4i o CAMBRIDGESHIRE TRIALS. 



to back the horses that in the Cesarewitch were lead- 

 ing through the Ditch-gap, which is about the same 

 distance as the Cambridgeshire. But later experience 

 shows pretty clearly the fallacy of such an opinion; 

 for now the winner of the last great handicap of the 

 year is usually found amongst those horses that are 

 well up at the Bushes, if he is not actually the winner 

 of the preceding race — as in the case of Rosebery and 

 Foxhall, and with Plaisanterie last year; and a little 

 reflection will show why this is so. The first race is 

 run over, perhaps, the easiest two-mile-and-a-quarter 

 course in England. For, after starting, the horses 

 have but one little incline to ascend until they come 

 to ' Choke Jade ' before passing the Ditch, and the 

 rest of the way is downhill, except -at the rise out of 

 the Abingdon Mile Bottom to the finish. But with 

 the Cambridgeshire it is very different, it being run 

 over the most severe course — one mile and a distance 

 — in this country ; and taking place as it always does 

 later in the autumn, when it is wet and heavy going, 

 and with a lot of little boys as riders, which makes it 

 additionally difficult to 'get over,' as from the severity 

 of the pace one-half of them are hopelessly beaten 

 before two-thirds of the race have been run. Hobbie 

 X i>t Ac and Allbrook were not good stayers, and, though 

 much the best horses on the day through the mud, 

 and badly ridden as they were, lost the race from the 

 lack of staying qualities. Mary lost it in Sultans 

 year from the same cause, or from not being properly 



