The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-30 00:00:00

and beat them both. Two days afterwards Fille de l'Air
and Ely met again, and this time the French filly was ex- I
petted to make no mistake. But although she did beat Ely,
the pair were beaten both by Coast Guard, first, and Prince
Arthur, second, so that they came only third and fourth.
The first of the great autumn handicaps at Newmarket
produced one of those results from which the opponents of
this class of races derive arguments to prove their inutility.
The winner of the Cesarewitch, Mr. Merry's four-year-old
Lioness, had performed once badly as a three-year-old, and
once very badly in the present season. The handicapper,
guided by these facts, admitted the mare into the Cesare-
witch at fist Sib, under which weight, as she was known be-
fore the race to be very good, it seemed scarcely possible she
could lose. She won the Cesarewitch in rattling style, hav-
ing next to her Liroosina of the same year, carrying 7st 41b.
The performance of Limosina was thought good enough to
make her winning the Cambridgeshire a certainty, but the
mare either had some kind of illness or was used up by the
numerous false starts, for she never showed in the race. The
winner turned up in Catch'em-Alive, whose day, often pro-
mised, came at last. Tho disappointment of Lord Stamford
in regard to Limosina, joined to suspicion that she had been
unfairly dealt with before the Cambridgeshire, occasioned a
fit of disgust, in which Lord Stamford determined to sell off
his stud and quit the Turf. He announced a sale without
reserve, and afterwards caused some of the lots to be bought
in. It is to be lamented that the racing season of 18G3
should have ended with a transaction which has necessarily
excited a great deal of adverse comment.
The First October Meeting at Newmarket saw a rase won
by Ely, who also won a race at the Houghton Meeting. he
race for the Clearwell Stakes throw little light upon the
Derby. The Criterion Stakes were won by Fille do l'Air,
beating, among others, Coast Guard, Prince Arthur, and
Ely, who had all beaten her at Doncaster. Thus Pale de
l'Air stood, at the end of the season, at the same point which
she reached at Goodwood—namely, the highest of the year.
Molly Carew, who was talked of in the early part of the
season as a match for her, met with an accident, which closed
her 2-yr-old career. The performances upon which the more
prominent Derby horses rest their claims to confidence have
been briefly stated in this and a former article. It remains for
those who feel sufficient interest in the subject to balance
those performances against one another, and to decide,
if they can, upon the relative merits of Scottish Chief,
Cambuscan, Paris, and the bearers of other names with
which the public will gradually grow familiar as the day
draws near which will make these names in the eyes of
Londoners a reality. There is one two-year old—namely,
Blair Athol—whose performances may be described with
extreme brevity, because he has never performed at all.
The son of Stockwell and Blink Bonny is thus surrounded
by a sort of mystery which is not likely to be dispelled by
any amount of discussion conducted in utter dearth of
facts.