ENGLISH RACE COTJESES. 371 



Jn]j meeting, in regard to the time made by Lord "Westminster's 

 Sleiglit-ot'-Hand, by Pantaloon, who won the Tradesman's Cup 

 this year, beating Charles XII., Criiiskeen, Deception, and thir- 

 teen others. The race was run on the 15th of July, the day was 

 line, not at all warm, and the course inline order. The distance 

 was two miles exactly^ and Sleight-of-Hand, a four-year-old, and 

 carrying 109 lbs, performed it in 3m. 36s. ! The race is described 

 as a very splendid one, the winner, Sampson, and Charles XII., 

 "being so closely handicapped that Sleight-of-Hand won only 

 by a neck, Sampson beating Charles XII. for the second place 

 nearly hy a head. But the most wonderful circumstance yet 

 remains to be told ; Charles XII., who came so near winning, 

 is himself but a four-year-old, and yet carried 125 lbs. — only 

 a pound less than an aged horse carries on the Union Course ! 



" The Derby handicap, run on the same day, was won by 

 Lord George Bentinck's Capote, by Velocipede ; he, 3 years 

 old, with 93 lbs. on his back, ran once round and a distance, 

 called a mile, in one minute and forty-seven seconds. Tliis, if 

 the distance be accurately measured, it would not be impossible 

 for us to beat ; but the performance of Charles XII. is really 

 wonderful."— Ed. Am. T. R. 



In reference to the measurement of the English courses, 1 

 quote again from the same work, vol. xi., p. 213, a writer, under 

 the signature D., for whom the Editor vouches as " a practical 

 breeder and turfman of thirty years standing," and as one than 

 whom "• no gentleman in the Union is more familiar with the 

 diiferent strains of blood which have appeared on both sides of 

 the Atlantic," testifies as follows ; 



" Your correspondent doubts the speed of English horses, 

 and talks of the reputed length of courses. On that subject I 

 would observe to him, that the course at Doncaster has been 

 accurately measured in the presence of Americans, and some of 

 the fjistest races have been timed by our* countrymen, with 

 watches made expressly for the purpose. The same remark ap- 

 plies to ^«V?^;'e6, near Liverpool," the course, be it observed, over 

 which the races last named were run ! 



* It may not be amiss, nor will be improper, here to specify two well-known and 

 thorough sportsmen, Messrs. Frank Corbyn, of Virginia, and Boardman of Hunt's 

 Mills, as timers of English races. 



