562 THE HORSE. 



he rode the winner of the Derby and St Leger, and, it is re- 

 ported, received a present of L.1000 for the latter race from 

 a gentleman whom he had never before seen. It is said that 

 in 1824 he declared to his friends that he would win the 

 Derby on Cedric, the Oaks on Cobweb, and be married within 

 the week ; all of which undertakings he accomplished.* Fur- 

 ther accounts might be given, of the Goodisons and others 

 of a former age ; and of the Scotts, the Days, and the Flax- 

 mans, and others, of the present one ; but these examples 

 will suffice to shew the class of superior jockeys employed in 

 the active duties of the Course. 



The next class of persons connected with the turf are the 

 Training-grooms. Numbers of opulent sportsmen have their 

 own training-grounds. The public establishments of the 

 kind are at Newmarket ; at the towns of Epsom and Ascot ; 

 at Black Hamilton in Yorkshire, on the road from Thirsk to 

 Helmsley ; at Langton Wolds, near the town of Malton, and 

 separated from the race-course by the public road ; at Middle- 

 ham Moors, also in the county of York ; at Whiteclift Moors, 

 near the town of Richmond ; and at the Curragh of Kildare. 

 The Heads of those establishments are called training- 

 grooms. They are persons in whose fidelity, judgment, and 

 knowledge of the business of the turf, great confidence must 

 necessarily be reposed. The mdre immediate duties of the 

 training- groom are the care of the horses with respect to 

 health, and preparation for the turf : but with these duties are 

 joined others^ of counsel and aid, founded on the trainer's 

 knowledge of the horses intrusted to him, and the general 

 business of the turf. It is evident that, were a training- 

 groom to be unfaithful, a given horse might neither be in 

 the condition suited for running, nor under the other cir- 

 cumstances favourable to his owner's success. 



But what are the other classes concerned in this system 

 of public sports 1 Who are the owners of these innumerable 



* Wbyte's History of the Turf. 



