GREAT EQUESTRIAN FEATS OF THE RACE-HORSE, 455 



and was no more than six hours and twenty-one minutes in 

 completing the one hundred and twenty-seven miles ; of 

 course, he had two hours and thirty-nine minutes to spare. 



Mr. Wild had no more than ten horses, but they were all 

 blood ones, and from the stud of ]\Ir. Daly. 



Whilst on horseback, without allowing anything for 

 changing, he rode at the rate of twenty miles an hour for 

 six hours. He was so little fatigued with this extraordi- 

 nary performance, that he was at the Turf Clubhouse, in 

 Kildare, the same evening. 



1793, October 12th. — A mare carrying ten stone, and 

 but fourteen hands high, the property of Mr. Macy, of Bru- 

 ton Street, London, galloped on Sunbury Common twenty 

 miles in fifty-six minutes and twenty-eight seconds. 



1804. — The lady of the late distinguished Colonel Thorn- 

 ton appears to have been equally attached to the sports of 

 the field with her husband ; and the extraordinary contest 

 which took place between Mrs. Thornton and Mr. Flint, in 

 1804, not only stands recorded on the annals of the turf as 

 one of the most remarkable occurrences which ever took 

 place in the sporting world, but aj^o as a lasting monument 

 of female intrepidity. It arose out of the following cir- 

 cumstances : — 



A great intimacy subsisted between the families of Colo- 

 nel Thornton and Mr. Flint, arising from their being bro- 

 thers-in-law, as the ladies were sisters ; so that Mr. Flint 

 was a frequent visitor at Thornville Royal. 



In the course of one of their equestrian excursions in 

 Thornville park, Mr. Thornton, ]\Irs. Thornton, and Mr. 

 Flint were conversing on the qualities of their respective 

 favourite horses. With the spirit and keenness which gene- 

 rally exists on such occasions, they difiered widely in their 

 opinions, and an occasional spurt took place to try the 



