The Express.
London, England, 1866-04-09 00:00:00

EXPECTATIONS.

TO THII IDITOR Of THI TXPRII3B.
Elm —What with the race meetings at Durham
sad Oalberick-bridge, and the day's steeplechasing at Yark
that divided them, the Tykes had quite as good sport es
was to be witnessed at Newmarket last week, and I am
sure they enjoyed it more than the patrons of head-
quarters did their Ave days " out," continuous rain cra
Monday and Tuesday, showers on 'Wednesday, rain again
on Thursday, and dust ands gale to wind up with on Fil-
-1 day, being their portion. Such a state of affairs
naturally kept many of the public at home, and the
new toll-gate move consequently did not have a fair
trial, for the attendance was bound to exhibit a peat
falling off had there been no crown feel levied on every
vehicle that went on the heath. Not much more than
1001. could have been taken at the gate altogether, and
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that amount, or nearly so, was give; away to a new race,
a Plate for two-year-olds that wound up the proceedings
on Friday ; but it would have been better inverted many
=t, in a oovering for the betting ring, or even a shed
which those `rho have no carriages to fly to might
take sheiks when the weather was bad. It would be pre-
sumptuous to talk about • public stand from which the
races finishin&me the flat could be viewed, and such • boon
will hardly b4l granted now, for them fond of • little
exercise would then shun the carriages that are to become
such a source of revenue. to the Jockey Club, and which
have from time immemorial had to serve the purpose of
private " stands." Even with the new 1001. Plate, the club
only gave 6401. "net," to be run for during the five days,
501. given from the Town Race Fund to the Newmar-
, kat Handicap, and her Majesty's 100 , bringing the
' amount of public money up to but . • thus, it is not to
be wondered at that the fields should turn out mean as the
week Wore on. The number. of runners for the New-
market Handicap was murp ugly small, either the handi-
cap or the hones engagedbeing deemed so bad by owners
that nineteen of the twenty-seven accepting elected to pay
15 son. forfeit instead of son. for running, which was
tantamount to refusing over 70 to 1 about their chances in
• very small field. The talent hit the mark to • nicety by
laying odds on &skiing and Pearl Diver against the field,
for the latter was second best, being stopped when the
grey bad the race in hand—and who won so easily as to
appear a better " thing " for the Metropolitan than Tres-
sure Trove, as she proved her ability to stay. lord Zet-
land, se observed in my last, was in no form to win ; and
the other performers, with the exception of Pearl Diver,
were very moderate horses indeed over a distance of
ground. The new 2001. Plate was in • measure spoiled by
QM Lecturer being such • tried " certainty " that sto 4
was taken about him, tipublie following the commission
almost to a man, prised yon account of Kenyon, the
Percy Roselle of ligh weights having the mount. He
won six races out of eleven at the meeting,and promisee to
do backer, as good service this year as James Grinsahaw
did in his great " feather" season. The latter celebrity
underwent his trial before the Jockey Club during the
week ; and for his rased to ride the Marquis of Hastings's
fractions Prodigal at Warwick and one or two °ham ra-
tions he made with referesce to his master subsequently—
evidence of which not being forthcoming on Monday, a
remand was ordered until Thursday—he is suspended from
riding again until the Derby Day. The sentence is sot
so severe as some would have wished, and who argued that
daaszainplemere not madewe might some day have jockeys
mpg to ride • favourite for • great ram at the last ino-
Moot sites being retained, and thousands be lost thereby.
However, the examination having been conducted with
closed doors the real facts of the case may not have some
out, and perhaps the outer world are only allowed to hear
OM side of the question. One thing is certain, that the
of Hastings pleaded hard the side of mercy ;
rantson
Jock Club constituted itself a met of public pro-
secutor as well as judge in the ease, and waiving all consi-
derations of how a poor uneducated lad had been petted
and spoiled—and by no one more than the very master he
was so contumacious with—placed him on the shelf for
nearly six weeks, so that the " coon " cannot be said to
have erred on the side of mercy. Had Grinnhaw been
still in the Denebury stable, he would probably have had
the mount on Ceylon, and thus for a second time delighted
thorn who had Derby books withthe knowledge that the 2-yr-
old form of the cracks was not so very grand. Ceylon won
quite as easily Y Kangaroo did, and thus made a most
creditable first appearsooe, for neither Lord Lyon nor
Rustic wad have done more with his opponents than he
did, nor did the former with the Primate, Mount Palatine,
or King Hal, when he met them last year. Primate ran
worse than when two years old, and also Magician, for
Moan Palatine appeared inferior to both until Tuesday
last' still, there is all the possibility of Ceylon being as
good es the two Derby favourites, who were certainly not
more than 201 b. superior to Mount Palatine kat sesson,
since when the latter have improved amazingly. The
stake provoked two other first appesranoes, Westwick
doing barely respectably, and the Peer badly ; and it
wee Stamford's lucky star that got
the Ell/ before Robin Hood for the 3001. Sweep-
stakes they were contesting. Wells, who it was
thou ht threw • race away on the Baron's colt,
last ber, when Rica (amiss now) beat him, art-
dandy made • mistake as to the sours* they were
for he was holding his hone hard within two of t
Ditch Mile winning post, and only discovered his mistake
when catching adtgtirse of the judge in his box. That
Robin Hood is a hone I have no doubt ; but the
week's running d not say much for Baron Rothschild's
chance of winning the Derby or Two Thousand, Tomahawk
and Dalerman running very badly. The defeats of Pri-
mate and Beelzebub, at the same time, bad • bad effect
upon the poor Student, who was apparently recovering
from his knocking about until theyso disgraced the yellow
jacket. Mr. Sutton ran nothing, so that Lord Lyon was
not shaken, and the" form" of the Denebury stable im-
proved Rustic's position ; nevertheless, it is extraordi-
nary, after the sending of humid* to his proper place
among the outsiders, and the indifferent doings
during the week of so many that were once
supposed to have some little chance—Bertie, The
Peer, Westwick, Beelzebub, Dslesman, Duke of
York, Lothario, Magician, Mount Palatine, and the Pri-
mate, have all been in the market at the mane prices since
last season—that the field should have the call of the Snit
seven favourites for the Derby, and, more extraordinary
still, that Ceylon, Leybourn, and the brother to Bird-on-
the-Wing colt are yet among the outsiders, after their
7easy victories over once good horses. It is quite
ilZin the bounds of possibility that the beet horse of the
year is in the lot, although they do say that their several
stables contain superior horses, which I am ready to be-
lieve so far as the last-named is concerned, after seeing a
gallop of the colt by Young Melbourne, dam by Tedding-
ton out of Maid of Masham, trained at Newmarket.
We shall probably kern • little eoneerning the Derby
this week at the Epsom Spring Meeting, as Delight was
tried a " Derby horse" on IPriday last. Hence he rprang to
2 to I within twenty-four hours for next Thursday's City
and Suburban, one mile and a quarter, for he only carries
sst 91b, and with Kenyon in the saddle it is hard to map-
pose he will be beam. He will frighten many out of the
field, only Mephistopheles (514 Illb) of the remaining three
year olds being at all fancied now, though tie party behind
the Czar (set 121 b) may join issue for the purpose of mea-
suring so highly tried a horse, just to give them an idea
how good the Slabber really is. Mr. Sutton, too, may send
Split the Difference (fist 1211) for the same object as
lord Lyon ; whilst the "coming" of Copenhagen rnrds
s,
fist 21b) just after the Delight trial augurs that Danbury
would like to get his length. Nukuheva ;4 yrs, fist 11Ib)
is in the "table, but has gone very " fishy" in the market
recently, like The Czar (who may eventual give
place to Holstein, 4 yrs, Dst 91b), >h bane
yrs, Set 101 b), Toisibesi (4 yrs, fist), the Buck
P 4 yrs, 7st), Brahma (4 yrs, Tat), Pronsor (4 yrs, 616 121 b),
epper's Ghost (4 yrs, fist 41b), ke., once backed with such
apparent genuineness. The starting of those just named
is now very doubtful, though no hones could be better
than lireadalbane (vary much improved dace lest year)
and Brahma ; and, from present appearances', Delight will
not be earnestly opposed by many beyond Out-and-Outer
(4 yrs, 7st Sib), Vandervelde (5 yrs, 6at 111 b), Yep,kisto-
pheles, and Copeahagen. StM, we must have some out-
siders" running ; and while Morris Dancer (4 yrs, fist Sib)
is supposed to be • good one, Ostreger (4 yrs, flat llb), and
Locauel (3 yrs, sst 131 b) have run forward enough this
season to be respected. My opinion, however, is, that it
will take an Out-and-Outer to upset the pair of three-year-
old "peta,"Delight andldephiatopheles, and that if Delight
(" bred soft on both sides," to borrow a term used by the
Turfs poet laureate when describing Liddington) has his
heart in the right place he cannot looe. The Itteathoote and
Inkerroan Plates have numerous entries, but not so many
different stables are represented, and it will be as well to
discover what certain parties, with several to choose be
tween, mean to stand on before inventing. For the Two-
Tear-Old Stakes It will take a rare " darkie " to beat Cel-
lins and Knight of the Garter, the latter of whom we did
not see the beat of at Northampton • and the new juve-
nile race should fall to the lot of the 'lake, for all his Sib.
penalty. The Metropolitan Handicap, two miles and
a quarter, looks a dead failure, like the New-
market proved ; for unless business is meant with
The Czar, or ono or two of the mid-weight four-
year-olds, or the City and Suburban brings a dan-
gerous candidate tot4ht (not very probable, as things go
now), we shall have Raking (3 years, sst. 121 b.), Loader
(3 years, fist.llb.), and Treasure Trove (3 years, Oil.),fighting out the race almost by themsenee—and the laMies
starting nut being quite a certainty yet—Rik lag looks all
over the winner. For the Walton Stakes Vespasian can
hardly be beaten, this being the only other event dosed.
On Tuesday and Wednesday we shall have fair meetings
at Chelmsford and Think, and a mind steeplechase go at
Crewkerne (when Salamander and Cartoloin have to meet
a third time for a good stake, and at weights giving the
latter a good chance of revenging the defeats he sustained
at Liverpool and Warwick), but the programmes scarcely
require my attention, and I have already encroached quite
enough on your nimble space.—l am, ie.,
METEOR.

LONDON BETTING.-B•TunDAy..

The owantetruttraction al the Croydon meeting drew away a
camederable majority of the member of both the Albert sad
Victoria Clubs title afternoon. consequently specnieljoa os
1 the great amnia did sot tuba eo wide Jte=rle
m eve been anticipated in the mist of a large
at of the teetitamms menthead.. The Matt Itifeminent
~aeninonaitsi to-4s was Imllitatoom =6 wash •
Wow* Or the City ant Wks-