56 THE ENGLISH TURF 



But modern racing seems to have no use for such courses, 

 and, except the Whip, there is not a single race in the 

 Calendar of more than three miles, and only one of that 

 distance, viz. the Alexandra Plate at Ascot. It has lately 

 been mooted by Lord Penrhyn that as the July Course 

 affords the best going to be found anywhere for a long 

 race at midsummer — when so many other courses are, as 

 a general rule, burnt up and hard — that one or more new 

 long-distance races be instituted for the Newmarket July 

 Meetings. The suggestion is, I understand, being con- 

 sidered by the Stewards of the Jockey Club. The Ascot 

 Gold Cup is two miles and a half, and so too is the Good- 

 wood Cup. The Metropolitan Stakes, the Chester Cup, 

 the Jockey Club Cup, and the Caesarewitch are two miles 

 and a quarter, and at present these are the only races 

 in the whole season where the course is beyond two miles. 

 The Bunbury Mile corresponds to the Rowley Mile 

 Course a mile away, and portions of it are the favourite 

 courses behind the Ditch, and there is a very sharp ascent 

 to the winning-post of nearly a quarter of a mile. The 

 Suffolk Stakes Course of a mile and a half — the last mile 

 and a half of the Round Course — is the longest course 

 now used behind the Ditch, and the Ellesmere Stakes 

 Course, of a furlong less, but finishing at the bottom of 

 the hill, is much more popular in both weeks. There is 

 a T.Y.C. on the Bunbury Mile of 5 furlongs 142 yards, and 

 on this the July Stakes is run. Six furlongs, with the same 

 finish, is called the Exeter Stakes Course, and the last five 

 furlongs of the Bunbury Mile — much severer, for two-year- 

 olds, than the longer T.Y.C. — are used for the Chesterfield 

 Stakes and other short races. Here it was that La Fleche 

 made her first public appearance, and I recollect as well as if 

 I saw it now how she came bounding up the hill with her ears 

 pricked, and won without effort. It was an extraordinary 

 promise of excellence to come, and that promise was more 

 than fulfilled in the three following seasons. 



A feature of the July Course is the beautiful carpet of 

 grass which covers it. This grass does not seem to be 

 so coarse as that which is found beyond the Ditch, and 



