26 THE ENGLISH TURF 



the sport at the larger and more important meetings began 

 to assume quite a national character, whereas in the pre- 

 railway age it had been almost entirely local. 



At the present day the adjective local can only be applied 

 to the least ambitious of the country gatherings, so far as 

 the runners are concerned, and even to these meetings an 

 odd horse or two is almost invariably sent from Newmarket. 

 Northern " platers " seldom come South, and South-country 

 horses of similar calibre do not often run north of the 

 Trent ; but with weight-for-age and handicap animals the 

 case is quite different, and they are sent from one end of the 

 kingdom to the other, if a race is advertised that is likely 

 to suit them. Doncaster and, in a lesser degree, York and 

 Lincoln, were the great battle grounds upon which North 

 and South met, and at the present time North and South- 

 country horses are seen in about equal numbers on the 

 famous Doncaster Town Moor ; but — and this is a some- 

 what curious circumstance — whereas the St. Leger in its 

 early days was nearly always won by a Yorkshire-trained 

 horse, and, in its intermediate career was very evenly divided 

 between North and South, for the last five-and-twenty 

 years it has been the prey of the Southerner, the name of 

 no Yorkshire - trained horse being found on its roll of 

 winners since Apology, trained by the brothers Osborne 

 at Middleham, credited Parson King with the trophy in 



1874. 



At the beginning of the century we find that racing was 

 vigorously carried on at nearly all the cathedral towns in 

 the kingdom. This was probably because they were also 

 the county towns. Anyhow the fact remains that, of the 

 country meetings which have survived the rivalry of the 

 modern enclosure, some of the best are those which are 

 held beneath the shade of abbey or minster. 



In this category may be included York, Lincoln, Chester, 

 Salisbury, Worcester, Ripon, and Carlisle ; but many of the 

 cathedral town fixtures have disappeared, viz. Gloucester, 

 Durham, Lichfield, Winchester, Oxford, Exeter, Canterbury, 

 Hereford, and Rochester. The strongest have survived, and 

 the weakest gone to the wall ; but the survivors have all 



