ECLIPSE 105 



out of a mare by Bartlett's Childers, and Spiletta by 

 Regulus, out of a mare named Mother Western. They 

 say that EcHpse never met with an opponent which 

 was able to make him thoroughly extend himself. He 

 was bred by the Duke of Cumberland, and at the 

 death of the latter he passed into the hands of a Mr. 

 Wildman, a meat salesman, for seventy-five guineas. 

 A Colonel O'Kelly purchased a share in him, and in 

 the following spring became his sole owner. He was 

 a thick-winded horse, and made a noise which vv^as 

 audible a long way off, so that he did not make his 

 appearance on the turf until he was five years old. 

 Colonel O'Kelly backed him heavily for his first race 

 in May, 1769, and thus suspicions of his powers were 

 aroused, and he was watched during his canters. A 

 Mr. Lawrence, who went to see him, arrived too late, 

 but meeting an old woman who had been gathering 

 sticks close by the ground he was trained over, Mr. 

 Lawrence asked her if she had seen the race. She 

 said, ' Yes, I saw two horses, but I did not know if it 

 was a race ; but I saw a horse with white legs running 

 away at a monstrous pace from another horse, which I 

 am quite sure would never catch him if he ran to the 

 world's end.' 



The first heat in the race was won easily, and 

 Colonel O'Kelly, seeing that his horse had not been 

 extended, offered to place the horses for the next heat, 

 which offer appearing improbable, he got a heavy 

 stake on, and then offered to back Eclipse to win and 

 the rest nowhere. Eclipse came in a long way ahead 

 of the field, and no other horse was even placed, thus 

 landing a big win for the Colonel. 



In the following spring he beat the hitherto unde- 



