Report of the Stewards of Sfoclt at the Newcastle Shore. 435 
son's bay filly, by " Neville," and " a good goer." One of the 
Judges thus reviews the classes in detail : — 
" As regards our particular classes, I can onby say that as the object was to 
select a stallion best suited to improve generally the breed of horses, we were 
more likely to succeed in giving the prize to 'Laughingstock,' of 'Bird- 
catcher' type and blood, than to any other in the class. To get race-horses, 
I should certainly have selected ' Cavendish,' not that I quite approve of him 
even for this purpose : but if put to wcll-ribbcd-up mares be may be suc- 
cessful. 
" Thoroughbred mares from their frequent want of bone and general power 
may be met by a horse often without much quality ; but the mares sent by 
farmers to a thoroughbred arc, nine times out of ten, so lumbering and defi- 
cient in quality, that much of it is absolutely a sine qua non in a travelling 
thoroughbred sire. Shoulders there must be, as in this point country mares 
arc generally deficient, and as experience tells me that the external organisation 
is mostly from the horse, there is very little chance of breeding a clever horse 
fot the road or field from a bad-shouldered stallion. In racing, shoulders may 
sometimes be dispensed with, as race-horses travel, so to speak, on even 
ground ; but a hunter has to contend with all sorts of ground, and cannot 
extricate himself from difficulties with shoulders into his neck. The prize 
horse was good in this respect, and with a short back and undeniable trotting 
action he beat ' Gamester ' who was much more my idea altogether of a horse 
to get hunters, but he could not either walk or trot. ' Laughingstock,' like 
many of the ' Stockwells,' had his hind-legs too much bent, which I think a 
great fault in a hunter-sire ; but still, take him altogether, he was the best 
of the lot. Still the lot, with the exception of ' Gamester,' if he had action, 
was, I am certain, a bad one. 
" ' Cavendish ' was too heavy and coaching in his neck, and wanted another 
back-rib to make him tight enough to get hunters except out of remarkably 
short-backed mares. Besides this, I know every cross of big-headed ' Black- 
lock' to be utterly deficient in the necessary style and fashion for country 
purposes. I ivas therefore obliged to oppose ' Cavendish.' ' Voltaire,' ' Charles 
XII.,' ' Brutandorf,' ' Hetman Platoff,' 'Bamton,' and 'Fandango' have all 
more or less had bunting marcs put to them, and with few exceptions have 
signally failed. If ' Motley ' had been shown for the £100 prize, he would 
have bad a cbauce in such a year as this was, though he is not quite straight 
enough on his fore-legs, to beat a good one ; still, in other respects, he has 
all the character of ' Touchstone,' with compactness enough to meet a country, 
and with good knee-action. 
" Among the Hunters I thought ' The Tyke ' as firm a horse as I ever saw, 
with undeniable hind-legs, and almost faultless in other respects ; and I had 
the satisfaction of hearing (after our judgment was given) from a man upon 
whom I can rely that he was a first-rate performer in the field, and clever up 
and down hill. 
" The winner in the Four-year-old class bad very light action, and showed 
much blood for z big horse ; but he was bigger than I liked, though our judg- 
ment has been confirmed at Middlesborough, where this class was superior to 
that of The Boyil. 
"The Three-year-old wiimcr was the only one of his class with the slightest 
pretensions to cer making a hunter. The mare that was second, though very 
clever as far as she went, did not look like getting to size enough for the 
field." 
The Roarster Stallion, Class CXXXI., was only four strong, 
and three of these from Yorkshire. " Venison " was " quite out 
