6^ 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE MODERN BLOOD-HORSE. 



Points of a Race-horse — Copperthwaite's Description —The Ugliest often the Best — Size and Substance — Large Head no Objection — 

 Nor Large Lopping Ears — Great Length from Hip to Hock Essential — Note on — Broad Chest Objectionable — Anecdote of 

 Sir Anthony Harbottle — Digby Collins hates Pony-headed Horses — His Notion of a Race-horse's Hind-quarters — The Arab 

 Style of Quarters and Tail Bad -Mean Quarters of Blink Bonny and Caller Ou — Abd-el-Kader's Description of an Arab Horse 

 — Comparative Difference of Steeplechaser and Hunter — Touchstone; his Son Motley worthless as a Race-horse, first-rate as 

 Sire of Hunters — Colours of the English Blood-horse — Statistics of the Turf — Tables of Race-horses from 1797 to 1872 — Table 

 of Distances run — Number of Races in 1872 — The Earl of Coventry's Letter — The Race-horse as a Stallion — Examples — 

 Stockwell and West Australian — Anecdote of Earl Derby and Lord Palmerston — Their Favourites for the Derby — The Life of 

 a Race-horse at Two Years, Three Years, and Four Years Old — Tiiree-year-old Races at Fixed Weights — Weight for Age 

 Races — Queen's Plates — Handicaps the Principal Prizes — Betting Men Classed — Gambling has changed its Form — Anecdotes 

 of the Old Generation of Gambleis — Wilberforce —Charles Fox — -William Pitt — Gambling Houses formerly Licensed — 

 Gilray's Caricature of Ladies Buckinghamshire and Archer — Prince of Wales and Lord Chief Justice Kenyon, 1799 — 

 Betting Presents the "Potentiality of Wealth beyond the Dreams of Avarice" — Bookmaking Trade described — Anecdote of 

 Palmer the Poisoner — The Customers of Bookmakers Analysed — Racing Frauds in 1844 — Cliarles Greville's Diary — A 

 Typical Betting Man — The Origin of the Derby and Oaks R.ices — Won in 1801 by Eleanor; in 1857 by Blink Bonny — • 

 Lord Melbourne's Description of the Blue Riband — Lord Glasgow's ill Luck — Lord Clifden's and Mr. Chaplin's great Luck 

 — The Derby won by a Foreign Horse, Gladiateur — The Blood-horse as a Useful Sire — The Glasgow Stud — Blood 

 Sires — Plan of Hiring Recommended — The Thorough-bred out of Training — Various Uses — Edmond — The Race-horse in 

 America — Description of Races in Jerome Park, New York — The Race-horse in France ; Excellence of — Race-horses in 

 Germany. 



The following extracts from the works of two writers — one, Mr. Digby Collins, an educated 

 man as well as an accomplished horseman ; the other, Mr. Copperthwaite, a specirren of a 

 person with 110 literary cultivation or pretensions, whose life was devoted to the turf — will 

 perhaps give a fair idea of what racing-men like in a race-horse. 



Mr. Copperthwaite begins by saying that "Some of the ugliest horses are best shaped when 

 properly looked over. The worst shaped horses for running purposes are frequently the hand- 

 somest. It would hardly be going too far to add that they are almost invariably the very worst. 

 The greatest failures are generally very handsome, and only fit for Rotten Row. 



******* 



"Size and substance are indispensable; not a tall, narrow, 'clothes horse,' but rather thick-set 

 than otherwise when in fat condition previous to going into training. Coarseness should be avoided, 

 especially as regards the head, neck, and shoulders. The eye should be large, clear, and bright, 

 with a sort of baldness, arising from the absence of coarse hairs around it, which is a sign of high 

 breeding. The jaw-bones should taper gradually towards the nose; the forehead should be wide and 

 flat between the eyes ; but there are many exceptions to these descriptions, many first-class horses 

 having large, bony kind of heads. The head should have a sensible look ; the eye clear, full, and 

 steady, which denotes good temper and enduring qualities ; a fiery, anxious eye, with more white 

 than usual, is generally found in flighty-tempered, speedy non-stayers. The ears, provided they are 

 not of the long, upright form, like a donkey, stuck up on each side of the head, may be large. 



