192 THE ENGLISH TURF 



who with 7 st. 6 Ibs. in the saddle was only beaten a head 

 for second place (this horse afterwards ran second for the 

 Ascot Cup), and a notable failure was that of the Australian 

 Newhaven II., who on the strength of his City and Suburban 

 victory was backed at a very short price, but he could 

 do no better than finish eighth. On the whole class was 

 not so good, and the race less exciting than usual. In 1900 

 the distance was increased to a mile and a quarter, and 

 the winner turned up in a very sterling mare, the Irish- 

 bred Sirenia by Gallinule, who, however, only beat Merry 

 Methodist by a short head. The winner started at a long 

 price, the public having evidently forgotten her Duke of 

 York Stakes victory over the same course. She carried 

 8 st. 6 Ibs., and is by no means the least distinguished of 

 Jubilee winners. 



Hurst Park, the youngest of what may be termed the 

 riverside or Thames Valley group of racecourses, did not 

 come into existence until many years after Kempton had 

 been in full swing, and then began with steeplechasing and 

 pony and galloway racing. After a while a Jockey Club 

 licence was procured, and now for some nine or ten seasons 

 legitimate racing has been the first object of the syndicate, 

 though, as at Sandown and Kempton, many cross-country 

 meetings are also held. In some ways Hurst Park is not 

 so ambitious as its two older neighbours, and notably great 

 stakes are seldom to be found on the programme. All the 

 same the money is often on the liberal side, and the 

 place is always productive of good sport, and is immensely 

 popular with owners and trainers. Small fields are the 

 exception rather than the rule, but one seldom sees horses 

 of the very best class at the meetings, good second-class 

 handicaps at all distances being as a rule the chief features 

 of the programmes. Weight-for-age races are not by any 

 means tabooed, but most money is given to the handicaps, 

 and I can call to mind very few horses of the highest class 

 who have carried silk at Hurst Park. The course is situated 

 on the Moulsey Hurst, the scene of the old Hampton Races, 

 but the course is not exactly the same, and the stands are 

 differently placed from what they were in the days of "'Appy 



