THE CLASSIC RACES. 



I. THE ST. LEGER. 



Certain races are now designated by common 

 consent " classic." These, in the order of their 

 occurrence, are the Two Thousand Guineas, 

 One Thousand, and the Derby, Oaks, and 

 St. Leger, but why they should be "classic" 

 more than some other events of the turf I am 

 unable to explain ; they have, at any rate, 

 become standing dishes of our racing bills of 

 fare. In point of origin, the St. Leger is en- 

 titled to precedence as premier of "the classics." 

 Much controversy has taken place about the 

 exact date of the first of the great Town Moor 

 struggles, caused, no doubt, by the fact that 

 no name had been bestowed upon it when it 

 was instituted. The race in reality should date 

 from the year 1788, when Hollandaise won, 

 but it was first run two years earlier, when 

 Allabaculia, ridden by J. Singleton, proved vic- 

 torious. 



The name was fixed upon, as has been often 

 narrated, at a dinner held in the" Red Lion Inn," 

 in Doncaster. At that dinner the Marquis of 

 Rockingham proposed that " the sweepstakes," 



