ASCOT AND GOODWOOD 65 



horses out of every twenty in training have no pretensions 

 to high class, but the nineteen are quite ready to run when 

 the chance is offered, and it is presented everywhere but 

 at Ascot. Indeed, some meetings lay themselves out to 

 catch the platers, and give no prizes that are likely to attract 

 good-class horses, yet those meetings live, and earn enough 

 to go on from year to year. There are meetings, too, at 

 which at least half the races will draw a fair class, and 

 some — Goodwood and Doncaster to wit — where even a 

 greater proportion of the events is contested by good 

 horses. Still, there are selling races at both these places, 

 while at Ascot no such event is permitted on the pro- 

 gramme. 



As a rule Ascot draws all the best horses of the year, 

 of every age. All sorts and conditions are provided for, 

 but only the best run in every class. The Cup, the Vase, 

 and the Alexandra Plate attract the best stayers of the day ; 

 the Prince of Wales' Stakes, the Ascot Derby, and the St. 

 James' Palace Stakes draw many of the best three-year-olds. 

 The Coronation Stakes is generally contested by the 

 winners of One Thousand and Oaks, and the Coventry 

 and New Stakes bring out the best youngsters of the year, 

 though of course it occasionally happens that the best of 

 this age are not seen on a racecourse until the Autumn 

 Meetings at Newmarket. The Hardwicke Stakes and the 

 Rous Memorial Stakes are generally won by about the 

 best horses at a mile and a mile and a half in training, 

 and such events as the Fernhill Stakes and the Queen's 

 Stand Plate by the fastest sprinters of the day. There 

 are very few handicaps during the meeting, but the Royal 

 Hunt Cup has been won by some great horses, and is always 

 productive of the highest mile -handicap form of the day, 

 while the Ascot Stakes must fall to a stayer, even if his 

 class be not quite so good in comparison. It is every 

 owner's ambition to win a race at Ascot, where all the 

 world and his wife are looking on, and this ensures good 

 entries for all the events. The meeting being held in the 

 second week in June, it is unfortunately often celebrated 

 in times of drought ; and when fields are small and good 



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