RACING. 



ing the fnafHe backwards and forwards in his mouth, and 

 by that means forcing hini to open his mouth, which will 

 give him wind, and be of great fervice. If there be any 

 higli wind flirring in the tmie of riding, the artful jockey 

 will let Iiis adverfary lead, holding hard behind him, till he 

 fees an opportunity of giving a loofe ; yet in this cafe, lie 

 muft keep fo clofe beliind, tliat the other horfe may keep 

 the wind from him ; and that he, fitting low, may at onoe 

 (helter himfelf under him, and alfilt the ilrength of the 

 horfe. If the wind happen to be in their back, a jult con- 

 trary method is to be taken with it ; the expert jockey is 

 to keep direftly behind the adverfary that lie may iuive all 

 the advantage of tlie wind to blow his horfe along, as it 

 were, and at the fame time intercept it in regard to his ad- 

 verfary. 



When running on level carpet -ground, the jockey is to 

 bear his horfe as much as the adverfary will give him leave, 

 becaufe the horfe is naturally more inclined to fpend him- 

 felf on this ground : on the contrary, on deep earths he may 

 have more liberty, as he will there fpare himfelf. 



In riding up hill the horfe is always to be favoured, by 

 bearing him hard, for fear of running him out of wind ; 

 but in running down hill, if the horfe's feet and fhoulders 

 will bear it, and the rider dares venture his neck, he may 

 have a 'full loofe. If the horfe have the heels of the reft, 

 the jockey mull always fpare him a little, that he may 

 have a referve of ilrength, to make a pudi at tlie lall poll. 



A great deal depends on the jockey's knowing the nature 

 of the horfe that is to run againil him ; for by managing 

 accordingly, great advantages are to be obtained : thus, if 

 the oppofite horfe is of a hot and fiery difpofition, the jockey 

 is either to run juft behind him, or cheek by joul with him, 

 making a noife with the whip, and by that means forcing 

 him on fader than his rider would have him, and confe- 

 quently fpending him fo much the fooner ; or elfe keep 

 juil before him, in fuch a flow gallop, that he may either 

 over-reach, or by treading on the heels of the fore horfe, 

 endanger tumbling over. 



Whatever be the ground that the adverfary's horfe runs 

 worft on, the cunning jockey is to ride the moft violently 

 over; tliat by this means it will often happen, that in fol- 

 lowing he either ftumbles or claps on the back finews. The 

 feveral correftions of the hand, the whip, and the fpur, are 

 alfo to be obferved in the adverfary, and in what manner he 

 makes ufe of them : and when it is perceived, by any 

 of the fymptoms, of holding down the ears, or whifl'iing the 

 tail, or itretching out the nofe like a pig, that the horfe is 

 almoft blown, the bufinefs is to keep him on to this fpeed, 

 and he will be foon throv/n out, or diilanced. If the horfe 

 of the opponent looks dull, it is a lign his Ilrength fails hnii ; 

 and if his flanks beat much, it is a lign that his wind begins 

 to fail him, and his ilrength will foon do fo too. 



After every heat for a plate, there mult be dry ftraw, and 

 dry cloths, both linen and woollen, ready to rub him down 

 all over, after taking off the fweat with what is called a 

 fweat-knife ; that is, a piece of an old fword-blade, or fome 

 fuch thing. Some advife the fl;eeping of the cloths in urine 

 and faltpetre the day before, and letting them be dried in 

 the fun for this occafion. After the horfe has been well 

 rubbed with thefe, he (liould be chafed all over, with cloths 

 wetted in common water, till the time of ilarting again. 

 When it is certainly known that the horfe is good at the 

 bottom, and will ftick at the mark, he (hould be rid every 

 heat to the befl; of his performance ; and the jockey is, as 

 niuch as poflible, to avoid riding at any particular horfe, or 

 itaying for any, but to ride out the whole heat with the 



bed fpeed he can. If, on the contrary, lie has a fiery horfe 

 to ride, and one that is hard to manage, hard-mouthed, and 

 difficult to be hrld, he is to be ftarted behind the red of 

 the horfes with all imaginable coohiefs and gentlenefs ; and 

 when he begins to ride at fome command, then the jockey 

 is to put up to the other horfes ; and if they ride at their 

 eafe, and are hard held, they are to be drawn on fader ; and 

 if it be perceived that their wind begins to rake hot, and they 

 want a fob, the bufinefs is to keep them up to that fpeed ; 

 and when they are all come within three quarters of a mile 

 of the pod, then is the time to pufli for it, and ufe the ut- 

 mod fpeed in the creature's power. 



When the race is over, the horfe is immediately to be 

 clothed up, and rode home ; and immediately on his coming 

 into the liable, the following drink is to be given him. 

 Beat up the yolks of three eggs, and put them into a pint 

 and a half of new milk made warm ; let there be added to 

 this three pennyworth of faflron, and three fpoonfuls of 

 fallad-oil, and let the whole be "-iven with a horn. After 

 this he is to be rubbed vi'ell down, and the faddle-place 

 rubbed over with warm fack, and the places where the 

 fpurs have touched, with a mixture of urine and fait, and 

 afterwards with a mixture of powder of jet and Venice tur- 

 pentine ; after this he Ihould have a feed of rye-bread, then 

 a good madi, and at fome time alter thefe as much hay and 

 outs as he will eat. His legs, after this, (hould be bathed 

 fome time with a mixture of urine and faltpetre. 



For the preparation of the horfe before running, &C. fee 

 Plate. 



We fliall here obferve, that horfe -races were a fpecies of 

 amufement known in England in very early times. Fitz- 

 Stephen, who wrote in the days of Henry II. record* the 

 great delight which the citizens of London took in the 

 diverfion. Races appear likewife to have been in vogue 

 in the reign of queen Elizabeth, and to have been carried 

 to fuch excefs as to have injured the fortunes of the nobi- 

 lity. Lord Herbert of Chcrbury (fee his Life by Mr. 

 Walpole, p. 51.) enumerates thefe among the fports which 

 he thought unworthy of a man of honour. " The exercife," 

 fays he, " I do not approve of is running of horfes, there 

 being much cheating in that kind ; neither do I fee why a 

 brave man fliould delight in a creature whofe chief ufe is to 

 help him to run away." Jarvis Markham, who wrote on the 

 management of horfes in 1599, mentions running ho-'^:'? ; 

 but at this time there were only private matches made be- 

 tween gentlemen, who were their own jockies, and rode 

 their own horfes. However, in the following reign of 

 James I., public races were edablifhed ; and Garterly, in 

 Yorkfliire, Croydon, near London, and fometimes Theo- 

 bald's, near Enfield-chace, where the king redded, were the 

 courfes in which they were performed. The horfes ai uiis 

 time were prepared for running by the difcipline of food, 

 phyfic, airing, and fweats and clothing, which compofe the 

 prefent fydem. The weight alfo which each horfe was to 

 carry was rigidly adjuiied ; the ufual weight of the riders 

 being dated at ten Hones, who were put into fcales, and 

 weighed before they darted. Mod of the celebrated races 

 in the kingdom were called bell-courfes, the prize and re- 

 ward of the conquering iiorfes being a bell. To tnis pur- 

 pofe, Camden fays, that in 1 607 there were races neai- York, 

 and the prize was a little golden bell. Upon this Be- 

 renger offers a conjedlure, whether the phrafe of bearing 

 the bell, which implies being comparatively the bed or molt 

 excellent, and correfponds with the expreffion of bearing 

 the palm among the ancients, as a reward decreed to the 

 fwifteft horfe in a race, is cot more aptly deduced from this 



cuftom. 



