From an 1831 issue of the American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine, here’s an amusing anecdote about a pair of highly trained thoroughbreds, who ran their race without having to be asked – just like the plucky Virginia colt who crossed the finish line first in “A Toast to Bumper, the Best Winded, the Fleetest Horse of All” (12 August 2011) – Ed.

“Anecdote of Race Horses” 

In the summer of 1831, while Capt. T. and Lieut. R. of the U.S. Army were engaged on a survey at Canton, near Baltimore, they had frequently noticed Bachelor and Jumping Jemmy at pasture in the field of the old Canton course.

One day, after playing some time, these two horses were observed to walk up leisurely, side by side, to the judges’ stand, where they stood for a moment, and then started and ran two rounds out regularly.

After the heat, they played together for a few moments, when they again walked up, side by side, stood at the judges’ stand, as in the first heat, and again started, and ran a second heat of two rounds.

[Could nature more clearly sanction the sports of the turf?]

 American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine 3, no. 4 (December 1831): 171