128 A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH TURF. 



Howard's horse, Crop, and Mr. Maies Dragon on the 28 instant (April) for /2OO 

 piece ; Crop rides 9 stone and the other 9 stone and 2 1., the Beacon Course." In 

 1 68 1 the list of matches for October, published in Number 45 of the same authority 

 contains the following items : 



Post Boy ag. Draggon St. Ib. \ 



8 6 f wagers forfeit milts 



and Draggon the ( 1,000 gs. 500 6 



first rides 9 i ) 



Draggon against Chtbb \ \ 



V 9 o - 500 gs. 200 6 



on the ist of December ) 



In the first of these matches the words "and Draggon the first rides" can hardly 

 mean that the race was on October the first, for it is the last entry on the card before 

 the match fixed for the horse of the same name in December. But no horse's name 

 is thus repeated, and it may possibly be a misprint for " Dragon the First," that is, 

 Old Dragon, or Mr. May's horse, who was a six-year-old in 1680, when he was 

 entered for the King's Plate. This is the more probable because he is giving nine 

 pounds to his opponent, Sir Robert Carr's Postboy, who started a hot favourite 

 against the King's Jllouse in the Spring Meeting of 1682 : and though Postboy was 

 beaten then, yet he had his revenge in the match against " His Majesty's horse 

 Dragon " in the October Meeting of the same year, of which Lord Conway wrote. 

 The King's horse was evidently Dragon the Second, or Young Dragon ; and this is not 

 the only instance when a distinction is necessary ; for in 1682 Dragon, who is evi- 

 dently Mr. May's, was matched against Why Not, a horse who is probably the Old 

 Why Not mentioned in the Stud Book as got by the Fenwick Barb, and who had a 

 match against Pearl in 1681, at 10 stone for 6 miles, with a forfeit of 200 guineas. 

 In 1684, on the other hand, the Dragon, beaten by Why Not, as recorded by the 

 Duke of York, must have been the younger horse belonging to the King, who had 

 previously been unable to give weight to 'Postboy. It may be added that this Old 

 Wiry Nut was the sire of Grey Why Not, from whose dam descended five St. Leger 

 winners before 1825, and three Derby winners, of whom Harvester (1884) ' s l ' 1c 

 latest. 



At a still later date, yet another Dragon (described as Mr. Frampton's) was 

 beaten in a 6-mile match, at 8 stone 4 Ibs., by the Duke of Devonshire's Old Scar, 

 in October, 1713 ; and among the many victories credited to the famous Bay Boltcn 



