126 A MIRROR OF THE TURF. 



many answers were returned. In Bluegown's 

 year, however, I conversed at a wayside tavern 

 with an old man who was making his way to 

 Epsom Downs on foot, who had, as a child, 

 seen Eleanor win the Derby of 1801. Among 

 the horse-racing men of Yorkshire there are 

 three or four reputed to be alive who have 

 witnessed more than fifty consecutive races for 

 the St. Leger, and there may, perhaps, be people 

 yet living who have as many times witnessed 

 the struggle for the Derby. Curiously enough, 

 when I ventured in my history of the " Blue 

 Ribbon of the Turf" to renew this question, 

 which is, I think, neither frivolous nor devoid of 

 interest, I was "heavily sneered at" by one of 

 the cocksure critics of the period who thought 

 the matter unworthy of consideration. 



The race at the date of Eleanor's victory was 

 twenty-two years old, having been instituted in 

 1780. During the first ten years of the Derby 

 the accumulated stakes amounted to 11,005 gs. 

 When the race was inaugurated the number 

 of subscribers was thirty-six, and the following 

 is a list of the horses which formed the field : 

 Sir Charles Bunbury's Diomed, Major O'Kelly's 

 Bowdrow, Mr. Walker's Spitfire, Sir F. Evelyn's 

 Wotton, Mr, Panton's colt by Herod, Duke of 

 Cumberland's colt by Eclipse, Mr. Dulsh's colt 

 by Cardinal Puff, Mr. Delme's colt by Gimcrack, 

 and the Duke of Bolton's Bay Bolton. 



As regards the number of subscriptions to 

 the race in its earlier days, it may be here 

 recorded that up to and including 1800 the 

 following figures denote the entries : 36, 35, 35, 



