XIX. 



llie Story of Ripton. — Doscription of him. — Ripton and Mount Holly. — 

 Ripton and Kate Kearney. — Peter Whelan and George Youngs. — Rip- 

 ton and Don Juan. — Necessity of Work and Practice. — Ripton, 

 Dutchman, Confidence, and Spangle, — Ripton, Duchess, and Quaker. — 

 Ripton and Revenge. — Ripton and Lad}' Suffolk. — A Fast, Close Race. 



BEFOKE my experience was completed with Dutchman, 

 another horse came into my hands, who was second 

 only to that famous trotter, in my estimation, for speed and 

 bottom, and ability to stand wear-and-tear, when he had 

 had good practice and had come to a ripe maturity. I speak 

 of E-ipton, who became very celebrated just before Dutch- 

 man left the turf; for the road had passed into the possession 

 of Mr. Janeway. Ripton was a very handsome bay horse, 

 with four white legs and a blaze in the face. In that par- 

 ticular he was like Dexter, who is now a greatly esteemed 

 favorite of mine, and brown. Like him, too, he was a little 

 horse in inches, but good and substantial in make and girth. 

 lie did not stand above fifteen hands high ; but he had fine 

 power, and was a horse of uncommon fire, spirit, and deter- 

 mination. His style of going was very fine, — as near per- 

 fection as any thing I have ever seen ; but, from the fact 

 that one foreleg was whited higher up towards the knee 

 than the other, casual observers often fancied, when he wa3 

 going fast, that he lifted that foot the highest, and slapped 

 it down with extraordinary vim. That was a mistake,-^ — n 

 mere optical illusion. He went as level as the flow of a 

 smooth stream that is swift and deep. I cannot say what 

 his pedigree was. 



171 



