Year: 1866

GREAT FOUR MILE DAY.


The weather on Saturday was as coy and CO.
quettish as on any day during the season-sultry,
cloudy, brassy, dull, sprinkly and bright,


Everything by starts. and nothing long"
1t held up splenddIy however, for the great event
to come off on the Fair Grounds race course,
which, of course, attracted very large attend
ance. We believe this was far the largest of the
season.


The track was in greatly improved condition,
although still decidedly slow, as we have no doubt
the time which will be made at Fordham will show,
if the races about to come off there are favored
with q good day and track as are expected,
from all accounts received thence. r


Although we took good care to be on the track
IN good time, according to the bills we learned
that the 400 yards dash for $1,000 between Mr..
Green's bl. g. and Mr.. McCarty's br. g. had al
ready been rum and won easily by the latter. The
reason of this anticipation of the regular hour we
understand, was for the purpose of avoiding some
question connected with the jockey club rules.
The losing owner is reported not to be satisfied
with the running of the match, and another test
of the powers of the respective steeds may posi-.
bly, be made.


Punctually for half-past three o'clock the sig
nal was given for saddling up and mounting for
the great four-mile heat race for the Jockey Club
Purse of $1,000. The entries for it were Ctdrley
Armstrong, NeoSho and Gen. Rousseau. On
their coming up for the start it was objected that
the rider of Neosho was from the same stable as
the rider of Charley Armstrong, and the fourteenth
rule of the club says, :' Two riders from the same
stable will not be permitted to ride in the same
race, except by consent of the judges
nor shall two horses from the same
stable be allowed to run in the same
race except in single heat race" Mr.. Moore,
one Of the owners of Charley, protested that the
boy was nolonger in his stable, although at the
commencement of the season he was, and had rid
den two-me race for him. Since then, he had
been in the employ of Mr.. Small, the owner of the
Norborne FLY, Neosho. The judges made some
| inquiries, and among them from the boy himself,
who admitted that he still freqnentcd Messrs.
Moore and Coffee's stable. This Mr.. Moore ex-
planned by saying that the boy merely did this to
avoid sleeping and associating exclusively with
the negroes of Mr.. Smalls stable; and he
again protested that the boy now no more
belonged to Moore & Coffee's stable than Charley
Armstrong belonged to Mr. Hendersons, from
which he had lately been bought; and that the





to run with Rousseau, on the plea that the two
horses were from the same stable. The judges,
under all circumstances, thought it advisable to
decline giving their consent to the boys riding
Neosho but granted Mr.. Small time to find another
rider. After this had elapsed it was announced
that Mr.. Small had been unable to find another
RIDER upon which the judges decided that the
flly could not run, and that all field bets were con
sequently of.


This left the contest between Charley Armstrong
and General Rousseau. They both appeared in
excellent condition, although peculiar action Of
the grey as he walked about the stretch had led
some to fancy that there was something faulty in
one or both of his forelegs Careful observation
a however, soon dissipated the notion The boy
was universally admired for his size and symmetry
and he continued the fayorite as decidedly as he
had been at the pools on Friday night. thousand
to four hundred, a hundred to twenty-five, thous
and to four hundred, a hundred to forty, hundred
to fifty, five hundred to two hundred and fifty, {
hundred to dfty-fve, a hundred to sixty, were cali
on him, heard Immediately before the start.
Charley Armstrong won the inside track, and
the tap of the drum went off for the first mile a
an easy pace, with Rousseau leisurely waiting upol
him and allowing him gradually to open a gal
between them, which on the back stretch amounted
to some four or five lengths. Then he began t.
close up little on the grey and continued to do s.
round to the stand, when he was close on him
This mile was run in 2:O5. Five hundred dollar
even was now offered he would win the heat.


The second mile was a repetition of the first
except that the bay allowed somewha
larger gap to be made, and was som
half dozen lengths in the rear on passin
the stand; but he was doing his work with appa
rently great ease, his crest proudly arched, hi
stride firm and elastic, his tail at ease, and every
thing marking him as we'll deserving the favor i
which he stood. Charley Armstrong; style q
running WAS quite different. His head and mech
back and tail were nearly in a line, except occs
sionally when the last-named appendage wa
given an all but vertical tilt, as though he wer
! using his nose as wedge to break the resistanc
of the air to his flight; and his rider found a
occasional persuader with the whip advisable
The mile was done in one minute fifty-thre
seconds and half The third mile was so similt
to the second that nothing more need be said
it than that on the home turn the General pushe
up upon Charley, and was within three lengths
him on passing the stand, and that this mile Wi
run in one minute and tifty-four seconds. The gre
again increased the gap as they entered the tul
on the fourth and last mile, and some doubt begt


to be manifested about the certainty of his wi
ming the heat. On the back stretch, however,


began to creep up, gradually gained on the gr'
reund the home turn and down the stretch, al


pushing killing pace, coared Charley Armstrol


q few yards from home, aud came in a clever wi


ner of the heat by half length. The time of tt
:, g mile one minute, fiityseven seconds and
= half of the heat, seven minutes and fifty second
le Of course the friends of the Geueral we
te elated, although an offer of hundred to tho


sand against his winning the purse found


takers. His antagonist looked every bit as W
:, as he did alter the heat, however, and SOL


thought little better: and the talk among fl


was that if the grey had but heen put on his 81 Q


earlier on his way home, from the back stretch


the last mile, he would have taken the heat. I


ifs and butts leave things as they were.
= For the second heat they got off well, Rousse
:, with the inside track, at easy pace, and alo
Ii ing the grey almost Immediately to take the le
; and position from him. The first mile was


very much on the same order and style as that
:, the previous heat, the grey passing the stand


or three lengths ahead, in 2:034 The second '


run somewhat faster-in l:545-tbe grey pass