68 THE DIFFERENT BREEDS OF ENGLISH HORSES. 



ample, muscular quarters ; flat legs, rather short from the knee downward, 

 although not always so deep as they should be ; and his long and elastic pastern. 

 These will be separately considered when the structure of the horse is 

 treated of. 



The Darley Arabian was the parent of our best racing stock. He was pur- 

 chased by Mr. Darley 's brother at Aleppo, and "was bred in the neighbouring 

 desert of Palmyra. His figure contained every point, without much show, 

 that could be desired in a turf-horse. 



The immediate descendants of this invaluable horse were the Devonshire or 

 Flying Childers ; the Bleeding or Bartlett's Childers, who was never trained ; 

 Almanzor, and others. 



The two Childers were the means through which the blood and fame of their 

 sire were widely circulated ; and from them descended another Childers, Blaze, 

 Snap, Sampson, Eclipse, and a host of excellent horses. 



The Devonshire or Flying Childers, so called from the name of his breeder, 

 Mr. Childers, of Carr House, and the sale of him to the Duke of Devonshire, 

 was the fleetest horse of his day. He was at first trained as a hunter, but the 

 superior speed and courage which he discovered caused him to be soon trans- 

 ferred to the turf. Common report affirms that he could run a mile in a 

 minute ; but there is no authentic record of this. Childers ran over the round 

 course at Newmarket (three miles, six furlongs, and ninety -three yards) in six 

 minutes and forty seconds, and the Beacon course (four miles, one furlong, and 

 one hundred and thirty-eight yards) in seven minutes and thirty seconds. In 

 1772, a mile was run by Firetail in one minute and four seconds. 



In 1755, Bay Malton, the property of the Marquis of Rockingham, ran the 

 four -mile course at York in seven minutes and forty-three seconds, this being 

 seven seconds less time than it had ever been accomplished in before. Some of 

 these old ones could run fast as well as stoutly. Twenty years afterwards there 

 was a beautiful horse, the son of Eclipse, and inheriting a great portion of his 

 speed without his stoutness. He won almost every mile-race for which he ran, 

 but he never could accomplish a four-mile one. He broke down, in 1779, run- 

 ning over the Beacon course. 



One of the most really severe races that ever was run took place at Carlisle 

 in 1701. There were no less than six heats, and two of them dead heats. 

 Each of the six was honestly contested by the winning horse ; therefore he ran 

 in good earnest twenty-four miles : yet there was no breaking down, nor any 

 account of the slightest injury received. 



The following are some additional instances of the mingled speed and endur- 

 ance of these horses, and deserve to be placed on record : 



In October 1741, at the Curragh meeting in Ireland, Mr. Wilde engaged to 

 ride one hundred and twenty-seven miles in nine hours. He performed it in 

 six hours and twenty-one minutes. He employed ten horses, and, allowing for 

 mounting and dismounting, and a moment for refreshment, he rode during 

 six hours at the rate of twenty miles an hour. 



Mr. Thornhill, in 1745, exceeded this ; for he rode from Stilton to London 

 and back, and again to London, being two hundred and thirteen miles, in eleven 

 hours and thirty-four minutes. This amounts, after allowing the least possible 

 time for changing horses, to twenty miles an hour for eleven hours, and on the 

 turnpike-road and uneven ground. 



Mr. Shaftoe, in 1762, with ten horses, and five of them ridden twice, accom- 

 plished fifty miles and a quarter in one hour and forty -nine minutes. In 1763, 

 he won a still more extraordinary match. He engaged to procure a person to 

 ride one hundred miles a day for twenty-nine days, having any number of 

 horses not exceeding twenty-nine from which to make his selection. He 



