The Express.
London, England, 1867-10-28 00:00:00

*parting intelligence.

THE CAMBRIDGESHIRE WEEK AND

CURRENT WEEK'S MEETINGS.

TO THE SIHToR or THE EXPREhs.

Sta,—The last scene of the legitimate racing
damn, the HoughtonMeeting, has been played out, and •
munition scene it was, with many thrilling situations.
Outsiders ran a dead heat for the 6,real event, and they
were so often victorious subsequently that I am afraid the
remarks made in my last will become over true, and the
growling at Tiattersall's to-day prove " awful." I if settling
there was very little done at Newmarket, no time
being allowed for such unimportant (now.a.days) busi.
nem. The races were set tiresomely early nearly every
day, and the visitors to the metropolis of the turf
are not notorious for early rising, too many being partial to
the music of the " bones"—which does not commence in
earnest until midnight, nor is it performed by niggers--for
them to be healthy, wealthy, or wise. It is fortunate the
elements were so propitious after the first day of the meet-
ing, or the call for • quarter to eleven on Friday would have
been most feebly responded to, the card for that day being
strong enough to atoll off the greatest glutton, as the busi-
ness extended over a full six hours. Wednesday's was
another long innings, " from eleven till four," and very
little to do, being enough to tire a government employe ;
and the only rational ilay's amusement was that of Tues.
day, when the double race for the great event and live very
usuall items had to keep us going from half-past twelve till
four. It was an exciting day, what with the deadbeat,
the presence of the Prince of Wales, and the singular acci-
dent end melee that accrued therefrom, and which might
have been fatal to life. His royal highness was terribly
annoyed at the blunder of his servant, whom be rated in
pure Saxon for his gross carelessness and stupidity when
be found these failings had not cost MID very dearly. Both the
jockeys, in addition to the culprit, escaped with a shaking,
and the greatest sufferers by the mishap were two gentle.
men who got into • " row " during the attempt that was
made to clear a way round the crippled trashy. What
their version is of the affair I know not, though they
have issued writs, it is said, against certain jockeys ; but
the statement of Parry, through whom the scrimmage
originated, reads very like a correct one, from what I
could see of the matter. He hays that, being requested
by the commander-in-chief of the course-clearers to assist,
with other jockeys,) in making • way CO that • veterinary
could get a look at the fallen animal, be, in backing his
pony, accidentally brushed against a gentleman, who was
in the way, on which the party caught hold of his reins
close to the bridle, " chucked" the pony up, and whilst
he was in the air, and almost overbalanced, struck him
(Parry) o• the head with the butt end of a whip or •
stick. The blow was returned, at the same time
that a yell was raised against the gentleman, upon
whom a rush wee made by several people
who witnessed the in6dent. A friend came
to his rescue ; but the pair soon hod to run for it, and
(one is a bit of a pedestrian, it is said) had they not
quickly taken refuge in the sacred grounds of the Jockey
Club, which nose hut the moat privileged can enter, the
emitretempe might have ended very seriously. As it was,
one of the parties was trodden upon, and had his ribs
nearly broken ; and hence the sympathy is generally in his
favour, some people going so far as to call it a gross out-
rage on the part of the jockeys, and to preach doleful ser-
mons on the fastness of the present generation of riders.
I have no feeling in the matter at all, but in answer to
these unfair means to prejudice the case, can aver,
without fear of contradiction, that it is notorious " faster"
gentlemen than the (lithest of jockeys come from Cam-
bridge to assist in a great race-day at Newmarket.
Another clique weakly use the accident as a means to
bring the power of the Jockey Club into contempt, though
it would puzzle one to say what they had to do with a
fracas impossible to foresee or prevent, and that might
just as well have happened at Goodwood, Ascot, York, or
quiet Stockbridge—or even at • flower-show—without the
masters of the ceremonies being at all to blame.
It was fortunate the " row " came between the two con-
tests for the Cambridgeshire Stakes, as the excitement
soon subsided in consequence, and when the rush was
made to the " top of the town " to see the deciding heat, I
question whether much beyond Lozenge and Wolsey were
thoughte
about. It was the first dead heat that had oc-
curred for the popular race, and the first times five-year.
old was victorious, three-year-olds having had it so much
their own way for many years past that it was quite a
matter of surprise there was not one in the first three.
They comprised IS of the 33 starters, and supplied half a
dozen of the best favourites ; but those of any account were
carrying heavy weights, and Ratite "going"wasvery severe,
what with the long grass and the rain that bad fallen
previously, it is no wonder they were unsuccessful, the
light weights of the two dead-heaters just serving
them on such a day. Of the race it is needless to say
much further here than that the " duffers " were out
of it from the start, the delay in accomplishing which got
La Dauphioe so out of temper that she would not move
when the flag fell ; that Julius, Knight of the Garter,
Wrougbton, and Corporal, all ran well for • mile, con.
sidering their imports ; that Honesty, Harry Brailsford,
Blinkboolie, and the Stratforda dam colt were too slow
throughout, and the Attack colt too slow to begin ; and
that lauseret's was the performance ppaarr excellence of the
whole thirty-three. After old Sacnharemoter had won
the trial race on Monday his party booked victory • cer-
tainty barring an accident, but which " accident " did
happen in the shape of the horse being disappointed and
knocked about, he and Honesty coming into collision
once. He was going so strong at the finish that his par-
tisans may fairly be allowed to indulge in the idea he
"ought to have won ;" and should he keep on his legs, be
iscertainty worthy of occupying the place vacatedhy his half-
brother Ostreger, and come out next year the king of hen-
dicap horses. He looks Pound enough now, bad as his case
was eighteen months ago, when oust after he had been
found better than Delight) his hocks went so bad,
and were swollen to such a size, that Goodwin was com-
pelled to throw him up. A long rest, and then • sojourn
at Yarmouth for the benefit of the sea-bathing, made him
fit for work again, and last Goodwood he showed in public
for the first time since his Derby. But then be was
" big," as he was also at York on running his remarkable
second to Lord Ronald, and which added 14Ib to his im-
post of Tuesday last, or what an exhibition be would have
made of his opponents. It is best as it is, however, for
no one area to see • great race spoiled, and we should
certainly net have been treated to dead heat had be failed
to get found out. Nor would my ideas of the race been
so correctly carried out had he won as it was, for after
selecting Lozenge, Untwist, Knight of the Garter.
Wroughton, La Dauphine, Honesty, and the Attack colt
(five out of the first six in the race, and only one favouirte
among them at the time), as the lot from which the
winner was to be produced, I gave the fiat to
some outsider in the event of both Honesty and
Wr..ughton failing, and two outsiders ran the
dead heat, Wolsey being at a very long price
until it was found Kenyon would ride him. My
other selections for the week were also singularly happy,
the only failures chronicled against me being when Slims.
sell beat Usher again (of which the least said the better),
Xi and Suffolk just did the Earl, and Court Mantle shut
up when he had the Glasgow in hie gresp. It is not mixer
awry to enter into further details of the meeting, as on
Lady Elisabeth declining to meet Roseicrucian for the Troy
both the great two-year-old races were at the mercy of Sir
Joseph, who was also made to look more rosy than ever
for the Two Thousand and Derby by the indifferent per-
formances of Rabic-an, The Earl, Suffolk, and Pace during
the week. These were all stale or out of sorts, no doubt,
and may revive some day; but there ere few performances
worth standing on for the Derby just now, only Lady
Elizabeth's bang fit to come alongside those of Sir
Joseph Hawley's three clippers—Blue Gown, Rosi-
crucian, and Green Mantle—unless I except Ty-
phone, who justified the good opinion I have
always expressed of him by heating Pace, raw
and green as he was. Sir Joseph Hawley got a better
line for hie youngsters then in either the Criterion or the
Troy when Xi beat The Earl in their match, though he
must have been mortified when Xi failed to make l-'ri-
ponnier gallop, with all his advantage, as to know or one
that could stretch the neck of this gentleman just now
would be worth anything. Mr. Pryor certainly possesses
the fastest Leese in training in the son of Che-
valier d'lndustrie, whom no flyer has succeeded
in extending all through the three Newmarket
meetings and who ought, by-the-bye, to have
been started for the Cambridgeehire after being left
in so long. The merest tyro could see how he was being
" milked" from the. time he touched 7 to) • and for him
to be " scratched" only when one or two parties not in the
swim knocked him clean out of the market in sheer dia.
gust, and so prevented aty more money being got, was
enough to make his victims say uncharitable things.
We have now only to get over the " afterpiece " for the
whole season's performances to be concluded, and four
weeks will .lo this, the current one being the busiest, as
Chelmsford and Lincoln both run counter to the old Wor-
cester fixture—a clashing that cannot but be deplored, as
all the meetings must suffers little in consequence. I
can perceive very little chance for the Chelmsford venture
being a success, supported as it is by Newmarket men
and horses in the spring and summer, for these must be
pretty well used up now, and Cockaigne will not send
nearly'bo many visitors as in sunnier times. The programme
is only a light one, which I shall dismiss by giving the
Autumn lianilicep to Saccharometer, with Mr. Fleming's
best— Van Amburgh, perhaps—neat; the Betting Handi-
cap to Excitement or Nancy ; and the Nursery to Cater
or Benevolence, leaving Tuesday's return to " tip " foe
the Innkeepers' and County Members' Handicap on Wed-
newl.sy.
At Wnrceeter we have 11 mixture of hurdle-ruing and
steeplechasing with the " legitimate " business ; and the
committee stick to their extra day, where the meeting
extends from Tuesday to Thursday. The entries and
acceptances for the closed events are good, and my selec-
tions for them shall be se follow ;—Autumn Handicap, on
Tuesday, Goojerat, with Sister to Vedette or Paslisbah for
the most dangerous of his opponents ; Nursery Plate, the
Parson, " with a start," which is doubtful ; Hurdle Race,
Tennyson ; Handicap Plate, Drum ; Grand Stand Plate,
Lord Coventry's best—the Rescue, probably ; Flying
Stakes, Mrs. Stratton or Deceiver ; Severn Bank Stakes,
the Nun ; Grand Annual Steeple Chase, Tennyson or
Balder.

A !nixed programme is advertised for Lincoln on Thurs-
day and Friday. and the prizes have obtained capital
entries of good horses. though bow many of them will per-
form is another matter. For the Lincoln Handicap, Ely