50 THE ENGLISH TURF 



of the racing. Yet there is no " classic " event on the pro- 

 gramme — no ten-thousand-pounder, as at the previous meet- 

 ing, or other very valuable prize — but somehow the card for 

 each day is most attractive, and as a general rule about nine 

 of the best ten horses in training (of every age) are seen 

 under silk during the week. Had I the chance of only 

 two weeks' racing in the year, I should certainly choose 

 Ascot and the Second October Meeting at Newmarket, 

 in preference to all others, and with plenty of experience 

 behind me, I should take care to be provided with thick 

 winter clothing and the strongest of boots — though every 

 now and then the meeting is favoured with a touch of Indian 

 summer, when flannels and straw hats can perform their last 

 duty of the year. 



Tuesday's card, as a rule, embraces four races which 

 bring out horses of the best class, viz. the Clearwell 

 Stakes for two-year-olds, the Champion Stakes (run until 

 1899 "Across the Flat," but lengthened in 1900 to the 

 last mile and three-quarters of the Caesarewitch Course) for 

 three and four-year-olds, the Newmarket Oaks on the Two 

 Middle Miles, and the Royal Stakes for three-year-olds, 

 which is decided Across the Flat. On Wednesday the 

 Caesarewitch, the most important handicap of the year, is 

 decided. This race is run over a course of two miles and 

 a quarter, and I call it the greatest handicap of the season 

 because a Caesarewitch winner takes higher stud rank with 

 most breeders than does the winner of any other long- 

 distance race of the year, the Ascot Gold Cup alone ex- 

 cepted. A Caesarewitch winner must be a genuine stayer, 

 and though occasionally a moderate horse gets home with 

 a light weight on its back, the race has been won by many 

 famous nags, and fillies — always fit at this time of the year — 

 are often seen to the greatest advantage. In the last twenty 

 years, for instance, Robert the Devil, Corrie Roy, St. Gatien, 

 Plaisanterie, Tenebreuse, and Sheen have helped to swell 

 the list of winners ; and, taking the race from its initiation up 

 to the present time, no other handicap can show such a list of 

 winners. At first glance the bead-roll of the Jubilee Stakes 

 at Kempton Park may read more brilliantly, but the Jubilee 



