HANDICAPS. 



At every recurring race for the Chester Cup the 

 decadence which has overtaken that celebrated 

 event is usually adverted to by the sporting 

 writers of the period, its past glories being at 

 the same time painted by regretful pens. But 

 times change, and though the competitors at 

 Chester have dwindled from thirty and forty to 

 less than a dozen, let it not be forgotten tha? 

 other contests have arisen of greater interest, 

 although the races which are popular to-day are 

 not those which were popular thirty-five or forty 

 years since. Handicaps which in times past 

 were thought " great " are now looked upon as 

 " small," and are being displaced in the Calendar 

 by more important events. 



Space need not be occupied in even briefly 

 narrating the history of our handicaps ; two of 

 them, however, may be referred to in order to 

 indicate the fluctuating fashions of the turf : these 

 are the races for the Tradesmen's Plate at 

 Chester, or " Chester Cup " as it is familiarly 

 called, and the Great Metropolitan Stakes, 

 run at Epsom Spring Meeting, both of which 

 look almost at death's door when viewed in the 

 light of their early history. It is curious, 



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