HANDICAPS 99 



afterwards won the Cesarewitch, and on two other 

 occasions came very near to victory, was successful in 

 1880, and the Duke of Hamilton carried off the prize 

 in 1882 with Fiddler, a horse who afterwards gained a 

 reputation by beating Foxhall for the Alexandra Plate 

 at Ascot. But this was one of those instances in 

 which horses win fame which they scarcely deserve, 

 for after his severe exertions on the previous day in 

 the Ascot Cup, Foxhall was too stiff and sore to do 

 himself justice. In 1883 Lord Rosebery won with 

 Vista, who subsequently distinguished herself by be- 

 coming the dam of a Derby winner, albeit an extremely 

 bad one, in Sir Visto. Althorp, too, won the Ascot 

 Cup the year after taking the Metropolitan, but he 

 was probably the worst horse that ever carried off 

 that trophy, and had the luck to meet two extremely 

 poor opponents. 



The Chester Cup, first run in 1824, was for many 

 years one of the most important handicaps of the 

 year. Entries were made many months before the 

 race, and betting on it was heavy and continuous 

 throughout the winter. Alice Hawthorn, Leamington 

 (twice), St. Albans, Tim Whiffler, Beeswing, Paul 

 Jones — who seems to have been admiringly called 

 " The Steam Engine " by his friends — Knight of the 

 Garter, and other good horses have won the Chester 

 Cup. The day on which it was run used to be a 

 holiday all round the district and along the borders 

 of North Wales ; but for some reason or other the 



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