HANDICAPS. 153 



horse having been sold for ^400, that sum was 

 invested in backing Weathergage for the ducal 

 struo^q-le, which the horse won, and a sum of 

 ^16,000 in addition for his far-seeing owner. 

 Weathergage was then entered for the Cesare- 

 witch, for which he started first favourite at 4 to 

 I ; but long previous to the day of the race 

 Mr. Parr had backed him to win a great stake 

 at odds of 50 to i, by which transaction his 

 owner was said to have won ^40,000. He then 

 sold the horse for ^2,500. Lecturer, who won 

 the Cesarewitch in 1866, was the means of putting 

 about ^80,000 in the pocket of the unfortunate 

 Marquis of Hastings, and a very large stake is 

 reputed to have been won by Mr. Naylor with 

 Jester, in 1878, 



The incidents of the Cesarewitch outside 

 racing circles are not of very great interest ; 

 many of the animals which have proved suc- 

 cessful have never again been heard of as being 

 of any value on the turf. The distance run 

 is a little over two miles and a quarter, and as 

 the pace is usually a rapid one, it takes a very 

 good horse to win when the animal is really 

 weighted according to its merits. As has been 

 indicated, the race on some occasions falls to a 

 very mediocre horse, who has been got into the 

 handicap by trickery, at almost a nominal weight, 

 for the purpose of enabling the owner and his 

 friends to win a series of big bets. The Cesare- 

 witch does not often result in the first favourite 

 proving successful, having been often won by 

 horses which, in a comparative sense, may be 

 called outsiders. The honours of favouritism are 

 of course determined by the price of the horse in 



