THE RACE HORSE. 



Whatever may have been its original source, the Racer has been greatly improved by 

 the mixture of Arab blood, through the means of the Godolphin and Derby Arabians. 

 The celebrated Horse Eclipse was a descendant, on the mother's side, of the Godolphin 

 Arabian, that wonderful animal which was rescued from drawing a cart in Paris, and 

 which was afterwards destined to play so important a part in regenerating the breed of 

 English racers. He was also descended, on his father's side, from the Darley Arabian. 

 It is a remarkable fact, that both parents of this extraordinary animal were unappre- 

 ciated by their owners, Marsk, his father, having been purchased for a mere trifle, and 

 then permitted to run nearly wild in the New Forest. Spiletta, his mother, only ran one 

 race, in which she was beaten, and Squirt, the father of Marsk, was actually saved by 

 the intercession of a groom as he was being led to the slaughter-house. 



RACE HORSE 



Eclipse was never beaten, and his racing career extended only through seventeen 

 months, and in that short period of time he won more than twenty-five thousand pounds. 

 At his last race he was obliged to walk over the course, as no one dared enter a Horse 

 against him. Ten years after that event, his owner, Mr. O'Kelly, was requested to sell 

 him, and demanded the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds, an annuity of five hundred 

 pounds a year, together with six of his offspring yearly. When he died, in 1789, he was 

 twenty-five years old, and had realized for his owner a princely fortune. His skeleton is 

 now in the museum at Oxford. His shape was very remarkable, the hinder quarters 

 being .considerably higher than the shoulders, and his breathing was so thick that it 

 could be heard at a considerable distance. He was originally purchased for seventy- 

 five guineas, at the death of the Duke of Cumberland, by whom he was bred. 



