* * * * *


ORIGIN OF EPSOM RACES.

(_Concluded from page 331._)


"At this period[7] there were many capital thorough bred horses in
England, the most celebrated of which were the famed Arabians Darley and
Godolphin, from which the best horses have been traced for nearly a
century. They produced stock of vast size, bone and substance; and were,
at the same time, endowed with such extraordinary, and before unheard
of, powers of speed, as to render it probable that some of them have
reached nature's goal, or ultimate point of perfection.

[7] About the fifteenth year of the reign of George II.

"From the former of these horses descended Flying Childers. He is said
to have never run a race, except at Newmarket, where he beat, with ease,
the best horses of his time.

"In October, 1722, he beat Lord Drogheda's Chaunter, each carrying ten
stone, over a six mile course, for 1,000 guineas. At six years of age,
he ran a race, carrying 9 stone 2lbs. against Almanzor and Brown Betty,
over the round course at Newmarket, three miles six furlongs, and
ninety-three yards, in six minutes and forty seconds! to perform which,
he must have moved eighty-two feet and a half in a second of time, or at