The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-03 00:00:00

CHESTER RACES-WEDNESDAY.

In no respect has our estimate of the attractions of the
Cup Day exceeded the truth ; it has unquestionably
proved the best, not only as a great public holiday, but
as a source of profit to the city, that has ever been
placed on record—a consummation ascribable as much
to the surpassing beauty of the weather, as to the in-
terest excited by the principal race. And if the event
turned out so favourably for the citizens, it cannot alto-
gether have been unprofitable to that portion of the pro-
fessional speculators who open books on the publication
of the weights, and were lucky enough not to miss any
of the horses that came to the betting ; some, however,
were not so fortunate, and, as is usually the case when a
greatfavourite wins, have burnt their fingers. It will be seen
below that twenty-six horses started, one mere than aa
mentioned in our last, as likely to show. The difficulty
of getting such a field off upon anything like equal
terms must be obvious to those who are acquainted with
the course, and, had the ordinary system been adopted, it
is more than probable that several false starts, if nothing
worse, would have occurred; we were therefore tha
more agreeably surprised to learn that the stewards had
prevailed upon Lord George Bentinck to relieve the
clerk of the course of a most responsible and unthankful
office, and that his Lordship had devised a plan ex-
cellently suited to a large body of horses in a narrow
course. It was simply to divide them into two divisions of
thirteen each, their riders drawing tickets for their chances
of the first or second rank. Having taken their
positions, according to their tickets, nearly a quarter of
a mile below the starting-post, they were paraded up to
it with extraordinary precision, and gut off without the
slightest failure ; it is impossible that anything could
have been more admirably managed. Notwithstanding the
crowd which encircled t►:e course, the day's sports were
brought to a close without a single accident that led to
serious consequences. In short, the only fault we feel
bound to notice was the utter disregard of punc-
tuality ; a moderate allowance may always be
conceded at provincial meetings, but two hours
between the first and second races, and the
horses walking about the course a great part of the time
was a little " too bad." In future we would suggest
that the principal races be run off at reasonable intervals,
and that the heats should be made subservient to the in-
terests of the publicans. The first race on the card was
the Stand Cup, which ought to have been run at half.
past two o'clock; and about that time the horses were
mounted and on the course, but it was at least twenty
minutes before the bell rang for saddling, and more than
half-an-hour beyond the proper time before they were
started—this, under a broiling sun, was no " treat" to
the jocks.

INTELLIGENCE EXTRA.
GORHAMBURY, 1844.

Acceptances for the Gorhambury Handicap:—Robert
de Gorham, 5 yrs, Bst 121b—Roscius, aged, Bst 71b—
Vitellius, 4 yrs, Bst 71b—llyrcanian, 4 yrs, 7st 101 b
The Brewer, 4 yrs, %t 81b—The Artful Dodger, 5 yrs,
71t 61b—Rowland, 4 yrs, ist 61b—Cataract, 4 yrs, 7st 61b
—Auld Lang Syne, 4 yrs, 7st 41b—Quilt Arnold, 4 yrs,
7st 31b—Emtlian, 5 yrs, ist 31b—Yardley, 4 yrs, ist 21b
—Bosphorus, aged, 7st—Antidote, 4 yrs, fist 121b—
Emilie, 4 yrs, 6st 71b—Fox, 4 yrs, Est 41b—The Cure,
3 yrs, sst 101b—The Devil to Pay, 3 yrs, sst—Deuce
Ace, 3 yrs, sst.