The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-26 00:00:00

SPO ATING NOTES.

The York running has altered the St. Leger betting,
the hollow defeat of Vauban by Colonel Peaxson's filly
having sent the Duke's horse to 16 to .1, whilst 5 to 2 is
freely taken about Achievement. There can be no ques-
tion that this splendid filly must have been " dead amiss"
at Epsom and Ascot, or, worse still, must have been " got
at" before she ran in the Oaks. Individually, like many
others, I thought her defeat was attributable to inability
to 'get over a distance of ground, but in the face of the
Great Yorkshire Stakes, which is one mile and three-
quarters, that theory cannot be correct, she having won in a
canter by at least ten lengths. Hermit still continues re-
markably firm in the market, and deservedly so, but his
winning the Great Northern event is by no means the
certainty it is evidently considered by his party. Fit and
well at the post, it is reduced to a match between the pair
who always proved themselves when in form a long way
the best of their year. The talent appear to be laying odds
on the two coupled. Julius is supported in very good
quarters for large sums of money, and having made ex-
traordinary improvement since the Derby will most likely
run into a situation. Challenge, who has been purchased by
the Marquis of Hastings, will probably have a spin before the
day with the Two Thousand Guineas winner ; but, good
handicap horse as he has proved himself, he will
find the company too good for him at Doncaster either to
win or even be mentioned by the judge. According to the
Ebor Handicap running, for which Gomera gave the
Marquis's late purchase 261 b and a beating, it would be
putting the Duke's mare in the St. Leger at lOst 81b, and
who would back her on those terms ? It may be objected
as unfair to handicap the Goodwood Stakes winner so much
above racing weights; in that case, suppose she carried
Bst 101 b, and Hermit, Achievement, or Julius two stone
less, what earthly chance would she have ?
The principal handicap at York was won by Mandrake,
who landed some large "books," as well as heavy stakes
for his party, amongst whom may be mentioned Messrs.
Jackson, Steel, Nicholls, &c., &c. There can be no ques-
tion the race was won by one of the luckiest " flukes" on
record, but I presume the owner of Beeswing, whose mare
ought to have won, did not wish to let the public know
how good his mare was, otherwise it is natural to suppose,
unless he had received instructions to that effect, Pryor
would not have pulled Beeswing back to the others, but
have come away and won by half a dozen lengths, which
he might have done. One fact is very certain, that Cameron,
to the delight of his partizans and the bookmakers gene-
rally, stole a march on her jockey, and won by his head.
Mr. R. Johnson deserves great praise for having made de •
cidedly the best handicap of the year, which, consequently,
brought out a superior field, in point of quality, to what
we have seen together in any handicap this season, and
from the great chance they seemed to possess induced the
public to back at least a dozen of the animals engaged for
large sums of money.
There are no less than six different meetings to be run
off in different parts of the country this week, and, as a
guide to your subscribers, underneath is a list in tabular
form of the different stakes which will be contested for at
each place, together with my selection. As most of the
horses are engaged at several of the meetings, they would
be best let alone till their numbers go up.

A FRESH MAN.

(From the Newmarket Correspondent of the Racing Times.)
The York Meeting just past will long be memor-
able for the defeat of so many favourites, for although the
past week has not been so disastrous to the backers of
horses as in the two former years they bad a very bad
time of it. It will be seen that Vauban was the only horse
that won during the meeting with odds on him in the
Biennial, and what bookmakers could have fielded for in that
race is passing strange, yet they took as short odds as they
did about him in the Great Yorkshire Stakes, where he had
Achievement to meet. I partly prepared your readers last
week for the defeat of Vauban and Moulsey, as I was quite
sure the course would not suit Lord Bateman's horse, and
that Vauban had to be ridden to beat the second rate Tyne-
dale for the Goodwood Cup. The Duke of Beaufort is one
of the most fortunate men on the turf, as he has won some
large stakes with a moderate horse. I must boldly ask what
he ever beat ? He won the Biennial by only a head
from Wroughten ; and what has the latter done since?
Ho was beat in the Derby by a horse that was not fit to
run for a shilling, as every one knew Hermit was only the
shadow of his former self on the Derby day. I boldly
stated last week that Julius would beat him in their places
for the Leger, and I have several times mentioned in these
columns that ho would have no chance with Hermit pro-
vided the latter came fit to the post, and now, as Achieve-
ment is herself again, I must give her the preference over
Mr. Chapltn's horse, as she could have beat Vauban with
another stone on her back; and never, in the history of
racing, were two favourites, with odds on them, easier
defeated than Vauban and Moulsey. Again, if John Day
thought Vauban had any chance of beating Hermit in the
St. Leger it was bad judgment to hack him about the
country, from Goodwood to York, whilst his former
conqueror was doing a good preparation at Newmarket.
It is really surprising to see a horse backed for so many
thousands for the Leger while he is running all over
the country. As every one knows horses can't run for
ever. Danebury has no more chance of winning the
St. Leger than the writer of this, so long as Hermit and
Achievement keep well, and all thdse who have read the
Racing Times for the last month will now see that I was
quite right in asserting that Vauban had no chance to
beat Hermit. The Marquis of Hastings has bought Chal-
lenge for 3,500 guineas, but he is not worth half the money.
What chance can he have for the Leger ? I must
admit he is a fair handicap horse ; but the quality of horses
ho has had to meet have been very moderato, and we all saw
Gomera get before him in the Ebor Handicap, giving him
2st, and how, in the name of common sense, would John
Day try a Leger horse with Gomera? Challenge is not
worth £l,OOO fur racing purposes, as he is not a cup
horse, and will never get in a handicap again
with any chance of winning, at any rate this year.
I have no doubt I shall be found fault with for writing so
plain, and condemning horses that other writers think so
much of ; but it will be remembered I wrote quite as plain
before the Two Thousand Guineas, as I then wrote the
following words:—" I don't care a rush for what Mat
Dawson thinks ; Julius is too light, and can't win either
the Guineas or Derby ;" and I stated that the Dragon is
what an Irishman would call a " Garron," when other
writers were lauding him up to the skies. I publicly stated
that the only credentials he had was that the Frenchman
had once a Gladiateur in the same stable. I wrote all those
things from what I saw the horses do on Newmarket
Heath, and as "Augur" justly remarks, " What on earth can
a man know about horses that always sticks in London ?"
I wont to Newmarket to see Guy of Warwick, when there
was so much fuss made about him for the Goodwood Stakes,
and certain writers selected him to win. I at once pro-
nounced him a regular duffer, as it was plain from
his style of going that he had no earthly
chance of ever winning a great race. I am
afraid I have dwelt too long on the merits of the
Leger horses, but I have only told your readers a plain
unvarnished tale, as 1 don't profess to come up to the
standard of a first class writer, nor do I think a eporting
writer requires a college education to convey his ideas of
horses to his reader, for it must be admitted that first-
olass writers make some fearful mistakes about horses.
I have neither time nor space to go through the perform-
ances of the different horses that ran during the week,
and if 1 were allowed to tell the secrets of the prison
house, I saw one or two cases of roping, which I
hope the gallant Admiral saw as well as myself, as he
will soon have to perform on those animals for the
Cesare witch and Cambridge, and it is quite certain there have
been a lot of horses running lately with an eye to those
two groat races, and a lot of them have been kept on
the quiet, likewise thinking they will get well in.
Before taking my leave of the York Meeting, I must
allude to the disgraceful scene is the ring on Thurs-
day, when a notorious welsher was nearly torn to pieces.
This reminds me forcibly of the old system of bull-baiting,
when we used to see a lot of dogs worry a bull. Such
scenes are disgraceful in enlightened England. Surely
there must be a remedy to prevent these vagabonds from
gaining admittance into a ring at any of our race meet-
ings. Why not send Mr. William Elliot to all the meet-
ings, and have them all turned out, as no one knows
those scoundrels better than he does? He pointed out
one of those fellows to us lately, with the name of G.
Webb, a respectable bookmaker of London, on his bag, and
he ordered the fellow out of the ring directly. I have no
doubt if Mr. Elliot was placed in authority at all the race
meetings he would soon rid the ring of such scoundrels.
There are several meetings next week, but I am not in a
position to know what is likely to run, therefore I shall
merely state what I consider well in at Derby and Lichfield.
There are 21 acceptances for the Tradesmen's Plate at
Derby, and if Mrs. Allan can't win with 6st 21b, she ought
to be turned out of training, and the same may be said about
Life Guardsman in the Moira Handicap. Lord Ronald is in
such form just now that he will nearly win the Chatsworth
Stakes with all his weight. Mrs. Stratton will win the Drake-
lew atakes.- Contempt or Yed4 will win the Chooterfield

Stakes. As most of the horses are engaged again on the
second day, I must leave the running on the first day to
guide your readers what to back on Wednesday. John
Sheldon has made some great improvements at Lichfield,
and will no doubt have a good meeting. If Silenus
be sent from Newmarket ho will win the Beaudesert
Welter Cup. Red Cap will win the Tamworth Plate.
Thirty-eight horses are entered for the Staffordshire
Stakes, and should this stake be thought good enough for
East Lancashire, I should look no further for the winner,
but as he has shirked better engagements, I must look
somewhere else for the winner. Mrs. Allan and Life-
guardsman are turned loose, and if oue of them cannot
win here they should be sent to drawa cab. Lady Hester
will win the Hastings Plate, and the filly by Birdhill, out
of The Itie, will wiu the Clia?npagne Stakes, and the latter
is likewise wellirt in the Nursery ou Fridiy. John D.ty has
six in the Gold Cup, and whichever is selected from his lot
will win. Lady Hester will win the Flying Stakes.