RACING IN 1750. 235 



at Kippling Coats (Yorkshire), as usual, for any weight 10 

 stone one heat, which prize was won by 



Mr. Holles's black g., Cliimney Sxvceper beating 

 Mr, Osbaldestone's bay h., 

 Mr. Watson's bay h., and 

 Mr. Read's bay h." 



It was then the usual custom, it appears, to race from 

 March till October and, as in the present day, there was a 

 close time ; at all events, there was no racing in the other 

 months, possibly because such a proceeding would have been 

 against the prevailing taste or fashion. One race a day must 

 surely have been scarcely worth the trouble of witnessing J 

 yet they seldom had more. Beverley had four days racing 

 made up of one race each day ; and Bury (Suffolk) held a 

 three days' meeting with the like number, viz., one race daily, 

 and Newmarket was content with about the same meagre 

 sport — these races being mostly run in heats from one to 

 four miles. 



This sort of sport, if it can be dignified by the name, must 

 have been of a very dull and unappreciable character; for 

 though the distance may have had to be traversed four or 

 more times, and each heat been well contested before the race 

 was finally won, it may sometimes have been decided by the 

 first, followed by a walk over the course for the second. In 

 the year 1750 I find it recorded, in the same work, that 450 

 horses ran, having 240 owners, a little less than two each; 

 Lord Poltimore having the largest stud, consisting of 12, 

 which secured him eight victories of the collective value of 

 ;^588 \os., none of his horses having run more than twice, and 

 only two so often. The 150 races run in that year ranged in 

 value from 10 to 135 guineas, or an average of about £?>o 



