The walking matches of Captain Barclay have been so often described that no reference need be here made to them--they were marvels of pluck and endurance. Another of the many curious matches which took place during the last century was that of Miss Pond, brought off at Newmarket in the months of April and May, 1758. That lady's wager was to ride, mounted always on the same horse, a thousand miles in a thousand successive hours. The stake involved was only 200 gs., and she won it easily enough. Miss Pond was the daughter of the compiler and publisher of the _Racing Calendar_, and some doubts have been expressed as to whether or not she used the same horse throughout. It is worth mentioning that Dr. Johnson wrote a satirical essay on this affair in the sixth number of _The Idler_ (May, 1775), his contention being that _profit_ was the sole end in acquiring honour and distinction, and that such events as that in which Miss Pond took part were estimated only by the money gained or lost. A Mr. Jenison Shafto, in accordance with a wager of 2,000 gs. between himself and Hugo Maynell, found a person to ride one hundred miles a day "on any one horse each day for twenty-nine successive days, to have any number of horses not exceeding twenty-nine." John Woodcock was selected to perform this feat, and beginning his arduous task on Newmarket Heath on May 4th, 1761, brought it to a successful conclusion on the 1st of June about six o'clock in the evening, having used fourteen horses only. Coming now to matches more suitable to be recorded in this work, one affair of the kind run at Newmarket between two horses deserves notice. It was that of Mr. Blake's Firetail and Mr. Foley's Pumpkin, "the hardest race almost ever known," and remarkable for the wonderful time in which it was run; the horses, it is said, did the Rowley mile (one mile and thirty yards) in one minute and four seconds! An interesting match was run in the year 1773, the course being from York to London; the one horse was a hackney gelding, the other a road mare. The distance was done in forty hours and thirty-five minutes, and the winning mare, it is related, drank twelve bottles of wine during her journey, for which she was nothing the worse; the beaten horse died the day after the contest was finished.