A quarter of a mile race.
1792. His time is employed in quarter races, cock-fights.—‘Description of Kentucky,’ p. 12. (N.E.D.)
1795. The whole to conclude with the Poney Races; and Quarter Race.—Advt., Gazette of the U.S., Nov. 23.
1836. In this year “A Quarter Race in Kentucky,” appeared in the N.Y. Spirit of the Times.
1853. “Got a smart chunk of a pony thar.” “Yes, sir, he’s some pumkins sure; offered ten cows and calves for him; he’s death on a quarter” [i.e., a “quarter race.”]—S. A. Hammett (‘Philip Paxton’), ‘A Stray Yankee in Texas,’ p. 44.
1885. In North Carolina and the up-country of Virginia quarter-races were much esteemed…. “Quarter-courses” usually consisted of two parallel paths, and were run by two horses at a time.—E. Eggleston, ‘Social Life in the Colonies,’ Century Mag., xxx. 397/2 (July). (N.E.D.)
