoUy

1831

Lord Cleveland

Chorister

Lottery

J. B. i)ay ...

1832

Mr. Gully

Margrave

Muley

Robinson ...

1833

Mr. Watt

Rockingham

Humphrey Clinker ...

Darling

1834

Lord Westminster . .

Touchstone

Camel ...

Calloway ...

1835

Mr. Mostyn

Queen of Trumps

Velocipede

Lye

_

Duke of Hamilton's colt by Laurel out of Moorpout, ridden by Mangle, came in

( VI )

THE SECOND AND THIRD HORSES.

1 MILE 6 FUR. 132 YARDS.

Betting against

.

p

Second Horse.

Third Horse.

Winner.

S

Time.

AT Starting.

E-i

Trusty

Orestes

2 to 1 on

6

5

Ballad Singer

filly by Snap

11 to 10 agst

12

10

colt by Wild ail-

Trinculo

5 to 2 „

10

8

filly by Tantrum

colt by Metaphysician

Even on

15

10

Antagonist

Brother to Omnium ...

3 to 2 agst

17

7

filly by Dux

Wisdom

13

9

Monk

Haphazard

9

5

Pacolet

Myrtle

5 to 4 on

10

4

Harlequin Junior

Rosebud colt ...

12

7

Matron

Verjuice

... ...

5

4

Trojan

Carlton

...

14

8

Edmund

colt by Young Marske

2 to 1 agst

9

6

Thistle

colt by Tandem

2 to 1 „

10

5

Bellona

Ostrich

...

9

6

Fortitude

Spanker

5 to 1 ,,

15

8

Huby

Trimmer

14

8

Skypeeper

Adonis

5 to 2 „

22

11

Foreigner

Hornet

15 to 1 „

16

8

Prior ...

Faith colt

2 to 1 „

19

8

Brother to Overton ...

Young Tuberose colt...

6 to 4 on

12

5

Cardinal

Rosolio

5 to 4 on

15

7

Stamford

Third not placed

12

8

Barnaby

Honeycomb

4 to 1 agst

14

10

Expectation ...

Slap Bang

6 to 4 on

12

7

Rolla

colt by Walnut

2 to 1 agst

17

10

Belleisle

Miracle

7 to 1 „

11

8

Pepylin

Sparrowhawk...

5 to 1 ,,

15

7

Macmanus

Sir Oliver

5 to 2 „

23

8

Master Batty

Third not placed

2 to 1 „

24

11

Caleb Quotein

Sir Paul

6 to 1 „

27

10

Cassio ...

Shuttlecock

7 to 4 „

39

15

Scud ...

Eaton

8 to 1 „

41

16

Clinker

Easton

20 to 1 „

28

12

.a o

1, a;

Middlethorpe ...

Lisette...

15 to 8 „

51

14

S 02

Recollection

Oriana...

12 to 1 „

40

8

3 30

Aniadis de Gaul

Scamp

6 to 1 ,,

63

24

colt by Remembrancer

Queensbury

50 to 1 „

57

24

3 "31

Cameiopard ...

Tiger

5 to 2 ,,

50

17

Heart of Oak

Third not placed

7 to 1 ,,

53

12

Dinmont

Fulford

Even on

59

15

Captain Candid

Rasping

12 to 1 agst

46

13

Blacklock

Restless

20 to 1 „

52

18

Ranter

The Marshal

4 to 1 ,,

51

21

3 15

"Wrangler

Archibald

30 to 1 ,,

50

14

3 18

Copeland

Locksley

7 to 1 „

72

27

3 26

Fortuna

Coronation

6 to 1 „

49

13

Violet

Grey Comus

100 to 1 „

73

23

3 26

Sherwood

Comte d'Artois

4 to 1 „

84

12

3 23

Canteen

Miller of Mansfield ...

9 to 1 „

77

23

3 29

The Alderman

Actseon

3 to 1 „

88

30

3 23

JMiilatto

Bedlamite

20 to 1 ,,

95

27

3 25

IMameluke

Laurel

10 to 1 ,,

90

26

3 24

Belinda'

Velocipede

3 to 1 ,,

80

19

Voltaire

Sir Hercules

7to 2 „

97

19

Priam ...

Emancipation...

• 15 to 1 „

68

28

The Saddler

Hope ..

. 20 to 1 „

86

24

Birdcatcher

Figaro filly

8 to 1 „

73

16

Mussulman

Camaby

7 to 1 „

75

20

3 28

Bran

General Chasse

40 to 1 ,,

71

11

3 22

Hornsea

Sheet Anchor

11 to 8 ,,

67

11

3 20

first; but a jostle having been proved against his rider, the race was given to Pevvett.

( 378 )

ST. LEGER WINNERS—

OwNEFw

Wl.X.NKll.

SlIlE.

Rider.

1836

Lord Lichfield

Elis

Langar

J. B. Day ...

1837

Mr. Greville

]\Iango ...

Emilius

S. Day, jun.

1838

Lord Chesterfield . . .

Don John

Tramp or Waverley .

Scott

1839

Maj or Yarburgh . . .

*CharlesXII

Voltaire

Q^^i-i- S dead h
'^^^^Mdecgh

1840

Lord "Westminster...

Launcelot

Camel

Scott

1841

Lord Westminster...

Satirist

Pantaloon

Scott

1842

Lord Eglinton

Blue Bonnet

Touchstone ...

Lye

1843

Mr. S. Wrather ...

Nutwith

Tomboy

J. Marson ...

1844

JMr. E. J. Irwin ...

Faugh-a-Ballagh

Sir Hercules ...

H. Bell ...

1845

Mr. G. Watts

The Baron

Irish Birdcatcher

F. Butler ...

1846

Mr. W. Scott

Sir Tatton Sykes

Melbourne

Scott

1847

Lord Eglinton

Van Tromp

Lanercost

J. Marson ...

1848

Viscount Clii"den . . .

Surplice

Touchstone ...

Flatman

1849

Lord Eglinton

The Flying Dutchman

Bay Middleton

Marlow

1850

Lord Zetland

tVoltigeur

Voltaire

J. Marson H^j

1
1

1851

Mr. A. Nichol

Newminster

Touchstone ...

Templeman

1852

Lord Exeter

Stockwell

The Baron ...

Norman

1853

Mr. Bowes ...

West Australian

Melbourne

F. Butler ...

1854

JMr. Morris

Knight of St. George

Irish Birdcatcher

Basham

1855

Mr. T. Parr

Saucebox

St. Lawrence ...

WeUs

1856

Mr. A. Nichol

Warlock

Irish Birdcatcher

Flatman

185:?

Mr. John Scott ...

Imperieuse

Orlando

Flatman

1858

Mr. Merry

Sunbeam

Chanticleer

L. Snowden

1859

Sir 0. Monck

Gamester

The Cossack ...

Aldcroft

1860

Lord Ailesbury

St. Albans

Stockwell

L. Snowden

1861

Mr. W. I'Anson ...

Caller Ou _

Stockwell

T. Chaloner

1862

Hon. S. Hawke

The Marquis ...

Stockwell

T. Chaloner

1863

Lord St. Vincent ...

Lord Clifden

Newminster ...

J. Osborne ...

1864

Mr. W. I'Anson ...

Blair Athol

Stockwell

J. Snowden...

1865

Count F. de Lagrange

Gladiateur

Monarque

H. Grimshaw

1866

Mr. E. Sutton

Lord Lyon

Stockwell

Custance

1867

Colonel Pearson ...

Achievement

Stockwell

T. Chaloner

1868

Mr. Graham

Formosa

Buccaneer

T. Chaloner

1869

Sir J. Hawley

Pero Gomez

Beadsman

Wells

1870

Mr. T. V. Morgan...

Ha\vthornden . . .

Lord Clifden ...

J. Grimshaw

1871

Baron Rothschild ...

Hannah

King Tom

Maidment ...

1872

Lord Wilton

Wenlock

Lord Clifden ...

Maidment ...

1873

Mr. Merry

Marie Stuart

Scottish Chief

T. Osbonie...

1874

]\[r. Launde

Apology

Adventurer ...

J. Osborne ...

1875

m. W. S. Crawfurd

Craig Millar

Blair Athol ...

T. Chaloner

1876

Lord Dupplin

Petrarch

Lord Clifden ...

J. Goater ...

1877

Lord Falmouth

Silvio ...

Blair Athol ...

F. Archer ...

1878

Lord Falmouth

Jannette

Lord Clifton ...

F. Archer ...

1879

Count Lagrange ...

Ilayon d'Or

Flageolet

J. Goater ...

._

* After a dead-heat ^\•ith Mr. Thornhill's Euclid.

st. 121b.: one

1776. — A sweepstakes of 25 guineas each, for three-year-olds ; colts, Sst. ; fillies,

two-mile heat. Run on Cantley Common.
1778. — The race was named this year after Colonel St. Leger, and run for the first time on Don-
caster Town Moor — distance, two miles.

Weights raised to — colts, Sst. 21b. ; fillies, Sst.

The winner of the Derby won both events.

•The course altered to 1 mile 6 fur. 193 yards.

■A false start occurred, and out of a field of twenty-seven, twenty -three went the course ;
Mr. Pierce's colt by Comus out of Rosanne coming in first. Barefoot second, and Comte
d'Artois third. For the actual race only twelve started, including the Rosanne colt,
who was not placed.

•Conditions altered to 25 sovs. each.

■The course shortened by 61 yards ; the distance this year was 1 mile 6 fur. 132 yards.
Weights raised to — colts, Sst. 61b. ; fillies, Sst, 31b.

1790
1800
1813
1823

1825.
1826.

Continued.

I 379 ;

Betting against

«■

Second Horse.

TuiKD HonsE.

Winner

02

P4

Time.

AT Starting.

H
02

Scroggins

Beeswing

7 to 2 agst

75

14

3 20

Abrahiim Newland ...

The Doctor

13 to 2 „

60

13

3 23

Ion

Lanercost

13 to 8 ,,

66

7

3 17

Euclid

The Provost

6 to 4 on

107

14

j3 25
3 45

Maroou

Gibraltar

7 to 4 agst

112

11

3 20

Coronation

The Squire

6 to 1 ,,

135

11

3 22

Sea Horse

Priscilla Tomboy

8 to 1 ,,

133

17

3 19

Cotherstone

Prizefighter

100 to 6 ,,

127

9

3 20

The Cure

The Princess

7 to 2 ,,

108

9

3 28

Miss Sarah

Pantasa

10 to 1 ,,

101

15

3 25

lago

Brocardo

3 to 1 ,,

149

12

3 16

The Cossack

Eryx ...

4 to 1 ,,

145

8

3 20

Canezou

Flatcatcher

7 to 4 „

132

9

3 20

Nunnykirk

Vatican

9 to 4 on

140

10

3 20

Eussborough

Bolingbroke

13 to Son

95

8

\ 3 21
|3 24

Aphrodite

Hook'em Sniwey

12 to 1 agst

119

18

3 20

Harbinger

Daniel O'Eourke

7to 4 „

116

6

3 21

The Eeiver

Eataplan

G to 4 ,,

92

10

3 20

Ivan ...

Arthur AVeUesley

11 to 1 ,,

159

18

3 22

Rifleman

LadyTatton

40 to 1 ,,

117

12

3 22

J Bonnie Scotland )
1 Artillery ... \

dead-h. for second place

12 to 1 „

133

9

3 25

Commotion

Tournament

100 to 6 ,,

158

11

3 25

The Hadji

Blanche of Middlebie

15 to 1 „

138

18

3 20

Defender

^Magnum

20 to 1 ,,

167

11

3 25

High Treason

The AVizard

8to 1 ,,

168

15

3 20

Kettledrum

Kildonan

100 to 1 ,,

177

18

3 14

Buckstone

Clarissimus

100 to 30 ,,

181

15

3 22

Queen Bertha

Borealis

100 to 30 ,,

204

19

3 174

General Peel

Cambuscan

2 to 1 ,,

217

10

3 19^

Eegalia

Archimedes

13 to Son

243

14

3 20

Savernake

Knight of the Crescent

7 to 4 on

238

11

3 231

Hermit

Julius

7 to 4 agst

222

12

3 17

Paul Jones

Mercury

100 to 30 ,,

238

12

3 19i

Martyrdom

George Osbaldeston ...

3 to 1 ,,

226

11

3 2U

Kingcraft

Wheatear

1000 to 35 ,,

234

19

3 18i

Albert Victor

Eingwood

2 to 1 „

205

10

3 22

Prince Charlie

Vanderdecken

8 to 1 ,,

191

17

3 21^

Doncaster

Kaiser

9 to 4 ,,

189

S

3 22

Leolinus

Trent

4 to 1 „

197

13

3 16

Balfe

Earl of Dartrey

7 to 1 „

178

13

3 20

Wild Tommy

Julius Csesar

5 to 1 „

206

9

3 191

Lady Golightly

Manoeuvre

65 to 40 „

219

14

3 27

Childeric

Master Kildarc

5 to 2 ,,

243

14

3 20

EupeiTa

Exeter

3 to 1 ,,

276

17

3 21

+ After a dead-heat with Mr. Mangan's Eussborough.

Won for the first time by the winner of the Oaks.
•Weights raised to — colts, 8st. 71b. ; fillies, 8st. 2lb.
■Day definitely altered to Wednesday.

-Won by the winner of the Derby. Second time— after a lapse of forty-eight years.
-Weights raised to — colts, Sst. 101b.; fillies, Sst. 51b.

-Won for the second time by the winner of the Oaks. The only occasion on which the
winner of the St. Leger has won the Two Thousand Guineas, One Thousand Guineas,
and the Oaks.
1871.— Won for the third time by the winner of the Oaks, and the fourth time by the winner of
the One Thousand Guineas.
Won for the fourth time by the winner of the Oaks.

Won for the fifth time each by the winner of the Oaks and One Thousand Guineas.
Won for the first time by the winner of the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Ascot, and the
winner of the Middle Park Plate.

1835,
1839.
1845,
1848
1862
1868

1873
1874
1876

( 38o )

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J. Snowden

L. Snowden

Challoner

Aldcroft

A. Edwards

Norman

J. Mann

Daley

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Ithuriel

Irish Birdcatcher

Lanercost

Sweetmeat

Melbourne

Sweetmeat

Melbourne

West Australian

Turnus

Flying Dutchman

Longbow

Kingston

Faugh-a-Ballagh

Stockwell

King Tom

King Tom

Buccaneer

Buccaneer

Saunterer

King Tom

]\Ionarque

Scottish Chief

Adventurer ...

Macaroni

Vermont

Lord Lyon

Lord Clifden ...

Adventurer ...

"A

Lady Evelyn

Rhedycina

Iris

Songstress

Catherine Hayes

Mincemeat

Marchioness

Mincepie

Blink Bonny

to
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p
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Summerside

Butterfly
Brown Duchess

Feu de Joie

Queen Bertha

Filledel'Air

Regalia

Tormentor

Hijipia

Formosa

Brigantine

Gamos

Hannah

Reine

Marie Stuart

Apology

Spinaway

fEnguerrande

Placida

Jannette

Wheel of Fortune

5

::..:.... • ...:..:.: = :. = :

Lord Chesterfield ...
Mr. Hobson
Lord Stanley
Mr. J. Scott
Mr. Wauchope
Mr. Cookson
Mr. R. Read
Mr. H. Hill
Mr. W. r Anson ...

(0

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O

Lord Londesborough
JMr. Eastwood

Mr. Saxon

Mr. R. C. Naylor ...

Lord Falmouth

Count de Lagrange

Ml'. Harlock

Mr. Dunbar

Baron Rothschild ...

Mr. G. Jones

Sir F. Johnstone ...

Mr. G. Jones

Baron Rothschild ...

Mr. Lefevre

Mr. Merry

Mr. Launde

Lord Falmouth

M. Lupin

Mr. Pulteney
Lord Falmouth
Lord Falmouth

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5

: i i i : i i i ::: i ::::::::::::::::: i i: i i ;

Mr. Wilson
Lord Grosvenor
Mr. Andrews
Lord Darlington
Sir C. Bunbury
Mr. Wyndham
Lord Rous
Lord G. Cavendis
]\Ir. Stoneliewers
Lord Foley
Sir J, Shelley ...
Duke of Grafton
Duke of Grafton
Duke of Grafton
Mr. Rodgers
Mr. Haffenden ...
Lord Exeter
Duke of Grafton
Duke of Grafton
Duke of Rutland
Lord Exeter
Lord Exeter
Lord Jersey
Colonel Peel
Lord Orford
Lord Jersey
Lord Jersey
Lord Jersey
Lord Jersey
Lord G. Bentinck
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Lord Foley

Duke of Ivutland

Mr. Watson

Mr. Udny

Duke of Grafton

Duke of Grafton

Du5i9 of Grafton

Duke of Grafton

Duke of Grafton

Lord Jersey

Duke of Grafton

Duke of Grafton

Duke of Grafton

Mr. Molony

Lord G. Cavendish

Lord Jersey

Sir M. Wood

Lord Exeter ,

Mr. Cooke

Lord Berners

Mr. Greville

Mr. Houldsworth

Lord G. Bentinck

Lord Albemarle

Mr. Watts

Lord G. Bentinck

Mr. Batson

Lord G. Bentinck

Mr. Thornhill

Mr. Osbaldeston

Duke of Richmond

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Melbourne

Coronation ...

Slane

Bay Middleton

Auckland

Melbourne

Pyrrhus the First

Irish Birdcatcher

Irish Birdcatcher ...

Orlando

Cliatham ...

Teddington

Longbow

Newminster

Wild DajTell

Stockwell

King Tom

Muscovite

Stockwell

Stockwell

Buccaneer

Blair Athol

Thormanby

King Tom ...

Monarquo

Blair Athol

Adventurer

Macaroni ...

Macaroni

Toxoxihilite

The Earl or The Palmer ...
Adventurer

'A
'A

Clementina

Canezou

Flea

Ch. filly

Aphrodite

Kate

Mentmore Lass

Virago

Habeua

Manganese

Imperiense

Governess

Mayonaise ...

Sagitta

Nemesis

Hurricane

Lady Augusta

Tomato

Siberia

Pepulse

Achievement

Formosa

Scottish Qiieen

Hester

Hannah

Peine

Cecilia

Apology

Spin away ...

Camelia ;

Belplicebe ...

Pilgrimage

Wheel of Fortune

5

Mr. Payne

Lord Stanley

Mr. T. Clarke

Lord Orford

Sir J. Hawley

Mr. Sargent

Baron Rothschild

Mr. Howard

Duke of Bedford

Mr. W. Brook

Mr. Scott

Mr. Gratwicke

Mr. Crawfurd

Lord Derby

]\fr. Fleming

Lord Falmouth

Lord Stamford ...

Baron Rothschild

Duke of Beaufort

Marquis of Hastings

Colonel Pearson

Mr. Graham

Duke of Beaufort

Mr. Jos. Dawson

Baron Rothschild

JI. Lefevre

Lord Falmouth

Mr. Launde

Lord Falmouth

Count Lagrange

Lord Ilartingtan

Lord Lonsdale

Lord Falmouth

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INDEX.

AcoMBE Moor, early racing at
Act for " debarring unlawful

games"
for making void the

licences for gaming houses
for the suppression of bet

ting IxDuses .
for the suppression of lot

teries ....
to amend the law concern

ing games and wagers .
to prevent excessive gam

ing ....

to restrain excessive racing

Advertisement of King Herod
Ailesbury, Lord
American Jockey Club, the
Arab horse, the origin of the

description of

importation of

— prejudice against

Arab's, the, notion of a perfec

horse

the, treatment

horse
Arabian, Bell's
Bethell's

■ 153

of the

the Coombe

the Cullen

the Damascus

the Darley . i;;

■ Jlr. Gibson's Grey

the Godolphin

131,

the Honeywood

the llarkham .

the Newcombe

]\[ouutaiu .

the Northumberland.

— '■ Mr. Panton's .

■ the Saanah

134,
I33>

148,

Bay

Arabian, the Sedley

: — Mr. Wilson's chestnut

PAOE
310

322
318

322

315
318
141

231

95
151
168
129
171

158

iSS
140

134
147
147
133
145
139

188
146
129

134
134
135
135

148

133

Ascot Meeting, the . . 68,
Ascot Gold Cup
Australia, racing in.
Australian Derby Day
Austrians, the, and English
race-horses .

Baebauy horse, the character

istics of . . .
Barb, the Crompton

Curwen's Bay .

Hutton's Bay .

St. Victor's

Tarran's Black

Thoulouse

Barnes, Lady Juliana
Barrow, Mr. W.

Bay Bloody Buttocks .

Beadsman as a su'e .

Bede and saddle horses .

Bell's Grey Arabian . . 135

Ben Dyab

Berwick's, Duke of, Turkish

horse ....
Bethell's Arabian
Bets, curious . :
Betting ....

as an exact science

houses, Act for suppres

sion of . . . .

lists .

literature

open air

Black Hambleton, early racin,
at . . . .

Blair Athol .

Blenkiron's, Mr., career .

fii'st sale at

Middle Park

Blenkiron's, Mr., stud .

Blood, strains of

Bloody Buttocks

Blues, the two True. «

PAOr
70

71
112
112

247

132
148
145
135
133
134
144

209
213

■H7
219
126
140

154

144

134
289
267
278

322

273

288
274

25
121

342

33S
339
211

147
146

388

INDEX.

Blue Gown
Bookmakers . .
Bookmaking .
Brackley Course
Breeding, modern .
Broeck's, Mr. T., horses .
Bull baiting .

racing at Northampton

Stamford .

Byerley Turk, The .

Calmuck. horse, The
Canadian breeders .

horses

Chanticleer

Chaplin's, Mi., motion on !

national stud
Charles I. at Newmarket
Cheshire, horse racing first prac

tised in . . .
Chester Cup, The .
Chestei Meeting, history oi
Chinese horse The .
Clark, Ml. J. F. .
Clifton and Eawclifle Ings 26
Cloves, J.

Cocklighting at Newmarket
Complete Sportsman, The
Compton Arabian, The .
Continental Governments and

English stock
Coombe Arabian, The
Croft's, Mr., Bloody Buttocks
CuUen Arabian, The
Curwen's Bay Barb .

Damascus Arabian, The . 13
Dame Julyan Berners
D'Arcy White Turk, The

Yellow Turk, The

Darvill's description of a race

horse ....
Davis, the leviathan
Dawson, Mr. T.
Dead heats, famous .
Derby, The .

betting

Dickens' article on

increase of attendance at

of fifty years ago .

M. Taine's impressions

of

72

winners of the
Dexter's performances
Dictator of the Turf. The
Dixon, llv. H.
Dodgson's, Mr,, betting scheme

PAGE

276
2S0

87

89
84
81

8c
144

169
92
91

333

117

58

74

75

75

168

350

39

27c

63

193
148

122

134
147
133
145

, 138
209
144
144

159

270
207
285
10
281

15
20
16

12

:— 375
108
265

351
278

Dodsworth
Doucaster, racing at

first records of sport at

— nobleman's stand at

in the olden time

gaming at

' 'Druid, "The

Duke of Clarence at Doncaster
Durliam, racing in .
Dutch horse, The .

East Indian horse, the .

Ebba Queen . . .

Eclipse's career . ,
pedigree

proportions

English race-horse, origin of the
his propor-

tions

his training

PAGE

146

25

28

30
34
35

351
36
78

170

1 68

2

164

165
160

125

158
174

Epsom, history of, as a place of
sport .....

a fashionable resort

annual meetings at

Grand Stand at .

Racecourse .

Exportation of English stock

112, 310, 312

I

7

9

15.21

23

Fairfax's, Mr., "Complete

Sportsman" . . . 193

Falmouth, Lord, as a breeder . 221
Farriery in 1670 and 1770 . 197
Finland, the, horse . . .170
Flemish horse, the . . .170
Flint's, Mr., match . .41

action against , 43

French horse, the . . .170
horses in England . 113

' ' Game— the Mayster ot the " . 20S
Gaming, legislation against

309. 3", 315. 320
, Acts now in force re-
ferring to . . . . 322
General Peel . . . .323
Gentleman's, the, Jockey 177, 193
German horse, the . . . 1 70
Gibson's grey Arabian . .139
Giffarde's, J., "A''enery" . 208
Gladiateur . . . .114
Glasgow, Lord, on the Turf . 242

— : and his jockeys 249

as a M. F. H. 250

sale of his stud 254

Godolphin Arabian, the 131, 148
Gold Cup, the Ascot . . 71

INDEX.

389

Goodwood Meeting . . 72

Grand Prix of Paris . . 68

Hambletoxiax, Mr. Rysdyk's

97, 116
Harlestone Racecourse . . 86
Hawley, Sir Joseph . . . 232
and Turf

retorm .... 239

Heathcote, Mr. . . -351
Heidegger, the jMaster of the

Revels .... 290

Helmsley Turk, the . -143

Herod, King, advertisement of 141
Hiram Woodruff . . -97
Hirst, James .... 33
Honeywood Arabian, The . 146
Horse medicines . . ,178
Hungarian race-horse, The . 112

Iceland horse, the . . .170
Importation of Arabian horses 129, 196
Influence of the Roman Invasion
on the British breed of horses 127

Ingram, ]\Ir 8

Italian horse, the . . • 1 7 1
Italian racing . . . #123

James I. at Newmarket . , 52

and racing . .312

Jockey, the Gentleman's . .193

Jockey Club, the . . •354

King Herod, advertisement' of 141
Knavesmire . . .26, 39

Lawyers and the Turf . . 230
Legislation against gaming 309, 3 1 5
. against exportation

of horses . . . • 311
. to suppress evils of

racing 313

to suppress excessive

racing 318

List houses . . . .274
Lord Ailesbury . . .231
Lotteries, Act for suppression of 315

Marble Hill . . , 325

Markham Arabian, The . .129

Mares, Royal, first so called , 144

Melbourne Cup . . ,112

Merry, Mr. J 333

Messenger, The American , loi

Middle Park sales . . .338

National Stud, need of a . 116

Newcastle, Duke of

■ meeting

early racing at

Newcombe Bay, Mountain

Arabian
JNewmarket ....

— Charles I. at

— cockfightiiig at .

— description of .

— Heath, map of

— history of . 52

— James I. at .

— Modern
Town Plate .

William III. at .

Newton's, Sir JI. , two Arabians
Northampton, bull-racing at .

horse-racing at .

Northumberland Arabian, the
Northumberland Plate .
Norwegian horse, the

Oaks, the establishment of

origin of the name .

, winners of . , 3S0-

One Thousand Guineas, winners
of ... . 3S5-
Origin of the English race-horse

• Arab horse

Orton, John ....

Paisley, early racing at . .
Panton's, Mr., Arabian . ,
Parole .....
Payne, Mr. G. . . .

his career on the Turf .

as M. F. H.

and Sir J. Campbell .

Peel, General ....
his connection with the

Turf

Pepys at Epsom

Persian horse, the . .

Philips', Jolm, journey .

Pigeons housing

Place's, Mr., White Turk 143,

Pilgrim Fathers of the British

turf

PotSo's, origin of the name
Prices at which Eastern horses

have covered
Prince Consort at Doncaitcr .
Prince Regent at Don caster
Prince of Wales at Ascot .
Prince Charlie
Proportions of the English

racehorse ....

142
76
76

134

46
5^'
63
48

35(5

-66

52

211

54
59
135
81
86

134

76

170

10
10

-3S2

-3S6

125

151

38

76

13s

247
266
296
299

305
266

323

4

169

140

34
141

137

37

36

70

218

148

390

INDEX.

Eaces, first held at Epsom
Racing at Acomlie Jloor .

at the Cape ,

at Jerome Park, New

York ....

at New Orleans .

at Paisley .

at Stamford .

in America

in Australia

in James I.'s reign

— in Charles I. , , .

■ in Charies II. ,, .

legislation against thi

evils ....
Ramper ....
Ring men . . . 268

Robinson
Ros, Lord de .
Rothschild, Baron lileyer de
Rosebery's, Lord, speech on a

national stud
Rous, Admiral
Royal mares, first so called
Rules of Racing . . 357
Running horses . . 5>

Saanah, Arabian, the
St. Leger Stakes

— run on differ

ent days of the week .

Yorkshire

man's recollection of

• winners of 376

St. Victor's Bar!)
Sandford, Mr.
St. Vincent, Lord
Scott, old Mr.

Mr. J. .

Sedley Arabian

Shaw's, Mr., veterinary receipes

Soundness

Spanish horse, the .

Stamford, Inill racing at

antii|uities of .

early racing at .

Stockwel], as a sire . 219

Strains of blood
Strickland Turk, Tlie .
Stud Book, authority of the

first apjiearance of

Stud, need of a national .
Swedish horse, the .
Taiuian's Black Barb
Tartar horse, the

PAGE

6

25
112

95
95
76

79

88

112

312

313
313

139
277
270
303
329

118

256

143

-370

12S

135
29

-379

133

89

349

225

237

148

180

224

170

80

79

79

327

225

133
149
142
116
170

134
169

Tattersall, Mr., on the need of

a national stud . . .116
Thornton, Mrs., her match , 41
Thoulouse Barb, The . . 144
Toorkoman horse, the . .169
Training of the racehorse 175, 200

— old method . . 181

Trotting horse in America 88, 95, 97
best times made

with

match, Woodruft"s

description of
True Blues, the two .
Turf reform. Sir J. Hawley and
Turk, the Byerley .

D'Arcy White

_ Yellow

Turkish horse, the .

Two Thousand Guineas, winners

of ... . 383-3S4

102

109
146

237
144
144
144
170

Uncertainty of life of tho-
roughbred stock . . . 1 20
United States, racing in . .95

VOLTIGETTR

237, 247, 244

"Wagering, passion for .
legislation on

28S
308
32S
228

West Australian
Whitewall
Wicker, H., the Epsom herds-
man ..... 2
Winners of the Derby . 372 — 375

St. Leger 376—379

Oaks . 380 — 382

Two Thousand

Guineas . . . 383 — 384
One „ 385-386

Woodham IMoor, racing at

Wood, Sir M

Woodruff, Hiram .

his system of training

description of trotting

match . . . ' .

York, Grand Stand built at

records of racing at

Mrs. Thornton's match

at

Yorkshire, history of the Spor

■ places of Sport in

early breeders (

horses in . . .
Yorkshireman's love of racing

78
256

88
100

109

40
3S

41

25

43

44
24

WORKS RELATING TO THE TURF

COKSULTED IN TUE CuMl'ILATION UF TUESE VOLUMES.

Alkcii, Hemy. — "Beauties and Defects in tlie Figure of the Horse." 1816.
"Anecdotes on the Origin and Antiquity of Horse Eacing." 1825.
"Annals of Sporting and Fancy Gazette." 13 vols. 1822-28.
Apperley (Nimrod). — "The Chase, Turf, and the Road." 1837.

"Lifeof John Mytton." 1837.

Astley, Philip. — "The Modern Riding Master." 1775.

Baihj's Ifonthhj Magazine. 1860, &c.
" Uaily's Turf Guides."

" Ijartlet's Pharmacopoeia Bartleiana. " 1773.
" BdVs Life ill London. "

Bits. — One hundred and twenty-three original drawings, &c. Circa, 1750.
"Blaine's Encyclopedia of Rural Sports." 1870.
Blome, Richard.— "The Gentlemen's Recreation." 1686.
Blundeville, Thomas. — The Foure Chicfest Offices belonging to Horseman-
ship." 1597.

"The Art of Riding. " 1609.

His Exercises." 1622.

Brown, C. F.— " The Turf Expositor." 1829.
Chifney, Samuel. — " Genius Genuine. " 1804.
" Comparative View of the English Racer." 1836.
Copperthwaite, R. H. — "The Turf and the Race-horse." 1865.

Darvill, Richard. — Treatise on the Care, &c., of the English Race-hurse.
Haumas, E. — " The Horses of the Sahara. " 1863.
Disney, J. — "The Laws of Gaming." 1806.
Bmid, TIi£.— "The Post and Paddock."

"Saddle and Sirloin."

"Scott and Sebright."

"Silk and Scarlet."

' ' Egan's Anecdotes of the Turf. " 1827.

" Egan's Life in London." 1824-27.

" Egan's Book of Sports." 1832.

" Epsom, Some Particulars Relating to History of." 1325.

Fairfax, J. — " The Complete Sportsman."

"Famous Horses of America." ■.- ,> -

Fidd, The

" Fitt's Racing Scenes.'*

" French Stud Book, The, Paris." 1851.

Gambado, Geolfrey. — "Academy for Grown Horsemcti." 178r»

WORKS RELATING TO THE TURF — COlltinUcd.

" Genera] Stud Book. " 1803.

"General Stud Book." 1827.

" Gentleman's, The, Jockey and Approved Farrier." IGSl.

Gibson, AV.— " The True Method of Dieting Horses." 17:21.

Grey, T. de — "The Compleat Horseman." 1670.

" Groom's, The, Oracle and Pocket Stable Directory," ISGO.

" Hawkseye's Turt Notes."

Hieover, H. — "The Stud ior Practical Purposes." 1819.

" Hieover's Sporting World. " 1856.

" Historical List of Horse Alatches."

" Horse-racing." 1853.

' ' Horses and Hounds. Treatise on their JIanagement. " By Scrutator.

1855.
" Horse Puicing, its History." 1S63,

Latchford, Benjamin. — "The Loriner." 1871.

Laurence, John. — "History and Delineation of the Horse." 1S09.

^larkham(Gervase). — "Master Piece, to which is added the Complete Jockey."
1610,

"The Perfect Horseman." 1671.

1\Iills, J,—" Life of a Puace-horse. " 1861.

Morland, T. H. — "Genealogy of the English Eacc-horsc." 1810.

Newcastle, Duke of. — Methode et Invention NouvcUc de Dresser les Clievaux.

1658.
' ' Newmarket and Arabia. " 1873.
"Newmarket, or, an Essay on th<' Turf." 1771.
Nciv Siwrting Magcainc. 1831, &c.
Nimrod. — " The Chase."

Oliphant, G. H. H. — "The Law concerning Horses, &c." 1817.
Osbaldiston, AV. A. — " The British Sportsman." 1792.
" Over Turf and Stubble, " by Old Calabar. 1873.

Pick, W. — * ' The Turf Register. " 1803.
" Pocket Racing Calendar. "

"Racing Calendar," from 1745 to 1877.

-■ from earliest accounts to 1750.

, Madras. 1805.

" Racing Indicator." 1853.

"Raceground, The." 1827.

" Racing Record." 1863, &c.

" Report of Select Committee House of Lords on Horses." 1873.

"Review of the Turf," from 1750 to 1794.

Rejmardson. — " Down the Road." 1875.

Rous, Hon. Admiral. — On " Laws and Practice of Horse-racing." 186S.

" Ruff's Guide to the Turf." 1842, &c.

!5cott, J.^— "Sportsman's Reiwsitory." 1845.

W. H. Scott.— "British Field Sports.

Seymour, Richard. — "The Compleat Gamester." 1754.

Sheardown, " Doncaster Races." 1862.

Sidney, S.— "The Book of tlie Horse." 1877,

Smith, H. — "Festivals, Games, and Amusements." 1831.

Smith's Breeding for the Turf." 1825.

WDRKS RELATING TO THE TURF — Continued.

Siinpc, A. — " The Anatomy of an Horse." 1683. '

" Sporting Almanack," &c. 1839.

" Sporting Almanack." 1842.

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'* Sporting Anecdote.s. " 1804.

iSportinrj Calendar. 1771, &c.

Sporting Gazette. 1862.

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Sporting Magazine. 1792 — 1870.

Sporting Oracle, Tlw. 1841.

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" Sportsman's Annual." 1836.

" Steeplechase Calendar, The." 1845.

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"Turf, How to Win on the."

" Turf and Stubble, Over."

" Turf Bemembranccr, The." 1845

" Turf and Racehorses, The." 1855.

"Weatherhy's facing Calendar. 1773—1877.

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i.onuon: sweeting and cc, I'Rinters, So, grav's inn road, holeor.v.