190 



history. He, too, was never shown to the public in his best form, as he 

 could never be made more than half fit. Yet were seen his great 

 performances over all distances and under all weights. If he could 

 have been wound up to concert pitch, and his povv'ers developed to the 

 full, some of the best judges, including his owner and trainer, Mr. 

 Robert Peck, hold that the son of Solon and Ballyroe could have given 

 age, weight, and a beating to any horse that had ever run previously. 



What a deplorable circumstance is in connection with that great 

 horse ! I don't mean to refer to it further than to state that there are 

 many men of integrity and honour who consider that his then owner 

 was not as fairly treated as lie might have been, nor were circumstances 

 taken into account which not alone might have been explanatory, but 

 considered extenuating or, perhaps, have excused the hasty and idiotic 

 action which brought about the enquiry. No doubt, from what was 

 stated in the papers at the time, the sentence appeared to have been 

 deserved, and therefore justifiable, but many people know facts con- 

 nected with the lamentable case which were not recorded. Possibly 

 they were not put in evidence on the part of the accused, but that such 

 an oversight should have occurred would appear to be improbable. 



Instead of doing as he did, had the owner of Barcaldine contented 

 himself by simply scratching him for the Northumberland Plate when 

 he found he could not get his money on through being forestalled by 

 the public, he would have done what he was entitled to, and have 

 taught a salutary lesson to the British backer, at the same time leaving 

 free, to make a record and a fortune, the best horse that was ever bred 

 in Ireland, bar, perhaps, Harkaway. 



Marvellous as have been the changes which have come over racing 

 within the past few years, none surpasses that which relates to the 

 position of the trainer and the jockey. 



Trainers have built for themselves houses which are simply baronial. 

 In them are boudoirs, billiard rooms, and banquet halls, which, for 

 elegance, are not surpassed in the houses of their employers. As to the 

 prudence of this undertaking opinions differ, but my notion is that men 

 who, like our Newmarket and other trainers, have plenty of money it 

 is highly desirable that they should freely spend it ; and when their 

 bent is upon building the more taste they display and the more sub- 

 stantial the work, the l^etter it is for themselves, their friends, and their 

 tradesmen. Moreover, in this particular instance, we have another 

 illustration which shows what practical advantage the sport of racing is 

 to the public community. The houses and stabling built at Newmarket 

 within the present decade have caused a circulation of money among 

 tradesmen and labourers which can be estimated only in hundreds of 

 thousands. 



The establishment of Mr. Richard Marsh at Egerton House, New- 

 market, is the most magnificent of th*^ kind in the whole world. 



In the case of jockeys a change has taken place which was never 



