Turkey Trot

George, Prince of Wales.

This story is true.

Before the days of lorries and vans, geese, ducks and turkeys used to be herded to market along drove roads and highways, avoiding tolls as much as possible.

They would stop off at village ponds and sometimes an overnight rest was required. The domestic varieties of these birds are all good walkers and they would have had their wings clipped to stop them flying. However, the hard road-surface made their feet sore and so the herdsmen would sometimes make the birds walk through soft tar and then sand at the start of the trip. They even made little boots for turkeys to wear.

Back in Regency days gambling became very fashionable among all classes but especially the very rich. They would bet on anything, including a race between geese and turkeys.

At first glance the outcome of such a race seems obvious because turkeys can run much faster than geese. But have you ever read Aesop's "The Tortoise and the Hare"?

From his fabulous residence in Brighton the Prince Regent set up such a race between 20 turkeys and 20 geese over a ten mile course. He put £500 on the turkeys. This is a quite a lot of money to you and I, but in those days it was a fortune.

It seems that there race was held along the shore near Brighton. I can't tell it better than this report from the time.

‘On the day appointed, the Prince and his party of turkeys and Mr. Berkeley and his party of geese, set off to decide the match.

For the first three hours, everything seemed to indicate that the turkeys would be the winners, as they were two miles in advance of the geese; but as night came on, the turkeys began to stretch out their necks towards the branches of the trees which lined the sides of the road; in vain the Prince attempted to urge them on with his pole, to which a bit of red cloth was attached… No stratagem, no compulsion could prevent them taking to their roosting-place. In the mean time, the geese came waddling on, and in a short time passed the turkey party, who were all busy dislodging the obstinate birds from the trees.’

A flock of domestic turkeys is called a rafter because they sensibly roost on the beams of their housing at night, just as their wild cousins roost in trees.