THE RACING SEASON, 1838. 183 



The Goodwood Races, although they undoubtedly held 

 the first place amongst what is termed the " provincial 

 meetings," were certainly not on so brilliant a scale as last 

 season. Two or three just reasons might be given to prove 

 the why and the wherefore, not the least being the bad 

 judgment displayed in fixing the weights for the Goodwood 

 Stakes. Then again the *' agitators" were " at their dirty 

 work again," to the detriment of the betting on the Stakes, 

 little as it originally was ; and Harkaway, after having been 

 backed, and the betting regulated by the supposition that 

 he would run, was, at the last moment, declared not to start. 

 Then again the mystery that was attached to Loutherbourg 

 (and which, although now settled in Mr Theobald's favour, 

 then gave rise to unpleasant conjectures), threw a gloom over 

 the minds of gentlemen of honourable and straightforward 

 conduct. The Two-Year Old races, won by Wapiti, were by 

 far the most satisfactory events of the week; for the Cup, 

 notwithstanding the numerous provisoes (which would al- 

 most enable a donkey to contest the race with a Priam, and 

 shuts out all the best horses of the day), was a hollow 

 thing — Harkaway being intended to win by his party. 

 Grey Momus won his two engagements in his old fashioned 

 style, by taking the lead and keeping it, and gained some 

 friends for the St Leger in consequence. 



At Doncaster, Don John's trials had been little short of 

 wonderful the week before running, but there was no such 

 thing as getting a pony on at " anything like a saving 

 price." Many remained true to Ion, well-knowing him to 

 be the best three-yr-old at Newmarket. The St Leger race 

 requires no detail — Don John won from the first hundred 

 yards, and Ion's superiority over the others was as soon 

 observable. The Cup race was one of interest, rendered 

 more so than it would probably have been, by the system- 

 atic chicanery of the Irish party, who again burnt their 



