136 HISTORY OF THE 



racers, Sharper and Mina, contended, against the 

 most celebrated Cossack horses from the Don, the 

 Black Sea, and the Ural, in a race of the cruel 

 distance of forty-seven miles. At starting Sharper 

 and Mina ran away with their riders more than a 

 mile, and up a very steep hill, where the latter horse 

 broke down and consequently was pulled up. Half 

 the distance was run in an hour and fortv minutes. 

 In the last half, only one of the many Cossack 

 horses that started was able to contend with 

 Sharper, who, notwithstanding every foul advan- 

 tage was taken by changing the w^eight, and even 

 dragging along his opponent Avith a rope, won his 

 race in gallant style, performing the distance in 

 two hours and forty-eight minutes. At starting 

 the English horses carried three stone more weight 

 than the Cossacks ; and during the last half of the 

 race, the one Cossack that remained in it was ridden 

 by a mere child. 



THE HALF-BRED HORSE OR COCK-TAIL. 



We will conclude this chapter with a brief notice 

 of a second rate description of racer, of compara- 

 tively modern origin, and lately very prevalent in 

 England, with the exception of Newmarket ; — the 

 half-bred horse, or as he is commonly termed the 

 cock-tail. This description of race horse has never 

 found favor in the eyes of the nobility and gentry, 



