The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENIAG, APRIL 26, 1862.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

NEWMARKET CRAVEN MEETING.-FRIDAY.

A genial April day, with a few drops of rain between,
bright gleams of sunshine, rendered the closing scene of
this successful meeting quite agreeable. The sport was not
too long for enjoyment, five races only being set down for
decision. These, with two walks over, comprised the entire
bill of fare. After a drive to the other side of the ditch,
where the winner of the Newmarket Handicap was unex-
pectedly defeated, and a Plate of £5O won by a complete
outsider, the company returned to the Flat, and saw Old
Calabar canter in for the Bennington Stakes. A Handicap
with 12 runners finished the business of the last day at
three o'clook ; and some betting took place on the railway
platform, where a long train awaited the London portion_of
the visitors to the Craven Meeting.
The Queen's Plate of 100 guineas ; 3-yr-olds, 7st 31b ;
4-yr-olds, 9st 71b; 5-yr-olds, lOst 41h; 6-yr-olds and

aged, lOst 81b. R.C.
Mr. Savile's Harlequin, 3 yrs, 7st 3lb (carried 7st 61b)
• (G. Fordham) 1
Lord Zetland's Carbineer, 4 yrs, Bst 71b ..(J, Osborne) 2

Betting-4 to lon Carbineer.
The thvourite made the running at a slow pace, waited
upon by Harlequin to the plantation turn, where the latter
got closer, but, hanging slightly, Fordham began in ear-
nest, and rode him every stride. Ascending the hill
Harlequin got within a couple of lengths of Carbineer, and
the two finished a punishing race home, Harlequin, by
sheer gameness, and the determination evinced by his rider
winning is the last stride by a head.

Handicap Plate of 50 sovs for 3-yr-olds and upwards.

New T.Y.C.

Mr. Ingham's The Prophet, 5 yrs, Est 71b ....(Roeves) 1
Mr. E. Mills's Lady Derby, 4 yrs, 6st loth (E. Martini 2
Mr. E. York The Principal, Got 101 b (J. Daley) 3

The following also ran :—Eastern Princess, Volunteer,
Cantab, Palmerin, Whitendale, Dunoon, Pergula, Cam-
perdown, and Barbatus colt.

Betting-3 to 1 agst Cantab, 4to 2 agst Palmerin, 6to 1
agst Camperdown, 8 to 1 agst Pergula, 10 to 1 agst Volun-
teer,`and 100 to 8 agst The Prophet.
The flag was lowered to a very straggling start. Volun-
teer, in company with Camperdown, Cantab, Whitendale,
and The Principal, was the first off, the others, headed by
The Prophet, lying away. On reaching the plantation The
Prophet rushed to the front, and came on with a command •
ing lead, followed by Lady Derby and The Principal.
The three finished the race home, The Prophet winning in
a cantor by five lengths, and Lady Derby beating The Prin-
cipal by three parts of a length. Camperdown was fourth,
Cantab fifth, Volunteer sixth, and Whitendale next, the
last of all being Eastern Princess.

The Bennington Stakes of 50 sovs each, h ft, for 3-yr-olds;
colts, Bat 71b; fillies, Bst 21b; certain allowances. D.M.

9 subs.
Sir It. Bulkeley's Old Calabar, Bst 71b (W. Boyce) 1
Mr. W. S, Crawfurd's Disdain, 7st 1 llb .. (W. Bottom) 2
Mr. R. H. Nevill's Dioncea, 7st 131 b .... (G. Fordham) 3
_ _

Betting-5 to 1 on Old Calabar, who made all the run-
ning, and won in the commonest of canters by a neck.
Dioncea was beaten off, and trotted in some time after the
others had passed the post.
Free Handicap of 25 soya each, 10 ft, winners extra. T.Y.C,

ket, on the Bth of November, 1794, so that although almost
a naturalisedYorkshireman, he can't deprive the south of the
distinction of having bred him. His father was, like him-
self, an eminent trainer, and resided at Chipponham,where
he trained and rodo for that well-known sportsman, Sir
Harry Featherstone, whose passion for cock-fighting was
as great as that of a late Earl of Derby and Dr, Bellyse
He also numbered among his employers Counsellor Lade,
and many of the gentlemen in the neighbourhood.
After residing at Chippenhana some years, ho moved to
Oxford, where he bechme proprietor of the Ship Hotel,
but still carried on his occupatiOn as a trainer, un-
til his declining years compelled him to give it up, and he
retired to Brighton, where he died in 1818, at the advanced
age of 97.

The present John, who early gave symptoms of having
" something in him," commenced his career, almost as soon
as he could walk, in his father's stables, And in riding ex-
ercise gallops and light weights he progressed until he had
attained the ripo age of thirteen, when his sire thought he
had sufficient knowledge of the world to be trusted from
home with a mare called Tenbones, by Flying Gib, with
orders not to bring her back, but to sell her for: thirty
pounds if ho could find any one to take her off his hands.
Armed with these instructions, and accompanied by his fa-
vourite terrier, Viper, the infant jockey started on his
journey; and after having been nearly lost on Salisbury
Plain, the solitude of which, when covered with snow, al-
most appalled him, he arrived at Blandford, and did up his
mare. Dorsetshire never was at any period a very en-
lightened county, and when the boy rode into Blandford
the people''could hardly have been more astonished if he
had dropped down upon them in a balloon, for the roads
were considered almost as impassable as the Alps, from the
quantity of snow that had fallen in the neighbourhood, and
N't hid' kept a great many hones away. —.Success, however,
crowned the persevering energy of John Scott, as he not only
won a £5O plate with his mare, but actually sold her for
£6O, returning home on the Oxford coach as proud as a
Sultan, from having more than justified his father's idea of
his precocity; and from that moment he never wanted poc-
ket-money.
On his father's retirement from business, John Scott went
to Sir Watkin Wynn to ride light weights; but not liking
Wales, from, in all probability, the ale being too strong for
him, his sojourn with the old baronet was not of long
duration. He was also engaged to ride for Sir Sitwell Sit-
well, and between him, Old Saddler of Alsworth, and
Stevens of Bourbon on the Hill, he spent his time until he
left the south to assist Croft, who was then the great
trainer of Middleham, but who, getting old, required some
younger person about him, whom he could trust with con-
fidence. This post was one exactly suited to " John," for
as such we must now call him. And one of the very first
missions which ho had to undertake was taking charge of
Filho da Puts on his way to Newmarket in his great match
with Sir Joshia. And to this very hour ho declares that
if Filho had been left to him he would have won easily
enough. But the Chifneys, who were great friends of the
Crofts, fancied he was too big, and sending him along,
brought him )ut, to John's disgust, as stale as a poster,
and he was beaten. Shortly after this match, Mr. Houlds-
worth, who appreciated the force of his remarks, and sym-
pathised with himin the disappointment he had experienced
in regard to the result, engaged him as his private trainer.
In this capacity ho resided first at Rockhill, in Sherwood
Forest, and subsequently, after his marriage with Miss
Barker, the daughter of a worthy innkeeper at Mansfield,
he removed to Manifold, training his horses in the forest,
and annually increasing his reputation by the number of
races he wed to wia. With Mr. Houldsworth he remained
10 years, and on hie retirement Mr. Petro engaged him in
the same capacity, and he trained for him at Mansfield for
a couple of years, whin Whitewall House and stables being
in the market, he purhased them in 1825, and removed to
Melton, where he ha! ever since resided, and became, as it
were, the sovereign d the place. In 1832, John (the York-
shireman will so persist in calling him nothing else, that
we cannot break oursdves of the habit) found the summer
ground at Langton Weld so hard that he hired Pigburn,
near Doncaster, where there was a capital ploughed gallop
on which he used tt go before the horses came up to
Epsom. And it was no doubt owing to these tactics he
won many of his greetest races. In fact, but for it New-
minster would never have got through his St. Leger, for

it will be recollected he went like a cat on hot bricks at
York, when Frank Butler was beaten on him. But after
1851 John, with his fan gallop on the Weld, and his pre-
served ground at Leatherhead, found he no longer needed
Pigburn, which had every year been getting deteriorated,
and he therefore gave it up. and trusted to his home re-
sources. These have proved amply sufficient for his pur-
poses ; and although Langton Weld is rough in some
parts, and objections have been made to the tan gallop,
fewer horses have broken down in the Whitewall stable
than in any other of a similar scale. To speak of the head
of Whitewall's abilities as a trainer i quite supererogatory,
for they are as much recognised by Englishmen as'the mili-
tary talents of Wellington or the naval genius of Nelson.
Both these heroes had their gazettes with their victories
given to the world, and so we can say the same of him, for
are not the records of Old Burlington-street at least as in-
teresting and preserved as sacredly as the archives of the
Horse Guards or the Admiralty? Like all great comman-
ders-in-chief, that of Mahon has not escaped the breath of
calumny, but like them he has lived it down, if the patron-
age of such noblemen as the Marquis of Exeter, Lord Derby,
Lord Fitzwilliam, and others of the same standing is any
criterion by which we may judge. To witness him on the
Wold on a May morning directing the work of his teams,
is like watching a general handling a brigade of cavalry in
the valley of Aldershot; while, judging from recent events,
we will venture to state the discipline of the stable is more
effective than that of the barracks.
Advanced in years as John Scott now is, and "short of
puff," as he describes himself to be, his deafness, which
came on two years back, has not in the least detracted from
the sharpness of his intellect, which is bright enough to
detect in an instant any question of an improper character
which may be put to him respecting the horses of his em-
ployers. Watched as his string are by a regiment of touts,
to whom the electric telegraph cannot be denied, it is no
wonder that the reports of trials reach London and Man-
chester so early. And although his employers may now
and then be annoyed that they are anticipated in the mar-
ket, they should bear in mind that they themselves are
watched as much as their animals, that their own depar-
ture for Whitewall is immediately wired to confederates at
Mahon, and arrangements for " a key," by which the
London and Manchester markets may be skinned, are con-
cluded, while the owner is spelling a penny paper in the
railway carriage. Sometimes, nay, frequently, the fore-
sight of the old gentleman is sufficient to disconcert the
plans of these pests of the turf, but occasionally the victory
is on their side, and in many instances it is occasioned by
his employers persisting in trying at a time when circum-
stances would justify a postponement. Of course in so large
a stable as that of Whitewall the proportion of blanks to
prizes must be as great as in other trainers' establishments;
and although it has been insinuated that John Scott's atten-
tion has been often diverted from "the little fish" to "the
big ones," we can safely state, from personal knowledge and
observation, that every horse that goes into the Whitewall
stable is treated alike, and that John Scott knows no dis-
tinction between owner and racer. And, moreover, we have
repeatedly known him recommend noblemen and gentlemen
rather to shoot animals of theirs he had in training than to
keep them on, which would only be to his own benefit, But
it is with delicate horses and those with doubtful legs John
Scott has achieved his highest honours on the turf, and of
his treatment of legs and feet he most prides himself upon,
His St. Leger successes, which are the most remarkable
feature in his career according to our notions, are to be at-.
tributed in a great measure to the rest he gives his horses
in the early part of autumn, so that when he comes to Don-
caster he meets a number of animals that have never been
eased since Goodwood, and are, consequently, so stale as to
be easily bowled over, In his public capacity it is admitted
that John Scott has no rival near his throne, and his
brother trainers pay him the same amount of respect as is
universally accorded to him by his lordly employers, who
relish as keenly his jokes and anecdotes as those of his
immediate friends. In private life he is no less respected,
being not only a perfect gentleman ;in his manners, but
lavish to a degree in his hospitality.
And although per-
haps not able to enjoy the society of his friends as he
used to do, the kindness and devotion to him of his second
wife, whose attention to the comforts of the guests at
Whitewall deserves the strongest recognition, causes the
uniortunate infirmity to be less sensibly felt. And in the
management of the interior of his establishment he is as
fortunate in 'having such a helpmate as Mrs. Scott,
who by her foresight en two or three occasions has pre-
vented great favourites from being nobbled, as he is in his
secretary, Mr, John Peart, who conducts his correspond
ence with a degree of ability not often seen in a Government
department. Of his rough-and-ready lieutenant, Jom
Perron, all we can say is that by nature he is exactly fitted
for the post he has so long hold, and ho fully deserves the
friends he has made in it.
As a breeder, John Scott has been most successful, and
many of his " young things" have fetched large prices ; and
he has an extraordinary fondness for animals of all descrip-
tions. Latterly he has given up hunting, and now devotes
his leisure to reading the newspaper and current literature
of the day, with all the industry of a member of Boodle's,
displaying as much interest in the result of a division as in
the fate of a battle, or the produce el a brood mare. Braver
than his old " colslipanion in arms," John Day, he once ven-
tured across die Channel to Boulogne, on a matter of busi-
ness involving some hundred pounds. But his stay there
not long enough to make him adopt the habits of a
Frenchman. For the morning following his arrival, having
made an affidavit that was required of him, he strolled down
to the pier, and the water being as smooth as a carpet, he

could not resist the temptation of slipping into the steamer
Igidc lAD, for for he PilQuid not get euc4 anotAer dab

leaving Mr. Peart to follow him the next afternoon. Thus
hare we given our readers as full an account of John Scott
as we think they could desire, and from our intimate know-
ledge of his character we do not think we have overcoloured
the picture. Part and parcel of Yorkshire, we shall never
look upon his like again, and both by rich and poor his loss
will be equally felt.

?HE LAST WORDS OF 1111?. P 172.