THE FIRST HEAT. . 189 



and a half in the clear. Here the rider of Henry turned his 

 head round, and took a view for an instant of his adversary ; 

 Walden used neither whip nor spur ; but maintained a hard and 

 steady pull, under which his horse appeared accustomed to run. 

 Crafts continued to make free use of the whip ; his right hand in 

 so doing Avas necessarily disengaged from the bridle, his arm often 

 raised high in air, his body thrown abroad, and his seat loose 

 and unsteady ; not having strength to hold and gather his horse 

 with one hand, and at the same time keep his proper position ; 

 in order to acquire a greater purchase, he had thrown his body 

 quite back to the cantle of the saddle, stuck his feet forward 

 by way of bracing himself with the aid of the stirrups, and in 

 this style he was belaboring his horse going in the last quarter. 

 Buckley exclaimed — and well he might — " Good G — d, look at 

 Billy." From this place to the winning post. Eclipse gained 

 but a few feet, Henry coming in ahead about a length in the 

 clear. The shortest time of this heat, as returned by the judges 

 on the stand, was Y min. 37^ sec. Many watches, and mine 

 — which was held by a gentleman on the stand — among others, 

 made it 7 min. 40 sec. ; and this time the Southern gentlemen 

 reported — see Mr. Johnson's letter of the 28th of May, ad- 

 dressed to Mr. Crawford, editor of the Yirginia Times. 



I pushed immediately up to the winning j)ost, in order to 

 view the situation of the respective horses, after this very try- 

 ing and severe heat ; for it was in fact running the whole four 

 miles. Sir Henry was less distressed than I expected to find 

 him. Eclipse also bore it well, but of the two, he appeared the 

 most jaded ; the injudicious manner in which he had been 

 ridden, had certainly annoyed, and unnecessarily distressed him ; 

 the cause of his throwing out his tail, and flirting it up and 

 down, as already observed, was now apparent ; Crafts, in using 

 his whip wildly, had struck him too far back, and had cut him 

 not only upon his sheath, but had made a deep incision upon 

 his testicles, and it was no doubt the violent pain occasioned 

 thereby, that caused the noble animal to complain, and motion 

 with his tail, indicative of the torture he suffered. The blood 

 flowed profusely from one or both of these foul cuts, and trick- 

 ling down the inside of his hind legs, appeared conspicuously 



