COLONEL O'KELLY. 15 



pointed out that it still wanted three minutes of the time adver- 

 tised, and insisted upon it that the proceedings were illegal, and 

 that the sale must begin de novo. The auctioneer, threatened with 

 the law if he refused to comply with this demand, at length gave in, 

 and the lots already knocked down were re-sold, when Mr. Wildman 

 became the purchaser of Eclipse for 75 guineas. It was not, how- 

 ever, until the horse was a five-year-old that he was run in public, 

 at the Epsom May Meeting of 1769. Previously to this Wildman 

 determined to have a private trial in which Eclipse should be tested 

 against a first-class horse. Eumours of the extraordinary excellence 

 of the son of Marske and Spiletta had already got abroad, and touts 

 were hired by the racing gamblers of the day to watch the trial and 

 report the result. But Mr. Wildman and his confederates stole a 

 march upon these worthies, and when the latter arrived upon the 

 scene the trial was over. Their rage and disappointment was 

 unbounded, but they were fortunate enough to fall in with an old 

 woman who said she had seen the trial, and described Eclipse as 

 being far ahead of the other horse, which, she said, seemed to be 

 running to catch him, but in vain. This was better than nothing, 

 and away the touts went to Jack Medley's, in Round Court, Strand, 

 the then chief betting-house in London, where O'Kelly, A^auxhall 

 Clarke, Irish Tetherington, Dick England, and others of the 

 gambling fraternity held rendezvous. The news at once spread that 

 Eclipse was a wonder, and when he started for his maiden race, a 

 50-guinea plate for horses that had never won 30 guineas (matches 

 excepted), 4 to 1 was betted on him. These odds were fully justified 

 by the result. The race was run in four-mile heats, Eclipse carrying 

 8st., and though he was pulled hard by his jockey, John Oakley, he 

 distanced his four opponents completely, leaving them " almost out 

 of sight." Both O'Kelly and Wildman won heavily over this victory. 

 The next triumph of Eclipse was at Ascot, on May 29th in the same 

 year, and x>revious to that race O'Kelly had taken odds to an 

 immense amount that he would name all the placed horses in their 

 order. An hour before running this reckless plunger went even 

 further, and betted evens and 6 to 4 that he would place the horses 

 in their order, and when called upon to declare he used the memor- 

 able formula which has since passed into a proverb, " Eclipse first 

 and the rest nowhere." This was literally the case, for in sporting 

 phraseology, a horse that is " distanced " is " nowhere," and that was 

 how Eclipse served his antagonists on this occasion. Soon after this 

 Mr. O'Kelly bought a half-share of the horse from Mr. Wildman for 

 650 guineas, and eventually the other half for 1,100 guineas, a large 

 sum for those days, but, considering the immense sums he won for 

 his owner, he must be deemed one of the cheapest bargains ever 

 purchased. At the lowest computation O'Kelly made £30,000 out of 

 Eclipse, by betting and through sale of his produce. The career of 

 Eclipse on the turf was as short as it was brilliant. He ran his 

 first race, as has been seen, on the 3rd of May, 1769, and his last 



