3 i8 KINGSCLERE 



and ' terms of subscription : whole season, i/. 12s. ; to the 

 Derby inclusive, I2s.' Which, considering the advantages 

 offered, were not exorbitant fees. In the article of The 

 Two Thousand Guineas, which appears in the ' Kingsclere 

 Racing Circular' for April 29, 1870, ' we have nothing to 

 retract from our winter assertions. Market movements 

 have all along confirmed everything we have advanced 

 respecting the merits or demerits of the various animals 

 engaged. . . . Claudius will also be amongst the starters ; 

 and we understand that Mr. George Payne considers him 

 the most trustworthy of the Marlborough pair. We shall 

 see Asterope is knocked out of the betting, for the mare 

 has been coughing, like all the rest of Sir Joseph Hawley's 

 horses, Rosicrucian being about the only one that has 

 escaped the stable epidemic.' This prophet, who had the 

 command of so much exclusive information and who was 

 acquainted with the private opinions of Mr. George Payne, 

 wound up with his prophetic remarks by placing the first 

 three, namely, Kingcraft, King o' Scots, and Stanley or 

 Prince of Wales. Macgregor won by five lengths, Nor- 

 manby was second, three-quarters of a length in front of 

 Kingcraft, and Prince of Wales did not run. The prophet 

 had permitted himself to say that ' Macgregor, independent 

 [sic] of being a non-performer, is not made like a Two 

 Thousand winner, as he is a short, leggy, peacocky colt, 

 without any pretensions, as far as looks go, of staying more 

 than three-quarters of a mile.' ' Blue Gown,' dating from 

 Kingsclere, writes in the same copy of the ' Circular ' that 

 ' I am sorry to inform you that since my last, influenza 

 has broken out severely in the Kingsclere stables.' In the 

 1 Kingsclere Racing Circular' for May 13, 1870, the prophet 

 adopts Macgregor as his Derby champion. As to King- 

 craft, ' he is decidedly hopeless, for we saw him quite 

 beaten in the dip during the First Spring week ; and 

 French will never be able to make more of him.' King- 

 craft, with French riding, won the Derby by four lengths. 

 1 Blue Gown ' writes from Kingsclere, ' I am happy to inform 

 you that the health of the horses in this stable is now 

 quite convalescent! With a laudable desire to retain the 

 allegiance of those readers who are possibly indifferent 

 respecting ' the health ' of the Kingsclere horses being 

 ' quite convalescent,' he concludes his letter with the 

 following alluring aspiration : ' As we run no horses until 



