THE YORKSHIRE MEETINGS 137 



was nearly always worth following. As a rule winners 

 finished on the side of the course furthest from the stands, 

 no matter where they had started, but now they often come 

 up close under the stands, and the new course is such a fair 

 one that, provided a horse begins quickly, it is quite im- 

 material whether it started on the right, the left, or in the 

 centre. The Knavesmire in wet weather becomes very 

 heavy on account of its low-lying position, and at such 

 times the horses all finish dead -slow, and strength and 

 stamina are well served. At the August Meeting the 

 going is more often hard than soft, but the sport is 

 nowadays always good and the attendance quite the best 

 to be found at any of the Northern meetings, saving only 

 Doncaster. At the Spring Meeting the Great Northern 

 Handicap of a mile and a half is the principal race, while 

 on the second day the Flying Dutchman's Handicap over 

 the mile course is generally won by a useful one. There are 

 also a couple of nice two-year-old stakes, one on either day, 

 but the meeting is in no sense a great one, and a large 

 majority of the runners are trained not far from the course. 

 The August fixture is of quite a different character. It 

 is held at the end of the month, when the grouse shooters 

 have had about ten days of sport, and when the moors and 

 probably many of the guns are in need of a rest. The 

 place lies handy to all the English moors, and York thus 

 draws largely upon the class who shoot as well as race. It 

 is also an occasion for numerous house parties from a large 

 residential district, and the racing is good enough to draw 

 from all sorts and conditions of racing men those who think 

 racing the first of all sports. The programme is planned on 

 very sound lines, there being important weight-for-age events 

 on each of the three days, and it by no means unfrequently 

 happens that the three-year-old running has considerable 

 bearing on the St. Leger. On the Tuesday the Yorkshire 

 Oaks for three-year-old fillies and the Prince of Wales' Plate 

 for two-year-olds always attract good class, and the former 

 race has a certain notoriety through the favourite for it 

 having so often been beaten by an outsider. It is run over 

 a mile and a half, and while winners are penalised maidens 



