CHAPTERS FROM TURF HISTORY 



of many an alehouse on village greens, and to 

 listen to old greybeards who, in their turn, told 

 of their memory of another North-country cham- 

 pion, Hambletonian of the County of Durham, 

 who fifty-two years before had vanquished Dia- 

 mond in a match for three thousand guineas over 

 the Beacon Course. 



How Hambletonian beat of yore 

 Such horses as are seen no more. 



They told how Sir Harry Vane Tempest's horse 

 only won by a head, and how before the race Sir 

 Harry took the cool hand of his jockey, Frank 

 Buckle, in his own hot grasp, exclaiming that 

 he would give much to possess such nerve, and 

 how Buckle's judgment in making up his ground 

 between the Ditch and the Turn of the Lands 

 had gained him his narrow victory. 



Voltigeur's picture by Landseer hangs at Aske, 

 with the horse's favourite companion, the kitten, 

 which would curl up contentedly on his clothing, 

 but would never sit upon his bare back. At the 

 stud the progeny of Voltigeur and his great rival 

 met and loved — a union of the family of Eclipse 

 with that of Herod, and one of significant contrast, 

 if the concetto may be forgiven, to the tragedy of 

 the children of Montague and Capulet. Voltigeur's 

 son Vedette was mated with Flying Duchess, a 

 daughter of the Flying Dutchman. The offspring 

 of this union was the famous Galopin, winner 

 of the Derby of 1875, and the immediate founder 

 of the St. Simon Hne, which for many years has 

 dominated the Racing Peerage of England. 



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