The Turf and the Racehorse : Describing Trainers and Training, the Stud-Farm
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STUD FARM. ^ i •[' t I 1^^° 127 S. 7 th St ^^®^i' GIFT OF FAIRMAN ROGERS. University of Pennsylvania Annenberg Rare Book and Manuscript Library Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from Lyrasis IVIembers and Sloan Foundation http://www.archive.org/details/turfracehorsedesOOcopp : : THE TURF AND THE RACEHORSE DESCRIBING TRAINER8 AND TRAINING, THE STUD-FARM, THE 8IRE8 AND BROOD-MARES OF THE PAST AND PRESENT, AND HOW TO BREED AND REAR THE RACEHORSE. BY R. II. COPPERTHWAITE. ?ctonb (^'bifion. LONDON DAY AND SON, LIMITED, Lithographers, Printers, and Publishers, GATE STKEET, LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS Late DAY and SON, Lithogkapheks to the Queen. 1866.' All RU/ht.i reserred.] The Ages of the Horses referred to m this work ivere computed in I860. — PEEFACE. In offering a few remarks to the sporting public upon the Turf and the Racehorse, I deem it at least necessary to render them in as simple a manner as possible, inasmuch as they are offered to the community at large. Taking for granted that all the followers of turf pur- suits, or lovers of horseflesh, are not Walkers, Johnsons, or Sheridans, it becomes necessary to write in language which can be plainly understood, instead of indulging in that high-flowing, flowery style, which tends more to test the faculties and bewalder the reader than to enlighten him on the subject ; and substituting what may be termed a superfluity of very fine English for instruction, thereby disguising the absence of practical knowledge: in fine, endeavouring to " spin out a long yarn " on a subject, with the merits of which they are but slightly acquainted. As the illustrious Moore said, " Nine times out of ten, if his title is good, The material within of small consequence is : Let him only write fine, and if not understood, Why that 's the concern of the reader, not his." ; — IV PREFACE. Others, preferring modern innovations, deal in poly- syllables, where perhaps monosyllables would be found more explicit, and to the point : for instance, now-a-days we read proofs such as the following. In an account of a good dinner we learn that " the tables groaned with all the delicacies of the season " in returning from which, should a party happen to tumble into a ditch, we shall hear that "he became immersed in the liquid element.^^ At Brighton, or any other watering-place, should a young lady while bathing happen to be drowned, the grievous intelligence is to the. effect that, ''having plunged fear- lessly into the bosom of Neptune, before the summer of her years had faded she sank into the silence of the grave.'' It may perhaps appear presumptuous in me to attempt a small treatise on a subject which has been, and is so frequently, written upon by others — a subject, also, which is one of almost universal interest, and pecu- liarly calculated to challenge public attention : but having from boyhood owned horses, and studied their every movement, &c., and indeed I may add, occupied my mind with thoughts thereupon, when it might have been otherwise more beneficially employed — it is hardly to be wondered at, that as time wore on my passion, or taste for the animal, grew stronger, and as Horace says, " Quo semel est imbuta recens, servabit odorem Testa diu." — PREFACE. V Or, in homely vernacular, " You may break, you may shatter, the vase as you -will, But the scent of the roses will hang round it still." Whatever else I may have had to occupy my thoughts, there was one uppermost — "the Horse." Another cir- cumstance prompted me to the attempt. In these sensa- tion times, almost everybody seems to write something or other on this subject; and if my ideas or remarks do not coincide with the opinions of others, it can hardly be denied that, although " doctors differ," yet " two heads are better than one;" and it may so happen, that the reader will learn by a perusal of these few pages some- thing foreign to his former ideas, and will then have what the late Lord George Bentinck was frequently heard to term " the best of the bargain,^^ having the option of taking or rejecting them as he thinks proper. There can be little doubt, that in speaking or writing on any subject which involves the interests of parties or professions, where differences of opinion must exist, the necessary consequence which may be expected to follow is, disapproval on the one side or the other, according as the doctrines of the writer may please or displease. It too frequently happens that some hesitate to give candid expression to their sentiments, and adopt the sycophantic maxim of " running with the hare and holding with the hounds:" for even the great Cicero, : ; VI PREFACE. when defending his friend Milo, feared to do so, but subsequent to the trial published a statement of what he had intended to say; upon reading which the latter " exclaimed, Oh ! if Cicero had thus spoken before my enemies, I would not now be eating figs in Marseilles !" In presenting to the reader a few remarks, generally upon the subject of the Turf and the Racehorse, &c., they are rendered for the benefit of those who may think pro- per to accept them as useful; merely adding, that after about thirty years' experience I entertain sound reasons for my convictions, which are declared without prejudice, personality, or enmity. I trust, therefore, that those who in their leisure hours may condescend to peruse them will make allow- ances for any errors which may creep in, or delusions under which the author may labour ; and, as the poet said, re- member that " Everything has faults ; nor is 't unknown, That harps and fiddles often lose their tone And wayward voices, at their owners' call. With all their best endeavours only squall Dogs blink their covey, flints withhold the spark, And double barrels (d them!) miss their mark." CONTENTS. PAGE TURF TOPICS ....... 1 THE RACEHORSE . .117 THE SIRES OF THE PAST AND PRESENT DAY . 164 BROOD MARES ....... 263 SYNOPTICAL TABLE OF TRIED BROOD MARES . 300 THE STUD-FARM : ITS REGULATIONS AND REQUISITES 320 CONCLUSION ....... 329 :; ! TURF TOPICS. " What reams of paper, floods of ink, Do some men spoil, who never think And so, perhaps, you '11 say of me In which some readers may agree. Still I write on, and tell you why Nothing 's so bad, you can't deny. But may instruct or entertain. Without the risk of giving pain." Ancient history tells us that Nero loved his monkey, and Caligula his horse ; indeed, to such an extent did the latter carry his affection for the animal, that he appears to have lavished upon him every luxury and comfort, to a degree exceeding (if possible) his barbarous treatment of his miserable subjects : his only wish, in the one instance, being that " the Roman people had but one head, that it might be struck off at one blow /' whilst in the other he was wont to swear by his Incitatus, whom he honoured with a palace, guards, and servants, and entertained at his own table, giving him gilded barley to eat and wine to drink in golden cups ; clothing him in purple, with a collar of pearls ; and on the eve of running his race having him carefully watched by a guard of honour, lest his rest should be disturbed. Is it, therefore, to be wondered at that this noble animal, possessing such silent ! » TURF TOPICS. power and influence over the hardened heart and mind of the cruel Caligula should, in the enlightened nineteenth century, the admiration of be mankind ; particularly when we consider how far he tends towards our health, happi- ness, and amusement, independently of his usefulness in other respects ? But however beautiful and noble he ap- pears under ordinary circumstances, and in other places, nowhere does he shine so brilliantly, or show to such per- fection, as when, in blooming health and condition, we find him on the turf, ready to contend for victory ; and how gamely does the true thoroughbred struggle and strain every nerve and muscle to that end It has been stated that the horse was the greatest conquest ever made by man j and he has been, and is still, found in his natural state in the deserts of Arabia and Africa, and on the plains of Tartary, where droves of five and six hundred have been seen at a time : but in Arabia he appears in the greatest state of perfection. The Arabs love horses as their children, and live under the same tents with them. They surpass all other animals of the desert in speed, and are so well trained that they stop as if shot with the slightest touch of the rein ; and although the spur is uukno^vn to them, they obey the least movement of the foot. As a further proof of the sagacity of the animal, it is known that kind treatment renders them so docile and fond of their masters that they follow them about without being led. The Arabs understand and are particular about the pedigrees, which they divide into three classes : first, what they term "first class,^' that is, "noble blood" on both sides, which they can trace back for centuries ; the second, still " noble or ancient blood,^^ but with a stain THE ARABIAN HORSE. 3 on one side, whicli they term a "mis-alliance;" the third, " the common class." Those in a wild state are not so large as the domesticated ; they are generally of a dark bay or brown, and their manes and tails much shorter.