AJNNALS OF THE TURF. 293 



peculiar conformation. His superior speed and endurance originate 

 from his obliquely placed shoulders, depth in the girth, deep oval 

 quarters, broad fillets, pliable sinews, and from the superior duc- 

 tility and elasticity of his muscular appendages. 



It is also from the blood horse that we acquire fineness of skin 

 and hair, symmetry and regularity of proportions, elegance and 

 grandeur. As a proof of the latter qualities, the highest dressed 

 horses of the ancient emperors are invariably of the highest cast of 

 Arabian or Southern blood. 



The object of the preceding remarks was to show the impolicy 

 of discouraging the sports of the turf, as being the indispensable 

 test by which to try the purity of our blooded stock, and the only 

 certain means of insuring its preservation ; that the thorough bred 

 horse was beyond all question, the most useful species of the whole 

 genus, since he was applicable to every possible purpose of labour 

 in which horses are used, either for the saddle, for war, parade, 

 hunting, the road or quick draught, and even for the laborious ser- 

 vices of the wagon and plough. It now only remains to make some 

 remarks (as connected with the above tepics) on the standing and 

 prospects of future patronage which the sports of the turf have in 

 England and this country. It is an undeniable fact that the high 

 degree of improvement to which the blood of stock horses in Eng- 

 land have attained, is mainly owing to the liberal and weighty pa- 

 tronage which has invariably been extended to the sports of the 

 turf in that country ; it is patronised as a national amusement by 

 the royal favour and munificence, and directly encouraged by the 

 most distinguished nobility and gentry ; by men who are ranked as 

 her chief statesmen. The decline of this sport has frequently been 

 predicted in that country, particularly at unfortunate periods of 

 war and distress ; but it has been steadily maintained for more than 

 a century, with few or no fluctuations, and is at this time in a high 

 state of prosperity. Never were so many thorough bred stallions 

 kept in England as at present never was New Market, Epsom, or 

 Doncaster, better attended than at the late meetings. The numbei 

 of blood horses annually exported from England is unusually great, 

 and to her, Russia, France, Austria, and the United States of 

 America, the East and West Indies, have been long indebted for 

 their most valuable stocks. 



In Virginia the sports of the turf have been revived and are ex- 

 tending over the state with great spirit, and are infusing into her 

 citizens a due sense of their importance in giving value to the race 

 horse. Virginia has long held a pre-eminence over every other 

 state in the Union in raising fine horses and it is mainly to be 

 attributed to the passion for this fascinating and rational amuse- 

 ment, to the steady encouragement given to it at all times, both 

 during adverse and prosperous times, since the state had its foun- 

 dation in a colony. To her the Carolinas, Georgia, Kentucky, and 

 Tennessee, have always looked for a supply of blooded stallions ; 

 to her they still are indebted as well as the new states of Alabama, 

 Louisiana, Mississippi, &c. Let then Virginia maintain and in~ 

 crease this celebrity, by adopting all means which are calculated to 

 promote so laudable a distinction. Let her place and extend the 



