In July of 2008 "Black belt caterpillar wrestler" posted the lyrics to "High-Mettled Racer". The text was written by Charles Dibdin; the Bodleian Library has a broadside dated ca. 1790. In Sporting Anecdotes (1820), Pierce Egan wrote:

"On the publication of this song, it was so much admired in the Sporting World, that it is said, the late Mr. Charles Dibdin, cleared upwards of £2000 by it."

At least one theater production was based on the song, including one in which, at the end, a magician resurrects the animal to life.