44 KING HEROD. 



the Turf. The last race lie won was against Ascham, a curious one, from the 

 circumstance of two aged horses carrying- feathers, five stone seven, and six stone. 

 He had previously burst a blood vessel in his head, whilst running the last mile 

 over York, for the Subscription Purse against Bay Malton and others. He won 

 several matches for five hundred guineas, and a Sweepstake of three hundred 

 guineas, nine subscribers. 



The fame of this Racer as a STALLION, in the Turf Register, is truly splendid. 

 In nineteen years, namely, from 1771 to 1789, four hundred and ninety -seven of 

 his Sons and Daughters, won for their proprietors, in Plates, Matches, and 

 Sweepstakes, the sum of tico hundred and one thousand, Jive hundred and five 

 pounds, nine shillings, exclusive of some thousands won between 1774 and 1786. 

 Herod was the sire of the celebrated Highflyer, bred by Sir Charles Bunbury, 

 which was never beaten ; and which, like his sire, had a great stride, and game 

 was his best. Herod also got some of the speediest horses of their day, as, Wood- 

 pecker, Bourdeaux, Anvil., Hammer, Sting, Adamant, Plunder, Quicksand, Ranti- 

 pole, Whipcord, and many others. Tuberose, Guildford, and Latona, were rare 

 examples of the family stoutness, and Laburnum was an excellent and useful racer. 

 The list of brood mares got by Herod is extensive indeed. We know but one 

 restiff horse of Herod's get : Mr. Vernons Prince, which we recollect seeing 

 ridden at Newmarket, in a prickly bridle. King Herod first covered, the property 

 of Sir John Moore, Bart, at ten guineas, and ten shillings the groom. In 1774 

 his price rose to twenty-five guineas, and ten shillings, at which it remained till 

 his death, which happened May 12, 1780, in the 22d year of his age. He was 

 so shamefully neglected in his latter days, and his body so encrusted with dung 

 and filth, that, it is said, the immediate cause of his death was a mortification in 

 his sheath. Many much later instances are known of covering Stallions neglected 

 in a similar way, and a famous son of Herod, exhausted by excess of covering, 

 died after three days protracted agonies. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, 

 formerly allowed the breeders of the vicinity to his residence in Hants, the use of 

 a well-bred Stallion gratis, excepting the groom's fee of a crown. The conse- 

 quence was, the horse often covered, or attempted to cover, twelve mares in a day ! 

 We had a foal or two from this exhausted Stallion, the most wretched, puny, 

 spindle-shanked animals to be imagined. Facts like these should be published, 

 and kept alive in the memories of those whom they concern. 



