12 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 



wanted. On their inquiring, whether she had seen a 

 race, she replied, she could not tell whether it was a 

 race or not, but she had just seen a horse with a 

 white leg running away at a monstrous rate, and 

 another horse, a great way behind, trying to run after 

 him ; but she was sure he would never catch the 

 white-legged horse if he ran to the world's end. 



The first heat was easily won, when O'Kelly, 

 observing that the rider had been pulling at Eclipse 

 during the whole of the race, offered a wager that he 

 would place the horses in the next heat (that is, that 

 he would name the order in which they would be 

 when the foremost reached the winning post). This 

 seemed a thing so highly improbable that he imme- 

 diately had bets to a large amount. Being called on 

 to declare, he replied "Eclipse first, and the rest 

 nowhere!" The event justified his prediction; for 

 all the others were distanced by Eclipse with the 

 greatest ease (that is, he was at the winning post 

 before they had reached another 240 yards behind it, 

 called the distancing post), and thus, in the language 

 of the turf, they had no place. 



The pecuniary value of Eclipse and his progeny 

 must have been something enormous. He was the 

 sire of 354 winners, and these netted to their owners 

 more than 160,000, exclusive of plates and cups. 



