42 THE TURF 



variation from even weights is that mares and oeldinofs 

 are allowed 3 lbs. In the second place, there are 

 races, like the New Stakes at Ascot and the Middle 

 Park Plate at Newmarket, for two-year-olds ; the 

 Prince of Wales's Plate at Ascot, for three-year-olds, 

 &c., where horses of the same age carry the same 

 weight, with, however, penalties for previous successes, 

 and, in the case of the Ascot race, maiden allowances. 

 In the third place, there are weight-for-age races in 

 which horses of different ao-es meet and are weio^hted 

 according to the table given in Chapter VII. 



Of weight-for-age races, the five "classic" events 

 are supposed to come first, and the Derby first of 

 these. Since this point of view was adopted, a 

 number of valuable and important stakes have been 

 introduced, wherein Derby winners may and do meet 

 each other ; and a special prestige has always attached 

 to the Ascot Cup, in which there are none of the 

 penalties and allowances that "bring horses together," 

 and where also Derby winners and others of the 

 highest class may be found in opposition. The five 

 three-year-old classic races are, however, the Two 

 Thousand Guineas, for colts and fillies, dating from 

 1809, and the One Thousand, for fillies only {1814), 

 run at the Newmarket First Spring Meeting ; the 

 Derby, for colts and fillies (1780), and the Oaks (1779), 

 for fillies only, run at the Epsom Summer Meeting ; 

 and the St. Leger, for colts and fillies (1776), run at 

 Doncaster. It is difficult to understand why the Derby 



