FLYING CHILDERS ^^ 



Whatevei may be thi, truth as to the origin of the race-horse, 

 the strictest attention has for the last fifty years been paid to 

 pedigree. In the descent of almost every miodern racer, not the 

 slightest flaw can be discovered : or when, with the splendid ex- 

 ception of Sampson and Bay-Malton, one drop of common blood 

 has mingled with the pure stream, it has been immediately de- 

 tected in, the inferiority of form, and deficiency of bottom, and 

 it has required two or three generations to wipe away the stain, 

 and get rid of its consequences. 



The racer is generally distinguished by his beautiful Arabian 

 head ; his fine and finely-set-on neck ; his oblique, lengthened 

 shoulders ; well-bent hinder legs ; his ample, muscular quar- 

 ters ; his flat legs, rather short from the laiee downward, although 

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

 pastern. These are separately considered where the structure of 

 the horse is treated of. 



The racer, however, with the m.ost beautiful form, is occa- 

 sionally a sorry animal. There is sometimes a want of energy 

 in an apparently faultless shape, for which there is no account- 

 ing ; but there are two points among those just enumerated, 

 which will rarely or never deceive, a well-placed shoulder and 

 a well-bent hinder leg. 



The Darley Arabian was the parent of our best racing stock 

 He was purchased by Mr. Darley's brother, at Aleppo, and was 

 bred in the neighboring desert of Palmyra. 



The immediate descendants of this invaluable horse, were the 

 Devonshire or Flying Childers ; the Bleeding or Bartlett's Chil- 

 ders, 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. Chil- 

 ders ran over the round course at Newmarket (three miles six fur- 

 longs 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 rim by Firetail, in one minute and four seconds 



In October, 174., at the Curragh meeting in Ireland, Mr. 

 Wilde engaged to ride one hundred and twenty-seven miles id 



