THE YORKSHIRE MEETINGS 131 



what's going to win to-day?" In Yorkshire the case is 



different ; it is not " What's going to win ? " but " '11 



win t' Leger. Now mark my word, yon's a good horse, 

 and t'others '11 never see t' way he goes." How many times 

 has one heard this sort of remark at Doncaster on the 

 Tuesday or on the Wednesday morning ! The writer has 

 scores of times, and he must admit that the opinion of the 

 average Tyke is far better worth having than that of the 

 average student of form or follower of the money. Then, 

 what a reception a St. Leger winner has when he returns 

 to the paddock ! How the crowd cheer him and his jockey, 

 and how they rush behind him from the weighing-room door 

 down the paddock, and never leave him until he is in his box 

 with the door shut, or taken outside ! This Yorkshire en- 

 thusiasm is a pretty feature of the Doncaster week. It may 

 be a little inconvenient at times, especially when one is 

 rudely hustled by a burly Yorkshire farmer of twenty stone, 

 but it is expressive of the huge love of racing which is 

 inherent with the average Yorkshireman, and, without going 

 into the ethics of the question, it is really one of the strongest 

 segments of the backbone of the sport. 



The Doncaster programme is a strong one, but chief 

 interest centres in the St. Leger, even though Yorkshire- 

 trained horses have played very secondary parts since 

 Apology won in 1874. It ver 7 seldom happens that the 

 Derby winner is not engaged, and in proof thereof the 

 Epsom champion has been first six times and second three 

 times in the last ten years, the solitary exception being 

 Sainfoin, who did not compete in Memoir's year. On some 

 occasions the Derby form is altered, and the most recent 

 instance was supplied when La Flche turned the tables on 

 Sir Hugo with consummate ease in 1893. Merry Hampton 

 was one who was unable to sustain his Epsom form on 

 the Town Moor, but Ladas was generally thought to have 

 been unlucky when beaten by Throstle, and had the pair 

 run the race over again on the following day I think that 

 odds would have been laid on Lord Rosebery's colt. 

 Another notable case was when Robert the Devil easily 

 defeated Bend Or in 1880, but the Duke of Westminster's 



