52 THE ENGLISH TURF 



the Criterion Stakes for two-year-olds generally takes a 

 good deal of winning, and on this day the Troy Stakes 

 is also decided, besides the Limekiln Stakes for threes and 

 fours, and the Scarborough Stakes for three-year-olds only. 

 On the Cambridgeshire day the Cheveley Stakes for two- 

 year-olds and the Subscription Stakes for all ages help 

 to swell the programme, while the Dewhurst Plate stands 

 out on Thursday's card, and has been won by such celebrities 

 as Kisber, Ormonde, Donovan, Orme, and St. Frusquin. 

 Another big event decided on the same afternoon is the 

 Free Handicap for three-year-olds, and on Friday the Jockey 

 Club Cup takes premier rank, though it is many a long year 

 since there has been anything like a field for this race. The 

 Houghton Stakes and the Free Handicap for two-year-olds 

 help to fill the bill on the last day, and the two last races (of 

 the programmes of late years) are decided at the " top of the 

 town," these being the Old Cambridgeshire Handicap and 

 the Criterion Nursery, both run up the severe hill, finishing 

 at the Portland Stand. 



I have already remarked that all the racing which takes 

 place in the spring and again in the autumn at Newmarket 

 is decided on various portions of the Beacon Course. That 

 same Beacon Course is 4 miles i furlong 177 yards in 

 length, and has its starting-post close to the Cambridge 

 Road, about three miles and a half from the Portland Stands 

 in a bee-line. It, however, zig-zags slightly in places, and 

 these deviations cause it to exceed the bee-line by some- 

 thing over half a mile. The early part of it is fairly flat, but 

 nowadays the first mile is never used save when there 

 happens to be a contest for the Whip. About a mile from 

 the Beacon Course starting-post is the Caesarewitch starting- 

 post, and from this point to the Portland Stand is about 

 three miles and a quarter, and on this three miles and a 

 quarter there are five winning-posts and about twenty 

 different courses. From the Caesarewitch starting-post to 

 the running Gap where the course bisects the Ditch, or 

 Devil's Dyke there is a considerable descent. Just as 

 the Ditch, or the running Gap, is reached the ground rises 

 somewhat abruptly for seventy or eighty yards, and then 



