24 HUNTING AND SPOBTING NOTES 



be worried in its kennel, and to afford us no run. 



This deponent can say no more of the day, as the 

 four p.m. train waits not even for foxhunters. I can 

 truly say, however, that this was the Whitchurch's 

 best day thus far ; plenty of scent, splendid going, and 

 foxes, if not very strong, fairly good performers for 

 this time of year. 



Next week the Shropshire ought to have sport, for 

 their meets are good ones, and the hounds are in 

 excellent form. That bitch pack is worth a Jew's eye I 



SEVENTH WEEK— December 8 to 13. 



The turf world is feeding on dry statistics, like 

 squirrels over their winter stores. Busybody is at the 

 head of the poll for the year, with winnings amounting 

 to upwards of £6,400 ; next to her comes The Lambkin 

 with £5,300, and St. Gatien third with £4,900, Scot 

 Free fourth with ^4,700. Cherry, Harvester, Cambus- 

 can, Sandiway and St. Simon being ahead of the rest 

 in the order named. Toastm aster is first among the 

 aged horses. Tristan, of course, heads the six-year- 

 olds, Geheimniss the five-year-olds, and Florence the 

 four-year-olds, with .£5,400 to her credit, beating 

 Energy, who is second, by more than a thousand. 



The Grand National Hunt Committee has fixed upon 

 Lincoln for the scene of their Spring Steeplechases, and 

 the Jockey Club has been employing its leisure in issuing 

 a circular calling roundly to task the jockeys who are 

 owners of horses, as well as flagellating them for their 

 betting transactions. They have also gone so far as to 

 prohibit Mr. Baird, better known as Mr. Abingdon, 

 from training horses on Newmarket Heath. This is a 

 strong measure, seeing that he has just taken a lease of 

 Bedford Lodge stables and ground for £1,800 a year, and 

 won some big races. The ostensible reason given is 

 that Mr. Baird had continued to run horses in other 

 people's names while under the ban of the Jockey Club 

 The latter, however, must have known this at the time, as 

 the outside world did, and shouli not have reinstated 



