128 A MIRROR OF THE TURF. 



mont was backed to win. Upon coming to the 

 distance point, Trafalgar ran neck and neck, in 

 which situation they continued till within a few 

 yards of the winning-post, when Shepherd made 

 a desperate push and won the race by about half 

 a head." 



In 1 813, when Sir Charles Bunbury's Smo- 

 lensk© was declared the winner, having beaten 

 eleven opponents, there were, as in the three 

 succeeding years, 51 entries for the Derby, 

 a number, however, which pretty soon began to 

 be exceeded. In 1827, the year in which Lord 

 Jersey's Mameluke landed the prize from twenty- 

 two competitors, 89 horses had been entered for 

 the race, the same number curiously enough being 

 set forth in the three succeeding years. In 1831 

 (Spaniel's year) the 100 had been topped, and 

 the fields of runners, as was to be expected, 

 had also considerably increased. In Priam's year, 

 for instance (1830), 28 horses were found at 

 the starting-post. That number was not, how- 

 ever, maintained; but from that year to 1841, 

 23, 22,^ 25, 23, 14, 21, 17, 23, 21, 17, and 19, 

 respectively, faced the starter, while in 1851 the 

 field of competitors numbered 33 animals. As a 

 corollary of the big entries and increasing fields, 

 the money to be run for increased so that the 

 stakes became of importance and worth winning, 

 especially in 1848, when the number of horses 

 entered for the race had reached the handsome total 

 of 215 different animals, a number which in after 

 years was occasionally exceeded, as for instance 

 in 1879, when Sir Bevys was hailed as victor, the 

 horses entered for that year's Blue Ribbon num- 

 bered no less than 278. Since then the largest 



