OTHER COUNTRY MEETINGS 163 



operations have been delayed by frost and snow, those 

 youngsters which are thought to be good have not been 

 hurried forward, and if they are sent to run at Lincoln 

 they are in a backward condition, and unable to show the 

 form they may exhibit later on. In such years the " small 

 and early" sort, who come quickly to hand and do not 

 require a great deal of work, are generally seen to ad- 

 vantage. To give an instance, Kyoto, who won the race 

 after the great frost in 1895, was a mere pony when he 

 won, and undoubtedly owed his success to the fact that 

 he was more forward in condition than many of those he 

 beat. At the autumn fixture the Great Tom Stakes, a 

 handicap on the straight mile, and the Lincoln Autumn 

 Handicap of a mile and a half are the chief events of the 

 programme, and it should be added that Newmarket horses 

 can easily reach the scene of action on the morning of the 

 day on which they are intended to run. Large fields at each 

 of the fixtures are the rule, and if the dates are not exactly 

 suggestive of fine weather, they are popular with owners and 

 trainers, hence the fine supply of runners. 



Liverpool has a unique position amongst the racecourses 

 of the present day, for at two of the three meetings which 

 are held annually the programmes are of a mixed descrip- 

 tion, a proportion of the races being run under National 

 Hunt Rules. Elsewhere these hybrid programmes have 

 been tried at times, but have generally resulted in failure; 

 but Liverpool is a singular exception, because it possesses 

 the finest steeplechase course in the world. The Spring 

 Meeting follows the Lincoln fixture, and is invariably held 

 at the end of March. From Lincoln to Liverpool, and also 

 to Manchester, the Great Central Railway run an excellent 

 service of special trains, which leave Lincoln about one 

 hour after racing is over on the Wednesday, and land 

 their passengers at Liverpool and Manchester in time for 

 dinner. As far as the great training centres are concerned, 

 Liverpool is not particularly handy, and I have heard of 

 Southern-trained horses taking a long time over the journey. 

 The upshot is that, except at the November Meeting, fields 

 do not rule very large, and notably there is in the spring 



