8 
THE HOESE. 
THE RACE-HORSE. 
established for horses that are not thorough-bred. To this class of half-bred horses has been applied the absurd term Cocktails. 
The races for half-bred horses have now become very common at the different race-courses of the kingdom, with the exception of 
Newmarket, where their introduction has been always resisted. This kind of race has never been regarded with much favour by 
sportsmen. Objections to it are, the frauds to which it gives rise, and the disputes of which it is productive. It is very difficult 
to prove that a horse is thorough-bred if the owner chooses to conceal or falsify the pedigree. Hence thorough-bred horses may 
,be fraudulently introduced into this class of races. The consequence is, that the prize is almost certainly carried away from the 
horses which alone are entitled to run. The fraud is difficult to be prevented, in consequence of the large amount of stakes of this 
kind established at the provincial meetings, which hold out a strong temptation to deception on the part of the lower class of 
persons connected with the turf. Some years ago a horse described as half-bred, under the fictitious name of Tom Paine, was 
hawked about the country, and won many valuable stakes. On investigation, it was found that this pretended Tom Paine was 
Tybalt, a thorough-bred horse by Thunderbolt, from a mare of Lord Grosvenor’s, Meteora, one of the best in England of her 
day; and similar, though less impudent, frauds have in other cases taken place. Half-bred horses, too, are suited for different 
and more useful purposes than racing, and they are for the most part ruined by the severe training necessary to put them into a 
condition for running; and, when a number of half-bred horses contend together, it can scarcely happen that all will be put upon 
an equal footing with respect to training, so that, in this respect, a practical inequality is introduced, independent of the merits of 
the horses. It may seem that stakes limited to hunters which have been regularly hunted for the season are more free from ob¬ 
jection. It is to be observed, however, that a hunter is destined for a particular class of services, for which mere speed is not the 
most important requisite ; and it is cruel to put a hunter, after the hard services of the season, under the severe discipline necessary 
to fit him for running. Besides, many hunters are now thorough-bred, and this is a source of inequality, independent of the real 
value of the animals as adapted to the chase. For these reasons, it appears to many that this class of stakes ought to receive no 
encouragement on the regular turf; and further, that yeomanry races, farmers’ races, and the like, should all be proscribed. No 
good with respect to the improvement of the breed of these kinds of horses can result from this class of races. A race-horse is 
intended to exert the powers of speed, and that is the best race-horse which most excels in this quality. But is this the pro¬ 
perty sought for in a hunter or in a road-horse ? Or is a race on a level turf the fitting mean to prove that either is a good 
hunter or a good roadster ? What should we think of a race of dray-horses ? 
Sometimes, though very rarely, half-bred horses are brought upon the regular course; but their inferiority is always balanced 
by a large discount in their favour of the weight borne. Arabs and other Eastern horses likewise have sometimes been run, but 
with scarce a chance of success against the thorough-bred horses of the country. Only one Eastern horse, it is believed, ever ac¬ 
quired any moderate reputation on the turf. A race was once established at Newmarket expressly for Arabs ; but the experiment 
failed from the want of interest excited in consequence of the inferior speed of the horses as compared with those of native breed¬ 
ing. Even the first descendant between the native and Eastern race is usually inferior. By the regulations for the Goodwood Cup, 
the first descendants of Arabian, Turkish, or Persian horses, are allowed a discount of 18 lb. of weight, and when both parents 
are of these countries a discount of 36 lb. In other cases English race-horses have been tried against the horses of other countries. 
They are frequently carried to India, and matched against the best Arabs of the country ; but the contests, it is believed, are almost 
always, under a parity of circumstances, in favour of the English racer, although the heat of the climate appears to be eminently 
unsuited to the exertion of his powers. Sometimes accounts reach us through the continental journals of the same kind of trials, 
with a different result; but we do not learn in how far the conditions of weight, training, and the like, were such as to put the horses 
on a fair equality. In the year 1825, a race was run in Russia between two English thorough-bred horses, Sharper and Mina, 
and three Cossack horses, the latter selected, after numerous trials, from the best that could be procured in the countries of the 
Don. The distance to be run exceeded forty-seven miles. On starting, the Cossacks took the lead, the English following about 
three or four lengths. They had not proceeded half a mile before the stirrup-leather of Sharper broke, and he ran off with his 
rider, followed by Mina. Before they could be brought up they had run more than a mile r and up a hill. The race, how¬ 
ever, continued, and half the distance was run in an hour and four minutes. At that time both the English horses seemed fresh, 
and one of the Cossacks. Mina fell lame, and was withdrawn. The remaining Cossacks began to flag, and Sharper soon likewise 
showed symptoms of distress. The Russians and Cossacks, jealous of the honour of their country’s horse, dragged him along by 
the bridle, threw away the saddle, and mounted a child upon his back, nay at length dragged him by a rope, and even endea¬ 
voured to support him by riding alongside of him. Sharper did the distance in two hours and forty-eight minutes, followed by the 
Cossack, who came in eight minutes later. In the accounts given of this extraordinary race, it is stated that the English horses 
carried at starting 3 st. more than their rivals, while during half the race it has been seen the Cossack was ridden by a mere 
child. If these accounts be correct, it is evident that the Cossack horses were immeasurably beaten even in that kind of race 
