ACTION. 53 



in repeating that stride, or he would lose in time 

 what he gains in space. It is then when stride and 

 quickness are united, that the fleet courser is pro- 

 duced ; and in his race with Diamond, Hamble- 

 tonian is asserted to have covered twenty-one feet 

 at a stroke at the finish of it ; and Eclipse is gene- 

 rally believed to have covered eighty-three and a 

 half feet of ground in a second, when going at the 

 top of his speed, which, by a calculation by Mon- 

 sieur Saintbel, amounted to about twenty-five feet 

 of o:round covered at a stroke. 



The action most approved of in a racer, as de- 

 scribing the greatest extent, with the least fatigue 

 to the animal, is what is termed on the Turf 

 " round action ;" that is, when, on a side view 

 being taken of a horse in his gallop, his fore-legs 

 appear to form a wheel or circle. Different ground, 

 however, requires different action ; aiid the large, 

 long striding horse may be beaten on a hilly, or 

 turning course, by one of a smaller size, but with 

 a shorter stride, which prevents the Newmarket 

 courses being a certain criterion of a good runner 

 at Epsom, which is very trying ground, by reason 

 of its acclivity, for the first half mile. The state of 

 the ground, likewise, whether wet or dry, soft or 

 hard, tells so much in a race, as often to give it to 

 Ji horse very little thought of at starting, as was 

 the case with Tarrare, winner of the St. Leirer, at 

 Don caster, in 1826. The celebrated Euphrates, 

 the winner of so many gold cups, and who ran till 

 he was in his teens, was nearly a stone below his 

 usual form, after even a hard shower of rain. This 



