172 THE ENGLISH TURF 



Steeplechase usually points to certain horses as being likely 

 performers in the Grand National of the next spring, and, 

 all things considered, the meeting is the most interesting 

 of the late autumn, after racing at Newmarket is over for 

 the year. 



Other old-established English meetings which have not 

 been alluded to are Carlisle, Croxton Park, Newton, and 

 Warwick, The first-named is the only Cumberland fixture, 

 and has fair local popularity. The Summer Meeting, which 

 is held in the week following Newcastle (Gosforth Park) 

 Summer Meeting, is the most important, but nineteen- 

 twentieths of the support is forthcoming from the Northern 

 stables, though occasionally a Newmarket horse is sent 

 on from Newcastle to run in the Cumberland Plate. This 

 race is a i^SOO handicap, now run over a mile and five 

 furlongs, and it generally takes a bit of winning. The 

 course is oval, and about a mile and a quarter round. 

 Croxton Park Meeting is of purely local interest, and the 

 long programme always includes several races under N.H. 

 Rules. The fixture is confined to one day, and this is 

 perhaps enough, as the scene of action is a long way 

 from a railway station, and by no means easy to reach. 

 The stakes are of small value. Newton Races were held in 

 July, and also formed what may be termed a local fixture. 

 The place, however, within a dozen miles of Manchester, 

 and twice that distance of Liverpool, used to draw a large 

 crowd, and was popular enough. No great stakes were run 

 for, but lately it was decided to remove the fixture to the 

 Haydock Park enclosure, which is in the same neigh- 

 bourhood, and where a fair amount of success has been 

 achieved. Warwick Races are of considerable antiquity, but 

 their present importance is not very great, and this especially 

 applies to the Spring and September Meetings, each of 

 which covers two days. In November, however, Warwick 

 has in most years a clear three-day meeting, and though the 

 stakes are of no great value, this particular meeting attracts 

 a host of runners, it being the last but one of the racing 

 year. The Midland Counties Handicap of ;^500, one 

 mile, is the most important race from a monetary point 



