RACING IN THE 'PROVINCES: 93 



House alone to say how long he will permit the races to be run 

 in his park, or on what terms he may choose to admit the 

 public ' 



The present Duke of Richmond and his son, Lord March 

 (the senior steward of the Jockey Club in the year 1884), are 

 as keen on the sport as ever were their forefathers ; they fully 

 understand and appreciate the requirements of the age, and 

 their instructions are most efficiently carried out by the agent, 

 Captain Valentine. Under this regime at any rate ' Ichabod ' 

 shall never be substituted for the cognomen of ' Glorious,' so 

 dear to turf historians. 



Goodwood also holds a sharply- defined position in the 

 annals of the (Weatherby) year. It is the mezzo termine of 

 racing, an equatorial line between the tropics of the summer and 

 autumn campaigns. The Richmond, Findon, Lavant, Ham, 

 Prince of Wales', Rous Memorial, and Molecomb Stakes for 

 two-year-olds, the time-honoured Goodwood Cup, the Sussex 

 Stakes for three-year-olds only, the three great handicaps of 

 Stewards' Cup, Chesterfield Cup, and Goodwood Stakes, may 

 be mentioned as amongst the chief items of interest in a 

 momentous week ; the last-named long afforded a striking ex- 

 ample of British prejudice in favour of speculation on some 

 particular races ; for whereas the Ascot Stakes, run over a 

 similar distance of ground, rarely yields a quotation until a day 

 or two before the event comes off, the market on Goodwood 

 Stakes, even in modern days of post betting, opens almost 

 as soon as the weights appear. 



York, or its Knavesmire — of excellent repute with turfites — 

 is the oasis in the desert of plating between Goodwood and Don- 

 caster, and, like Doncaster, is one of the chosen battlefields where 

 the champion runners of North and South meet to settle their 

 differences. The Great Yorkshire is notorious for the discomfi- 

 ture of favourites and its influence on the Leger betting. The 

 Gimcrack is an ancient, and the Prince of Wales's is a rich, two- 

 year-old stake. The Great Ebor is regarded as in some sort a 

 clue to the Cesarewitch mystery ; but the new York Cup, which 



