SPORTING.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 184, 18 January 1878, Page 7

SPORTING.

An Old Cavalry Officer contributes the subjoined interesting 1 sporting" memo, to the Canterbury Times : — The following- is a list of some of the most remarkable feats of hovserrranship on record. Tn October, 1741, at the Ourragh meeting iD Ireland, Mr Wilde rode 127 miles in Ghrs 21mins, with 10 horse?. The time stipulated was 9hrs. Tn 1745, Mr C. Thornhill rode from Stilton to London and back, and 'again to London., being 213 miles, in llhrs 34mins. In 1752, Mr Shaft rode 50£ miles in Ihr 49mins, with 10 horses, 5 of which were ridden twice. In 1762 the same gentleman undertook to ride 100 miles a day for 39 days tog-ether, on any one horse each day, the number of horses not to exceed 27., He accomplished it on 14 horses. In 7708, Miss Pond rode 1000 miles in 1000 hours at Newmarket. Tn December, 1810, Milton, the horse-dealer, who weighed lost., rode from London to Stamford, starting from the corner of Dover-street, Piccadilly, in 4hrs 25mins, using- 18 horses. It hns often been said that an Englishman's argument generally ends in a bet, and some curious ones are upon record. Among the curious wagers that have been made at home and abroad may be mentioned the following 1 : — Englishmen have staked money on a rainy day as to which drop on a window I falls the quickest; and our continental neighbours, over a bottle of champagne, have poured a few drops on the table, each selecting a drop, and betting as to the number, of flies that will sip thereon. Perhaps, however, one of the most curious wagers on record is one that was made by two sporting men of the day, and which came off in January, 1827. One of the above bet £20 to £10 that of the first 30 men who should pass a shop in which they were to station themselves 20 would have at least one hand in the breeches or coat pocket, and that 15 would have both hands so- placed. New street, Covent Garden, was selected for the place of scrutiny, as, from its having an extremely narrow footpath, and being a very public- thoroughfare, it

would afford the best example of the inconvenience of this prevalent custom. The result of th^ examination was — that of the- first 30 men who passed 18 had both hands in theiripockots, and 5 others had one hand so situated ; the proposer of thd wager thus winning it hollow. At an ordinary in Chester, the celebrated Jack Mytton observed a sporting parson busy at work counting the number of chairs before dinner, and it immediately occurred to him that a bet would, in the course of the evening', be proposed as to the number of legs of chairs in the room. His anticipations were correct, for id the course of the evening the reverend | "leg" offered to bet '£50 that he gnesased the number of chair-legs in the room nearer than any other. Mytton accepted the bet, the money was i staked, and one of the stewards proceeded to count the number, when it i was found that the parson had lost. To account for this it afterwards appeared that Mytton had sawn off four of the ; legs, being, as it is termed, " up to the dodge." At the Stewards' ordinary, White Hart Hotel, Aylesbmy, in 1850, the after-dinner conversation turned unon jumping, and it was remarked that Lord Jocelyn and Mr Ricardo had once brought a horse upstairs, riding ! him up and down. One of the company, Mr C. Symonds, of Oxford, then und there offered to bring up his horse and jump him over the dining-table, fruit dishes and all. The worthy owner of the White Hart wafe by no means willing to have such a display, as the "floor and the furniture of the room were all of the finest oak, the house having been j built by the Earl of Rochester in the reign of Charles 11. However, the bet, was made and the feat performed. Captain Barlowe then offered to place a row of champagne bottles side by side along the table and jump the horse across, riding him bare-backed. "Capt. Dickson, who was present, made him a bet of £100 that he would not do so. The room Avas cleared, the horse striped !of everything*, and Captian Barlowe mounted and performed the task, not even breaking a bottle. The horse was of Irish bii'th, and was bous'ht at Ballinasloe from ?$r Persee. In Januan r , 1852, a mare made an extraordinary I jump at Kensal Green, carrying 12sr 71b. In order to show Colonel Bouverie what the animal could do, her owner jumped her across the cnnal — 21ft wide and 10ft deep — and from measurement from hind shoe to hind shoe the distance was found to be 26ft Sin. She was bred at Clonsilla, County /'of Dublin. Colonel Bouverie pu-rchased her for <£300. The above wager was what is termed " on the square "