SIK CHARLES BUNBURY. 21 



to him, and when all other owners withdrew their horses as soon as 

 it was known that Eclipse was to run for a stake or plate, Sir 

 Charles obstinately persisted in starting Bellario, and, what is more, 

 backed him heavily. Nay, which is more curious still, although 

 Eclipse defeated his favourite over and over again, the baronet con- 

 tinued to insist upon it that his was the better horse, and he 

 steadfastly held this opinion to the very day of his death. A dozen 

 years later, in 1777, Sir Charles purchased of the Hon. Richard 

 Vernon, of Newmarket, a chestnut foal by Florizel, a son of the 

 celebrated Herod, out of a Spectator mare, bred by Mr. Panton, 

 foaled in 1763, and counting among his ancestors on the dam's side 

 Childers and two distinguished horses of foreign blood, the Paget 

 Turk and the Leedes Arabian. This youngster Sir Charles christened 

 by the name of Diomed, and in due course he was one of the thirty- 

 six entered for the first Derby stakes, to be run at Epsom in May, 

 1780. Diomed's first appearance on the turf was at the Newmarket 

 Second Spring iNIeeting of 1780, when carrying 8st. he won a sweep- 

 stakes of 500 guineas from three respectable opponents. His next 

 appearance in public was on the first Derby Day, the 4th of May, 

 1780, when with 6 to 4 laid against him he started first favourite, 

 beating the celebrated Colonel O'Kelly's Boudrow and seven others, 

 all of whom were placed by the judge. There were thirty-six 

 subscribers, twenty-seven of whom paid forfeit. All the nine com- 

 petitors were colts, and the conditions of the race were thus set 

 out on the day's card : — " The Derby Stakes of 50 guineas each, h-ft., 

 by three-year-olds, colts, 8st. ; fillies, 7st. lllbs. — The last mile of the 

 course." Diomed was ridden by Sam Arnull, one of the most 

 celebrated jockeys of his day. But little did owner or jockey 

 imagine that the fact of winning what was then thought an in- 

 significant little stake, at Epsom would ensure them a place upon 

 the bead-roll of fame until the world's end. And, indeed, it is 

 strange to look back upon that first Derby Day and contrast it with 

 the sporting carnival now so familiar to all the world. In the first 

 place, there was the journey down. A coachman thought himself 

 lucky if he could force his way across the miserable roads from West- 

 minster to Epsom in twelve or fourteen hours without dislodging a 

 wheel on the way, and none but the richest class could afford to 

 drive down there at all. For those were days when tradesmen 

 thought an outing once in two years, like Johnny Gilpin, as much 

 as they could afitord. Then a visit to Epsom races was a week's 

 business in those days. Lodgings had to be taken in the town 

 or in the adjacent villages by those who were not fortunate 

 enough to be invited as guests to the fine old houses in the 

 neighbourhood. And the fun was mostly confined to what we 

 should call in the slang of the present day the " upper ten," 

 who took their pleasure in a very leism-ely fashion. Racing 

 began about eleven o'clock, and after witnessing one or two 

 heats the company would retire to the town to dine, and having 



