NEWMARKET 49 



Princess' Cup, and as the handicaps are only of minor 

 importance, those who do not care for two-year-old racing 

 might just as well give the meeting a wide berth. The 

 Second July Meeting has no really big event on its pro- 

 gramme, but there are plenty of good second-class races 

 to be contested, and the sport is often quite as good as 

 that which has been seen on the same ground a fortnight 

 before. Again two-year-olds play an important part, the 

 Chesterfield Stakes being the most valuable prize for 

 youngsters. Then there are the Soltykoff Stakes and the 

 Two-year-old Stakes, and fair three-year-old prizes in the 

 Zetland and Midsummer Plates, besides handicaps of a 

 rather better sort than those of the first week. 



With the First October Meeting (the early days of which 

 are always in September) we get back to the Flat, which 

 is the scene of the three autumn fixtures. The programme 

 for the first of this series of meetings is just an average one, 

 by no means so strong as those of the two meetings which 

 follow. The Jockey Club Stakes of a mile and two furlongs 

 is its trump card, and this was established in 1894, an< ^ 

 already has such names as Isinglass and Persimmon and 

 Flying Fox on its roll of winners. The Great Foal Stakes 

 and Newmarket St. Leger for three-year-olds are also 

 decided at this meeting, and a Triennial for four-year-olds 

 over a two-mile course. The Great Eastern Railway 

 and Newmarket October are the chief handicaps, and 

 the Rous Memorial, Rutland, Boscawen, Buckenham, and 

 First October Stakes the principal two-year-old prizes. On 

 the whole the First October is a quiet meeting, and nothing 

 like so well attended as the two which follow it. Many of 

 the habitue's have not returned from Scotland, Homburg, 

 or elsewhere, and in spite of the Jockey Club Stakes the 

 fixture hardly holds its own. 



Just the reverse may be written concerning the Second 

 October Meeting, which, in my opinion, is quite the most 

 popular of the Newmarket series of eight. The weather 

 is sometimes bad, and perhaps more often doubtful and 

 cold, but the fixture is better attended than any of the 

 others, and this must be entirely set down to the excellence 



