THE TURF. 
bold enough to deny, How many fine domains have 
been shared amongst those hosts of rapacious sharks, 
during the last two hundred years ! and, unless the 
system be altered, how many more are doomed to fall 
into the same gulph ! For, we lament to say, the evil has 
increased : ah 1 heretofore, indeed, has been " tarts and 
cheese-cakes," to the villanous proceedings of the last 
twenty years on the English turf. " Strange ! But how 
is it that exposures* are not oftener made?" This 
* A very proper notice has been taken by the members of the Irish 
Turf Club, respecting an alleged attempt at fraud on the part of Mr. 
Ruthven, a member of the Reformed Parliament, and here a reformer on 
principle. The charge against him was, that of his having ran two horses 
in Ireland under false names and ages, thereby pocketing large sums of 
money ; and the following was the decision of the stewards, the Honour- 
able John Westenra, John Maher, Esq., and the Earl of Howth, after a 
long and laborious investigation : " Having most carefully examined the 
evidence produced before us, we are of opinion, that, in reference to 
Leinster and Old Bill, as also to Caroline and Becacine, a case of identity 
has been proved ; and we consider Mr. Ruthven's refusal to produce those 
horses for examination here, as conclusive of the facts of substitution 
alleged against him. 
"We are therefore of opinion, that neither Caroline nor Lenister are 
entitled to any stakes on the races for which they have come in first ; that 
the second horses in those races should be deemed the winners ; and that 
the bets should go accordingly, except in the match between Caroline and 
Fusileer, in which the bets are off. 
"In conclusion, we feel imperatively called upon to remark that, in 
consequence of Mr. Ruthven's withdrawal of his name from the Turf 
Club, it does not become a part of our painful duty to recommend to the 
Club any further proceedings in this matter. 
(Signed) "JoHN C. WESTENRA. 
JOHN MAKER. 
HOWTH. " 
A full account of Ruthven's affair is to be seen in the March number 
of the " New Sporting Magazine," 1836, p. 326 
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