70 THE ENGLISH TURF 



From this list it will be seen that there are five races 

 of two miles and upwards, five of distances varying from 

 a mile and a quarter to a mile and five furlongs, eight of 

 a mile or thereabouts, and only ten of six furlongs and 

 under, exactly half of which are for two-year-olds only, 

 and the least valuable race is generally worth ^400. This 

 is emphatically a model programme, and comparison with 

 that of any other meeting in the Calendar would be to the 

 immense advantage of Ascot. 



Always excepting " the Whip " — which produces a contest 

 but very occasionally — the Alexandra Plate is now the 

 longest race of the year, in fact, is the only contest in 

 which the distance exceeds two miles and a half. Un- 

 fortunately, it is not always the great race it ought to be, 

 for in a considerable measure it is discounted by the Gold 

 Cup, run twenty-four hours earlier. Moreover, the con- 

 ditions are such that maiden four-year-olds are allowed 

 10 lbs., and maidens of five years and upwards 14 lbs. 

 Then there are various penalties for winners, including 

 one of 10 lbs. for winning the Gold Cup, thus it occasionally 

 happens that this race is won by a horse of moderate class. 

 A stayer of course it must be ; but there are stayers and 

 stayers, and only in 1898 I saw a horse that had been 

 beaten a hundred and fifty yards in the Ascot Stakes carry 

 off the Goodwood Plate with the greatest ease. Occa- 

 sionally it happens that a really high-class horse wins the 

 Alexandra Plate, and its bead-roll of winners includes some 

 famous names, but of late years few Gold Cup winners have 

 attempted the double event, and we have to go back to 

 1889 to find both races won by the same horse. On that 

 occasion Trayles was the hero, and in the previous year 

 Timothy scored in similar fashion ; and it is worthy of note 

 that this brace of stayers were trained by the same trainer, 

 the late James Jewitt. St. Gatien completed the double 

 in 1885, ^^^ Robert the Devil in 1881, as did Verneuil 

 in 1878, and Doncaster three years earlier. Verneuil also 

 won the Gold Vase on the first day of the meeting, and 

 I cannot help thinking that present-day owners seem to 

 be more afraid of pulling their horses out again, to run 



