6 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND 



issued regulations, whereof one was that ' no 

 groom or serving--man ' was to ride ; and another 

 that it was ' to be rode for yearly the second 

 Thursday in October, for ever.' But — sic transit 

 gloria — the race in which the King himself would 

 ride has fallen into disrepute, if not into oblivion 

 and desuetude ; for who nowadays would look at 

 ' twenty pounds ' as the reward for winning the 

 best of ' three heats ' over ' the New Round Geate 

 (course),' measuring something over three miles six 

 furlongs ? The King is stated, inoreover, though 

 it is difficult, if not impossible, to verify the state- 

 ment, to have presented the famous and once- 

 coveted ' Challenge Whip,' of which the Jockey 

 Club has obtained the guardianship, and to which 

 a lash and a wrist-band, both made from hair that 

 grew on the mane or tail of Eclipse, were attached 

 in the course of time ; but although Charles died 

 in 1685, the Duke of Devonshire's Dimple, a 

 horse that flourished about 1699- 1702, is the 

 earliest recorded winner of the trophy, so far as 

 accessible authorities can be depended upon. 



Charles II.'s connection with the turf can never 

 fade from memory, so long as 'Rowley's Mile' 

 remains upon the list of 'courses* at Newmarket, 



