14 
THE HOUSE. 
THE RACE-HORSE. 
and others of a former age; and of the Scotts, the Days, and the Flaxmans, of the present one; but these examples will suffice 
to show the class of superior jockeys employed in the active duties of the Course. 
The next class of persons connected with the turf are the Training-grooms. Numbers of opulent sportsmen have their own 
training-grounds. The public establishments of the kind are at Newmarket; at the towns of Epsom and Ascot; at Black Hamil¬ 
ton in Yorkshire, on the road from Thirsk to Helmsley; Langton Wolds, near the town of Malton, and separated from the race¬ 
course by the public road; Middleham Moors, also in the county of York; Whiteclift Moors, near the town of Richmond; and 
the Curragh of Kildare. The Heads of those establishments are called training-grooms. They are persons in whose fidelity, 
judgment, and knowledge of the business of the turf, great confidence must necessarily be reposed. The more immediate duties 
of the training-groom are the care of the horses with respect to health, and preparation for the turf; but with these duties are 
conjoined others, of counsel and aid, founded on the trainer’s knowledge of the horses intrusted to him, and the general business 
of the turf. It is evident that, were a training-groom to be unfaithful, a given horse might neither be in the condition suited for 
running, nor,' under other circumstances favourable to his owner’s success. # 
But what are the other classes concerned in this system of public sports ? Who are the owners of these innumerable horses ? 
What is the main support of this machinery ? And who are the workmen who set in motion its countless wheels ? Whence is 
derived that incredible capital which is put to the hazard of chances in this deep and exciting game ? 
The horses of the turf are reared or acquired by many persons of the community, from the stabler, the training-groom, 
the horse-dealer, to the farmer, the country gentleman, the master of fox-hounds, the opulent merchant, the banker, the peer. 
None is excluded from this lottery of fair prizes, and every one may derive reputation and advantage from the possession of a 
horse qualified to take his place in lists confined to no order of chivalry, and demanding no heraldry but the purse. No difficulty 
anywhere exists in obtaining horses of the privileged caste. Great numbers of them break down in the preliminary trials, and 
many of the purest blood, after having run the first desperate match, which disables them for ever, may be purchased for the 
price of carrion. Nothing, then, is so easy as to obtain the materials for rearing the solitary Race-Horse, or, if the means allow, the 
extended stud; and accordingly, if we shall look to our racing calendars, and inquire into the history of the horses entered to run 
at the different courses, we shall find that they are derived from every class of dealers and breeders in the country. At the same 
time, there are always individuals of opulence and rank, who have made the business of the turf an especial concern, and maintain 
extensive studs, from which they can make a fitting selection. 
Turning to the last century, which may be termed the golden age of the turf, we find amongst its unwearied supporters the 
Devonshires, the Boltons, the Rutlands, the Portmores, of those days; but perhaps the greatest supporter of the turf of the 
last age w T as William Duke of Cumberland. This Prince possessed the most numerous stud in the kingdom. He was the 
owner of Herod, and of many fine horses. Herod, it has been seen, was the progenitor of a vast number of distinguished racers. 
In 1764, he beat the Duke of Doncaster’s Antinous at Newmarket, with six to four on Antinous, for 500 guineas a-side; and 
in the following year he beat the same horse, giving him 9 lb., over the same course, for 1000 guineas a-side. The match excited 
greater interest than any previous one in England. It was won by Herod by half a neck, and more than L.100,000 depended 
upon the issue. The Duke died in 1765. The year before his death Eclipse was born in his stud, and passed into the hands of 
Mr O’Kelly, who became the greatest breeder of the time, chiefly from the blood of Eclipse. This individual was born in 
Ireland, of very humble parentage. From the lowest degree of wretchedness he rose to extraordinary wealth. He entered 
deeply into all kinds of gambling, but, on the turf, displayed shrewdness, judgment, and caution. He bred many fine horses, and 
acquired the most valuable stud of breeding mares that any individual had before or has since possessed. Contemporary as a 
breeder, for a period of his life, with the Duke of Cumberland and O’ Kelly, was the Earl of Grosvenor, whose stud came 
to surpass in extent and magnificence any that had preceded it. He had many horses of great reputation, and gained immense 
sums on the turf,—insufficient, however, to cover the expenses of his breeding establishment. He died in the year 1802, after 
fifty years’ connexion with the turf, his splendid stud passing into the hands of the now Marquis of Westminster. The 
Marquis of Rockingham and Lord Bolingbroke were likewise distinguished for their studs at this period, as were the Dukes 
of Ancaster, Cleveland, Kingston, Northumberland, and many more. The early part of the reign of George III. 
indeed, was remarkably noted for the great support given to the turf by persons of distinction. The King himself gave a judi¬ 
cious encouragement to the sport; and during the progress of his memorable reign, the passion for horse-racing lost none of its 
force. On the contrary, it extended with the greater opulence of the country, and studs and race-horses increased in number, 
and in the cost of the establishments. The Earl of Derby, the founder of the Oaks and Derby stakes, produced many fine horses 
on the turf, one of which, Sir Peter Teazle, is distinguished in the annals of racing. The Earl of Clermont, who died in 1834, 
at the age of eighty-three, having been nearly sixty years connected with the turf, the Honourable Richard Vernon, and Sir 
