FAMOUS JOCKEYS 53 



adds, " to preserve a due equilibrium, so as not to 

 disturb the action of a tired horse." Without doubt 

 this celebrated performer imbibed many excellent 

 lessons from his father, but he has been considered 

 the more powerful jockey of the two.' ^ 



Thomas Holcroft, author of the well-known 

 comedy, The Road to Ruin, who flourished at the 

 end of the last and the beginning of the present 

 century, was in early life a stable-boy in the 

 Newmarket training stables. It was in his time 

 that ' sweepstakes ' became fashionable, and in his 

 Memoirs he speaks thus of such races : 



' In addition to matches, plates, and other modes 

 o£ adventure, that of " sweepstakes " had come into 

 vogue; and the opportunity it gave to deep calcu- 

 lators to secure themselves from loss by hedging 

 their bets greatly multiplied the bettors, and gave 

 uncommon animation to the sweepstakes mode. In 

 one of these the Hon. Richard Yernon had entered a 

 colt, and as the prize to be obtained was great, the 

 whole stable was on the alert. It was prophesied 

 that the race would be a severe one ; for although 

 the horses had none of them run before, they were 

 all of the highest breed — that is, their sires and 

 dams were in the first list of fame. As was fore- 

 seen, the contest was indeed a severe one, for it 

 could not be decided — it vjas a dead-heat j but our 



^ Nimrod, The Chase, the Turf, and the Road. 



