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Volume I

The Gaming Table by Andrew Steinmetz, Volume II

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The Turf, Historical, Social, Moral

Among the distinguished men who have supported the turf in this
country may be mentioned George IV.[72] and William IV.; the late
Duke of York; the Dukes of Richmond, Cleveland, Grafton, Bedford,
and Beaufort; Marquises of Exeter and Westminster; Earls of
Glasgow, Stradbrooke, Wilton, Chesterfield, Eglintoun, Verulam,
and Lonsdale; Lords George Bentinck, Foley, Kinnaird, &c.; and
last, though not least, the Right Honourable Charles James Fox.
As to the turf, Fox used always to animadvert on his losses, and
repeatedly observed--that 'his horses had as much bottom as other
people's, but that they were such slow, good ones that they never
went fast enough to tire themselves.' He had, however, the
gratification of experiencing some few exceptions to this
imaginary rule. In April, 1772, he was so lucky at Newmarket as
to win nearly L16,000--the greater part of which he got by
betting against the celebrated Pincher, who lost the match by
only half a neck. The odds at STARTING were two to one on the
losing horse. At the spring meeting at Newmarket, in 1789, Fox
is said to have won not less than L50,000; and at the October
meeting, at the same place, the following year, he sold two of
his horses--Seagull and Chanticleer--for 4400 guineas. In the
course of 1788 Fox and the Duke of Bedford won 8000 guineas
between them at the Newmarket spring meeting, and during these
races Fox and Lord Barrymore had a heavy match, which was given
as a dead heat, and the bets were off.

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