THE TURF. 
eight stone six pounds ; Mr. Mytton's Handel, four 
years old, seven stone eleven pounds ; Sir William 
Wynne's Taragon, four years old, eight stone ; Sir 
Thomas Stanley's Cedric, three years old, six stone 
thirteen pounds. The following was the result. Of 
the first three heats there was no winner, Taragon and 
Handel being each time nose and nose ; and although 
Astbury is stated to have been third the first heat, yet 
he was so nearly on a level with the others, that there 
was a difficulty in placing him as such. After the 
second heat, Mr. Littleton, who was steward, requested 
the Doctor and two other gentlemen to look steadfastly 
at the horses, and try to decide in favour of one of them ; 
but it was impossible to do so. In the third dead heat, 
Taragon and Handel had struggled with each other till 
they reeled about like drunken men, and could scarcely 
carry their riders to the scales. Astbury, who had 
laid by after the first heat, then came out and won ; 
and it is generally believed the annals of the turf cannot 
produce such a contest as this. So much for a good 
handicap, formed on a thorough knowledge of the horses, 
their ages, and their public running. 
Taking into consideration the immense sums of 
money run for by English race-horses, the persons that 
ride them form an important branch of society ; and 
although the term "jockey" is often used in a meta- 
phorical sense, in allusion to the unfair dealings of men, 
yet there ever have been, and now are, jockeys of high 
moral character, whom nothing would induce to do 
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