214 THE ENGLISH TURF 



fallen in the Bibury Club and Stockbridge week. Anyhow, 

 it never has even one of its three days to itself; and this 

 is a somewhat serious matter for Gosforth Park, as the rail- 

 way journey from London to Newcastle-on-Tyne is only a 

 matter of six hours now, and were there no opposition 

 easier of access, the Northumberland Plate would draw a 

 far greater number of Southern race-goers than it does. 

 Another drawback to the date is that the London season 

 is still in progress, and from this cause many owners and 

 their friends are often absentees, though they may send 

 horses to the meeting. I have often thought that an early 

 autumn meeting should do well at Gosforth, instead of the 

 present fixture late in October. The last-named, like the 

 Spring Meeting, is only a local affair ; but a meeting held in 

 August, when the Northern Circuit is in full swing, and 

 when many of the owners are already located in the North 

 for the shooting, would surely be a success. At the time of 

 year it would be an easy matter to procure Newmarket and 

 other Southern-trained horses, as Redcar, Stockton, and 

 York do ; and it seems a pity that while we have a month 

 of Northern racing in August and early September, Gos- 

 forth Park, with the finest course of all, should not have 

 a turn. I write " finest course of all " advisedly, for there 

 is no awkward bend close home at Gosforth as there is at 

 Doncaster, and it has a much better mile than is to be found 

 at York, though the round course at the last-named place 

 has few superiors. 



The spring programme contains prizes good enough to 

 attract the pick of the Yorkshire-trained horses, and there 

 is always a sprinkling of Southerners as well. The Summer 

 Meeting is a very different affair, with valuable prizes offered 

 on each clay. The meeting begins on Tuesday, when the 

 North Derby for three-year-olds is the most important race. 

 The stake is worth about i^ 1,500, the distance a mile and a 

 half, and the race generally attracts several of the best of the 

 second rank of the year. A Biennial for two-year-olds is 

 also run for on this day. On Wednesday the Northumber- 

 land Plate is the great attraction, and this race arouses 

 extraordinary local interest. What the Derby is to 



