The Express.
London, England, 1868-02-17 00:00:00

TO TIM EDITOR OF THE ZIFRICSIL

Sir..—A most eventful weok is before sportsmen,
no,lo end plebeian, of the speculative type, who have the
heavy Lincoln Meeting, and the coursing for the Waterloo
Cup on the plains of Altair, to keep them in a whirl of
eccetement until Friday. Weather permitting, the coursing
will finish on this " unlucky" day--as punters who put
their money down on the dogs have invariably found it,
rind those who hit the mark this time will have to thank
their stars, whatever nomination may be retuned the
winner, nearly every second candidate out of the sixty-four
being pat about as a " real good thing." It is scarcely a
subject to prophesy about by any limb of the turf used
to finding a certainty now and then, for professional
coursing writers have enough to do to separate the wheat
;rota she chaff, even when assisted by owner,, who most
rather astonish certain patrons of the turf by the open-
heart,nl way they forward information to the picas for the
benefit of the cruel, forestalling public. Gut your readers
shall have the benefit of a hint that has been given by a
party who might to be well tip in his subject—no other
than Joe BlOggiO3'll Dog, who since his retirement into
private life has been a groat deal among the upper ten, and
• own (or bow-wows) that a noble lord will win, for once in
a way. Further he will not go, though he blinked in truly
know' ng style when Lord Lurgan recently kicked a certain
innkeeper down stairs.
Conning excitement over, the Liverpudlians will imme-
diately turn their solo attention to the Grand National
StsTlechase, which has created plenty of excitement since
the 'lrmingham Meeting, whereat Shakespeare was so
nearly disgraced. However, a far worse doer than he,
ri no, ice called Moose, has become a better favourite since
his performance, his stable-companion Pearl Diver having
improved in price aho. Per contra. and more in stronl-
auce with Cocker, Lord Stamford's Thalassius has de:lined
a little through the defeats of Brick and the brute
Archimedes ; and the running of Donut tended to bring
the Lamb forward, though ho was seat to market rather
too coon it would seem, and I hope the good thing is not
spoiled thereby. It is a shig Oar fact that nearly every
favourite the talent made for this event has gone fishy in
tern. :ad while IS to 1 on the Field is now the order of
the iley, 'matters are mystihed by both Fan and Helen
of Mr. Barber's, and Tennyson and Chimney Sweep of
Lord Coventry's, being backed for appal ently good money;
albeit Daisy, Dispatch, and Aleibisde appear the more
stafe investments till tbo two best of the brown jackets
are di,-overel. The other great handicaps aro almost n
blank, Viridies decline for the Chester Cup comprising
the only feature ; and but for the Derby cracks taking it
is tarns to " go into physic," they would be quiet for a
while. It turns out that the recent opposition to Typhecus
was brought about by his simply going through this very
necessary routine, the enemy taking the opportunity to
say all sorts of things against him ; but the brothers
Matthew and John Dawson are still hopeful of winning the
Dim Itiband either with this colt or Pace—who seems
now to be the sole friend of the purple and white, Har-
vester having gone to any nrice. I certainly prefer Pace,
glutton as he is, for the Two Thousand, because he will
lilc, the straight mile so much better than the Epsom ups
and downs ; and there is not much to best beyond Bad-
cream, who seems to he taking Blue Gown's Awe on the
retired list, but may only be in the same host as Typhceu
was last week.

Before hieing to Line°ln, maey of the eeptateerati will
doubtless feel bound to attend Tattereall's to-day, as
there is no telling what bargains may not be among
Lord Jersey's two-year-olds to be sold, and the
Duke's brother, Marneluke, 3 yrs, must tern out a prize to
any oue who can afford to give him time. One of the
juveniles, a filly by Claret out of Elinor, called La Roes,
is in the Brocklesby, but might not be up to quite each
good company, even were she fit to run on Tuesday. Mr.
Chaplin has quite a host to make choice front, three of
whitl—the sisters to Hermit and Vela and the Diomedia
eolt—are very heavily engaged ; aml it appears that, while
the 2,050-guinea pair arc kept for greater things, the
evert little sister to Veda will carry the rose. She is one
of those gners we invariably see don's much in early half
mile seurrier, and meat be handy, particularly as one of the
most prosaiAir; of her neighb r.rc, Jos. Dawson's De Vere,
will not be so fe.a.frfl as she :ta• three or fear weeks. The
Rajah and Cinieuse further .lo credit to Newmarket? as
should likewise Alpenstock, King of the Rovers, Fenian,
the Sunflower filly, Electricity, and Jove to their parties
"Oles they are ready for battle; neveithelcss. if Mr.
Chapliu fail to carry off the nico little stake, Matthew
Meson is Vie most lila!y to do the trick, his own Lelia,
and the Disko of Nowcattls's Len anti Runaway, all pos-
'alai tr.; so much merit that the best of the trio has only to
be pulled out, and I fancy this is Lure, for the stable to
win. In the Trial Stakes t!:ey must also be near the mark
with Speculum (7st 131 b), Cotton (7st ;lib) being the most
dangerous of his opponents, for ho could have given Blue-
skin (fist 131 b) more than a stone last year ; and the Duke
of Newcastle does not want cue mush better than Ninny
for the Broeklesby Handicap, though she baa all the worst
of the weights with Sunnylocks and Benevolence, nor has
its. any pull whatever over the fleet Claymore, and to this
trio I leave the issue.

The Lincolnshire Handicap will be worth between eight
and eine hundred pounds, and betting has taken such •
wile range during the past two days that any rea-
sonable amount of money can be got on, the tempting
prices obtainable thus promising to swell the field to over
twenty. Young ones are h %eked as confidently as the old,
Purveyor, Ligurian, and Rhine Wine having all been in
force in their turn, whilst Caprera and Lady Zetland carry
a little Yorkshire money, and there are hopes of Blueskin
and Reilivivus coming on the boards too. Rhine Wine
has done a great thing with Lady Diana in his trial, 141 b.
and a 71b. beating being what be gave the latter ; but the
Lady ix not so reliable a bit of trying tr ckle as they have in
the Lord Lyon stable, and hence 1 must give the pzeferenae
to the thrice-successful L' jariau all the remaining three
year olds coming, behind him too, in my estimation, after
I,iireevor's trial with Ainsley, Snowdrop, Luighazu
ac., for L.; off little, if anything, better that;
Ainsley. The latter appears equal to any of
the four-year-olds, even supposing Marino, Wild Moor,
Midwife and CMltilieell are as ninth " alive" WIFu dor,
Leases, and Beanstalk, which Caere is every reason to doubt,
though they have not been knocked so clean out as Ruby,
the stable-companion of the latest coiner in the betting,
Feeder. There arc just as mauy old horses under orders
as there or (one-year olds, Kiog Charming, the Czar, Grey
Stocking, Indigestion. Artesian, Skirmish, Biplane, and
'irigorou,, being all prolxible or peasible starters ; and my
impression has always been that the winner issmongthern.
Immediately the weights came out my " selection" was the
Czar and Kaalay . • and on 'the appearance of the accept-
ances, King Charming only was added to the pair, the
fear being expressed at the time that ' Easby
may have to make way for something else in
the same swin." This something appears to be
!Lumley, if the colt has quite " gone," which
I doubt; but she is not so good • performer as
the Czar, who was never actually diszraced except when
he ran at Newmarket, and that performance was too bail
to be true. Both he and King Charming being backed
with the geatest confidence by their respective parties,
there is nothing for me to do but hold on to the pair, and
it is quite on the cards we shall have them both in the first
three.

There are too many novices in the Hurdle Race and
Gone Away Plate for it to be judicious to touch upon
them, promising jumper as Tumult is; and cowing to the
second day's programme, we have the lihmkney Stakes and
Club Cup dependent on the previous performances of Lure
and the sister to Veda, and the City Handicap (wherein
Skylark must run well, in despite of Lord Westmorland's
and Sir Frederick Johnstone's great strength) on the Lin-
colnshire Handicap result. Reginald is the best known
horse in the Fuller, Steepleelvae; and tI r. Welfitt looks well
for the Grand, after Greenl.urd's exhibition at Binning.
ham, albeit it is possible for Mr. Chaplin to find an Em-
peror, or Mr. Simpson a Diana, to make it rather too
warm for him. Those who like small i'ry can call at Mans.
field on the way frow Lincoln, s meeting coming off there
on Friday ; however, the entries are not only small, but
the closed races should be pretty well spoiled by Tues-
day's and Wednesday's great doings. The only other
minor affair worth mentioning hero is Thursday and
Friday's meeting at Harrow, where the Middlesex Steeple-
chase (with Tatar) best in) is the feature.—l am, &e.,

METEOR.

BETTING IN LONDON. —SATUB.DAY.
A heavy amount of watering took place to-day, wipe.
daily on the Lincolnshire Handicap, for which half-a-dozen
were backed for large sums of money, while several others
came in for a fair amounj of support. King Charming
stood his ground well, for notwithstanding tho immense fa.
vouritism accorded to other candidates, he did not vary
more than half a point. Czar, who has been quiet of late,
came again, 1000 to 100 and 500 to 50 being accepted
almost as soon as business opened ; several other transac-
tions ware concluded on the same terms, and no more than
9to 1 being in • abort time procurable, that price was
also taken to • good amount, and finally 100 to 12.
Purveyor had anything but • wry time of it—the more
he wee backed the worse favourite he became—and from
7to 1 taken at the commencement, he receded to 11 to 1
offered at the finish. The hero of the day was Ligurian,
whose name has not hitherto been mentioned. Commis-
sions in his favour were executed in four or live quarters
at once, and he was backed freely at prices
ranging from 20 to 1 to 100 to 9. When, however,
the furore had somewhat cooled down, 12 to 1 was offered
against him by one speculator, but the general offers were
a point less. Grey Stocking was inquired after, and
would have met with support at 100 to 6, but no more
than 100 to 7 was forthcoming. Rhine Wine was regain
well invested on, an outlay of 1501. being made at 20 to 1.
Artesian, after being laid against at 25 to 1, found a friend
who booked 20 to lin his favour. About 2001, wailed on
at 20 to 1, but shortly afterwards theme adds wer•
tlf&againet the hone in more quarters than one, and
went beiging. Peodor was in snob good demand that his
price gradually decreased from 33 to 1 to 100 to 6, and at
these and the intermediate odds numerous transactions
ware concluded. Midwife was beaked to win between
4,0001. and 6,0001, at 26 to 1; but, instead of improving
her position, she imaccountably receded to 26 to 1 o=
Beanstalk was supported several times fiats headquarters
at 100 to 3, • lees price than this was, however, refused
to be tam. Oeuthleen did not go well, for
isseidas support 8A 96 to 1, sbe needed.