66 



THE RACE-HORSE. 



and dam of any other colour, provided the blood 

 runs back to his, Eclipse's, source. Indeed, a 

 small dark spot which that celebrated horse had 

 on his quarter has been frequently found in his 

 descendants in the fifth or sixth generation. 



It is an old and trite saying, that " a good horse 

 cannot be of a bad colour ; '' nevertheless, colours 

 of horses are, to a certain extent, indices of their 

 physical powers. Such has proved to be the case 

 with men ; and it was found in the ill-fated Rus- 

 sian campaign, that men of dark complexions and 

 black hair bore the severity of the climate better 

 than men of an opposite appearance to them. It 

 is, however, rather a remarkable fact, that by far 

 the greater number of eminent English prize- 

 fighters have been men of light, not dark, com- 

 plexion. The ancients reckoned thirteen colours 

 of horses, giving the preference to bay (badices.) 



The half-bred Racer. — A second-rate descrip- 

 tion of racer has lately been very prevalent in 

 England, Newmarket excepted, known by the term 

 " cock-tail,'' or half-bred horse, as he is called, but 

 improperly so termed, because the stain in him is 

 generally very slight indeed, and too often difficult 

 to be traced. Many objections are raised by sports- 

 men, who are thorough racing men, and who wish 

 well to the Turf, against the cock-tail racer, and 

 for very good reasons. In the first place, if really 

 half-bred, he resembles the royal stamp upon base 

 metal, for no half-bred horse is deserving the name 

 of racer, nor will he always stand the necessary 



