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.

[72] For some period previous to 1790, George IV. had patronized
horse-racing and pugilism; but in that year, having attended a
prize fight in which one of the boxers was killed, he ceased to
support the ring, declaring that he would never be present at
such a scene of murder again; and in 1791 he disposed of his
stud, on account of some apparently groundless suspicion being
attached to his conduct with regard to a race, in the event of
which he had little or no real interest.