THE RACE-HORSE. 529 



full speed was not determined, since he never met with an 

 opponent sufficiently fleet to put it to the proof. He not 

 only was never beaten, but he was able to distance some of 

 the best horses of his time ; and the fleetest could not keep 

 by his side for 50 yards together. 



This remarkable horse first appeared on the turf, at the 

 age of five, in 1769. In the first heat, he set off of his own 

 accord, and easily gained the race, his rider pulling him in 

 vain with all his force for the last mile. O'Kelly observing 

 this, and aware of his horse's powers, offered, in the second 

 heat, " to place the horses," and he took heavy bets that he 

 did so. When called upon to declare, he said, " Eclipse 

 first, and the rest no place." He gained his wagers : Eclipse 

 was first, and all the others were distanced, or, in the lan- 

 guage of the turf, had no place. From this time Eclipse 

 was continually on the turf, and gained every race. No 

 horse daring to contend with him, he closed his career of 

 seventeen months by walking over the Newmarket Course 

 for the King's Plate, in October 1770. During this brief 

 period, it is said that he gained L.25,000 for his owner. He 

 was then employed with prodigious profit as a stallion. He 

 got 334 winners at our numerous race-courses, who are com- 

 puted to have gained about L.160,000 to their owners, be- 

 sides cups and plates. He died in 1789, at the age of twenty- 

 five. 



Eclipse, it will be seen, was directly descended from the 

 Darley Arabian, and, besides, united in himself the best blood 

 of the turf. It has been proposed to distinguish the line 

 which he adorned as the Eclipse line of horses, just as that 

 in which Herod is found has been designated the Herod line. 



Another horse of foreign lineage, scarcely inferior to the 

 Darley Arabian in the fame and value of his descendants, 

 and by many supposed to have exercised a yet more im- 

 portant influence on the horses of the turf, is the Godolphin 

 Barb, who lived a short time later than the Darley Arabian, 

 having been born about the year 1724. This splendid horse 



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