238 RACING, PAST AND PRESENT. 



performance, including the return journey. To-day, double 

 the distance may be done in as many days, thus economizing 

 money and time. The late Mr. Scott used to send his horses 

 to Leatherhead where they were located for several weeks for 

 Epsom races. Probably after travelling so far on foot, this 

 halt could scarcely have been well dispensed with. His horses, 

 too, were usually sent from Whitewall to Pigburn before 

 the Doncaster Meeting. This change probably was dictated 

 from the superior nature of the one ground to the other. At 

 both Leatherhead and Pigburn they used to take one sweat, as 

 well as several gallops, before running their respective races 

 at Epsom and Doncaster : now, through the instrumentality 

 of the railroad, they are brought within a couple of days 

 of one, and the other may easily be reached the same day ; 

 and yet for aught I see, horses were as well trained in those 

 days as now, and the worst horses made as much of. 



Mr. John Lawrence, in his work from which I have already 

 had occasion to quote, gives some particulars of racing as it 

 was in his time. 



" The Duke of Oueensberry," he says, " raced for over half 

 a century and with unparalleled success in his matchmaking 

 and betting accounts. His carriage match at Newmarket, 

 the fame of which spread all over Europe, and his success- 

 ful half and quarter mile matches with the Rocket gelding, 

 gave him the reputation of an original in the projects of the 

 turf. The success of his short races was supposed to 

 depend materially on the presence of mind, keenness of 

 eye and activity of Hell-fire Dick." 



This I have heard my f;ither say was the sobriquet of Mr. 

 R. Goodson, the celebrated jockey of that day. Mr. Lawrence 

 next sets out to describe extremely short races not exceeding a 

 quarter of a mile, and then gives an account of one, in 1772, just 



