38 A MIRROR OF THE TURF. 



run for on Easter Tuesday, in place of a break- 

 fast of calves' heads and bacon, which it had 

 previously been the custom for the two sheriffs to 

 shoot for on Easter Monday. In these early days 

 of the pastime of horse-racing, there was only one 

 day in which a race took place, one race only 

 being run, and occasionally there was no lack of 

 excitement; in 1665, for instance, there was a 

 "row," because "the High Sheriff borrowed a 

 Barbary horse of Sir Thomas Middleton, which 

 won him the plate ; and, being master of the race, 

 he would not suffer the horses of Master Massey 

 of Paddington, and of Sir Philip Egerton of Dakon, 

 to run, because they came the day after the time 

 prefixed for the horses to be brought and kept in 

 the city ; which thing caused all the gentry to 

 relinquish the races ever since." 



Having established Chester's pride of place in 

 the chronology of the turf, the history of horse- 

 racing as then carried on need scarcely be further 

 alluded to, except to show how gradual was the 

 change from the meagre sport of 1665 to the 

 prolific pastime of the present period. In 1745, 

 Chester races, we learn, occupied four days, but 

 only one race took place each day; a case of linked 

 sweetness long drawn out. During the year just 

 named, the four prizes contended for were the St. 

 George's Purse, of the value of ^50, for which 

 there was a field of nine horses ; the City's Golden 

 Cup of ^60, five starters ; the Contribution Plate 

 of 50 gs,, for which four horses ran. 



Lloyd's Evening Post of 21st March, 1780, 

 gives the worth and conditions of the chief race as 

 then run, which are as follows : " On Thursday, 

 the 4th May, the Annual City Plate, valued ^30,. 



