Jerkin by John Watson, and Royal George by John Kirton.

At Newmarket First Spring Meeting, in April, 1767, Bay Malton won a sweepstakes of 500 gs. each, 8st. 7lb. each, B. C., beating Sir John Moore's King Herod, Lord Bolingbroke's Turf, and Mr. Shafto's Ascham; at starting, six to four against Turf, seven to four against Bay Malton, four to one against Ascham, and five to one against King Herod. Very large sums were depending, and Lord Rockingham posted them, and won 500 gs. to 20. This race brought together a greater number of noblemen, gentlemen,

Robert Hildyard, Sir John Lister Kaye, Sir Henry Lawson, Sir John Lindsey, Sir Francis Mollineux, Sir William and Lady Milner, Sir George Montgomery Metham, Sir Frank Standish, Sir Edward and Lady Swinburn, Lady Stanhope, Lady Steward, Lady Elizabeth Steward, Lady Ann Saltmarsh, Sir Walter Vavasour, Sir Rowland and Lady Winn, Sir W. W. Wynn, Sir John Whitford, Sir Cecil and Lady Wray, Lady dowager Wray, Lady Webb, General and Lady Honeywood, General Lascelles, General Standford, Colonel St. John, Colonel Beckwith, Major Mordaunt, Major Conway, Messrs. Ayrton, Barlow, Bertie, Cholmley, Constable, Cornforth, Craddock, Crofts, Crowle, Duncombe, Dixon, Dodsworth, Earl, Errington, Fane, Farrar, Fenton, Fenwick, Hanger, Hartley, Harvey, Hassell, Hebden, Hussey, Hutton, Lascelles, Leedes, Mariott, Maynard, Metcalf, Meynell, Milbanke, Ottey, Pratt, Panton, Parker, Pelham, Pennyman Pigott, Presston, Radcliff, Ramsden, Riddell, Scroope, J. Shafto, Sotheron, Stapleton, Swinburn, Temple, L. Thompson, R. Thompson, Thourton, C. Turner, Vernon, P. Wentworth, Wastel, Weddel, Wedderburn, Willoughby, Wrightson, &c. There were 569 subscribers to the assembly rooms, which was the largest number either before or since that time. This brilliant list of rank and fashion shows how racing flourished at this period.

sportsmen, and more people of all ranks, from every part of the kingdom, than were ever seen before at Newmarket; and those from Yorkshire backed Bay Malton freely, and won thousands.*

At Newmarket First Spring Meeting 1768, Bay Malton beat easy Lord Grosvenor's Cardinal Puff, 10st. each, B. C., 200 gs. each, and the whip; at starting, five to one on Bay Malton. In the Second Spring Meeting, he won the Jockey Club plate of 100 gs. and upwards, 9st., B. C., beating Sir James Lowther's Ascham, who made the play over the flat, and as far as the Duke's stand, and was, till then, thought the winning horse, but Bay Malton took the lead, and won by a length and a half. It was the opinion of some that Bay Malton won easily, and of others, with difficulty; but it is to be observed that Ascham was much whipped, and Bay Malton scarcely threatened. At starting, five to one on Bay Malton. At Newmarket First Spring Meeting, 1769, Bay Malton was beat for a £50 plate by Gimcrack and Cardinal Puff, but beat, in the same race, Hemp, Phoenix, Bashful, Admiral Presto, Chalfont, and Toper. This was the last time of his running, except at York, in August following, when he was

* The Newmarket First Spring Meeting, 1767, was a golden harvest for the Yorkshire gentlemen, as the following horses proved successful, viz: Lord Rockingham's Pilgrim, Steady, Godolphin, Hunter colt, against Otho, Mr. Pratt's A-la-Grecque, Mr. Wentworth's Chatsworth, Mr. Shafto's, late Mr. Pratt's, Petruchio, and Mr. Vernon's, late Mr. Fenwick's, Dux.

beat by Chatsworth, Tortoise, Gimcrack, and These were the only times of his

Morwick Ball.

proving unsuccessful.

Bay Malton was ridden for all the above engagements by Mr. John Singleton, except at Malton, and the match against Gimcrack, at Newmarket, in October, 1765.

Bay Malton was a private stallion in Lord Rockingham's stud, and was sire of Mr. Preston's Flaunter, &c. He died at Wentworth, in the year 1786, aged twenty-six.

In 1761, a match was made between Jenison Shafto and Hugo Meynell, Esqs., for 2000 gs., Mr. Shafto to find a person to ride 100 miles a-day, on any one horse each day, for twenty-nine successive days, to have any number of horses not exceeding twenty-nine. The person chosen by Mr. Shafto was Mr. John Woodcock, who started on Newmarket Heath, May 4th, 1761, at one o'clock in the morning, and finished his arduous task on the 1st of June, about six in the evening, having used fourteen horses only, viz :

Mr. Major's mare did not begin one day till ten o'clock, Mr. Woodcock having failed to bring in

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a horse called Quidnunc, after it had done sixty miles by nine o'clock, and then tired; so that he rode one hundred and sixty miles that day, finishing at about eleven o'clock at night, which was the latest hour during the whole performance.

This undertaking must have been much more difficult for the rider than for the horses. The course was from Hare park to the ditch, making three miles; thence he went a three mile course round the flat, on that side the ditch next Newmarket. Posts and lamps were put up, as Mr. Woodcock chose to start very early in the mornings, to avoid the heat of the day.

CHAPTER XII.

The celebrated race-horse, Eclipse.

ECLIPSE was a chesnut horse, foaled during the great eclipse that happened in the year 1764, from which he took his name. He was bred by H.R.H. William, Duke of Cumberland, and purchased after His Royal Highness's decease, by Mr. William Wildman,* who afterwards sold him to Dennis O'Kelly, Esq. Eclipse was got by Marske out of Spiletta.

At Epsom, May 3rd, 1769, Eclipse (the first time of his starting) won £50, for horses that never won £30, matches excepted; five years old, 8st., and six years old, 9st. 3lb., four mile heats; beating Mr. Fortesque's Gower, by Sweepstakes,

* Mr. Wildman was a salesman at Smithfield, and kept for many years a good stud of race-horses at Mickleham, near Epsom, where he also took in horses to train. Having received a hint of the superiority of this horse, he attended the sale; but before his arrival, the colt had been knocked down at seventy guineas. On looking at his watch, and perceiving that the appointed hour of sale had not yet arrived by a few minutes, according to the terms of the advertisement, he persisted that the sale was not lawful, and that the lots knocked down should be resold, which was done accordingly, and Eclipse was purchased by him for seventy-five guineas.