The Express.
London, England, 1867-10-21 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE EXPREWS.

Slic,—A dead failure in the far north, and not so
enlivening at Clieltenhan an I letefar I, Ole nation d pue
time has provoked no ennui; iusidet is luring the past
week ; eer e: the opening of ti' eteeplecharie airmen, at
assisted in by what Way he t:i leer jumping cele-
brities. auciteasf al as wail the meeting; :sod what with the
not-at-all str age ending to the Champiouehip of Ragland
business—each party taking the deposit money back.
without giving those who paid their sovereign for a
" colour.' and three Boys. for a railway ticket to the sup-
posed scene of operations, the semblance of a" merry little
mill —the sporting world has been decidedly dull since
my last. Tiatites found plenty to keep their minds nice.
pied, no doubt, in the doings on the last great event of
the old " legitimate " season, the Cambridgeshire,
which is one of the very few interesting items in
the monster programme pat forth, as usual, for
the Houghton week. Onu or two of the dozen
matches may create some sensation, as likewise •
couple of the two-year-old contests, the four handl-
e:pa the weights and acceptances for which have yet to
be declared. also possessing their attractions ; but neither
the three., carol.' nor weightfor-age items in the list—
only four in number in all—will go off with any fries ; and
with three dozen of the plates and sweepstakes worthless
in th..nisels es mixed up among the above, it is easy to
foretell how the time will be slant from Monday morning
to Satunlay es cuing on the heath. (:ambling will be the
order of the dey—not to say " excessive gambling ;" and
when the sixty-bye events are over, there will probably be
the old share, afloat of heavy losers and large bookmakers'
profit,, folio% ed up by the usual growls at Tatterall's
about the alednce of certain accounts. The few important
Henn are so spread over the bill of fare that
there will be nu escape until Friday for those who
wish to witness them all, and people objecting
to enter uper the pursuit of racing on a Sunday
will have to get up very early to be in time for Monday's
eleven races advertised. One of these, the Lord Lyon soil
Yiridia snatch for 5,000 soya., 500 forfeit, will probably fall
through. the present owner of the latter not having made
the rash eugagement, so that we may be doomed to un
more than two actual contests, three of these being matches
wherein Iluenceaway may beat Pericles, Coup d'F.clat
Pan....a, and Putt Cater. The Criterion field can scarcely be a
strong one. for I rant/Aster ran very badly last ni eetiug, Mafia
could not show at all lately, and Rabicao, the suppo•esi
sheet anchor of the Frenchmen in next year's Derby. was
mot allowed to perform in the rich Middle Park Plate.
Should Rabic:in:leave " Sir Joseph "alone, the cherry jacket
can again be ton and second, notwithstanding they fancy
Chelsea so much at Richmond, and the respectable charac-
ters berne by Restitution, Samson, The Parson, Bel Giorno,
Naivete, Leonie, Court alentle, St. 11011311, and Tym-
;maeun. way not be deemed necessary, however, to
start both the Kingsclere pair, and I can only say that
Roalerucian would be the greater certainty.
Tuesday)s business will not be so heavy, only eight races
being promised us, and one of these is a watch, for which
Michael de I laic.° must beat First Flight's sister, with ell
the weight, unless W. Day's party overrated him some
Tilb when they " plunged ' for the Derby. The MO
nova sweepstakes is a plum for the Newcastle hoops, with
Pace unr.enalised ; but there will be no " moral" in the
thoubriolgeshire—not even • Blhikhoolie, unless those who
hays been laying against Honesty as though he were as
" dead" sa in Cesarewitch find they must get out, in the
event of which he may see • mail price. Perhaps the
layers will prove right in the end, uo horse going so un-
like his name in the market as this notoriety. Those who
back him *wear lie is " all right," whilst the layers insist
they are only being gulled, and certainly such things eve
whispered of the party supposed to be pulling the strings
as would make Honesty blush to hear. Were the horse to
be even " snatched " overnight, it would be no surprise to
many, thoagli, should he prove alive, his stable-oompanion
Julius mast recede still further, and Mr. Pryor will pioba-
bly make up his mind—if he has not done so already—to
keep FriponLier in the stable. Nothing can shake Knight
of the Garter but the revival of Illinkhoolie, who was only
fourth to bite —llreadalbane bein7 second and N'espashui
third—when they were put through the mill &week ago—
ra that the return into favour of Mr. Chaplin 'a colt is
strange, to say the least of it. But Bloaa's and Mr. Daw-
son's are not the only stables with two horses heavily
backed in them, the Duke of York and Tormentor being
" doggies drawn," to all appearance, and both owners are
sanguir:e about heating each other. The Duke certainly
has the Lest of Actaar on paper, having easily disposed of
her across the Flat last autumn, and with the Oaks
victreas in form. she, too, would be able to give the weight
to last year's Cambridgeshire winner. Lanaret Wrough-
ton, Lozenge, La Dauphine, Jenne Premiere, Wolsey, and
the Attack colt, are all carrying " good money," as are
oleo two or three of the long-priced division, Hippia,
War, Nu. Captain Kidd, Duchess, Armourer, and Grey
Stocking being nibbled at by certain arties as if they "know
something;' or supported openly by their owners. Valo-
rous, Ammunition, and others, put about assech good things
once, have gone out as though their eases were thoroughly
hopeless ; nod the French lot, with T. Dawson's and
(boater's, once so strongly fancied, are sadly at • discount
The case of the last-named looks bad, with Thalia and
Rompirv.: Girl, the best of the bunch, repo•ted ands., and
only Ule:ius or Proserpina to fall back upon ; but Daw-
son has ere Priest, Rococo, Corporal, sod the 3ean all at
Newinarket, and should any sign be made about one of
the lot, the present favourites will be in danger, with
Camerortr.gainst them too. The Gladiateur division, again,
are never so dangerous as when quiet, there being just
enough in Dragon and the Counts pair of M's to entitle
their being meutioned. Outsiders in galore aregoing to run
untried—end unlocked probably—Treasure Trove. Nancy
or Cecrops. Cellina or Archimedes, Lord Glasgow's Straf-
ford's dam colt, Harry Brailatord, Friday, Janitor, Mol-
davia. 'William Tell. Goo' at, and Leases being all on the
list of " prohables ;" still, these is little chance of a turn-
up for the fielders unless Treasure Trove can do the Re-I
Eagle trick stain for the Osborne& Some Newmarket
men say Arehimesles would be worth backing, were it not
for the likars to 3 laid against him. Those carrying the
heavy money must be looked among for the winner, never-
thelen, :Lod I must say that Laneret, Knight of the Garter,
Wroughtoo, Lozenge, La Dauphine, Honesty, and the
Attack colt are a very formidable lot to represent one, if they
are only right. I drew particular attention last week to
the " best-hooking four year old there is at Newmarket,
the outsider Laneret," since when the horse has beconie a
great favourite, and ns Fordham will have the mount he
is worth looking after, having all the best of the weights
with Knight of the Garter at 'alb for the year. NVrough-
ton and Hole eta- at the same time will keep all the heavy
weights in check, supposing the money is only right with
them, :ailing which anything may win and such things
have hapisaied before now as La Dauphine's taking it into
her head to run in front all the way.
Although the Jockey Club have to boll a meeting before
dinner, there are n dozen events for Wednesday's card.
thanks to three matches, with reference to which I need
only observe that The Earl, the Maid of Masbam filly, and
Usher each has the best of it, from appearances. The All-
aged Stokes leads very like a walk over for Friponnier,
and the 50 soya. Sweepstakes may result the same way ;
but not Po the Glasgow Stakes, Court Mantle baying
MicLiel de Basco and one of Lord Glasgow's long-pedigreed
things to shake off. The Free Handicap is one of those
matters that should not be looked into until the accept-
ances are declared, and yet I cannot help noticing that
Mr. Pitt has at last got well treated at Newmarket for the
lest time since his Spencer Plate victory. The Criterion
Course Nursery will not be completed until Tuesday, and
hence three only of Thursday's events are ripe for discus-
sion, one of these. the Free Handicap, being nearly over,
as Julius should easily beat all bus Knight Errant—sad
him cleverly. The Troy is reduced almost to • match be-
tween Rosicrucian and Lady Elizabeth (31b. extra), Rabi-
es'' tallowed 31b.) constituting about the only one that could
endanger the success of either, and after the Criterion one
of there may be withdrawn. There may be more fun in the
little 50 rows. sweep as Suffolk ought to oppose The Earl
again, albeit after the Prendergast running I cannot have him.
Friday's Nursery is just as incomplete as its preilecesaor,
which can easily bring forth the winner, judging from
Viridis's double event last year • and the Cambridgeshire
must tell if Knight of the Garter can heat the Duke of
York in their match. The Mentmore Stakes has been in-
troduced into the programme at the last moment, het for
what reason I cannot guess, as the recent performances of
Gooier.. and Rama showed them to be quite out of form,
and tulles* they have rooovered very suddenly Dalesman
meet tie them both up ins spin over the fourouiles-and-a-
quarter Beacon Course. Pace has to fear Typhieus, if not
St. 1:011,11, in the 500 soya Sweepstakes—worth nearly
three thousand clear, with three runners ; but the 27.
son. Sweepstakes in • mystery, whilst Prodigal has been
too long on the shelf fur me to judge whether be can beat
Shrapnel' in their match. Out of Saturday's ten events
two are matches that may cote to nothing, Rama and
Lecturer being pretty certain to pay forfeit to Lord Lyon
and Chivalry, and previous running may show that very
few can tackle King Alfred for the Sane: Stakee.—
I ant Lc., METEOR,
London, Saturday.