RACING IN 1750. 235 
at Kippling Coats (Yorkshire), as usual, for any weight to 
stone one heat, which prize was won by 
Mr. Holles’s black g., Chimney Sweeper beating 
Mr. Osbaldestone’s bay h., 
Mr. Watson’s bay h., and 
Mr. Read’s bay h.” 
It was then the usual custom, it appears, to race from 
March till October and, as in the present day, there was a 
close time; at all events, there was no racing in the other 
months, possibly because such a proceeding would have been 
against the prevailing taste or fashion. One race a day must 
surely have been scarcely worth the trouble of witnessing ; 
yet they seldom had more. Beverley had four days racing 
made up of one race each day; and Bury (Suffolk) held a 
three days’ meeting with the like number, viz., one race daily, 
and Newmarket was content with about the same meagre 
sport—these races being mostly run in heats from one to 
four miles. 
This sort of sport, if it can be dignified by the name, must 
have been of a very dull and unappreciable character; for 
though the distance may have had to be traversed four or 
more times, and each heat been well contested before the race 
was finally won, it may sometimes have been decided by the 
first, followed by a walk over the course for the second. In 
the year 1750 I find it recorded, in the same work, that 450 
horses ran, having 240 owners; a little less than two horses 
apiece, Lord Poltimore having the largest stud, consisting of 
12, which secured him eight victories of the collective value of 
4588 tos., none of his horses having run more than twice, and 
only two so often. The 150 races run in that year ranged in 
value from 10 to 135 guineas, or an average of about 480 
