3-016-925 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"General Peel", the winner of the Two Thousand Guineas at the Newmarket Spring Meeting, 1864. 'Every fifth year, on an average, since its commencement, has this great Newmarket race proved the forerunner of Derby or St. Leger honours...Our Artist, Mr. Harry Hall, of Newmarket, describes him as "fully sixteen one, of immense bone, with a neat head for so large a horse, a strong neck and very deep shoulders and girth, good ribs, and well-arched loin. He is long in the back, and consequently short from the hip to the setting on of the tail, and has long quarters and rather a broad chest, and stands a little wide with his forelegs. In a general view his fore-quarters preponderate over the hinder." Another, and one of our best judges, also states, in the Sporting Life, that, in "size, length, bone, substance, truth of conformation, and ponylike action, I question whether a racehorse can be found in Europe superior to this grand specimen." In colour he is a dark bay, with a blaze face and two white heels, and apparently with a very placid temper, and quite at his ease in a crowd. His winnings amount at present to £4700'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.