Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-09-05

was Not Allowed to Win In Two
Straight housekeeping from Four
Miles and Over to the short Spurfs Of
the +. Y. G..
From Bells Life In London
1t was a boast in the many-acred county OF
Yorkshire more than 200 years ago that 1t could
produce better and stouter horses than all the
rest of England put together, and 1t was this
spirit that prompted the popular meetings held
on the Rawcliffe side of York in 1903. In the
eyes of racing men the greatest quality in q
runner I'm those days must have been stoutness.
as the xed idea was that no horse should win
a race unless he ran twelve miles for 1t. Laws
of racing then enacted that a race to be run in
four-miie heats could not be in less than three
heats and that i'm case a horse won the first two
he was compelled to compete In the third, and
save his distance be disqualified altogether.
Then il seemed to be the opinion OF the old
racing lawgivers that no horse was suitable for
racing until he was six years DID, as none under
that age competed at York during the earliest
The hard conditions of these long-distance
races gradually subsidized, and those who now
view the regulations of the EbOr handicap will
say they have been subsiding ever since, as
after the first three years 1t became unnecessary
TO run the third heat if horse won the first,
and race was Instituted to be decided right
probably thought too easy, rs it was not in the
program the following year, but the fixture was
restored in after years, and by degrees, Judging
from the large fields, it became more popular
than the heat system. The four-mie races for
mares ON Black Hambleton Moor have never
been equalled in the interest they excited
throughout Yorkshire. Only imagine thirty
one mares running in one race, and twenty-One
ei:nteen, twenty. and twenty-five were the
They were not to exceed five years old, SO 1t
was said. because breeders should not be
encouraged to keep them in work after that
age, and the ages were kept high at York for a
great many years, the rule being that they
should not be under five years, though not
older than six.
The first departure from these rules was in
lIi3,when stake was instituted for fOur.year-
old colts and fllies in two-mile heats. and this
stake became well subscribed for from its out
set, while another of the same kind was estab-
iiShed in 1160; they were the most valuable
subscription stakes of the meeting, but altered
from heat races into straight-away races over
four miles, thereby indicating that the old
fashioned racing people were beginning to find
out that four-year-olds could run four miles.
1t appeared, however, to be quite out of the cal
cuiation of at least one generation OF racing
men to run three-year-olds, and the first race To
be found in that category was run at York in
1872, and it was called the Stand Plate of 80
sovereigns; colts. stone; flIies,7 stone II
pounds; distance two miles. From that time
down to the present there has not been a meet
ing at York without a three-year-old race in the
program. though the meetings have altered
much since our foreflthe brought in the innO-
walton. a little later on there were three races
at a York meeting open to three-year-olds. and
the interest they OccaSioned doubtless brought
about the establishment of the ST. Leger in
1916, and three years later ON the Derby.
Up to this time, however, there had been
race under two miles, and southern racing men
altered that state of things by making the
Derby mile and Il halt race. At York three
year-Old races kept increasing, but there was
no falling Oft in the distances until 1913, when
plate of 80 sovereigns was added to the pro-
gram for three-year-olds over Il mile and a hall.
For a long time after this, though, York Au-
gust meeting was almost entirely confined to
long-distance races, for taking tue year 1850,
it is found that there was an ail-aged stake to
begin with over four miles, the Kings Plate
over four miles, u Produce Stake tor fOur-year-
Olds over four miles, a race for all horses over
two miles. Il plate for all horses in fourmile
heats, n sweepstake for four-year-Od colts over
three miles, u SweepStake for three-year-OldS
overa mile and halt. the York Cup over four
miles, three-yearOld colt race over a mile and
three-quarters, and two-year-old race over
four furlOngs. As far as can make out by the
old calendars and records. the first two-year-Old
race was run at York in 1899, or nearly twenty
years after it had become the fashion to run
two-year-Olds over the Beacon course at
Newmarket under feather against old
horses in October. Such evil practices crept
into other parts of the country, but did not
tend to Yorkshire for many years, and it is
not a little remarkable that during the early
days of the present century the great
northern county had reputation of its own
for stout horses for the race course the hunting
field, and the road. The Ebor Handicap was
first one of the long-distance races at York.
The other was the Three-Y ear-Old Biennial,
and the third was Her Najesty's Plate gradu-
ally cut down to two miles from the original
four. then three, and two and q half and finally
the half mile was cut of. There were races of
TWO IhiieS anu tuTeequarters, one mlle ana Il
half, and the rest mostly of the I. Y. c. order.
York is rather better in tolerably lOng-dstance
races than many other meetings, but still York
should have old associations to maintain, and
have very much regretted to see the EbOr Han
dicap cut down to IA mile and a half. The fine
sportsmen of Yorkshire should see to this, as
the shades of old Cation might we'll frOwn over
scene at Knavesmire to see whole fields of
nOn-stayers struggling home over five furlOngs,
instead of those races wherein the best qualities
Of a race horse were tested. and the GOODNESS
and the Judgment OF the jockeys in making
running or waiting over such grand scope of
ground as four miles. York is II meeting of all
others that should have its stake of / 900 SOW
ereigns for stations and mares of four years old
and upward. at weight for age, over two miles
and a half or three miles; then there might be
a reason for bOasting about Yorkshire horses.