76 



CHAPTEH lY. 



HORSE-RACING PREVIOUS TO VANS. 



The success attending the conveyance of Elis to 

 Doncaster by this novel and expeditious method 

 was a great achievement, as upon few, if upon 

 any, previous occasions was the attempt to win 

 the St Leerer with a horse sent from the south 

 of England successful. From Newmarket it oc- 

 cupied nine days to travel to Doncaster on foot, 

 and from Goodwood fifteen or sixteen days, which, 

 with all the vicissitudes of weather, undesirable 

 accommodation, and inferior provender, entailed 

 great risk, expense, and frequent disajDpointment. 

 To set off with four or five horses in order to 

 make a long journey on foot, with little or no 

 change of clothes for the horses or lads, each 

 horse having his muzzle, containing brush and 

 comb, rubber, sponge, and perhaps a set of extra 

 bandages — the whole secured by one of the stir- 

 rup-leathers and laid over the withers — was indeed 

 a serious business. I generally accompanied the 

 horses on my own hack, and sometimes driving 



