The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-29 00:00:00

THE PADDOCK.

Those who braved the Paddock must, despite the dis-
comfort under which the visit was made, have been well
repaid for their trouble, as the Oaks fillies were in looks
altogether above the average of late years. About the
first to show was the favourite Morna, and her appear-
%nce quite justified her position in the market, for she
was, either for symmetry or condition, unquestionably
the best-looking of the lot. She is a very hardy, racing-
like mare, full of muscle throughout, and wonderfully
quick and clever on her legs. She has a Beadsman
head, with a straight, strong neck, well-laid shoulders,
though a trifle heavy at the points. She has good depth
of girth, back, and loins, with slashing powerful quarters
tnd big thighs; but her hocks are rather small, yet still
nicely inclined, and near the ground. The winner,
Brigantine, is also a nice mare, beginning with a very neat
Dloodlike head and fine muscular neck. She is well made
throughout, and especially remarkable fur her powerful
quarters, running somewhat straight from the whirl-bone
down to the ground. Martinique has also plenty of good
looks to recommend her, and, more fit, might have been
still more forward. Another Buccaneer filly, Toison
d'Or, has a capital deep top, short limbs, much
power, and no lumber ; while Miss Foote, on the contrary,
was a wretched weed, with no middle, back, or loins. A
very racing sort of filly, as she marched past, was Crocus,
deservedly fancied in the Paddock, although, if anything,
her hocks were a little too far away from her; but Minaret
is a strong, cobby little animal, with a useful set of limbs,
a shoulder inherited unmistakably from her sire, and
giving one a vast deal more the notion of carrying a farm
bailiff than a famous jockey. Aubade is a more racing-
like daughter of Rataplan ; Teeswater, with very hand-
fuls of muscle on her arms, has the further recom-
dation of length ; and Dryad, quite set up for wet weather
in her boots and winkers, has a middle and back which
should be serviceable in deep ground. The Thousand
Guineas winner, Scottish Queen, leased of Mr. Jackson's
executors, is a long, low, handsome filly, with good arms
and thighs, though somewhat Shelly in her frame. Hymen
was not wanting in nice character, but Clemency was
nothing " very particular." Many, of course, were never
stripped until the very last moment.

THE FIELD AND THE BETTING.
There was a larger field than was expected, there being
only two absentees from the seventeen on the card. Morna.,
said to be better than Pero Gomez at even weights, was,
of course, the favourite, and Porter never was so sanguine.
He emphatically said that if the mare ran up to her trial
she could not be beaten, but then there was the heavy
ground, which upsets so many calculations, and which
probably told on Morna's chance on Friday. Minaret was
the first to appear from the Paddock, followed by Polis-
sonne, Crocus, Toison d'Or, Curicuse, and Morna, and
then followed, at a short interval, Brigantine, Hymen,
Martinique, and Scottish Queen. They were not a gaudy
lot, it must be confessed, taken as a whole, and this
year the mares are probably a stone behind the colts.
The two handsomest mares there, and the best
goers, were Morna and Martinique, and though Brigan-
tine was an equally good mover, and seemed to gallop
aver the dirt, she was mean-looking compared with the
beautiful daughters of Beadsman and Macaroni. The
betting was 6 to 4 against Morna, 7 to 2 against Brigan-
tine, 7 to 1 against Scottish Queen, 8 to 1 against Mar-
tinique, 100 to 7 against Dryad, 20 to 1 against Minaret,
25 to 1 against Miss Foote, and 50 to 1 against Crocus.