THE CLASSIC RACES. 133 



hands for ^10,000; and Doncaster, which was 

 said to have been sold for ^14,000. 



Jockeys, we beHeve, still look upon the winning 

 of a Derby as being the highest honour they can 

 attain, although they sometimes earn more money 

 by winning a good handicap on which there is 

 heavy betting. Large sums are reputed to have 

 occasionally been paid to the rider of a Derby 

 winner — over ^5,000 on one occasion, that being 

 the amount of the stakes won by one of Sir Joseph 

 Hawley's horses, and given by that gentleman to 

 its rider. A thousand pounds for riding a Derby 

 winner has come to be looked upon as quite a 

 common fee ; but in the earlier days of the great 

 Epsom event no such figures were heard of, and 

 upon one occasion, when a boy was paid ;^20 

 by the greatly gratified owner of a Derby winner, 

 the circumstance was remarked upon as being 

 without precedent, and an act of munificence. 

 The big sums paid of late may be said to be in 

 the nature of insurance, as jockeys before now 

 have been known to be offered large sums not to 

 win, and it has been said that such bribes have 

 oftener than once proved effective. 



The "superb groan" of Lord George Bentinck 

 has become historical. Lord George, whose chief 

 ambition as a sportsman was to win a Derby, had 

 parted with his stud of horses in order that he 

 might devote his whole attention to politics, and 

 among the animals disposed of was Surplice, 

 winner of the Derby of 1848. As may be sup- 

 posed, the noble lord was deeply chagrined to find 

 that he had parted with a horse that won a 

 trophy of which he had long been in search. On 

 the day after the race. Lord Beaconsfield tells us 



