NEWMARKET 51 



Stakes is run on a mile course, and great as the achievements 

 of Minting, Bendigo, and Victor Wild have been in this, the 

 most popular of the Spring Handicaps, they cannot, in my 

 opinion, compare with such a performance as that of Sheen 

 in the Caesarewitch, nor with that of St. Gatien winning the 

 same race under 8 st. 10 Ibs. when only a three-year-old. 

 On Thursday the principal items are the Bretby, and 

 Prendergast Stakes for two-year-olds, the Challenge Plate 

 for all ages, and the Lowther Plate for three-year-olds. On 

 Friday the big event is the Middle Park Plate, sometimes 

 spoken of as the two-year-old Derby, and almost invariably 

 won by a good horse, the names of Galtee More, St. 

 Frusquin, Ladas, Isinglass, Orme, Signorina, and Donovan 

 all occurring during the last ten years. 



The Houghton Meeting, at which the curtain is rung 

 down on racing for the year at Newmarket, has also a strong 

 programme, and though the weather often acts as a spoil- 

 sport, it is quite one of the best of the Newmarket fixtures. 

 Its principal handicap is the Cambridgeshire, and the 

 Cambridgeshire perhaps takes more winning than any other 

 similar race in the whole season. A Cambridgeshire winner 

 does not afterwards take such high rank as a Caesarewitch 

 winner, because his triumph is achieved on a course which is 

 more than a mile shorter, but the Cambridgeshire is famous 

 for good performances on the part of great horses, and not- 

 ably Foxhall, when a three-year-old, won it with 9 st. in the 

 saddle, while with only 2 Ibs. less to carry the French mare 

 Plaisanterie was victorious, a fortnight after she had won the 

 Caesarewitch. Another great performance in this race was 

 that of Florence (9 st. I lb.), in 1884, and eight years later 

 La Fleche won under 8 st. 10 Ibs., being at the time a three- 

 year-old. In the list of winners are also to be found the 

 names of See Saw, Montargis, Peut-etre, Isonomy, Bendigo, 

 and Winkfield's Pride, and however the race may result it 

 invariably draws a large field of high-class horses, some of 

 the best "classic" form being generally represented every 

 year, though such representatives are not always successful, 

 as witness the defeat of the twenty-thousand-guinea Galtee 

 More in 1897. On the first day of the Houghton Meeting 



