title: Stable talk and table talk,
text: liii r!iliM'fi^''''^i •■-'^■:■ liifeli iii^i;■;^ui^^;1• ^ __St^ ^ t/ ^ K^ 9^A>^^</ STABLE TALK ^^ TABLE TALK, QIV SPECTACLES FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN, HARRY HIEOVER, PHILADELPHIA: LEA AND BLANC HARD 1845. ■mif f a/ PREFACE. I AM told that I should have a Preface or Introduction to my book. My adviser being one of known taste and judgment, I am determined that one part of this work shall show both good taste and good judgment in its author. That part, and possibly the only part that will do so, is the taking such advice. Conscience whispers that an :apology for offering it to public notice is still more neces- .«ary. This I was not told: politeness alone probably pre- vented my being so; let me therefore hope the public will consider what I now offer as Preface, Introduction, and Apology. I have read prefaces in which the Author assures his reader, if the book is found to beguile a vacant hour of his time that its end and aim will have been fully accom- plished. That such philanthropic feelings may actuate such authors, it would ill become me to dispute: where they do, 1 conceive they must emanate either from men ,of such transcendent abilities that composing a work gives them no trouble, or from those of such fortunes that pecu^ niary advantage was quite beneath their consideration. That I am not one of the former class I am perfectly satisfied; that I am not now one of the latter I am as per^ fectly convinced, though by no means satisfied. Prior to commencing the fugitive j^apers of whicli this work is a corrected portion, I was enjoying that much-co- IV. PREFACE. veted "Dolce far niente." Now so far as the "dolce" ia concerned, no matter in what shape it comes, I can enjoy it with as much "gusto" as any man breathing, and am grateful enough to say I have had my full share of it in various ways. The "far niente" with a very good income does extremely well, and is very pleasant; but when we begin to anticipate its continuance might bring the *' niente" in contact with the purse, it does not do at all, and is not pleasant, but is I trust an apology for this work. In soliciting indulgence for the many failings that will be found in the Author as a writer, 1 may I trust be per- mitted to observe, that the fugitive thoughts, hints, and opinions he ventures to publish are not those of the theo- rist, but of one who from a mere child has mixed in and enjoyed every sporting pursuit alluded to in the work, isi engaged in some of them now, and trusts ere long to enjoy on a limited scale all again. If so, and the ideas contained in the work should be considered by the Sporting World to be (taken as a whole) tolerably correct, his happiness, will be complete. II. H. STABLE-TALK AND TABLE-TALK, &c. &a CUJUM PECUS. llACE-HORSES CONSIDERED AS PtTBLIC PROPERTY. "Vix ea nostra voco. — Oviu.- It lias been, I believe, a generally receiv^ed opinion In this country, when a msin has purchased any kind of pro- pert}', paid for it, and it has been delivered to him, that the property becomes his, and, provided he does nothing with it to infringe the laws of his country, he has an un- disputed right to do what he pleases with it; as this right would be allowed, whether he bought an estate, a house, or ten hunters that should cost him a thousand pounds, or any given sum. — Any one might naturally suppose, if a man chose to give a thousand pounds for a race-horse, that he would be allow^ed the same freedom of will in what he might please to do with him. I should have thought the same thing when I was fifteen, but 1 knew better before I was twenty. Now, so far from being considered at liberty to do what he pleases with such a horse, he will very coolly be told vv'hat is tantamount to this, that he is not his pro- perty: on the contrary, that he must consider his horse as the properly of the public; and that, instead of his being at liberty to consult his own interest or pleasure as to his running, he must consider only that of the pubHc. We tvill suppose he had entered his horse for some stake on the Monday, and also for another on the follotving Wednesday, and that for some reason or other he was in a great mea- sure indifferent as to winning the Monday's race, but par- ticularly anxious to win that on the Wednesday, simply, 2 14 HORSES RUXNIXG FOR THE BENEFIT OF BETTERS. perhaps, because he had said he would win that particular race, or that some one's horse was in it that he was parti- cularly emuious to beat. Now, one might very naturally infer that a man had a right to give his jockey samething like these- instructions: "Now, George, I am |xirtieular}y anxious to win the stakes on Wednesday: if you find you can win to-day at your ease, do- so; if, on the contrary, yoa find you will have to take a great deal out of your horse to^ win, pull up at once, for we must not be beat on Wednes- day if we can help it." There certainly does not appear any thing very unreasonable in supposing that a man has a right to forego winning money if he chooses to do so: but the betting fraternity will tell you that you do not possess tliis right; an'd if you do exercise it, let me recommend you a porter to carry the load of abuse awaiting you; your own shoulders will in no way suffice for the purpose. You will be told that you have a right to lose your own money if you please, but that you have no right to lose that of other pf'rsons: that your horse had been backed heavily to win; consequently he ought to have been made to win if possible: in short, so long as whip and spur could avail, they ought to have been used on your horse for their be- nefit, or at least the chance of it, whether 3^ou choose it or not. In the above directions nothing like inteiested motives in a pecuniary point of view was the influence: but we will suppose a case where a man chooses to consult what he con- siders his interest, and still where the transaction is per- fectly honourable and straight- forward. I have a colt en- tered for the Derby: he has run and won some good stakes, and this has probably brought him up pretty high in the betting. Some person, for reasons best known to himself, and wJHch I have no inducement to investigate, offers me, say two thousand pounds, for my colt, which I may consi- der fraiu his previous running to be fairly worth about one. 1 may think, like others, my chance of winning the Derby t3 be very good : in short, my horse is first or second fa- vourite^ but 1 may not be a betting man, or disposed in any thing to go the " whole hog;" consequently prefer making a thousand sure, by selling m}^ colt, to standing the chance of winning the stakes, worth we will say three, but attended TURF BETTERS. 15 with all the risk inseparable from such events. It certainly appears hard I should not be allowed to do this without calling forth the animadversions of the turfmen — I should rather say the betting men; for such men as (we will say) the Duke of Grafton, Sir Gilbert Heathcote, and many others, would not cai'e one farthing whether I sold my horse or kept him. They feel a very laudable emulation to have the best horse in the race; therefore are anxious to win; are gratified if they do; and are to a certain degree mortified if their horses run badly. I allow that to triumph when we win, or show temper when we lose, is un gentle- manlike and ungenerous; that is, when the loss or gain of money is the consideration: but I glory in seeing a man delighted when his horse wins; there is a freshness in the thing that really does one good to see. Depend on it, such a man is no Le^^. The latter wins or loses his money with the most inflexible coolness; he takes it as a matter of bu- siness. If he keeps horses, so far from taking any pleasure in them, he cares not if he never sees them from one year's end to the other: whenever he does, it is merely a visit of business. If his horse wins, he pockets the money, but neither cares nor thinks more about him than he does about the spit that hangs in his kitchen, and has roasted the mut- ton for his table. Unfortunately for racing, it is chiefly this description of turfmen who virtually (certainly not virtuously) hold the helm of racing affairs: yet such men might all be driven off" the turf. Racing, we all know, was first established merely as an amusement. This of course led to an emulation among those fond of such amusement to get the best horses; and this induced people to begin to look for means to improve their breed. Here was an absolute good done to the coun- 16 queen's plates. try. No matter whether the race was with chariots, whether the horses were turned loose on a straight-roped course, or whether ridden over the Beacon, racing will always tend to improve the breed of horses in whatever country it is established. King's plates were given for this patriotic purpose; and doubtless at the time when a hundred guineas was worth the best horse's starting for, it had a very good effect; bqt our other stakes have now become so heavy that a queen's plate is considered a very mediocre affair. To win a king's plate formerly stamped a horse's character at once: now, only two years since, the same horse won seven queen's plates in the same season — a good horse certainly, but still no flyer. It is flattering to the turf to be patron- ised by royalty, and queen's plates add to the respectability of a meeting: but as to the original intention of these gift^, that is now totally set aside. I think between England, Ireland, and Scotland, the queen gives about fifty plates to be run for;* that is, five thousand pounds. For many of these we see every year several "walks over;" and where this is not the case, the field generally comprises four or five horses at most, often two or three: so, from the small- ness of the amount (in these days;) it has become compa- ratively five thousand thrown away. It would be too great a tax on royal liberality to increase the value of this host of plates so as to make each worth running for; but if perhaps ^ve royal plates of a thousand pounds each were given in lieu of these, the original intention would be more brought to bear than it is at present. When it took a week to get a race-horse a hundred miles, and that also stopped his work for so long a period, it was quite necessary to have royal plates distributed thus widely over the country, otherwise the horse in training at Ascott could not without great in- convenience be got to Doncaster to run for a royal plate there: but now the railroads have remedied that inconve- nience, there would be sure to be good fields for plates worth a thousand, or even five hundred, each. BETTING AS A BUSINESS. 17 it plainly shows that at the present moment queen's plates create but little attraction. Returning to those laws that betting men will always uphold (so long as they can) — tlie first of which is that their interest is to be the fiat under which every owner of a race-horse must act — I really cannot see why such per- sons or their interest should be consulted at all. What good do they do the turf? Certainly very little; while their influence, on the contrary, does it a great deal of harm. Doubtless there are some men who keep several horses in training, and bet heavily at the same time; but these are comparatively very few indeed in number. Where one hundred is betted by those who keep race-horses, forty hundreds are betted by those who do not. Hundreds of those who bet largely know little or nothing about a race- horse, neither know a racing-looking horse — whether he is a good goer, or, if going to run, whether he looks in good form for it or not. The fact is, such men merely as a bu- siness make up a book, look to the different horses' public running, and lay or take the odds accordingly. This, and this only, is their business. If they attend a race, it is merely to see whether at the last moment they cannot get some point in their favour as to the odds. If at the same meeting a race is run for on which they have no bet, pro- bably they do not take the trouble of looking at it; and if they do, it is merely to see how it is run, won and lost, so as to enable them to judge how to lay or take the odds on any of the horses in it when engaged in another stake. Such poachers are not worthy tiie name of racing men, though unfortunately they get among them. These are the harpies who plunder the legitimate supporters of the turf, and bring one of our finest old English sports into disre- pute. These are the men who are, by themselves and their agents, at the bottom of all the villanies that are so constantly practised, the frequent occurrence of which has disgusted and driven so many men of family, rank, and wealth from the turf, from finding they must either be pi- geoned, or, like the rest, '■'fight at the leg" themselves. If they would, in the literal sense of the v/ord, "fight at the leg," that is, the black-lea;, spoil his trade, and so drive him off the turf, thev would confer a benefit on society. 2* IS BETTING AS A BUSINESS PREJUDICIAL TO THE TURF. Then, and not till then, shall we again see noblemen and gentlemen keeping their stud of race-horses, as they do their pack of fox-hounds, as an appendage to their rank in life, as an amusement to themselves, and as a gratification and advantage to the country at large. This can never be the case while betting, instead of racing, is left to be the primum mobile of the machinery of turf affairs. The mere betting men may and will say that betting keeps alive the spirit of racing. No such thing: it may keep up an artificial effervescence; but if that was stopped, while we are Englishmen the true spirit will always remain among US. Supposing, however, it did diminish the number of race-horses kept, or the number of races run, if the race- course is to be only a hell in the open air, instead of in St. James's or King street, vvhy, the sooner it is checked or stopped, the better. If a race- course, instead of being a healthful and exhilarating spot, where we expect to see an assemblage of the first sporting men in the world, their families, their friends, and their tenants, come to enjoy a truly English and noble sport, is to be converted into an extended rouge et noir table, and black and red to win, not because either is on the best horse, but because it suits the books of a set of miscreants, it is quite time to stop the thing at once, and begin it de novo. We have, however, still a few men (and a very few in- deed) on the turf whose character and position in life place them beyond suspicion; but among the nobility of the Uni^ ted Kingdom — which amounts, I should say, to about seven hundred, independently of lords by courtesy — we find now scarcely more than twenty patronising the turf by keeping race-horses — a pretty sure criterion of its respectability un- 'der the present system! Formerly, when racing was car- ried on as racing should be, if a man won, he walked up to his horse, received the congratulations of his friends, and felt a very justifiable pride in his horse's triumph; he knew he had won fairly, and had no fear of being suspected of having ever done otherwise. But now, nothing appears to be done openly: the owner of a horse retires among the crowd, and appears, and really is, afraid of being pointed out as connected with the turf. A manyindeed, must rank very high in public estimation to keep his character v^x^-- RACING AS A SPORT. 19 scathed. I have mentioned how few of our nohility now keep race-horses: what a host of those, and men of family and fortune, could I name who have given it up! What does this prove? Not that such men are not as well dis- posed to patronise the turf as formerly, but that they neither choose to rob or be robbed ; and one of the other they must be, so long as betting men, and not the owners of horses, are permitted to sway the racing world. It is pretty generally allowed, by all persons who know any thing about the matter, that no man under ordinary circumstances can make money by keeping race-horses, if he merely runs to win. If a man of large fortune keeps them, he ought to calculate that they will cost him so much a year according to their number, and put them down to his expenses as he does his other horses, or carriages, or his hounds. If he does not think them worth this expense, he had better not go upon the turf; for if he means to retain the character of a gentleman and man of honour, he ought to calculate to lovSe so much. He may, however, be fortu- nate in his horses, possess good judgment himself, or find a trainer who has, and who will be honest enough to place his horses well for him, and do all in his power to win — he may, therefore, under such circumstances, keep them at very little expense, but an expense he must reckon on their being more or less; for make money by them honestly he will not in one case in a hundred. Let me, however, endeavour to rescue racing and race- horses from the sweeping charge that is brought against them as being the ruin of thousands. The fact really is, that simply racing and the keeping race-horses will bring no man to ruin unless he is a ready-made fool. If a man of 500/. a year is idiot enough to set up his four-in-hand, of course he must be ruined; but we are not to say from this that fours-in-hand are the ruin of those w^ho keep them. They will, of course, be the ruin of those who do so with- out the means: so will race-horses. If a man ruins him- self by either keeping the one or the other, it is his own fault: he does it gradually, with his eyes open, and is, therefore, that sort of simple young gentleman, who, if he did not do it by these means, would be sure to do it by ^Qmp other. We might as well say a bottle of wine a day 20 RACE-HORSES NOT RUINOUS; is sure ruin, because it would be so to a merchant's clerk at 70/. a year salary. We might as well suppose a man was certain to be ruined should we see a pack of cards or a back-gammon box and dice in his house, because many have ruined themselves b}^ an improper use of either, or both. Even here I will allow a man to play v/ith either every day, and play for high stakes if he pleases. Pro- vided he always plays for about the same stakes, plays with gentl-emen, not legs, and never bets, he will find at the year's end that (supposing, of course, he has played with common judgment) he has neither won nor lost enough to materially affect his finances. So it is with race-horses. Let a man keep two or half-a-dozen, according to his in- come: let him buy his horses with judgment, place them in proper hands, and also enter them properly according to their qualifications in proper stakes, and never bet on them or on any other person's, and he will never be ruined by race-horses. Let him, however, bear in mind, that I warn him he must lay by 500/. or 1000/. a year of his income, according to the number he keeps, for their expenses and his amusement. The whole of this may not be called for: it is within the bounds of possibility they may pay their expenses one with another, and one year with another; but he must not calculate on this. If, therefore, he cannot af- ford to pay so much a year, he has no business to keep race- horses: if he can, they will never ruin him more than keep- ing his hunters, if he can afford to keep them : if he cannot, they will, of course, eventually equally ruin him. It is not, therefore, that hunters or race-horses are in themselves to be considered as ruinous; but the ruin arises from keep- ing any thing a man cannot afford to keep. We will now, however, look at another and very dis- tinct feature in racing affairs (pity it is not more distinct;) namely, the betting part of the business. Though " the tug of war " may come when '^ Greek meets Greek," when the man of honour meets the Greek there is no tug of war at all: the forlorn hope alone advances, advances at the pets de charge; the forlorn hope is the man of honour, and of course is " blown up." Therefore, although give a man, we will say 2000/. a-year, and he chooses to keep four horses in training, I should never fear his merely keeping BUT BETTING IS. 21 and running them being his ruin: let me once see him back his horse in any thing like a heavy bet, from that moment (and particularly should he be so unfortunate as to win) I will back him at 50 to 1 to be ruined in a very short time: indeed a few meetings will sew him up. He has then only one thing left if he means to keep on the Turf; and that is, to throw aside all feelings of honour, turn Leg, and rob other people. This man certainly has no right to say racing or race-horses have been his ruin. True, if he had never kept race-horses, he might not have been led into betting; nor would he if he had never been born: so if he chooses to carry the thing back to its first cause, he may with tolerably fair logic affirm that betting has been his ruin — that keeping race-horses brought on betting — and that being born brought on keeping race-horses — conse- quently being born was the cause of his ruin. To a gentleman so situated, by allowing a little latitude of imagination, it might not be very difficult to prove that being born had been the cause of his ruin. If our present object was a dissertation on primary causes, we would al- low that his thesis might be in some measure correct, and I will furnish another instance in favour of his argument. A man goes to Crockford's splendid house, drinks his splendid champagne, and finally loses his own splendid fortune, or a part of it. Doubtless, if he had not entered the house, he had not drunk the champagne, nor lost his fortune there; so, according to our friend's doctrine, a splendid house and splendid champagne were the cause of the ruin, and are consequently to be avoided. Now I beg so far to differ in opinion as to roundly assert that the house and the champagne are both mighty good things; so are race-horses; and, being born, all are perfectly harmless, if we would only use them for the purposes for which they were intended, and not by our own folly turn things that were designed for our amusement or luxury, or both, into the means of our misery and ruin. When this is the case, the fault is not in the things themselves, but in the weak- ness of the mind of the man. In my intercourse with the world, 1 have been led hundreds of times into gaming- houses, both at home and abroad, and never once took a dice-box in my hand where hazard was played. I am and 22 THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS RUIN STOPPED. always was enthusiastically fond of racing, and was so as a boy. I considered then, and consider now, the seeing a favourite horse win his race one of the most exhilarating moments of a man's life; and yet (with the exception of once, and that when quite a boy,) I never could be tempted to back either a horse of my own or that of any other per- son for 51. in my life. I love racing as a sport, and do de- clare that for a moderate stake, I shouM leave the course in higher spirits if my horse had won handsomely, though he might have gone the wrong side of a post, by which I should lose the stakes, than 1 should had he run a bad second, and my opponent's horse, from having made the mistake, caused the stakes to be given to me. With this feeling, no man will ruin himself by keeping race-horses; for this very feeling will keep him from risking heavy bettino;. I will instance a man whose name will never be for- gotten by the sporting world, or cease to be mentioned in terms of admiration and respect by all who had the advan- tage of his acquaintance; I mean, Francis Mellish, Esq., better known as Captain Mellish. He was, I should say, a man of thirty-five when I was a boy of fifteen. From him I caught the love of racing; from him I first got what little knowledge I have of racing matters; and from him I got advice that, unfortunately^ for himself, he had not re- solution enough to follow. I will mention an anecdote in proof of this. I met him on the course at Newmarket, when he saluted me with, " What the d — 1 are you look- ing so sulky about?" — I replied, "I am not sulky, but I have been losing ni)' money." — " I am glad of it," said he: "what have you been backing?" — "Your horse." — "How much have you lost?"— " 50/." — " Well, I have lost 1500/. on the same race; but if I was fool enough to bet, it was no reason you should have done so." — I replied, and truly, "it was the first bet I had ever made." — His answer has been engraven in letters of gold on the tablet of memory ever since: " I congratulate you on losing the first bet you ever made: let it be the last: never back your own horses (if you ever keep any,) or those of any other person so long as you live: take this advice from one who knows something about these things, and has paid "look here, upon this FICTtTRE, AND ON THIS.'^ Z3 dearly for his knowledge." — I did take his advice, and never made a bet to the amount of 51. since. Here is a case that bears me owt in my assertion that betting heavily, not keeping race-horses, ruins people (the Le,s^s of course excepted.) Had Mellish confined himself to keeping his horses, his judgment was so good — in breed- ing, buying, and then placing them — that his winnings would have been a fortune. This, however, he would not do. ^' Peace to his manes !'^ he had, I believe, every vir- tue but one — prudence. I will mention another man nearly equally fortunate as to his winnings by his horses as Melfish, though in other respects " no more like him than I to Hercules," — the late John Beardsworth. Now, he knew about as much of racing when he first ivent on the turf, as I do of the navi- gation of the Poles, and in fact very little at the last; yet, from having come into possession of poor Mytton's horses, he had at one time perhaps a better stable of race-horse« than any man in England, got them well placed for him, and consequently his winnings in cups, stakes, &c,, amounted to such an enormous sum that 1 should be fear- ful of mentioning it les^t my accuracy might be doubted. Now many jz^ersons 1 dare say to this day think the Turf was his ruin: no such thing; nor was betting, for he, com- paratively speaking,, never betted a shilling. Large con- tracts with Government in post-horse duties did the busi- ness: his race-horses would have saved, instead of ruined him. When I speak of betting men, I can in no way allow them to be mixed up with gentlemen who keep race horses. I allude to. the former (and would be happy to see them considered) as a distinct class, as men on whom any man of honour should look with suspicion, and with whom none of the legitimate patrons of the Turf should allow themselves to come in contact. And when I speak of bet- ting, I in no shape allude to men of fortune who back their own horses or those of others to the tune of a few hun- dreds, which they merely do to give a further zest to the interest of a race. This with them is nothing more than betting their pony on the odd trick at whist, which they win to-night and lose to-morrow. Neither do I include 24 "ne vile velis." the Country gentleman, who from his knowledge (or more probably fancied knowledge) of the merits of the different horses engaged at any of the meetings in his neighbour- hood, sports his 50/. on such occasions. Nor, again, to the Yeoman, with his good-humoured countenance, who, from a love of sport, boisterousl}^ bets his sovereign on each race, which he laughingly pockets if he wins, or as cheerfully pays if he loses. No; all this encourages the sport, by giving an additional but harmless interest to the racing. Such men all in their w^ay contribute to keep the thing alive, and probably materially assist in raising the funds for each meeting. This kind of betting will always go on at every race, and would be quite sufficient for all racing purposes. Such men as these are the true friends of the Turf: they contribute as much to forward its interests as the regular Le^ conduces to bringing it into disrepute. No man would warn his son or his friends from mixing with the former, while every one guards him from racing altogether, fearing he should meet with, and consequently be pillaged by, the latter. If 1 speak bitterly of such men, it does not arise from any sourness of feeling from having personally suf- fered by them: in justice to them, I must say they never" robbed me; perhaps one trifling circumstance prevented it ^-^I never gave them the chance. I have said that not one in a hundred of these men keep race-horses. There are a few who keep third or fourth rate horses, and go lea- ther-plating about the country. Of course they make this answer their purpose sumehoiv: but as every man knows that such horses can never pay their expenses if they run to win, we may pretty accurately judge by what means they are made to pay in such hands. It has been said that racing levels all distinctions of per- sons. The idea is preposterous that it must necessarily do so more than driving four-horses or keeping a pack of hounds. If gentlemen choose to associate with the ordi- nary class of stage- coachmen, make their dress, habits, and language objects of imitation, distinction of persons would be levelled in this instance. If the owner of hounds was to make his huntsman and whips his companions, or to associate with none but hard-drinking, illiterate, vulgar TO AVOID others' LEGS, TAKE TO YOUR OWN. 25 bumpkins, he would in his particular case also break down the barrier between the gentleman and the plebeian; the more so if he chose (as I once saw a nobleman do) to assist his whip in very mercilessly flogging a hound, — a piece of discipline which, though sometimes necessary, is one that any man with the common feelings of humanity would rather ride a mile round than witness, instead of becoming an uncalled-for actor in its execution. If a man on the turf stoops to tamper with the honesty of his trainer, jockey, or stable-boy, he of course brings himself to their level, or below it. If he also chooses, for the sake of making up his book, to associate (we will allow only /7ro ^e?7Z/?ore,) consult, and bet with blacklegs and sharpers, he must necessarily lose that distinction his ori- ginal position in society entitled him to hold. In short, it is not racing that levels distinction, but, like every thing else, the way in which it is sometimes done. There are certainly some pursuits so degrading in them- selves (bull-baiting, dog-fighting, &c.) that, carry them on as you will, being the pursuits of the ruffian and black- guard, must degrade the gentleman. Here no adventitious circumstance is wanted to level distinction — to encourage, patronise, or even witness such barbarities, is enough to produce such effect. But racing ever has been the pursuit of the higher classes of society ; and the only way by which noblemen or gentlemen can lose caste, or bring themselves on a level with the Leg, is by countenancing him and de- scending to his habits and practices. I have said that these sharpers might easily be driven from the turf, or at all events their influence be destroyed. If we could prevent fools playing at thimble-rig, we should require no rural police to keep the table-keepers from the race-course. If people would neither carry watches nor sufficient money into crowds to be worth the attention of pickpockets, they would disappear from such places also. So, if noblemen, gentlemen, and all respectable men would determine neither to countenance, bet with, nor speak to professed Legs, their harvest would be destroyed, and they would take themselves off also. "Dog will not eat dog," nor would it suit the books of the Legs to bet among them- selves only. If those real patrons of racing who still keep 3 26 BOTTLE RACING, their horses oq the course would only come to the deter- mination of striking at the root of the evil that has drivea so many from the turf, hundreds would return to then- fa- vourite pursuit, and then should we see the palmy days of racing return also, and our race-courses be, as in days gone by, thronged with the aristocracy of the country, instead of being infested by the dregs of society. It is often said that racing has a tendency to encourage gambling and betting. Doubtless it is one of the hundred means by which betting may be effected, but the one by no means follows as a necessary accompaniment to the other; and I strongly suspect that if the germ of betting is firmly rooted in the mind of any man, bet he will on something ; so it little matters whether he loses his money on the race-course or at the hazard-table. I can bring for- ward a case tolerably illustrative of this. When I first put on a red coat (1 mean a military onej it was in a militia regiment. Among the members of our mess were two young men who were in no way addicted to racing or to any kind of field sports, and who, if they attended a race meeting, went to see the crowd, and cared not a pin for the racing. Now in these so strong was the mania for gambling, that in one way or other they were constantly at it. Billiards was their chief pursuit; but even that most gentleman-like and intellectual game pitch- and-hustle helped to pass the time from parade to mess hour: whist then took its turn; and finally a little chicken hazard in their rooms closed tjie evening. After a time, a new freak seized them: this was to get the old corks from the mess-vvaiter: each took one, and after thro win j^ them into the river, they stationed themselves on the bridge, and the cork that fii'st appeared beyond the arch won. This took wonderfully, and they were joined by many more, of which number I was fool enough to make one, and proposed in lieu of matches to make up sweep- stakes. This was carried unanimously. I then proposed, instead of racing corks, to substitute racing bottles, and this was also carried neni. con. Each tied his colour round the neck of his bottle, and some nine or ten started' — 2s. 6d. entrance. As w^e found, however, that one of the p.irty was decidedly more lucky than the rest, and that. EXPENSES OF RACE HORSES DEFINABLE. 27 in short, he generally won the stakes, it struck me there might be something in the bottle, as well as in the luck; so 1 examined it privately, and found that both the shape and weight of the successful bottle were very different from the others. I took the hint, and after looking over some hundreds at a wine merchant's, selected one that looked to me like a fast one — thin as paper, light as a feather, and very conically shaped. I started this the next day, and won in a canter by twenty lengths; won again, and again; in short, the late v/inning bottle was Meux's horse and dray to the American trotter Confidence and a match cart. After a time, some one smoked the thing, and it was de- cided that my bottle should not be allowed to start again. Relying however on shape and make, I proposed a Handi- cap, agreeing that my bottle and the late winning one (which nearly always came in second) should each carry weight to bring them to that of the others. I started, and again shape and make did the thing. They then wanted to add to my weight; but, knowing what weight does, I backed out — as some others would have been wise had they done when they backed Hyllus, forgetting, with the weight put on him, the length he had to go.* Our bottle-racing was soon given up; not so the gambling. Of these two fine young men, one terminated his existence after losing to an enormous amount in the Palais Royal; the other lost the whole of his fortune, went abroad, and died of fever. These and many more instances that have come under my notice make me shudder when I see a young man betting high, and betting with men who are sure in the long run to strip him of every feather. The same feeling makes me execrate the very name of those who will not let us en- joy a noble sport without by every means in their power rendering it subservient to their own designs and nefari- ous purposes. As to the expense of racing, it is very easily defined. That of keeping a horse in a public train- ing stable, every man who has race-horses in them knows: they will be pretty much the same one year as another: the expense of the entrances for different stakes are also * At Wolverhampton races, for the Holy oak Stakes, Hyllus carried 9 st. 6 lb,, twice round and a dislaiue. thereby giving Retriever, the winner, 23 lb., both C}T3. S8 UTRUM HORUM MAVIS ACCIPE. known; so no man can at all events be ruined suddenly by keeping race-horses if he does not bet. if he is foolish enough to incur an expense of 1000/. a-year, when he can- not aiford to pay 200/., he does it with his eyes open. Probably his other expenses are about in the same ratio: still, when he is ruined, the poor race-horses are sure to come in for all the odium. Let us suppose two sensible young men of fortune, on commencing life, each selecting his favourite pursuit — the one takes to fox-hunting, the other to keeping race-horses. We will say the general expense of a pack of fox-hounds is 1400/. per annum, which is, I should think (take England throughout) about a fair average, and we will allow the other to lay aside 1400/. a-year for his race-horse expenses. Now we are quite sure the fox-hounds will bring no further return than the amusement they afford, nor does the owner expect it. The other spends the same sum in the keep, travelling expenses, entries, and riders for his horses: if he never wins a race, he is only in the same situation as the owner of the fox-hounds; but he must be a most unlucky wight indeed if this is the case. In fact, he cannot but win some of his expenses back: with moderate luck and moderate judgment he may cover them all; and if his judg- ment and good luck are in the ascendant, he may make money. 1 grant, as I have said before, that few do so; but of those who keep race-horses, there are numbers who have no judgment at all, many who have but little, and not one in fifty whose judgment is really good. This is one reason why so few make their horses pay. 