^14 



But the use which inexperienced persons propose to derive from the 

 racing breed, would soon destroy itself. They would have horse-racing 

 abolished, and the Horses applied generally as stallions. In racing, the 

 necessity for thorough blood is obvious and imperatiAe, and such is a 

 sure ground of its preservation. No such necessity exists, or is supposed 

 to exist, of purity of blood for common purposes, whence, on the pro- 

 posed plan, it is most probable that glorious and matchless species, 

 the thorough-bred courser, would, in no great length of time, become 

 extinct in this country, and his place be supplied by a gross, ill-shaped, 

 or spider-legged mongrel, which would ensure the degeneration of the 

 whole race. Nor would constant importations from the south avail 

 US, since the desired perfections must be obtained from the remote and 

 skilfully improved, seldom from the immediate descendants of the 

 southern Horse. 



On the connection of games of chance with the horse-course, it is 

 perfectly useless to declaim, since they are a natural concomitant, in- 

 dissolubly blended with a sport, which seems destined to interest the 

 passions of a portion of the higher classes. In fact, to take away from 

 the turf its pecuniary interest, were that possible, would be to deprive 

 it of one of its greatest attractions, and most powerful spurs to emula- 

 tion. All that seems practicable, as in other cases of legitimate gratifi- 

 cation, is temperately to enjoin caution, and depreciate excess. As to 

 those, who Avill take the desperate leap, their luck, good or bad, be upon 

 their own head. But however peculiar the sports of the turf are to this 

 country, the business of training Race-horses, or the practice of wager- 

 ing upon their success, have never been, in any degree, prevalent among 

 the people, who, although generally attached to the sport, are content 

 to be mere spectators. Turf concerns have, indeed, always been con- 

 lined to a minority, even of the upper ranks. Our common declaimers 

 against the cruelty of the turf, and of horse-matches, are generally well- 

 meaning, but ignorant, even of what themselves would desire. Not 

 that cruelties, and gross ones, have not, and do not, exist, in horse- 

 racing, but that they are not necessarily linked thereto, and that when 

 they do occur, they are to be attributed to ignorance and vice, which 

 tarnish and disgrace that which is in itself a fair and noble sport. The 



barbarities 



