I "j^ The Arabian Horse. 



supposed, on purpose to beat King David. Antelope 

 was acknowledged to be the fleetest horse that was 

 ever remembered at Surat by the oldest natives, and 

 the gentlemen of that station positively asserted that 

 on trial he ran a mile within the minute} The race 

 was run at score all round. King David took the lead 

 at starting, and kept it, winning by about three lengths. 

 It is stated. King David, changing hands at this time, 

 improved very much in appearance. At the second 

 Bombay Races, December, 1798, he again started for 

 the Aged Plate against his former competitor Ante- 

 lope and three others. Antelope was made favourite, 

 his former defeat being attributed to his having been 

 landed out of a boat, on his passage from Surat, the 

 day before he ran. To the astonishment of all. King 

 David won with the greatest ease, and it was generally 

 supposed, had he been pushed, could have distanced 

 the whole the first heat. 



On January 14, 1799, at Madras, he won 100/. with 

 great ease, and on the 19th another race. In 1800, at 

 Bombay, he won three several matches, beating Brown 

 Bess, Dragon, and the famous mare Arabella. He 

 never carried less than 10 st. 3 lbs., and no horse would 

 after that appear against him.^ 



' The author does not pretend to endorse this assertion ; it is similar to 

 the tradition of the English wonder, Flying Childers ; but we may be well 

 assured that, in both instances, such assertions were not made, nor could 

 the tradition have originated, without the display of some extraordinary 

 power and speed. 



- It is probable, Arabella was the chestnut marc foaled in 1792 by 

 Rockingham, her dam Rachel by Highflyer. 



