The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-18 00:00:00

SPURTING OPINIONS.

(Front Bell's Life.)
A genuine old-established Craven Meeting has
just been held, forcibly reminding one of the days
when Newmarket was select, and half-a-dozen
spirited contests in the course of a week were
deemed satisfactory. Even on the " grand" day
there was an absence of anything like a mob ; and,
further, the sensations incidental to the doings of
the pencil were of the mildest kind, notwithstanding
trials were coming off morn, noon, and night iu
such quick succession as to quite bewilder even pro-
fessional horse-watchers. But for the misfortune
that befel poor Typhoeus the market changes would
not have been of vast import, the movement con-
cerning the remaining cracks iu the Two Thousand
and Derby simply tending to strengthen their
positions in nearly every case, for it happened that
those located at Newmarket we did not see perform
in public were generally liked by the legion of
amateur touts each morning. Pace's appearance
and going quite astonished many who had been led
to believe, from the long odds laid against him for
both races, that he was as " dead" as is Typhoeus,
and who had heard all sorts of depressing stories to
account for his downfall. Newmarket men, how-
ever, seem to have agreed to differ over him, and
it is still insisted in some quarters he is a roarer.
His " dark" stable companion, Harvester, is quite
deserted, the general idea being that he is " not
good enough." Vale Royal, like Pace, has his de-
tractors as well as admirers, though it is universally
admitted that he possess a wonderful turn of speed,
and that, if he can only stay the Rowley Mile, his
party's fondness will be rewarded by his at least ob-
taining one of the coveted placesin the Two Thousand
contest, if he is not absolutely Al. The only other
three year old " celebrities" at Newmarket we did
not see perform in public are St. Ronan, Le Sar-
razin, and Rabican, the former of whom was with-
drawn from the Biennial for the sake, it is under-
stood, of the more important affair next Tuesday
week, but is still an outsider, and will ever remain
so unless he has been made two stone better than
he was last autumn, a dream his make and shape
do not allow the most enthusiastic followers of the
Hermit rose to indulge in. The forward running
of Nelusko in the Biennial, with the victory of
Montagnard, could not revive the fallen fortunes of
Rabican, Le Sarrazin being introduced in his stead,
on the strength of a good trial with the first-named.
Had all three run for the opening spin some amends
would have been made for the shortcomings by the
meeting of Knight of the Garter and Lady
Coventry ; but such a treat was not in store for the
critics, as there was no intention of running the
two, despite the mistake committed in hoisting both
mustn
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e,
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Specu-
lum, and the cream of last season's two-year-olds.
Had the Knight and the Lady met, a pretty
reli-
able line in this direction must have been obtained,
seeing the Knight was conceding Speculum 311 b. in
the City and Suburban, and would here give 321 b
to Lady Coventry, who in the Middle Park Plate
was some 101 b. inferior to Lady Elizabeth, Rosicru-
cian, Formosa, and Green Sleeve. The Speculum
party could make little out of the triumph in the
Free Handicap of their trial horse, Silenus, so
wretchedly bad were the lot he defeated ; neverthe-
less it was gratifying in more ways than one that he
did win ; and the followers of the hoops have every
reason to be pleased likewise with the result of the
contest between the vaunted Restitution and Moslem
justafterwards. After the freshly-christened brother
to Knight of the Crescent's form at Epsom and
Northampton, which made him out all two stone
worse than Speculum and a stone behind Ironmaster,
it appeared a certainty that a horse capable of run-
ning a good third to the former and Le Sarrazin in
the Woodcote, and that had beaten Suffolk withal
in a trial, could dispose of him without much trouble;
and even those not over-sweet on the Baron's colours
scarcely entertained the idea of Restitution's upset,
all they could urge being that if he did not win very
easily he was not " in" the Guineas or Derby.
Hence the defeat was a real surprise, and Moslem
betrayed so much improvement in condition that
his recent disgraces were freely forgiven, the critics
voting him a real good " rough outsider" for the
Two Thousand. The Fyfield followers backed him
for that race at the long prices, and were quite
cook-a-hoop at the Derby prospects of the filly
Franchise, whose upsetting all the cracks
that run for the One Thousand is not
looked upon as a very remote probability now.
Restitution, as a matter of course, returns to the
region of obscurity, accompanied by another whilom