72 : ‘BREAKING. 
break their horses until the third or fourth year; yet they are 
always inferior to our own, even in their own country and at 
any distance. One remarkable example of this was shown 
by a little mare, Antagonist, by Venison, the property of the 
late Mr. Death. She won a few races for him, and was in 
1850 sold for £300and exported to Egypt as a three-year-old. 
There, it appears, she was matched against the very best Arab 
for a twenty-mile race, and beat him in the commonest canter 
under the most adverse circumstances ; for not only had she 
no preparation for so severe a course, but she had not recovered 
from the effects of the voyage. The English mare, half-trained 
and unwell, beat the Arab over a course specially suited to 
his staying qualities and totally different to anything she had 
been accustomed to; and it seems to me, gave the best proof 
of the advantage of the system of early breaking. 
The second instance, equally conclusive in its favour, is that 
of a little two-year-old colt by Wottingham scarcely selling 
plate form, that I sold for £60 for exportation to Calcutta. 
On his arrival out he was matched for two miles (quite 
beyond his distance) against the best mare there, and was 
beat by a head. But the next day, at a mile and a half, the 
running was reversed, the colt winning easily, and being there 
and then sold for 1,100 guineas. This statement I give on 
the authority of the gentleman who bought the animal from 
me, Mr. William Smith, who himself raced and sold the colt, 
as related. 
Little more, I am persuaded, need be said in favour of 
our system, as regards the age at which we break our 
horses, to prove it is the most suitable—superior, in fact, to 
that of any country or era. But I may remark, as confirma- 
tion of my theory, that our only formidable rivals are the 
French, (of whom the greatest is Count Lagrange, a most 
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