BAY MIDDLETON & BLUE GOWN CONTRASTED. 227 



to that time been equalled. Bay Middleton never ran as a 

 two-year-old, and only seven times as a three-year old, and 

 was never beaten. His best race was the Derby, when behind 

 him were Gladiator, Venison, and several other very good 

 horses. He was seven or ten pounds better than Elis, the 

 winner of that year's St. Leger, and twenty-one pounds 

 better than Venison at a mile and a half ; and he could give 

 others of the same year twenty-eight pounds and beat them. 

 It is, therefore, undoubted that Bay Middleton was three 

 stone and a half better than some horses of his own age. 

 Now let us take the running of one or two of later date : 

 Blue Gozvn, for instance (though Sir Joseph Hawley always 

 said Rosicriician was the better horse). We find that in 

 running for the Cambridgeshire he gave one of his own age, a 

 three-year-old, 3 st. 7 lbs. and a beating, and probably would 

 have given him seven or ten pounds more, or a difference of 

 four stone. Next, we see Vespasian, a six-year-old, giving 

 Judge, a three-year-old, 4 st. 10 lbs., and eleven pounds beating, 

 making him five stone and a half better than the winner of 

 the Queen's Plate, for Judge won this afterwards the same 

 day. Many like instances could, if needed, be found ; but I 

 think those furnished will be sufficient to show that horses 

 now are better than they were in 1836, in which year they 

 were better than in any preceding year. As a natural conse- 

 quence, therefore, our horses must be better at the present 

 time than they ever were before. Moreover, in 1836 and the 

 preceding year, horses did not run so often, and could be 

 better prepared and made more of than nowadays, when 

 they are continually being raced, galloped, or tried. Old 

 Mr. Forth used to say, " Horses were like peach-trees that 

 blossomed but once a year ; " and the late Mr. S. Chifney 

 said, " They cannot be made to keep their form from one 

 day to another." Yet we are obliged, as trainers, to have 



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