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LONG DISTANCE RIDING FOE LARGE WAGERS. Tl The Record of Some Remarkable Tests of Human and at ., Equino Endurance Here and in England. 21 Such n ask :is Mr. II. K. Viugut lias under- gl taken In accepting the wager of Mr. Edward Nor- ec ton of ,000 tbat lie cannot ride a horse 100 al at miles In twenty-four hours seems easy enough of A A accomplishment, hut Mr. Vlnguts success depends in entirely upon his own pluck, endurance and horsemanship and the speed and bottom of the mount he J will select. Matches on horseback against time have M been popular for, ages, though they have not been oi frequent enough to become common. It Is related tl that in the reign of King James in England, one b John Lepton rode five times between London and York in as many days, beginning on the morning n of Monday, May 20, 1G04, and ending on the fol- o on lowing Friday evening, "appearing before his ti majesty In as fresh and cheerful a manner as I when he first began." p In April, 1745, Mr. Cooper Thornhill won a wager t by riding three times between Stilton and London, 1 a distance of 213 miles, in 11 hours 33 minutes and v 52 seconds. He used eight horses the first seventy- c one miles, six the second and seven of the fourteen the third seventy-one miles. t A little brown mare less than fourteen hands c high belonging to Daniel Corker was backed to go t 300 miles in 72 successive hours on Newmarket r Heath in 17.". 4. She accomplished the task In C! : hours and 18 minutes. She was ridden all of the time by it boy who weighed 57 pounds. Not more than sis miles was done at a gallop. In April and May of 1758 Miss Pond easily won 1 a wager of 200 guineas by riding the same horse : 1,000 miles in 1,000 successive hours at Newmarket. I Her father, a few weeks later, rode the same horse 1,000 miles in two-thirds of the time. On June 27, 1759, Mr. .Tenlson Sliafto, at New-- ; market, rode fifty miles in 1 hour 49 minutes and 17 seconds, using ten thoroughbred horses. In 1701 this .Mr. Sliafto wagered 2,000 guineas with Mr. Hugo Mcynell that he would find a person 1 who would ride 100 miles a day for twenty-nine successive days, having any number of horses hot : exceeding twenty-nine, but not lining more than one horse on any one day. Mr. Sliafto selected John Woodcock. The task was legun on Newmarket Heath at 1 oclock in the morning of May 4 and ended successfully in the evening of June 1, and Mr. Woodcock had only used fourteen horses. However, he came near to losing the wager for Mr. Sliafto. He had ridden a horse called Qnldnune sixty miles one day when it broke down. The rider had to Iegin over again for that day on a fresh horse. He finished the 100 miles extra of his lost sixty miles at eleven oclock that night. Giles Hoyle, through stormy weather and over poor roads rode 540 miles from Ipswich to Tipton and back again in 09 hours, in Septcmlier, 17S0. Over a circular course of two miles during the Cnrragh meeting In 1791, a Mr. Wilde won a wager of 2,000 guineas by riding ten thoroughbreds 127 miles In G hours and -21 minutes. He had wagered that he could do it In lietter than nine hours. It is recorded that he was so little fatigued that he appeared at the Turf Clubhouse the same evening. In April, 1S02, a Mr. Shaw rode 172 miles from Barton-on-the-IIumber to London in 9 hours and 33 minutes, using fourteen horses. He wagered that lie could do it In 10 hours. In December, 1810, Wait Milton, who weighed 210 pounds, rode from London to Stamford, something over ninety miles, in 4 hours and 25 minutes, using eighteen horses. On Npvemler C, 1824, a Mr. Lipscomb wagered ,500 that lie could employ eight horses and ride ninety miles in 5 hours. He did it in 4 hours 53 minutes and 31 seconds. On April 17, 1S2G, Captain Polhill, of the First Kings Dragoon Guards, won a wager that he could walk fifty miles, ride fifty miles and drive fifty miles in 24 hours. He selected the course at Haigh Park, which was three-quarters of a mile and 104 yards around, so that lie had to make 180 circuits of it. He walked his fifty miles In 10 hours and 21 minutes, drove it in 4 hours and 24 minutes and rode it in 2 hours and 42 minutes, leaving him winner by 4 hours and 55 minutes. In November of the same year. Captain Polhill on the same racing ground rxle thirteen horses ninety-five miles in 4 hours and 7 minutes. He had wagered a considerable sum that he could do the distance with nineteen horses in 5 hours. None of these matches, however, carried with them the interest and excitement that attended the wager in 1S31 of Squire George Osbaldeston, of 1,000 with Colonel Charitte that he could ride 200 miles on Newmarket Heath in 10 hours. The day selected was Saturday, November 4, and the morning dawned raw and wet. Time became favorite in the betting. The watches were set and locked up and at thirteen minutes past seven oclock, the Squire,, weighing 15G pounds and wearing a broad riding lelt with whalebone stays as a support to Ills back, egan his task. His saddles were covered with camelskin and he rode with short stirrup leathers.- His course was four miles round and at the end of each four miles he changed horses. He rode the 200 miles in 8 hours and 39 minutes, employing twenty-nine horses. He had encountered a blinding rainstorm during the day and was wet to the skin long before he finished. Having won ids wager he galloped oft to his quarters, took a hot hath, slept a couple of hours and enjoyed a hearty dinner In the evening. Mr. Osbaldeston was fifty-four years of age when he accomplished this task. This performance of Squire Osbaldeston stood as a record until August 2, 18GS, when Nell II. Mowry, at I!ay View" Park, San Francisco, rode thirty horses 200 miles in S hours. But this American rider went further, completing 300 miles In 14 hours and 9 minutes. At Fleetwood Park, New York - City, July 3, 1S70, John Murphy, on a wager of ,000 that he could ride twenty horses 155 miles in better than 0 hours 5S minutes and 30 seconds won by doing the distance in 0 hours 45 minutes and 7 seconds. At Agricultural Park, Los Angeles, California. October S, 1870, Jose Perez lieat J. P. Smith in a match at 50 miles, for ,000 a side. Each used ten horses, changing at the end of every mile. Perez won by a neck. The time was 2 hours and 1 minute. Smith had been beaten 200 yards in the same kind of a match by N. II. Mowry at San Francisco on April 22, the time being 2 hours 8 minutes and 30 seconds. In New York City, Marcli 12 and 13, 1S77, Francis Perlato failed in an attempt to ride COO miles in 50 consecutive hours, using twenty horses. The distance ridden was 457 miles. At Oakland, California, April 12, 1877, John P. Smith defeated Major It. Pico in a match at 50 miles, using ten horses each and changing at the end of each mile, for ,000. The time was 2 hours, 3 minutes and 40 seconds. Smith was again defeated in this kind of a match at San Francisco, April !, 187S, by Pablo Castro. The time was 2 hours and 7 minutes. Here in Chicago, January 9, 10 and 11, 1879, In the Exposition Building, there was an endurance contest of -52 hours between the horse Heislng Jr., and a wau named George Guyou; the mau wulklug. Tl The at ., 21 gl ec al at A A in J M oi tl b n o on ti I p t 1 v c t c t r : horse covered 201 miles and the man 1 19 miles. In a six-day r:lce against other horses and men Mechanics Pavilion, San Francisco, October 15-20, 1S79, Pinafore won, covering 559 miles 751 yards. At the l!ay District Track, San Francisco, beginning May 15, IsiSO, there was a six-days riding contest. The riders were Allowed to change horses will, but were required to ride 15 hours daily. man named Anderson won. He covered 1,304 miles. Reyes was second with 1,28-1 miles. At Louisvllle, Ky., October 9, 1SS0, .Miss Emma .Tewett rode a match of 20 miles against Miss Minnie Pinnco and won in 45 minutes and 11 seconds.. They used eight horses each. On Octolier 20, the match was repeated, Miss Jewett again winning, but- this time in 51 minutes and G seconds. In the last quarter of a century there have been many similar tests of endurance, but few of them race pourses. For the greater part they have taken place among the cowboys in the far west. The mustangs of the plains In the days of the pony post, likewise their riders, were noted for their endurance and many of them, particularly those having the blood of the Spanish mares which were introduced into lower California, were exceedingly fleet of foot. Throughout he period covered by the war with the Indians and since, in the days of the struggles of the ranch owners against the cattle thieves, there was much hard riding and feats even more remarkable than airy chronicled here were doubtless accomplished;
