62 
TURF PERFORMANCES OF ACROBAT. 
viously left the course. It was naturally expected that some 
explanation upon the extraordinary and unequal performances 
of such a horse, and in such hands, would have been given, to 
afford the sporting world some clue to the mystery of 
Acrobat’s defeat for the St. Leger by the same horses he so 
successfully opposed two days after : not a syllable has 
transpired. Mr. Mavor was called upon to certify that 
Boiardo had broke down in the St. Leger, and Templeman, 
who rode him, wrote a letter to testify his belief that, but 
for" the accident, the horse might have won. 
It cannot be denied by the greatest enemies of the turf, 
that racing has been the sole means of engendering and 
keeping up a breed of horses in this country greatly supe- 
rior to that of any other — it furnishes us with about three 
hundred Stallions and twelve hundred mares, of the purest 
blood, such as are sought after by breeders in every quarter 
of the globe. Our profession is, therefore anxious about its 
success, and it is my intention for the future to bring before 
my professional brethren every incident worth recording upon 
turf matters. 
All racing events, particularly those upon which large sums 
of money depend, are naturally closely watched and looked 
upon with jealousy and suspicion. In former days we had 
noblemen who kept studs and racehorses, and who watched 
their career with interest, without making them the medium 
of gambling transactions. Unfortunately now, scarcely a 
single stable can be said to be without influences that are 
inimical to the purity of our best horses’ performances — and 
it would have been far more agreeable to me to have recorded 
the straightforward and successful career of the best horse in 
the kingdom, than to have to advert to the crooked and yet 
unexplained doings of an Acrobat. 
Hampton Court. 
[Without professing to be well versed in turf matters, 
which since the days of €< Running-Rein” have not stood in 
a very enviable position, we readily give place to this commu- 
nication, coming as it does from one who occupies amongst 
us a very prominent position, and who may be regarded 
as an authority of the first order upon matters relating to the 
turf. We could have wished with him that an explanation 
had long since been given to the public of this mysterious 
affair.] 
