54 THE HORSE. 



getic supporters of the turf in the northern states withdrew from 

 the arena, and, as they disappeared, none filled the gaps, except 

 a few professed trainers and jockeys, who carried racing on entirely 

 as a business, and regardless of that honorable spirit which had 

 previously distinguished it. Trotting also came into fiishion, and 

 the fanatics preached a crusade against both, which took double 

 effect upon the sport, already tottering to its fall. It may indeed 

 be said, that from 1845 to 1855, racing in America was confined 

 entirely to the south ; but about 1855 or 1856 a new jockey-club 

 was established in New York, and its members laid out a new race- 

 course on Long Island; but still the second eff'ort was not equal to 

 the first, and New Orleans has taken the wind altogether out of 

 the Long Island sails, by the spirited attempt which has been 

 made by ]Mr. Ten Broeck to match his stud against the first Eng- 

 lish horses on their own ground. That he has failed in carrying 

 ofi" the Derby with Umpire is no proof of the general inferiority 

 of American horses to those of England, any more than his other 

 great successes are enough to insure a conviction of the opposite 

 condition in any unprejudiced mind. Umpire might have been 

 an exceptional horse, and granting to him the high form which he 

 was last year (1859) assured to possess, it would prove nothing 

 quoad the general form of the horses of his country. Still it 

 cannot be denied that they are much nearer to our own than was 

 believed to be the case before Mr. Ten Broeck came among us; but 

 how near they are is yet a vexed question, which will take some 

 time to settle. 



The American thorough-bred horse is said to be much 

 stouter than the modern English strains ; and without doubt Mr. 

 Ten Broeck's Prioress can stay better than most English horses, 

 though she is not considered by the Americans themselves to be 

 quite up to the best staying form which they possess. This sub- 

 ject, however, will be better considered after the performances 

 of the English horse are carefully examined. It must be remem- 

 bered that, with the exception of the horses recently brought over 

 to this country, we have no means of comparison beyond the time 

 test, which is not a reliable one ; firstly, because we have no time- 

 races here; and, secondly, because none of our long distances are 

 run from end to end. As far as I have had an opportunity of 

 seeing, and with the single exception of Charleston, all Mr. Ten 

 Broeck's horses have been extremely narrow, the crack Umpire in 

 particular being " like two deal boards nailed together," as the 

 ^' men of stable mind " say here. His hips are the narrowest 1 

 ever saw in a horse supposed to be of first class, and those of 

 Prioress are not much more developed. The celebrated horse, 

 Lexington, who is out of the same mare as Umpire, is also reported 

 to have been very narrow in the hips, so that probably this pecu- 



