322 THE HORSE. 



Kenner, Ciq^t. W. J. Minor, and Stephen D. Elliott, as 

 timers. 



It is agreed between the parties, that Lexington may be 

 accompanied in his trial by a horse or horses, and rhat any 

 changes of horses may be made that circnmstances render 

 necessary. This will, of course, increase the interest of the 

 scene, and give it the appearance of a regular contest. 



Although the time, at four miles, made by Lecomte in his 

 contest with Lexington, is the point which the latter has to 

 reach upon the present occasion — namely, 7 : 26 — it may not 

 be out of place to note the best time made by other horses of 

 renown in the day of their supremacy upon the turf. Of these 

 may be named Henry, 7 : 37 ; Grey Medoc and Altorf, dead 

 heat, 7 : 35 ; Boston, the fastest heat he ever ran and won, 7 : 40 ; 

 Fashion, 7 : 32| ; Miss Foot, second heat, 7 : 35 ; George Mar- 

 tin, with Keel, the dam of Lecomte, in which heat she broke 

 down, 7 : 33 ; Free Trade, 7 : 33. Keube, the winner of many 

 races, and an aged horse, did that which has not yet been sur- 

 passed ; he ran and won a heat, with all his proper weight, at 

 his ease, in 7 : 40 ! We could name many others in this con- 

 nection, but these will suffice. We incline to the opinion that 

 time alone is but at best a fallacious test of the superiority of a 

 race-horse, unless, as in this instance, it beats the best ever 

 made. 



It would have been no easy matter, during the lifetime of 

 Col. Wm. R. Johnson, the well-named " Napoleon of the Turf," 

 to convince him that his favorite mare, Eeality, the grandam 

 of the renowned Fashion, could not have beaten all the horses 

 that appeared upon the American Turf in his day ; and yet in 

 her palmy days no remarkable time was recorded. Her only 

 record is superiority over those of her day. 



There are so many contingent circumstances, which may be 

 connected with the success of this unexampled exploit, any one 

 of which might turn to tide against the horse, that it will require 

 more than an ordinary degree of judgment, and we might almost 

 say foresight, to take advantage of them at the moment. "Time 

 waits for no man," nor horse. The all-important aid of brilliant 

 sky, balmy southern breeze, elastic, smooth course, and the 

 unexceptionable condition of the horse, must all be brought to 



