162 THE RACrXa SEASOrf, 18S7 



horses of the year, went a great way towards proving the 

 assertion, made in the Spring, that the three-year-olds as 

 a lot were very moderate. The two-year olds were un- 

 usually promising, and Don John showed himself as the first 

 of his year. 



At Heaton Park the same liberality as usual prevailed ; 

 the running however was not so good, nor were the Stakes 

 so valuable. Don John was again in force, and won in a 

 manner calculated to raise very sanguine expectations on 

 the part of his noble owner. Most of the all -aged races 

 were without the slightest interest beyond the moment. 



The Newmarket October Meetings were rendered highly 

 interesting by the great speculations entered into, parti- 

 cularly on the two-year-old races. Mango's running 

 proved, what his spirited owner always told his friends, 

 " that although Mango might want a turn of speed, yet he 

 could manage a distance with any of his age." Of the 

 youngsters out during the three Meetings, none left off 

 more deserving of patronage than D'Egville; but Ion, 

 Paganini, and Grey Momus were not without friends, and 

 their running certainly afforded their admirers considerable 

 hopes. 



A strange fatality attended the favourites for the great 

 betting races this season. In the Spring, Achmet, Jereed, 

 Wintonian, Defender, and Benedict went lame or amiss, 

 not a little to the loss and mortification of their backers. 

 Phosphorus next went lame — yet he won the Derby. After 

 this we missed Bay Middleton, Elis, Touchstone, and Veni- 

 son, each and all having gone irrecoverably lame. For the 

 St Leger, Melbourne and Emprise were added to the 

 casualty list, and Epirus fell into a ditch. Such a continu- 

 ation of misfortunes could not but operate prejudicially on 

 racing generally. But taking as a criterion the pages of 

 the Racing Calendar, racing appeared to l)e on the increase ; 



