362 THE UOKSE. 



It is not easy in the United States to obtain full statistics of 

 tliis nature, owing to the vast extent of territory over which 

 the race-meetings are scattered, that extent yearly increasing, 

 and the great number of courses and Jockey Clubs existing, 

 all independent each of the other, which render it a work of 

 endless toil to hunt up the numbers of winners got by any par- 

 ticular stallion, or number of stallions ; I have been so fortu- 

 nate, iiowever, as to fall upon the following facts concerning 

 Medoc, a horse of very fair and honest, though not first-rate, 

 running reputation in this country, in 1833, and shall presently 

 proceed to give similar statements concerning others of our 

 most distinguished stallions. 



Medoc begot, in the three years 1838, '39 and '40, respec- 

 tively, 18, 48, and 49 winners, at all distances, from one to four- 

 mile heats, and in the latter year thirty-three of his get won 64 

 races, ran 306 miles, and won $26,000. 



But to return to " Cecil's " observations on the comparative 

 stoutness of ancient and modern English racers. — " In the 

 first portion," he proceeds, " of these remarks, it was mentioned 

 that an opinion has been promulgated with much industry, and 

 supported with equivalent zeal, that our horses have degen- 

 erated, compared with those of our ancestors, in stoutness or 

 endurance in running a distance ; that they are incapable of 

 bearing fatigue ; that they are deficient in constitutional stam- 

 ina, the ability to carry weight, and that they are subject to 

 hereditary diseases, especially roaring. In evidence of these 

 arguments, the performances of two horses, worthies of ancient 

 da'te, the one called Black Chance, the other the Carlisle Geld- 

 ing, have been extolled in the w^armest terms. To arrive at 

 correct conclusions, the most satisfactory coui-se will be that of 

 making comparisons, from indisputable data, between the per- 

 formances of the horses said to have possessed superiority over 

 their descendants. The mere declaration of opinion, unaccom- 

 panied by proof, is not sufficient on this occasion. For the 

 sake of brevity, and to render each item capable of ready com- 

 parison, a tabular form is chosen, in which the performances of 

 the most celebrated horses of the early part of the eighteenth 

 century, are placed in juxtaposition with an equal number of 

 more recent date. The selection of the Cariisle Gelding and 



