290 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND 



by Dr. Johnson's friend, the spendthrift Sir John 

 Lade (who would ride his own mule in the days 

 of ' the first gentleman '), but would now be re- 

 garded, no doubt, as desecration of the Heath. 



*A.D. 1 71 8: The Duke of Wharton's Chanter 

 won a match on April 8 at Newmarket against 

 Mr. Brodrick's mare, 8 st. 7 lb. each, four miles 

 (a noteworthy match, because ' the scorn and 

 wonder of the age,' Philip, Duke of Wharton, is 

 stated to have given the successful jockey, whose 

 name has not been preserved from oblivion, ^50 

 for winning — about the earliest recorded example 

 of the excessive * tipping ' which has been carried 

 to a ridiculous pitch in modern times). 



On October 8 in the same year, and at the same 

 place, there was a match between the Duke of 

 Wharton's Chance and Lord Hillsborough's gray 

 mare, 9st. each, four miles, 500 guineas, half forfeit: 

 which is worthy of notice, because it is the first 

 recorded case of a ' dead heat ' at Newmarket, 

 though the phenomenon must have occurred 

 (pretty often, no doubt) before, and is recorded in 

 the records of York as early as i 709, when, for 

 a ^10 ^\dX&, fottr-mile heats, on September 15, 

 Mr. Welburn's bay horse Button, and Mr. 



