The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-11 00:00:00

THE RACING SEASON OF 1863,

(From, Me Saturday Review.)
It is a common error to exaggerate the importance of con

temporary events, but if the racing season of 1863 has not
been of superior interest to many preceding seasons, it must
at any rate be allowed that, at the present moment, it is more
vividly remembered. It is always difficult to determine

whether the best horses of any particular year are excep-
tionally bad. Facts may be adduced in support of either

opinion, and thus, while one party insists upon the merit of
Lord Clifden's performance in the last St. Leger, another
party asserts that he had a very moderate lot of horses to
contend against. It will, however, scarcely be contested

,hat one ()Vent of the last season deserves to be classed among

the most remarkable which the Turf has known. The dead
heat between Buckstone and Tim Whiffler for the Ascot

Cup, and the deciding heat in which Buckstone was victori.

ous, afforded a spectacle never to be forgotten by those who
witnessed it. In spite of complaints that racing, as at pre-

sent managed in England, does net conduce as much as
might be desired and expected to the improvement of the
English breed of horses, it must be owned that the produc-
tion every year of two or three horses of the quality of Buck-
stone is a result which justifies a very large expenditure of
time, trouble, and money. That the result is appreciated
abroad is proved by the eagerness of foreigners to purchase
English horses which have attained to the highest repute-

tion in their respective years. If, in order to produce a
small number of first-rate horses, it is necessary to make many

experiments, it follows that encouragement must be given I
to breeding, and the best of all encouragements is to provide
plenty of stakes to run for. A justification is thus found
for the system of handicapping, which is designed to give
everybody a chance, and for two-yr-old races, which are in-
tended to offer what breeders of every kind of stock demand
—viz„ a prospect of some early return for capital expended.
It is perhaps doubtful whether the development from year
to year of the existing system of horse-racing is attributable
to its soundness or to that growth of wealth and population
which has introduced larger figures into many branches of
statistics. It is, however, certain that the number of horses
entered for the great races increases every year; and the
number of races, great and small, has become so large that
in eight months of incessant activity, extending from March
to November, it is scarcely possible to get through the
business of the regular racing season. The comparative
quiet of the four winter months is devoted to discussing
the results which have been arrived at, especially with re-
ference to the two-year-olds, whose recorded performances
are anxiously compared in the hope of attaining some in-
sight into the chances of the ensuing season. Already the
newspapers contain regular returns of betting on the Two
Thousand and the Derby of 1864. The French Fille de
l'Air is first favourite for the Guineas, and if she were en-

tem' for the Derby she would doubtless be first favourite
for that race also. In her absence, the first place in the

Derby betting is occupied by Scottish Chief, making the
fourth horse of Mr. Merry's that the public has elevated to
that position in the last five years.
Steeplechasing,,mixed with a little flat racing,was carried
on pretty steadily all through last winter and early spring.
The racing season proper may be taken to have commenced
at Northampton on the 24th of March. Even at this early
period of the season, two-year-olds run, and are watched
with interest only inferior to that excited by horses a year
older. The meeting at Northampton brought out that
splendid five-yr-old Asteroid, and one or two other veteran
performers of high merit ; but at this moment the most
interesting fact recorded as occurring at Northampton is
that the two-yr-old filly Molly Carew beat Midnight Mass,

an undeniable good colt of the same year, with tolerable
ease. The Newmarket Craven meeting, which began on
the 6th of April, was marke4 by two events which attracted
perhaps more, and a third which certainly attracted less,
attention than it deserved. The French mare Stradella
beat, in different races, two of the best horses of her year—
Buckstone and The Marquis—and thereby acquired a re-
putation which proved disastrous to those who backed her
afterwards fit the Chester Cup. Macaroni, who was then
little regarded, won a three-yr-old stake with great ease,
and thus afforded a hint of his quality whizila only the dis-
cerning few turned to profitable account. The Epsom
Spring Meeting showed Molly Carew to be the best two-
yr-old then out. On the 21st of April, the race for the Two
Thousand Guineas taught the public what Macaroni really
was. He won this race rather easily, but it can scarcely
be doubted, after subsequent experience, that ho had
a moderate lot behind him. The four days' sport
at Chester next claimed attention. That meeting did
not result in the discovery of any unsuspected prodigy of
a three-year-old, but the race for the Cup was one of the
most interesting of the season. It was won, after a fine
struggle, by Asteroid, carrying over that severe course the
crushing weight of 9st 4lbs, and giving nearly 2st for a
year to Stradella, who at Newmarket defeated The Marquis
at nearly equal weights. At the same meeting, however,
Asteroid failed to give Ist for a year to Buckstone, who
brat him very easily by a length. The nearly approaching
Epsom meeting now absorbed all attention. It will be re-
membered that Lord Clifden had held the place of first
favourite from the very commencement of the betting,
although at one time the French horse Hospodar came to
nearly even terms with him. The reputation of Hospodar
was founded on his having won both the Clearwell and the
Criterion stakes in the previous autumn, and it was de-
stroyed by his utter failure for the Two Thousand Guineas.
It is remarkable that Fille de l'Air, like Hospodar, has won
the Criterion and become first favourite for the Guineas.
It is justifiable to regard Hospodar as something of an im-
postor, but whatever may be the result of next year's racing,
Fille de l'Air has done this year several things which leave
no doubt of her genuine quality. Indeed, if one were called
upon at this moment to name the best two-year-old out, it
would be difficult, upon public running, to look anywhere
but to the French filly. But, dropping the prophetic, and
returning to the historic vein, let the mind revert to that
most miserable of holidays which Londoaers endeavoured
to enjoy on the Derby day of 1863. The rain, the mud,
and the umbrellas--these features of that dismal festival
are remembered almost as vividly as the figure of
Challoner bringing up Macaroni to overhaul Fordham and
Lord Clifden. There is no need to tell how that Derby was
won by a short head, and how the ring and Mr. Naylor and
his friends triumphed, while the public generally lamented
with Lord St. Vincent. Tho weather on the Oaks day was
as fine as on the Derby day it was wretched. The result
of the race was a surprise, even to many of those who ought
to have known something about the winner. Queen Bertha
was scarcely backed for a farthing, and 40 to 1 was offered
against her before starting. She was guided beautifully by
Aldcroft into the first place, defeating, among other com-
petitors, Isoline, who afterwards won the Goodwood Cup,
and Borealis.

From Epsom the scene changes to Paris, for now those
who make horse-racing a business attend meetings in France
as well as in England. Horses cross and recross the Chan-
nel with far greater facility than a few years ago they
found in moving from Surrey to Yorkshire, although the
most enthusiastic admirer of Mr. Cobden could scarcely
ascribe the opening of this branch of trade to his diplomatic
labours. The greatest international race-meeting hitherto
held was that which witnessed the contest for the Grand
Prix de Paris on Sunday. May 31. Then, for the first
time, did a quiet orderly French race-course resound with
all the babel of an English ring. " Parlez- vow frangais ?"
inquired an excited Yorkshireman of a native. " Oui,
monsieur," was the polite reply. "Then I'll lay agin the
mare to a monkey." It will be remembered that La
Toucques, " the Frgnch Blink Bonny," as she was called,
from having won both the French Derby and Oaks, was
the first favourite for the Grand Prix. Lord Clitden was
the next best favourite, but he was so evidently amiss
after his Epsom exercises, that his going was aptly com-
pared to that of a cat upon hot bricks. The race fell to
The Ranger, who had shown some form in the early spring,
and, as his friends averred, had been disappointed in the
Derby when Saccharometer and King of the Vale fell and
ha had to come round them. The French mare sustained
her reputation by running second, and she afterwards in-
creased it by a performance upon English ground. It may,
perhaps, be interesting to notice the reasons adduced by
Viscount Daru, in a letter to Admiral Rous, for holding thishad
race on a Sunday. It appears that this arrangemo
detaeatieug
been objected to in England, and the writedr,
that
" the
greatly to find an amicable solution,"
country" did
habits and social necessities of his dwi. In France,
not allow
those with whom he acted to arran
g"thwerhich it deserves,
racing has not acquired the importanceatious institution, useful
Only for a small minority is it
;Nr number it is only, an
to public interest." For
which
De.p
11 give a holiday, but
agreeable spectacle, to wlai:ke ale Pone. It would be an illusion
for which they will not
a Parliamentary adjournment for
to hope to see in Francethe they
races,
the Derby. If a "2- day
be chosen fur .
will attract uo t3rectators, "In Frazee, the social and reli-

gious customs permit that, after the accomplishment of the
pious duties, the rest of the day should be devoted to
repose and amusement, and we know of none more inno-
cent or more suitable to offer to a population than a
spectacle which attracts by its magnificence and
recommends itself to notice by its usefulness." The Vis-
count goes on to urge, in effect, that as ho and his French
friends have always kept Sunday in England, his English
friends ought not to insist on keeping it in France. He
considers that the same rule applies to either case—namely,
to respect and conform to the habits of the country where
one happens to be. He adds, that "in such a democratic
country as ours" it would be unwise to hold the races on a
day when only unoccupied persons could be present at
them ; and he concludes by expressing regret if the French
Jockey Club, on whose behalf he writes, should have
shocked anybody in England. The answer of Admiral
Rous to this letter, on behalf of the English Jockey Club,
admitted that the French Club were bound to name the
day most suitable to the gratification of the French public.
Thus it was arranged that the Grand Prix de Paris should
be run for a Sunday, although the principle of reciprocity
of habits propounded by Viscount Daru was not adopted by
Admiral Rous, who doubtless saw that it was question-
able, if not dangerous.
Only one day intervened between the Paris meeting and
that of Ascot. The Cup day was graced by the presence of
the Prince ftncl Princess of Wales, and it saw the finest race
of the year—such a race, indeed, as is only likely to be seen
once in many years. Tim Whiffler as a three-yr-old had
beaten everything he met. After winning the Chester
Cup and other races, he fairly ran away at Goodwood
from a field which comprised some of the best horses
then in training. At Doncaster he met Asteroid,
,the
best horse of his year, and beat him. At the same meet-
ing he encountered Buckstone, and again triumphed. It
was natural to bet odds on such a horse against
Buckstone for the Ascot Cup, and the public supported
him enthusiastically. But Tim had not improved
with age, though his speed was undeniable and his action
as beautiful as ever. All that Rogers' splendid riding
could do was to bring off a dead heat. Nevertheless, in the
deciding heat, 6 to 4 was freely laid upon Tim Whiffler.
The same tactics were put into play in both heats. Tim
forced the running at a tremendous pace, and the second
heat was actually run in 14 seconds less than the first. But
it was evident, even as he came up the hill the first time,
that he felt the weight he was carrying, and his distress as
he climbed the hill to the winning-post the second time was
terrible. Buckstone, a far more powerful horse, beat him
easily. No one who saw that finish expected to see Tim
Whiffler at the post again, and indeed he has never started
for a race since that day. Mr. Merry's fortune on the great
day of the Royal meeting was remarkable. Besides the
splendid prize of the Cup which Buckstone gained for him,
he won a race with Scottish Chief, whose running on that
day is doubtless remembered by those who are now backing
him for the Derby, and another race with Gladstone. The
chief features of the latter half of the season, particularly
' Goodwood, York, and Doncaster, will deserve notice on
some other occasion. There was fine racing at these three
I places, but nothing so memorable as the two contests for
' the Ascot Cup.