The Express.
London, England, 1868-08-06 00:00:00

TO TIRE EDITOI OW Twa TICIIIIN.

81n, —As had been generally prognosticated, the
sport found at the Brighton meeting proper was not of a
character to go into &stacker about; still, the proceedings
were tolerably enjoyable, the heat being scarcely so
oppressive as nervous people had been looking forward
to ; and there was something like a race for the Cup after
all. The gallant fight Blueskin made against Thorn-
dyke for the Brighton Stakes made him appear
more than ever worthy to contest the Cup with
Speculum, who might not, it was thought, have beaten
him so very easily at Goodwood; and the owner of Paul
Jones throwing down the gauntlet to the pair despite Ms
recent defeats, we had three worthy competitors for the
valuable prize. However, it was the City and Suburban
over again with the Duke of Newcastle'sbit of everlasting,
who partially repudiated the theory that he ls not exactly
up to racing weight by carrying home his Sat 31b lengths
in front of everything. Of course this delighted King
Alfred's St. Leger backers, on account of the vast supe-
riority he showed to Speculum in the Derby; but
I cannot understand, great as my liking has
been for The Spy ever since the weights ap-
peared, why be should be at such a ridiculously short
price for the Ebor Handicap, seeing that nearly all the
gilt is taken off the performance of Tabouret (his easy
conqueror the other day) in the Goodwood Cup when
Blueskin is discovered to be about 211 b behind Speculum.
It is not improbable that his fond backers, by their eager-
ness, will force the Whitewall men to try their luck with
Taraban instead of the young one, whom it is admitted a
boy cannot "get out" • besides which there is a faint
suspicion that he does; not like a distance. Ms best per-
formance at Goodwood was over a mile, when he beat the
badly-ridden Vale Royal ; at • mile and a half he only
did moderately, just beating Sunstroke and Banditto being
, nothing to boast of ; and how far he was behind Tabouret
and Ilium has been estimated at something between
four and eight lengths. Allowing a wide margin for
accidents and disappointments, The Spy is only fairly
handicapped with this latter pair again; and they stand
at 10 to 1 in the market—very properly, too, when the
Goodwood Cup made Tabouret appear no better than
Blneekin, who is proven to be 211 b behind Speculum.
Put the latter in The Ebor with 211 b more than Tabouret
—fist 71b—and no one would look at him ; and yet, "on
citarert,i;*his chance would be equally as good as that of
ilium, or The Spy. lam not arguing against the
latter's pretensions, for there is more than one reason why
the ahoy, line of argument should not be followed too
closely ; but he is none the less in a false position in the
market, and, as before observed, Tarabau might yet have
to "come" in his stead. One of the reasons why last week's
running of the above-named horses should not be strictly
followed is the disadvantage Tabouret was labouring
under in having to contest the Goodwood Cup only 24
hours after be bad run over the same long distance for the
Stakes, besides which he met with a mishap, I now discover,
that fully accounts for his losing so much ground when out
of sight in the Cup race. The number of lengths he made
up at the finish proves him a thorough good horse, and
unless Mr. Johnstone posseeees a better ally in Donald-
bain, Mandrake, or Mercury,.it is quite on the cards for
him to give ThetSpy the weight and win again. The
Tupgill quartet is the strongest lot in the Ebor, the only
other parties boasting more than one string to their
bows being the BI with Blinkhoolie and
Lord Palmerston, Joseph Dawson, with the Claret
winnerand the Makeshift colt, presented by Lord Glas-
gow to Mr. Payne; and W. Scott, with Fairwind and
Deceit, in which latter clique may also be included Band-
master. The fact or Blinkhoohe accepting argues that
he could not have been very seriously amiss at Goodwood,
as he is hardly left in to keep the weights down for
Lord Palmerston, who does not . look at all
like the winner after the specimen of form
we have had from Emigration, Distaff, and Kidderminster,
his recent conquerors ; and perhaps the only one of the
above mentioned we may hear of is the hero of the Claret,
the Young Melbourne colt, who made a lot of the running
in the Alexandra Plate at Ascot, and then finished third.
Taking the single representatives of stables, Strathconan
cannot fail to strike the eye for in addition to being on his
favourite course, he has only to car & 91b more than Three
per Cent., who would otherwise look " well in." The
only other candidate worth recommending (unless Romp-
ing Girl is left in) is Fervacques, who meets Tabouret on
9lb better terms than when they met in the Liver-
pool Cup, and will be at home over the extra
half mile to boot. We have plenty of candidates
to prevent the race having anything like the appearance
of a certainty at the finish, even if only Strathconan, the
Young Melbourne colt, Fervacques, Tabouret (or anything
else in the blue and silver interest), and Ilium are in the
hunt against The Spy; and were the latter's
owner to "turn round" in favour of Taraban,
the field might be as strong numerically as it was last
year. tinder any circumstances, it strikes me that the
Tabouret men are the best to follow and there are more
unlikely things than old Strathcoean; beating all the
"pots," his running into one of the three coveted places
being quite on the cards.
Three or four of the Ebor horses are in the
Lewes Handicap, run for on Saturday, and much
will depend upon- how they perform with Glengarnock,
who will have to win for The Spy to keep his place in the
betting, as there was little between them in the Good-
wood Stakes. Should he be bowled over, the
trick may be done by' Thorndyke or Vortigern, the
latter a fair horse when up to the mark, as I
believe he is now. Of the minor events, let me
award the De Warrenne Handicap to old Reindeer
in the event of his opposing the formidable Tibthorpe
division ; the Welter Cup to The Makeshift colt or Merry
Andrew ; the Priory Stakes to Melody, in the absence of
Martyrdom ; the Nursery Plate to Kellogg ; the Sussex
Stakes to Ryshworth ; the County Cup to Amster; and
the Railway Nursery to The Scout, or the bent of Lord
Westmorland's.-1 run, &c., METEOR.

(BT nrixoprpu.)
BRIGHTON CLUB MEETING.—(THIS DAY.)

TENTH BIENNIAL.
Matilda beat Ns. to Veda.
SWEEPSTAKES.

Sir Oliver .. .. ..
La Belle Jeanne ..
.. Clifford .. • •
BRIGHTON CLUB STAKES.

President Lincoln .. ..
Idaeallweh .. ..
Chippenham .. 6
ran.
CLARET STAKES. T.Y.C.

Viet Reindeer, Redivivue, Ettrick, /Erolite, Clairon,
and John Leech are here.
£lOO PLATE. T.Y.C. _ _

Honeydew c, Scimitar, Acaater, Manama; Dryad, Arling-
ton, Sidadin, Fortress, and Lumley are here.

BETTING IN LONDON.-(THIS DAY.)