The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-22 00:00:00

SPORTING NOTES.

TRYING BACK.

I do not regret that an unexpected visit, which
I was compelled to pay to Paris, prevented
my addressing the readers of The Sun prior to the
Shrewsbury meeting. My anticipations of the
sport would have been realised in one respect only
—the comparative largeness of the fields and the
abundance of the racing. So far as the "probable
results" were concerned, I should have been egre-
giously mistaken, for animals which I deemed "well
in" certain races were scratched, and alto-
gether I should have been at fault in nearly
every instance. The candour with which I
make this confession, will, perhaps, induce
the reader to forget the disappointment
which he experienced at not seeing my customary
remarks.

Mr. Frail achieved, as usual, a great success at
Shrewsbury, and I perceive that he dealt
rigorously with certain refractory jockeys. The
fines, however, which he exacted, are, it is said, not
to be contributed to the Bentinck Benevolent Fund,
and this circumstance has created some annoyance
amongst persons who wish prosperity to an insti-
tution which receives so little support from a class
of people whom it is intended to assist.
Many letters have been received by me relative
to the time certain horses were struck out ; and in
answer to my numerous correspondents I may state
that, with regard to Mr. 'Merry's horses, no declara-
tion whatever was made, and I believe that many
animals that were backed by the public were not
scratched at all, but were allowed to " remain in"
to the last. Mr. Frail is likely to have as many
letters to answer relative to declarations of forfeit
at his meeting as will give a week's employment
to his amanuensis and secretary.
All persons are agreed on the great success
which attended the season, which was brought to
a close with unquestionable eclat at Shrews-
bury. The good things of the year seem
to have been equally distributed between
the patrician and plebeian followers of the
turf, and, as it has been elsewhere' remarked, the
racing proceedings of 1858 have been more free
from abuses and instances of chicanery than in
any preceding years. All our great races have,
with few exceptions, fallen to the " upper ten
thousand." A French count won two important
handicaps in the spring ; a baronet won the Two
Thousand Derby ; a Sussex squire carried off the
One Thousand and Oaks ; a viscount obtained the
Liverpool Cup and Goodwood Stakes ; a northern
baronet won the Chester Cup ; and a Scotch capitalist
placed a Goodwood Cup upon his sideboard, and had a
St. Leger Stakes to repay his training expenses. The
racing sports of 1858 have therefore not fallen
exclusively to professional betting men or those
persons who enter into turf pursuits exclusively for
the gain of lucre.

America, France, and Russia have sent horses to
take part in our races, and this fact, and the success
which has attended them, indicates that foreigners,
at least, are imbued with the 'idea that our
sports are regulated by principles of fair-
play and honest dealing. This notion is un-
qestionably correct, for whatever its detractors
may, in their ignorance, allege against the sport,
no pastime, which at times really holds out induce-
ments for scheming adventurers to'act dishonestly,
is conducted with such a scrupulous regard to the
dictates of honour and fair dealing. The prompt-
ness with which betting liabilities,. are dis-
charged has no parallel—not even in that region
of legitimate speculation, the Stock Exchange.
Lord Derby, at the Mansion-house, preached
a homily on reckless speculation, and those
young men who have just come fresh on
the turf, who are forming large studs and
who, with caution, may render the turf a not
unremunerativo amusempnt du well to Dnal _
der his -words, and reflect upon his arguments,
for Lord Derby's advice may be appropriately re-
ceived by the sporting as by the commercial man.
On reviewing the past season, the success which
attended the New market meetings is at once appa-
rent, and it is evident that the metropolis of the
turf, both as a training quarter and a place of sport,
has regained that reputation and popularity of
which competition had at one time deprived it.
This reflection must be gratifying to the genuine
turfits, for at Newmarket only can racing be
seen to perfection, and at Newmarket only is the
sport conducted with a studied regularity and pro-
moted for legitimate purposes. The Jockey Club,
however, treat the reporters very scurvily ; they
exclude them from the weighing-room, and deprive
them of all facilities for obtaining information or
for transacting business. "The reason why" is
somewhat difficult to ascertain, for it cannot
assuredly be a desire to keep the public in igno-
rance of the real character of the proceedings on
the heath. Before bringing these desultory thoughts
on the past season to an end, I shall be acquitted
of all egotism, if I refer to the extraordinary suc-
cess which has, throughout the racing season, at-
tended my racing vaticinations, and to what I may
call the " well-timedness " of my comments on
abuses which required to be removed, or grievances
which called for regress. I have the satisfaction
of knowing that my remarks, dictated as they were
by a desire to promote the well-being of the turf,
and all classes of racing men, were always received
with attention, and considered with favour in the
quarters they were intended to influence.
Steeplechases now occupy the attention of one sec-
tion of the racing community, whilst the other de-
votes itself to the hunting field or the coursing
ground. A little meeting, which promises to
afford at least a pleasant day's amusement, will
take place at Croydon to-morrow. The principal
event will bring out a goodly field, and those persons
who require excitement and wish to have a pleasant
day out, cannot do better than betake themselves
to the West Croydon Railway station. The
ground is in capital condition, Barnard's stand will
be erected, and nothing that can promote the com-
fort of the visitors will be neglected.

A FRESH MAN.

Chester Spring Meeting, 1859, will take place
on the 3d of May.
Birmingham Steeplechases are fixed for the 23d
of March.

CROI
Croydon Stoeplechasc. Abot
lished at 11 a.
st lb
Emigrant
Milkmaid
Shylock
Nigger Lass
Chelmanton
Ratcatcher lO 10
Sportsman lO 7
Tamworth lO 6
Evington Lass lO 6
Tho Farmer
Omar Pasha lO 2
Theodine

MON.
it four miles. Weights pub-
.m., Nov. 17.

st lb
Hindoo
Chatham gelding 9 12
K ingscourt
Weatherglass
Fanny
Firefly
Innkeeper
Dayton
Half-canto 9 7
Liverpool Boy
Comet filly, 4 yrs
Bon Vivant