CHAPTER II 



First races of importance run at Newmarket — Races in Hyde 

 Park — The Helmsley Turk and the Morocco Barb — Racing intro- 

 duced into Holland — Importation of Spanish stallions into England 

 — Prince Charles's riding master, the Duke of Newcastle — Increas- 

 ing cost of horses — Marshal de Bassompierre ; his loss through 

 gambling, ,£500,000 in a year ; Sir John Fenwick — Sir Edward 

 Harwood's pessimism — Cromwell's Ironsides — Armour discarded 

 — The opposition to stage coaches ; Mr Cressett's theory ; Charles 

 II. favours their adoption 



' I V HE early history of Newmarket is more or 

 less wrapped in mystery, or rather in con- 

 fusion ; in other words, the writers who have dealt 

 with " the inauguration of Newmarket racing," 

 as one of them terms it, in many instances contra- 

 dict one another so flatly that the truth can be 

 arrived at only by conjecture or by inference. 



Apparently the destruction of the Spanish 

 Armada in 1588 was the ill wind that indirectly 

 benefited Newmarket so far as its horses were 

 concerned, for there is no doubt that many of the 

 horses rescued from drowning when the great 

 vessels of the Armada were wrecked were sent 

 direct to Newmarket, " where great surprise 

 was expressed by all who beheld them at their 

 exceeding swiftness." 



From this one would naturally conclude that 



222 



