The Express.
London, England, 1867-01-07 00:00:00

*parting intellignue.

THE NEWMARKET DIVISION IN THE DERBY.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE EXPRVIR.

Stu,—Sportsmen of every grade had to hold hard
during the first week of 1867, the stingitg frost that set in
on the Ist of January having knocked the Manchester New
Year's ri am.. into the middle of twit for perhaps this)
week, awl while it lasted put both hunting and coursing
men, so &Wulf:. to shake off the effects of their Christmas
holidays, into clover *gain. There was nothing forsooth
to think ii,siut beyond the important stakes that closed
on Tuesday last ; and by some strange mischance these
were not placed before the subscribers to the official
organ until satui day evening, when the Calendar aune out
'genius the only eveut the world generally wanted to see—
the 'beide' Cue. which simple people will still speculate
upon, " all in," weeks before the nomination day. The
wonder is how the newspapers devoted to our national
pastimes tilled their columns for Saturday morning, and
the January number of Boily's .V090:i," 1 illllt just now
bo a perfect godsend to them, with its various gems of
light sporting literature, the probability being that, during
the ensuing two or three dull weeks, it will be quoted
until every liue—even unto the advertisements—is re-
pt oduce.l. We shall be quiet indeed should Mr. Frost
make a fresh start. until the issuing of the spring handl-
cam'. pending which everybody must fall back upon the
Derby and Two Thous:old fora medium of conversation on
speculation, and the quotations from Tattersall's will
doubtless show that the interest in them does not flag.
There are too many good performers in the Epsom
event i.e that to go stale, Friponnier and Wrough-
ton being the only male two-year-old celebrities that
were not deemed good enough when nearly a year and a
ball old to lie eutereil; and with the Rake, D'Estournel,
and Dragen out of the Two Thousand—Ai it is to be
feared Grand truss will be likewise very shortly—a
strange combination of accidents must happen if it is not
an excitingly open ewe up to the last. Should anything
serious occur to the Rake, D'Estourbel, the Hermit, or
Drigun. the world will iing with the news instanter, for
they are all heated at head-quarters, awl watched cs
closely as though the fate of empires I,penileil on their
" coughing." 01 failure to do a day's wo:t: when practice •
bk. Already the " touts" are breathing hluts of • actor,'
Chattanooga being among them, and it is singular that
Newmarlee has never been unanimous in its respect for
the Relic, who WAS allowed to retire to 441 to 1 for the
Derby just as Joseph Dawson was getting him fit
to win the Middle Park Plate. The objection now
is that he " will nut improve," was too well " set" as
a twolivar-ohl, and is withal too "short.- to be great this
season : whilst it is certainly a singular fact that the
descendants of Will Dayrell, no matter how good they
may be as youngsters, train into very moderate or non-
staying horses, Molly Carew, Wild Agnes, and Robin
Hood being living examples of this theory. Nevertheless,
no one who ever saw the Rake gallop can doubt his stout.
nets, and it is well melerstosal that the relative merits of
him and theepeeily Friponnier at house were:vastly different
at three-quarters of a mile to whet they were at half-a-mile.
last autmen. And yet he is not deficient in speed, or he
could not have got through the Althorp Park Stakes last
Starch when opposed to such fast things as C'ellina, Knight
of the I tart. r, Fityroy. Captain Kidd, and Jeannie Deans—
not to mention Marksman. In the Middle Park Plate.
too, he was "hang in front" before the field
had gone • quarter of a mile. The way he
beat Achievement and Knight of the Garter
three lengths, and left a lot like the l'silmer. Troattiero,
Master 11111. e, Houten:in, Flying Scud, and Rose many
lengths further behind, was always admitted to he tip-top
form ; coneemettly. the horse having so far done all that
his best friends could wish in the way of improvement, it
would 'event of prejudice not to admit his qualification to
be first fiddle fur any sat. 10Ib. race he im.y be in where
there is no Achievement in the way. Jostie, Dawson has
many other Derby nags in his charge, but only one
Rake, the Little Wives (another of Mr. Pryor'sl being only
a second-rater, and Mr. Fleming's "dark" Van Amburgb
no better, in my opinion ; and it will astonish me if his
brother Matthew eloi beat the cracks with the best of the
Duke of Newc.tatle%:. seeing that Pericles is a "roarer."
Flying Scud never ran up to his private trial with Whitby
when in Mr. W. Morris's possession, and Julius
was always beaten whenever he met a mode-
rately good horse, the Hermit having done
fur hint ill • canter at Stockbridge, and Vauban,
when he was wound up to concert pitch, giving
him alb. and just nicking him in the Houghton week.
Besides, tie etayine of a descendant of Julie remit remain
in doubt until he L.ls successfully gone through the ordeal
of a long spin ; and if lloinbastes—supposed t be a much
better alt than le showed himself at stockbridge, which
he may be, and then he is not a first-rater—is a glutton,
it will lie a strange gift of a son of Orlando and Bouquet.
The Duke of Hamilton has his horses at Mr. Dawson's,
who should wake 'earthing out of the an of tar unlucky
Palmer Nettle i 1 mein the mare was not the
man) call,il Aaiun. a gentleman we saw win his only public
race, at Salisbury, iu good style, if he cannot esscUy come
into the first class.

Mr. I lisplin's Hermit, Blinkboolie, and Pedagogue have
some rare blood in their veins, Stockwell and t ;overflew
claiming the Lst named as their own, thoul.h when I
saw him he did not look like poeseesing the good
qualities of either, even when he had taken all the "time"
ho so badly wsiiteil. Bliukhoolie was preeen:ed to the
world by Rataplan and Blink Bonny's da:.i, and may yet
show himself s respectable member of the family, which
be lifts not represeuted very gaily as yet ; bet the softest-
bred one in the Chaplin team, the Hermit. is the beat by
a long way, or we mould not have seen him easily win-
ning his four races out of Mx, with a lot bee Cellina,
Seville. opoponax. Pericles, Wroughton, Msnatila, Vau-
ban, Viridis. Montgoubert, Lady Hester, and Julius to
contend against. lie has been in a very queer street since
these gram( doings. it is true, many maintaining that he
will never he the Hermit of old ; nevertheless, the ills that
all horseflesh is heir to have got hold of many a Derby
winner in his printg days, and I have no reason to
believe the Hermit is any the worse now for him
indisposition. Dragon, the only colt that ever stretched
his neck, le presumed to be the hest Count F. de
Lagrange has a chance with, Trocadtro having
done nothing better than beat Mandrake half a length,
and once run within about a stone of Friponnier, whilst
Enchanteur, Imperator, teat Volant, and Long,champs are
all " dark." At one time it was the universal belief that
one of the two tirstmemed of this quartet was better than
Dragon—who has, however, gone otf just Lke a Gladia-
teur at present, never being forced up to the .nark, nor
punished when beaten; and considering he was scarcely
ever well when be did perform, and was once within a
neck of the Hermit. such a decided stayer must be
worthy of every confidence for a bout over the Epsom
milo end a half, which he proved himself quite fast
enough for at Windsor, and also on cutting down Lady
Hester from the moment the flag fell for a half mile
journey. _ _

Mr. Savila has two colts and two fillies, all very stoutly
bred, to stand by him, Moleskin and Ravioli having done
their duty in fair company, if they did occasionally show
a lack of that fine speed displayed to such advantage by
D'Estournel at Lewes, when be met hie last engagement.
This colt, like the niosterate Roquefort, eau bout the great
advantage of never having been severely dealt with by
his careful trainer, (Albert, as a youngster ; and he came
out so raw in the spring that, in the Two Thousand week
be was " nowhere in a race won by Hippie. for which
natty ran second. He bettered this shortly afterwards at
Ascot spring by first running second to Achievement,
beating 1. riponuier and Marksman, and next, "nobbling
Hippie fur a stake he did not get. However, he had 71b.
or alb. the best of the weights with both the fillies, who
were only beginning to run into the form they exhibited
aubeeetiently ; so that it did not astonish many when be
ran usplared to Achievement and the Hermit at Epsom,
and to the Palmer at Ascot. In the July he was more
himself, A'anban losing the second money to him behind
Achievement by two or three lengths ; arse! at Lewes he was
so ripe as to he able to gallop down the Duke
Ostreger, Bismarck, and Pericles, giving the two hate;
rilb. each. There was not much perhaps in the defeat of
the two old ones at half a mile ; but Bismarck Lad just
before this run Friponnier to a bead at Mb. only, making
out the latter at this period of the year !Wore he had
become so great a horse, it is true) quite half a none inferior
to D'Estournel on paper. If he only progressed in the
same ratio In the eutunin as he did in the summer, he
would he the very best colt out by this tune. gaol just the
cheese for the D. thy ; and, supposing he has not, he is
still ale that meet be kept on toe right side.
There ere many outsiders at headquarters deserving of
mention, Lord Glasgow having two particularly fine oolts
in his eons of Young Melbourne and Miss Sarah, whom
Harlock is boned L.. make pay their way. The lost-named
has already male a score, the rich Municipal at Doncaster
compensating for his three defeats, all of which were no
more an index to his " feria " than were the Young
Melbourne colt'. second to Alm's' at Goodwood and
third to Mandrake and Owain Glyndwr at Newmarket..
Baron Rothchild possesses nothing very great iu Januar),
the '• dark" Falkenstein' and Hue in raw is scarcely the
sort of
.thinj for Count Battbyany, who knows bow to
place a horse well enough to start in • Derby ; the
Prince D. Soltykott's Seringapatam being another that had
better be looked after ainong second-raters. (sodding
seems to have nothing worthy of a thought ; the only
others I need take cognizance of being those in charge of
the brothers Boyce, one having a '' dark " colt called
Flamingo Iby Thunderbolt out of Device), and the other a
brace of Lord Falmouth's. Star of India and Suanylocks.
The filly is a sister to Goldylocks, and has hitherto ran
just as great a jad. , for after making short work of Marks-
man. Huntsman, Mr. Pitt, langliam, Arundel. &c., over
six furlongs at Ascot, and running second to A/rides
In a good field at Stockbridge. she got gradually
worse, until at last anything could beat her out of
sight. It may be she cannot carry weight, and that the
Ret. nib. she won with was more suited to her than two
stone extra: anyhow, she is not even the best of the
second-rate lot of fillies that happen to be in the Derby.
Star of India is nominated by Lord Exeter. lEce Grand
Cross in the Two Thousand, or there would be a very fair
chance indeed of Lord Falmouth doing good battle far
the Blue Itiband, despite the colts three indifferent con-
cluding performances. He showed of what stuff he wee
made by heating Knight of the Garter (;.lb extra), and
Moleskin in a mile race at Doncaster, for which be had
only been a short time in training ; and supposing him to
improve all he promised at that time, he will not
be far off the top of the tree this Denson. He