Races had been run in England for nearly a hundred 

 years; Flying Childers, Partner, Squirt, Lath, Matchem, 

 Herod, Eclipse, Pot-8-Os, Highflyer, etc., were examples 

 of this period. The tests, generally very hard, varying 

 from three to four miles, had permitted the creation of a 

 race of incomparable stayers ; but, it must be admitted, 

 that this race lacked homogeneity. 



With the Arab as a common ancestor, though in vary- 

 ing degrees of remoteness, the horses of that period va- 

 ried much in size; so the English who desired to select 

 for quality, understanding how much small horses, which, 

 perhaps, were intrinsically the best, were disadvantage- 

 ously handicapped by the shortness of their legs had in- 

 stituted a scale of weights according to height which 

 remained in force during almost the whole of the eigh- 

 teenth century. 



This scale of weights was graduated from twelve hands 

 to fifteen hands, and varied between seventy pounds and 

 one hundred and fifty-four pounds. (E. Houel, " Les 

 chevaux de pur sang en France et en Angleterre.") 



From this document can be seen how small the race 

 horses of that time were. At the end of the eighteenth 

 century their height varied between about 14^ and 15^ 

 hands. Flying-Childers was 14 hands and 31-5 inches 

 high, Cartouch was 13 hands 3^ inches, Bay-Malton 

 15 hands. Eclipse 15 hands and i 4-5 inches*. Not one 

 of them was of a height which would excite interest in 

 the yearlings which we now see at Deauville. 



At the time of the institution of the Derby and of the 

 St. Leger, the average height of the runners was fifteen 

 hands. Now can we imagine to ourselves, on the St. 

 Leger course at Doncaster a 15-hand pony built like a 

 pure sprinter, with a straight shoulder, horizontal arm, 

 and sloping croup? However great its quality, this poor 

 caricature of a worthless barb would have been cooked 



73 



