The Express.
London, England, 1866-04-02 00:00:00

THE CRAVEN WEEK AT NEWMARKET.

TO TITZ JIDITOR OF TIM 11111388.

Sin,—Eastertide is to be kept most religiously,
or Lereligimudy, by the turf community, for whom above a
score of meetings of some description are this week pro-
vided. Ave days' racing at Durham, York, and Catterick
Bridge is ordained, as if purposely to keep the northerners
in their own district ; and while " professions) sportsmen"
are battling away at Newmarket until Friday, profes-
sional caterers, who get up a programme to please their
friends and the public, on the same kind as theatrical
, and quite right too, will be busy at Blackheath
mid • (shall we ever have them at 131ackfriars and
Paddington-green?) at the commenoement of the week,
and Croydon at the close. Those just enumerated are the
main "fixtures" of the twenty-one ; but Newmarket, of
course, takes precedence, though its programme, taken
altogether, is as weak as the fact of only 5001. (for the
plates are, or ought to be, self-supporting) added money
being spread by the executive over two more of events
would make one. The four-year-old and Derby Trial
Stakes, that have at times done so much for the Craven
week—only last year, we had Ely and Cambriscan contest-
ing the Biennial, and Fills de l'Air and General Peel the
Claret—have turned out most unfortunate, the Trial,
Port, and Claret being foregone conclusions ; whilst of the
fifteen three-year-old prizes to be picked up, there are not
mare than three of the smallest significance—and these, it

is to be feared, will fail to oreateTa tithe of the intend
they did last year, when the performances of Kangaroo,
leek o' Inntern, ite., so startled the knowing ones. We
have a couple of these " weeps" in Monday's list that ap-
pear settled, &ea having but to walk over for the first,
and Lothario being quite good enough to ware the
second, on the strength of his performance last autumn
with Drum, who only beat him a head when in receipt
of 211 b. for a Nursery. The latter is deemed good enough
to win, with bet 101 b, the Newmarket Handicap, mile
and three quarters, on Tuesday, which plainly shows the
calibre of his opponents, of whom Pearl Diver, another
moderate horse only is made the favourite at fist 81b. John
Day, who won the Northamptonshire Stakes so easily with
the ilet John Davis that he immediately looked like sack-
ing all the remaining spring handieapa, has three in—Lord
Zetland, 7st 71b, Innedowne, 21b, and Black Prince,
fist 101 b ; however, it is said neither of the two latter will
tun, though the Prince was at one time first favourite,
and that Lord Zetland is in no " form" to win. Eskring
and Whalebone, fist 7lb each, are booked the most formi-
dable opponents of Drum among the three year olds, and
unless the French Tourmalet appear upon the scene at
the last moment, I shall not be surprised to see
these finish the foremost trio, supposing John
Day's three are really out of court, for they all
promise to stay as well as Pearl Diver. At any nits,
I must search among them for the winner, and it will
be difficult, in my opinion, to discover one to beat the
Drum. The Rowley Mile Biennial loses most of its in-
terest by the Student and Robin Hood declining to show,
the ,Primate, Magician, King Hal, and Mount Palatine,
now composing the cream of those knoihi to fame that
promise to run ; and unless something " dark" should
beat them all, or one of the lot were to win very easily,
neither the Two Thousand nor Derby will be materially
altered. There is certain to be a good field, as the stake is
worth 6801., out of which the second takes 681., and the
third, 34/. ; but it is uncertain whether we shall see J.
Scotts Westwick or Penelope Plotwell, or the Peer, make
a debut, and such as Gladiator, Gookust, Catalogs,
Loohiel, Staghound, Warwick, and Denman, will form
the majority of the limners. The last-named ran
=plead three times last season, but was always
in good company, and promised so much improvement that,
if pulled out to ccaarrrryy" the Baron's" colours, he must not
be thrown overboanL Still, the Primate did well several
times, showing form within • very few pounds of Mr. Pitt's
in two instances, and in another giving Ewa 31b and a bast-
ing ; and if he does not win, it may be owing to Magician
(who runs untried) being a much better three than he was
• two year old, which is not at all unlikely. A trio of
three-year-old sweepstakes should be swept off by Robin
Hood (Baron Rothschild's), Mirella, and Pram ine re-
••t{vely ; but all I can say of the dark lot in the Beacon
Stakes is, that Hermit (Achievement, Politician, and Pho-
tographe are all reputed to be extremely good horses—too
good, perhaps, to run for so small a stake. Wednesday
will be an awfully slow day, for the Derby Trial is
at the mercy of the mighty Frenchman, and
the Column •ppean but a match, if they
come out in good trim, between Crown Prince and
Beelzebub. The other events that may come to anything
will merely foster "excessive gambling," and all that can
be said of them is, that neither the Giraffe filly nor St.
Sophia need to turn out very good to beat In Muta (who
possesses however, • little " form") for the T.Y.C. Sweep-
stakes. In Thuredsy's bill of fare there are eight out of
ten events completed, including a couple of two-yair-old
races with Problem engaged, and for which she will find it
very difficult to get home, having a 151 b, penalty in the
Abingdon, and a Tartar to meet for the Sweepstakes in
Hippo, who ran Mr. Chaplin's filly a severe race at
Northampton, after having something taken out of her in
the struggle with Mr. Pitt for the Whittlebury. The
Claret must be taken by Gladiateur ; but the four-year-
old Biennial is somewhat open, the Duke, Archimedes,
Sydmonton, and Friday being well worth pulling out, for
if the two latter are not of so good a class as the
others, they will like the long two miles better
than the Duke, whilst Archimedes, the best of
the whole lot, will hardly be up to the mark.
Under all the circumstances, the struggle may lie between
the Duke and Sydmonton, and were the former to decline
the encounter, Lord Portsmouth's glutton would appear •
better " thing" than would Lord Hastings's horse, sup-
posing the pair met. The R.M. Sweepstakes might pro-
voke an interesting race between Lothario, the Duke of
York, and Ambition, it being for previous running to show
whether the first-named can beat his highness ; but it is
only • matter of King Hal being right for him to have the
beet of Gladiator and Bertie in the Criterion Course
Sweepstakes, whilst Face in the Aake Produce and the Pri-
mate in the 100 son. Sweepstakes may not be opposed.
Face again looks like walking over for the Bennington on
Friday when the Marquis of Hastings can so amity walk
off with the Port ; and there are none better than Dales-
man in the 100 son. Sweepstakes, and Warwick in the 30
son. " ditto," on last year's form.—l am, kn.,
METEOR.