20 HISTORY OF THE 



envy and wonder of his co temporaries. His 

 natural shrewdness and penetration, his indefatiga- 

 ble industry and constant attention, went far 

 towards gaining him success on the turf, by enabling 

 him to counteract the various and almost incredi- 

 ble deceptions then in constant practice in the 

 sporting world. His good fortune with Eclipse we 

 have noticed, when recording the performances of 

 that celebrated racer ; we will, therefore, content 

 ourselves with adding here the anecdotes of 

 O 'Kelly which have reached us. 



Mr. O'Kelly purchased an estate near Epsom, 

 with training stables, and paddocks, contiguous to 

 the race course, which became his favourite resi- 

 dence, and here it was that Eclipse died. Besides 

 Eclipse, O'Kelly was the owner of some of the best 

 horses of his day : such as Brutus, Badger, (alias 

 Ploughboy,) young Gimcrack, Atom, Tiney, Milk- 

 sop, &c., and with these he swept off annually, most 

 of the give and take and Royal Plates, at the diffe- 

 rent country races. Refused admittance into the 

 Jockey club, he was thereby prevented from run- 

 ning for any of the great Newmarket stakes, which 

 was a severe mortification to him, and of which he 

 complained in no measured terms. The following 

 is a ludicrous instance of this : 



" The better to expedite his own superiority, and 

 to carry his well planned schemes into successful 

 execution, and in order to render himself less de- 

 pendent on the incredible herd of necessitous 



