i66 THE TURF 



are called stakes for horses not thorough-bred 

 have been the cause of much villany on the 

 turf, by reason of the owners of full-bred 

 horses producing false pedigrees with them, 

 to enable them to start, when, of course, 

 they are almost sure to win. Perhaps the 

 most successful, and, at the same time, the 

 most impudent case occurred in 1825, when 



a Mr. W took about the country a 



horse which he called ' Tom Paine/ by 

 Prime Minister, not thorough-bred, and won 

 several large stakes with him ; whereas this 

 said Tom Paine was proved to be Tybalt, by 

 Thunderbolt, and out of Lord Grosvenor's 

 Meteora, by Meteor, the best mare in England 

 of her day ! But, besides all this, we doubt 

 a good result, as regards the horse and his 

 uses, from these stakes. In the first place, 

 a really half-bred horse will rarely endure 

 severe training ; and, if he does, his con- 

 stitution and temper are all but sure to be 

 ruined by it. Secondly, however good he 

 may be as a half-bred racer, he cannot 

 transmit his base blood to posterity. Again, 

 regular trainers dislike having to do with 

 half-bred horses, and seldom give them fair 

 play, i.e. seldom trouble themselves to go 



