204 THE ENGLISH TURF 



reverse. I have seen them pour into the Dunstall Park 

 enclosure in their thousands on a public holiday, and a 

 jumping meeting they dearly love. The course, quite a 

 short walk from Wolverhampton Station, is pretty enough 

 when you get there, in spite of somewhat dismal surround- 

 ings, and is flat and over a mile and five furlongs round. 

 There is a fine range of stands, and if the flat-racing never 

 rises to great heights the meetings serve their turn, and are 

 very popular all through the Western Midlands. 



Manchester is a great racing centre, and the three meet- 

 ings which are held there for flat-racing may be considered 

 to be quite in the first class. At each of the three strong 

 programmes are issued, and though there is some inequality 

 about the sport it on the whole takes high rank. The 

 inequality is caused by the number of Selling Plates ; but, 

 after all, it is impossible to have a succession of Ascots, 

 and if there are many races with selling conditions at New 

 Barns, there is always one event of the first importance on 

 each racing day, and sometimes two or three such. Making 

 exceptions of such places as Doncaster and Goodwood, 

 Liverpool Spring and York August Meetings, there is no 

 provincial racecourse which draws like Manchester, and no 

 Northern racecourse which attracts so many Southern race- 

 goers. It goes without saying that the three meetings have 

 clear and very suitable dates, but the racing is always good 

 enough to attract at least a portion of what I have termed 

 the upper section of the Turf, and the prizes valuable enough 

 to bring out many of the best-class horses in training. 

 Manchester is well off for fairly good hotels, and in such 

 a large and important town the tariff is not raised at race 

 times any more than it is when some social or business 

 congress is being held. The Queen's Hotel secures the pick 

 of the travellers, and this establishment is unrivalled among 

 provincial hotels, especially in the matter of cuisine. Year 

 after year and meeting after meeting the same parties 

 assemble at the " Queen's," and many of the regular visitors 

 stay there for the Liverpool meetings as well, Aintree being 

 well within a fifty-minute run of the Manchester Central 

 Station, ten minutes' walk from the Queen's Hotel. At 



