The Jasper news., 1907-09-19
q ! TIIE |! yl|RE
4cL!psE CONSIDERED woRLpa,
oHEATEsT RACE Horse.


4 sDreatest racer In the history Of the
sTorldl Most experts would sundoubt-
8dly at once answer "Eclipsel says
ne Montreal STANDARD & y u 4
8 The great songof N1arske and sHpilBts
~ WAS foaled at CrAnbourne Lodge,
4 England, In 1884 The duke IL Cum
berland was his breeder, ana he was
purchased whenra yearling by = meat,
asalesman named Wildman He was
IN ugly-headed 1eggy 4coit, thick ii
the wind. Of Violent temper, ana mn:
Szhanageable spirit. The method Of his
3raining would startle the careful
4 owners Of today y. He was sent for
poine time to rough rider named
George Eltery or EIters,S says Mr.
Cook. IN his recent review OF
Eclipse's wonderful victories, who
almost worked him to death by riding
Nhim about all day, and sometimes
&ept him out all night on poaching
Aexpeditions." This treatment, which
would have killed most sttboroughbreds,.
added strength and lnupcleE I'd;
Eclipse. And when dnss1 1893 he began:
40 race his strength and spirit were
!, dnimpaired. Jack Oakley, who rode
him In nearly all his races Mr.. Cook
tells us, never attempted to hold
him, butssat quietly in this saddle and.
let him go as he pleased, With the fe.
suit that he cut down his field at the
start and kept on increasing his lead;
for the farther he went the more he
seemed to enjoy himself, so that he
must have had a combination Of
speed, stride, endurance and weight
Z carrying ability over distance which
can never have been surpassed in the
history Of the horse before or since"
In one sense Eclipe's great qualities
were a disadvantage to him. So far
{ superior was he to ali competitors
that the betting was generally 100 to
] OH him, and he was early withdrawn
from racing because no one would en-
: ter horse against him. The one and
only horse that ever pressed him was
!. Bucephalus, whose constitution was
irreparably ruined by the contest.
3 Never was there such career! A
record OF victory from beginning to
end, and victory won with consum-
mate and contemptuous ease.
O'Kelly, the owner, whose name is
! always linked with the name of
Eclipse, bought the famous. horse Of
Wildman after his Arst race. He must
have had strong faith both in the
horse and In his own judgment. He
gave 1,750 guineas for him--at that
time an exceedingly high price--and
was, abundantly justified by the re.
suit. Eclipse stood at stud at Clay
Hill and brought his owner E25.000
In fees. In % years there were mum.
bered among his defendants 344 win.
ners. with total in stakes to their
credit OF more than s15S,000. And
the blood of Eclipse is still the aris-
tocracy of the turf.
His name has passed into a
provcrb: Eclipse first and the rest
nowhere!" 1t was after the first heat
OF Eclipse's first race that O'Kelly
made his memorable bet. DESTROYS
of adding to his gains" writes Mr..
Cook, and being perfectly confident
that this great horse could race as
well as he could gallop, he made a
heavy wager (which was naturally
taken up with considerable !. eager
ness) that he would place all the
horses in the second heat: When
asked to name their order he pro.
4 nounced the famous sentence:
Eclipse first ana the rest nowhere
AZ he was sure that all the other
horses would be ;dlstanced a. es
beaten by more than 200 yards), and
therefore would Ut be placed by the
! Judges" He won his bet and assured
for his horse the eternal celebrity
which only proverb can confer.