THE HOESE. 
7 
THE RACE-HORSE. 
8 st. 4 lb. These races excite intense interest, and the winning of the Oaks or Derby is an object of the first ambition to all 
connected with the English Turf. 
These popular races present, it may be believed, an appearance very different from that of the quiet order and business-like 
arrangements of Newmarket. Here we are in contact with a vast city pouring forth its countless multitudes to enjoy a spectacle. 
The scene is unequalled in its kind in the world. All the approaches far around exhibit a moving mass of horsemen, carriages, 
and pedestrians, hurrying to the spot, while all the grounds which can command the course are filled with spectators. Nothing ap¬ 
pears to the eye except the excitement and delight of eager crowds; but when we mark the start, on which the fortunes of hundreds 
hang, with half a million perhaps depending on the result, to be decided in a few brief, anxious minutes, then we feel that 
there is something in the drama to be played that must agitate many a heart. The whole spectacle is of deep curiosity and in¬ 
terest, and to be in any degree appreciated must be beheld. 
The races of Ascot Heath, in the county of Berks, take place in the end of May, closely following those of Epsom, and they 
last for several days. These races were established by the Duke of Cumberland. They are largely attended by the more 
opulent classes of the Capital and neighbouring country. They last for several days, and deep betting takes place. The favour of 
the Court has been especially shown to these meetings, and, from the rank and wealth of their supporters, it is usual to regard them 
as more the races of aristocracy and fashion than any other in the kingdom. 
The Goodwood races, so named from the noble mansion of the Duke of Richmond, near Chichester in Sussex, although 
amongst the most recently established, are now the most popular in the south of England. From the fineness of the course, the 
excellence of the regulations, and the value and variety of the prizes, the best horses of Newmarket are brought to this course. 
The meeting takes place in the end of July, and lasts four days. 
The races of York, instituted in the reign of Queen Anne, and taking place in a district the most famous of any in England 
for the rearing of Horses, are well supported, and the money run for in Plates and Stakes is very large. The course is perfectly 
flat: the meetings are three in the year, namely, in April, August, and October. 
But of all the meetings in the north of England, that of Doncaster has occupied the most prominent place, on account of the 
institution of the St Leger stakes, which had their origin in the year 1776. The commencement of this celebrated race was a 
sweepstakes of twenty-five guineas each for three-year-old colts carrying 8 st., and for fillies carrying 7 st. 12 lb. for a two-mile heat. 
There were six subscribers, and the stake was won by a bay filly by Sampson, belonging to the Marquis of Rockingham, who beat 
Colonel St Leger’s bay filly and the other horses. In the following year it was suggested by Colonel St Leger that the sweep- 
stakes should be continued annually on the same conditions ; and the race was accordingly named the St Leger in compliment to the 
proposer of it. The original conditions were continued until the year 1832, when the stakes were altered to fifty sovereigns for 
each subscriber, with one-half forfeit; the weights being, for colts, 8 st. 6 lb., and for fillies 8 st. 31b.; and the owner of the 
second horse receiving one hundred sovereigns out of the stakes. The Doncaster race-course is round, and nearly on a dead level. 
The Four-mile Course, so called, twice round is 3 m. 7 f. 219 yds.; the Cup Course is 2 m. 5 f. ; the Two-mile Course is 
2 m. 52 yds.; the St Leger, 1 m. 6 f. 132 yds.; the Fitzwilliam Course, 1 m. 4 f. 10 yds.; the Two-year-old Course, 7 f. 189 yds.; 
the Red-house is 5 f. 164 yds. These courses are adapted to the various stakes and matches, which are numerous at these 
races. The meetings are held annually in September, a fortnight previous to the first Newmarket meeting in October; on which 
occasion a vast concourse of individuals interested in the turf assemble from all parts of the kingdom, and heavy betting takes 
place. 
In like manner, the other race-courses of the kingdom might be referred to, all of them exciting intense interest throughout 
large districts of country, collecting for a time great crowds as to a common centre of occupation and amusement, and involving 
the hazard of incredible sums of money. Those of Bath, Chester, Liverpool, Harwich, Manchester, Wolverhampton, are familiar 
by name to most persons in this country. That of the Curragh of Kildare in Ireland is situated at the little town of Kildare, on 
the great road leading from Dublin to Limerick. The ground on which the races are held is a noble undulating down, six miles 
in length by two in breadth, which, for all the requisites of running and training, is deemed superior to Newmarket itself. There 
are five meetings within the year at the Curragh, at which many fine horses run, where a large crowd of all kinds of persons col¬ 
lects, and where much dangerous betting takes place. 
The horses, it has been seen, which are capable of engaging in these contests, are a peculiar variety, whose characters have been 
acquired by a mixture of the blood of the lighter horses of other countries with that of the pre-existing race, and then by continued 
breeding between the individuals of the mixed lineage. The variety thus formed has become a caste, whose comparative freedom 
from intermixture is ensured by its superiority for the purposes to which it is destined over the races of inferior breeding. But the 
latter, although they cannot engage on equal terms with the swifter breed, may do so with one another. Hence races have been 
