The 18th century brought with it plenty of things. First, there was technology. Then there was civilization. And of course, there was Eclipse, the British thoroughbred who refused to lose against any of his rivals in flat racing. Eclipse won 18 races, bagging trophies and establishing a legacy that would never be obliterated from the sands of time.
Born in 1764, Eclipse lived for 25 years. He started racing at the age of 5 and went through a trial run before the bookies could actually start believing in his potential. It quickly became clear that this horse was something people had not seen before, distinguishing himself from the rest of the pack courtesy of his grace and ability to turn competitions into something sizzling and adrenal. Out of his 18 victories were 11 King’s plates, a fete so astronomical it is still celebrated around the world today. It is estimated that in the course of his career, Eclipse accumulated 1400 walking miles in race meetings and ran for a total of 63 miles in all races. He was a fast horse and came across as some kind of anomaly, seeing as his peers were so much behind in terms of talent and skill. His stride was so long that it covered 25 feet, and Eclipse’s top speed was averaged at 83 feet per second. In his time, he was owned by William Wildman at a young age and later sold to Dennis O’Kelly.
While Eclipse started out with a disruptive temperament, he became a good sport through good training and intense conditioning by the accomplished trainers of a few centuries back.
After racing for 17 months, Eclipse was retired as there was simply no competition-bookies never dared to predict odds against him. By the time he stopped racing, Eclipse had earned
2,149 guineas. A guinea was a coin, the prevalent currency back in the day. As a stud, he sired an estimated 344 winners.
