The Express.
London, England, 1868-02-24 00:00:00

CORRENT TOPICS AND THE WEEK'S

limensus.

TO TILE ZDSTOI 07 THE Z1P22218.
SlT,—Enterprising clerks of the course may
'thank their stars that our mach-abased climate was in a

leasing humour last week, as a stoppage or two would have
played sad haves with the early eijc; " ' •••
in ad.li" wmerlin, the „.
• erceeht oli
at Altar almost monopollifed atkii-
tiou she the Lincoln meeting had concluded, most of the
favourites staying in so long that the punlio were kept in
a whirl of excitement over the Waterloo Cup ; and even-
tually lovers of the leash had the satisfaction of seeing the
best dog win, despite the strenuous efforts made to serve
Cock Robin, in favour of whom two dogs out
of the last eight were withdrawn, so that he had
actually only to win four courses instead of six. This
gave him a chance 2 to 1 bettor than that of I
Lord lorgan's Master M'Grath, who, after upsetting the
great Brigade "pet," vanquished Jock Robin in good
style, to the delight of Joe aluggina's Dee and pease
humble servant. But I take no credit to inyselt for having'
" tipped" the whiner last Monday, giving it all to Joe,
who confesses be little thought his hint about the noble
lord winning would have got into print, and only hopes
that all the thousands " Meteor" his addressed for the
last doaen years profited by it to a man. It was certainly
a sweetener for those unfortunates who were robbed of
their Lincoln " long shot" by the Czar's break-down, 20 to
1 being a sensible mice for " punters" to win at, especially
when they had so much in band, the boast often wade by
racing lunatics, that a certain horse can "fall down
and then get up and win," being fully carried
out in the case of Lord Lurgan's dog, es he
cleverly won his second course after a tumble. The final
settling will be rather a novelty to bookmakers, who have
invariably drawn on the public purse to a pretty fair tune
over the contest, but have to part with some of their win-
nings now. It has been a bad week for them altogether,
though there were some lambs skinned at Harrow on
Thursday and Friday, those backers who meddled with the
principal steeplechase before the Geld was weighed out
having all the worst of it, as one good thing after another
(including my Tottie, who went lame after winning on the
first day) was scratched in the most irritating wanner,
whilst the clerk of the course's " correctioo," that Wood-
bury Hill should have been included among the accept-
emcee, was incorrect itself. The result in favour of the
Duke of Hamilton's Sinite did not improve his grace's
°hence for the Grand National, 20 to 1 being now offered
against the whole lot of five in his interest ; in fact, neither
here nor at Moreton-in-the-Marsh (where J. Adams turned
up well enough to ride, showing the reports of his accident
than practising to have been fox tunately exaggerated) did
say fact transpire to enlighten the world concerning the
rue, which has been rendered more perplexing than ever
by the latest movements. Moose has won a great trial,
end come with a great " rush," to the detriment of Pearl
Diver and Bea king, whose owner must have been more
bold than serious when he offered to take 4,000 to 2,000
'his Majesty l :..at Chimney Sweep in their places ; and Fen
has become as " fatty " as Thalmius, the Plover, Port
I Royal, the Doctor, or Helen since the rumour of her
changing hands has got abroad. What grounds there are
for this I am not aware, and Fan may possibly recover some
day, like the Lamb and Tusculanum, two very dangerous
customers, have just done. The " pony " now promisesto
turn out as good a thing as a performer in steeplechase
with some 25 starters can well be ; but it will be an awful
nee to make a selection for at the last moment, and those
who leave it alone will come beet off, no doubt.
The meetings held supplementary to Lincoln, at Boston
and Mansfield, were sad failures, the latter taking de-
cidedly the wrong day, as it should have been held on
Thursday. But its failure was apparent immediately the
programme was made up, and the only good done by the
sport" was to give Murray an encouraging turn in his
new purple and white jacket, three walks over and a
match being easy work for a jockey to swell his averages
by. It is to be feared the current week's meetings will be
marred by • " w. 0." or two, the business promising to be
very quiet altogether, whether at Nottingham and Derby,
or among the military at Windsor. However, sportsmen
want a breather, after the great excitement they have
just undergone, the Lincoln and Great Waterloo reunions
with five or six minor race and steeplechase gather-
ings being rather too much in one week for
people who have been quiescent so long, and who
nerves have been so shaken by the fears—happily ground
leas—that one of the few races aquatic men can speak
proudly of now-a-days had gone "off." The Newmarket
stables will be just as strong at Nottingham as they were
at Lincoln, and Joseph Dawson threatens to do a great
business in the handicaps. He has no fewer than four
'in the principal one—Knight Errant, Artesian, Othello,
sad Noma Pompilios—and is well worth following in
such moderate company, particularly if it suite the book
to let either the Roman or the Moor go, albeit there is
I danger Lord Westmorland with Master Willie, and
old Edinburgh might run into a "place." The Mexican
blues, again have Claymore nicely in the Stand Plate,
Chapel Royal being well in for this and the Innkeepers'
Plate also; and Artesian must do Mr. Pryor good service
in the second day's Forest Plate. Moonbeam in the latter
ease, and Mr. G. Angell in another or so, might disturb
the party, and the Duke of Newcastle is sure to be in the
way now and then ; still, the best I can discover among
his grace's string is Sweet Anne for the Newcastle (Plate.
The other closed races are principally weight for ego, Last
Rose of Summer for the Trial, Elvire for the Moroni,
Luck's All for the Hunt Cup, and DeVere or Lelia for the
Little John, being my fancies, badly as the latter's stable-
companion Lure ran at Lincoln, it being sadly against
this daughter of Amazon's character that she was allowed
to lose her maidenhood by the walk over at Mansfield.
The Handicap Hurdle Bas will create some interest if
Moose or Pearl Diver is pulled out by Mr. Bayley, as
either ought to win to make the red and yellow look well
for the Grand National, seeing that Brick and Orne axe
the beat of the remainder. The same pair are in the Hurdle
race st the Derby meeting, which follows Nottingham on
Thursday and Friday, Moose being in the Steeplechase
!there likewise ; but the latter is not likely to perform for
the sake of practice, as he did at Birmingham, and will I
I sever be allowed to incur the 10ib penalty for Liverpool
I by winning, Benaset being_the more likely to achieve that
honour. His opponents will be very few in number ; snd I
I am afraid that the fields for the whole of the events in the
Derby programme will be small, as the Nottingham run-
is bound to reduce some of them to "certainties."

uuThe day has quickly been fixed for the sale of the Doke
of Ileaufort's horses, which comprise eight two-year olds,
ten threes, and eight elders. They should bring • good
round sum, especially as the twenty-eight " lota " are
to be put up under " Lord Exeter's conditions," but
for which the juveniles would frighten buyers clean out
of the held. Let them be eider so beautiful, it would be
hard to induce the moat impetuous plunger into buying
without trying the eight,with their 218 engagements, more
than one-fourth of which a son of Trumpeter and The ROO
la Committed to. Europa is the crack three-year-old, an
honour divided by Vauban and Viridis as regards the fours,
and among those arrived at years of maturity there is
Deniers, to lose whom I am sure J. Day would be sorry.
However, she la in none of the great spring handicaps,
wherein J. Day may not be so very weak after the sale is
over, as some intending buyers will leave their purchases
where they are to be trained. Seville is not advertised at
all, as she never really belonged to the Duke, and what a
roar there would be if she won the Chester Cup in the
Vauban hoops.—l am, he., METEOR.