A CURIOUS RACE. 41 



Gold Cup. She was destined, however, at last to win a triumph 

 at York, though it was a triumph of which she was never con- 

 scious. 



The York Summer Meeting of 17 14 commenced in the last 

 week of July, and it was a memorable meeting in more ways 

 than one. In the first place there was the largest attendance 

 ever known. Old sportsmen had never seen any northern meet- 

 ing patronised by such a number of the nobility and gentry. 

 An eye-witness says ' there were no less than one hundred and 

 fifty- six carriages at one time upon the course.' 



The meeting opened sensationally. Her Majesty's Gold Cup 

 was the great feature of the first day's racing. The race, as we 

 have said, was for six-year-olds, carrying I2st., and it was run 

 in four-mile heats. In the third heat Mr. Childers's brown mare 

 Duchess, ridden by Robert Hesselteine, ran a very severe and 

 punishing race with Mr. Peirson's brown horse Foxhunter, ridden 

 by Stephen Jefferson. Those were days when jockeys openly 

 indulged in the foulest riding, and thought jostling and cannon- 

 ing part of the legitimate canon. It was no uncommon occurrence 

 for a couple of jockeys to lay into one another with their whips 

 in the middle of the race, and finish the fight on horseback when 

 they had passed the judge's box. On this occasion Robert 

 Hesselteine made Duchess run Foxhunter so near the cords 

 that his jockey was obliged to whip over the horse's shoulder. 

 Duchess was thus enabled to gain the judge's fiat by a length. 

 But no sooner had Hesselteine pulled up than Jefferson rode 

 alongside of him and struck him across the face with his whip. 

 Hesselteine returned the compliment, and they cut away at one 

 another amidst the cheers of the bystanders till the blood was 

 streaming down their faces, and dyeing their jackets and breeches 

 crimson. When both were exhausted, the owner of Foxhunter 

 claimed the race on the ground that his horse had been deli- 

 berately run up against the cords by Duchess's jockey. A 

 committee of ' Tryers' was empanelled to consider the objec- 

 tion, and after mature deliberation they awarded the race to 

 Foxhunter. Then there was a row between the two owners, and 

 hard words were exchanged, which must have infallibly ended 

 in a duel had not the friends of both parties interfered and sug- 

 gested that the heat should be run again. It was run, and 

 Duchess won by a clear length. But so far was this result from 

 satisfying either owner that both claimed the prize — the owner 

 of Duchess on the ground tljat his mare had won the decisive 



