The Express.
London, England, 1864-10-24 00:00:00

TO TEI salros OP TEI RIPIZIOL

Sm,—When steeplechasing ban commenced it
is time the " legitimate" burner of noiag WIN over, and
with the Hooghten Meeting at Newmarket the " fiat'
season simian, closes for Worcester, Liverpool, and
Shrewsbury are after all but hybrid stain, jumping beta
as importast en ingredient in the bills of fare as any-
thing else, At head-marten the last two-year-
old spine possessing any interest are to be witeemed
and there are very few of this kind at present in the ske-
leton programme, which embraces altogether over sixty
incite ; of which more than two-thirds have yet to be
made up. Only the Nursery, of thine for jimmies, will
have say pretensions to be constituted • " feature •;" and
the six days' sport will consist almost entirely of " plat-
int."
On the first day there will be little beyond the Criterion
and the Matches to interest anybody but speculators, for
the Free Handicap from the Ditch has all the appearance
of a walk over for Fills de l'Air. In the Criterion Stakes,
for two-yeer-olds, Kcenig, the best Derby favourite likely
to be on fibs spot, has a Sib penalty, which must make him
safe, for the Frenchmen pommel three superior ar-
ticles that are in receipt of weight from him,
in Gladiateur (61b extra), Gentian (31b extra),
and Le Mandarin. The latter certainly disappointed
them when he came out at Goodwood, but be has
improved since ; end supposing Gladurieur la not fit to
be trusted by them again, yet he or Gontran should prove
just good enough to beat Brahma, who is the best of the
other public hones engaged. The match between Sidewind
and Attraction may result in the latter's favour, with all
the weight ; and Paris has run so badly since the Two
Thousand that 1 do not believe the extra weight will pre-
vent General Peel spin beating him, the two mils being
quite as much spinet the latter as Lord Glasgow's colt.
For the Cambridgeshire Stakes, one roil* 240 yards, there
is • prospect of a tremendous field, and it is quite possible
for it to exceed the largest ever previously recorded, " pub-
lic form" having said so little of late towards its probable
result that talents are "on" at least twenty different can-
didems. Even thee they may have mimed the winner, and
only two or three days ago an offer was made to take 1,000
to 60 the winner would not be picked in sixty times. There
are two hot favourites, nevertheless, in the four-year-olds,
Brick and Gratitude, about whom (coupled) 2to 1 is now
taking, although daring the twenty-five years the ram has
been eetiridished the three-year-olds were sixteen times ono-
earful and the fours only eight. Besides the above pair, there
are the four-year-olds Blue Mantle, Saccharometer, Donny-
brook, Domini; Old Orange Girl, Toje, Accident, Muezzin,
Dr. Synmx, Canzonette, Cadean, Columba, Columbia, and
Trap, talked about as likely to dart,. This is • stroog lot ;
bat their number is beaten by that of the three-year-olds on
the books. for Miner, Bacchus, The Clown, Bel Demonic,
Birch Broom, Tomato, Monkey, Entine, Ackworth, Cri is,
Rosa, Sk phaeton, Mail Train, Bayard, Castle Hill, Plunk,
V•liant, . Agatha, the ilighllyees dam colt, King
of Clubs, Battaglia. and Chartnian are all expected to show ;
and, al oag a five or six year old has never yet won the
Cain • Gabrielle d'Estrem, Balham, Prince Plausi-
ble, Leonora, Tattoo, the Crochet hone, Charming Woman,
Queen of Trumps, sod Stockinger, all threaten to "cut in"
on Tuaiday,with old Twilight, who is scarcely likely to emu-
late the performance of The Widow, the only aged horse
that ever pulled through. In the above lists then are,
of course, a few whose starting is doubtful—Trap,
Mail. Train, and Gabrielle d'Estaing, of those that
have been backed, coming in the category; but at least forty
starters are generally anticipated, and even with only half
of them "trying; the nee would be the most open one of
the year. The Ceserewitch shed but • faint light upon it,
forward es Gratitude and Ackworth ran tip to the finish,
and Planet tar more than • mile and • half, and when
Saccharoceetar cantered away from Merry Hart and others
over the identical Cambridgeshire course a day afterwards,
be was at once bookrd • most formidable opponent to the
trio above named, who are the pick of the Cessrewitch
The other recent performances that are considered good an
these°, Bacchus, Birch Broom, sod Bayard, hones that carry I
some good moony ; but the support conceded to Donn,-
brook, Brick, Accident, Muezzin, Colombo, Columbia, t a-
liens, the Hightlyees dam colt, Prinos Plausible, Leonora,
Tattoo, Queen of Trumps, and Stockingsr has been purely
on account of what they have done at home, 'or that form
this year has been the reverse of recommendatory ; and Co-
lumbia, Accideot, Valiant, mid the Highllyees dam colt
have yet to do anything in public to their credit. Brick's
reputation is built on • very frail structure, for he has not
been seen for over two years, having split his hoof so badly
in a gallop just before the Two Thomson' of 1863 that it
MY thought ha would never run again ; but he is nom"
the worse for it now, it is averred, and with only
7st 71b to carry he ought certainly to beat Gra-
titude, list 71b, who barely beat • three-year-old
in the Casarewitch when in receipt of • stone,
She will, it is true, have the services of a far superior jockey
this time, Covey being almost secured for her, but the 71b
lase weight that she 'eosins from Ackworth, lot, is quite
enough to reverse their positions, and he, too. may be as
well mounted as Mr. Robinson's maiden. That Ackworth
can beat Brick at n.), however, seems hardly on the cards ;
and as he and Planet, Bet 91b, are close together over • mile
from their running in the Cesarewitch, Brock looks on paper
the superior of the whole lot that performed in that encoun-
ter. Still, paper calculations area° often upset in the Cam-
bridgeshire that it would be so surprise were Planet to prove
the &tended* rinser of the rook for his forte is speed, and he
ran so fast up to the "bashes" in the last encounter that he
might turn out • second Batbilde, Malacca, Odd Trick,
or Sultan, who were all unplaced in the Cesarewitch, and
yet won the Cambridgeshire. kancharonister, 7st 131 b, was
a ab better two-year old than Brick ; and in the Two
Thousand Guineas last year he did a clever thing when na-
ming wood to Macaroni, the after performance at Ascot
over a mile being also • good one, as be ran clean away
from Judea, Tom Fool, Homodar, Old Orange Girl, ke.
His legs have beta very "dicky" since, sad until the other
day he appeared to have lost all form ; bat winning his late I
ram with ridiculous ease, and pullinapparently sound,
be raised the supposition that he is agate, and the
recent heavy rains are so much in favour of his legs like-
wise that he may, upset all the "pots." Prince Plausible I
and Tattoo have bees • long tiros in clover,
and there is strong reason to suspect the lather
is another of the Woodyeatee bottled-up "good Wage
much as she is still opposed by the talent. In the same
interest (as far as nominations are concerned) as Brisk
Broom, she is not in the same stable, the latter being • !
companion of Planet at Fiodon, and she hest of this trio
must be very dangerous, Birch Broom's defeat of Exchequer
in the First October week being so easily accomplished that
the performance is equal to anything that can be boasted ef
in this race, great as was that of Bacchus over the sagas
course. The decline of Accident, Meanie, and Stockinet.
in the market occurs at • most ominous time, and there at.
rumours current of the latter being • non-starter,
iu consequence of his party having "no mosey os
and if this trio are only out of the way, the
heavily weighted three-year.olds will be greatly be-
nefited. Bayard', recent victory on the continent
showed him a great horse, and had it boas acmes- I
plished before the weights were out, the handicapper would
have given him coosiderably more than Bet Bilb, for he beat
Affidavit, who was in this at 7st 21b, very easily, just sites
the latter had beans Soumise, and he looks very
like the mooed best French trained three year old to
Vermont. Valiant and the Hightlyer's dam colt, who run
for some big " books," will take a lot of beating, but do not
strike me as so threatening as Bayard; Columbia, 6st 31k, is
another " bookmaker's horse" gong for • great stake ; and
one of the beet judges on the turf, Sir Joseph Hawley, thiske
be possesses a fair outside chance with Columba, an
idea in which 1 quite coincide, for Leh. has performed
respectably *sough to be bound to run forward with
6st on her four-year-old bark. I dare not trespass on your
space by entering into the merits or demerits of those not
backed, although nut intending for one moment to infer
that it I. impossible for them to give the fielders a turn ;
but such as Donnybrook, Queen of Trumps, and Lenora,
who represent the " ragged lot" of those in the market,
might be trusted to keep them safe, the most dangerous,
perhaps, being the uncertain Blue Mantle. To conclude,
however, 1 shall look to Gratitude, Soccharometer, and
Brick defeating the four-year-olds; Ask worth, Bayard,'
and Planet the three-year-olds ; and Tattoo and
Prince Plausible the elder horses; sod reducing these
to • quartette —Saccharountra, Brick, Bayard, and Planet
"—nay mind is wavering whether to steed on the
two first or two lest names ; but the best aid most recent
public form has certainly been displayed by Bayard
and Seetharometer, and there are quite as well worth
backing es many at ridiculously short prices.
The remaining events are, in the majority of emir, quite 1
insignificant, one of the most interesting being Tuesday's I
All Aged Stakes, which might be won by Lord Burnie', or
by Argonaut in his absence, difficult as it will always be to
beat Faineant for speed. The 200 Son. Sweepstakes will
probably be walked over for by Zambesi, as Archimedes is
lams; and 1 can see nothing to interfere with Oln,ar and
Kuroi io the Glasgow Stakes and 50 Soya Sweepstakes
on Wednesday ; Komig basin another easy task before
him in the no Soya. Sweepstakes run for on Thursday. On
this lay we shall have decided the last great three-rear-old
event of the year; and that it is a great event,
the fact of Cardamoms, Falk de l'Air, and Ely
bean likely to meet must testify. Their weights an such
that there can be little to choose between them, and with
Beragelt, Beeches, Master Richard, and others to join mine
with them, it will be quite • little Derby. Fills de l'Air is
in such peat form just now that it is dangerous tossed
against her, but that she can give a stone to Bacchus and
171 b to Meats( Richard is hardly on the cards, and my on.
Mott inclines towards riacchua as the wilaDOr. There is
nothing else completed in the prop marine worthy of men-
tion, es the WO son. Sweepstakes will be walked over for,
probably, by Biendina, and previous guanine will influence
the two or three insignificant matches ordered for the bat
three days.-1 am, &c, "Moll.