EMBELLISHMENTS. A DAY WITH LORD SHAMWELL.-BY HUBERT A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS.-BY UNCLE SCRIBBLE HORSE REPOSITORIES.-BY C. CLEARFLIGHT, ESQ. TURF REGISTER :--READING-ABINGDON- - LUDLOW-PAIS- LEY-TONBRIDGE-YARMOUTH-TENBURY-YORK-GREAT GRIMSBY-RADCLIFFE-EGHAM. 113-128 D D afternoon. 28 First Sunday aft. Christmas.s 3 55 1 4 38 29 M 30 T Scorton Coursing Meeting 31 W 2 35 2 55 r 8 926 0 3 15 3 35 s 3 57 3 7 26 3 55 4 15 8 9 48 51 4 35 4 55 THE OMNIBUS. "There he sat, and, as I thought, expounding the law and the prophets, until on drawing a little nearer, I found he was only expatiating on the merits of a brown horse."-BRACEBRIDGE HALL. Fog was "the lord of all," when we affixed the imprimatur to our proof sheet last month, and then, with strange perversity, a day as beautiful as summer shone out on to Newmarket on the Thursday. The Glasgow Stakes once more showed us Nat first past Mr. Clarke in the colours of Colonel Peel on Messenger; and Bel Esperanza either has very little form, or was badly handled by Holmes, in the dead heat with South Western. Lord Zetland had not a horse at the meeting, and therefore the 100-sov. Handicap, which he had farmed for two years, made up No. 25 of Fisherman's winnings. Mincepie committed suicide by her ambitious effort to cut everything down from the post, and we may well ask where is the Artillery of Doncaster? Messrs. Bell and Morris took, it is said, such strong exception to Basham's riding of him in the St. Leger, that "Bob" did not ride for them this meeting, and Aldcroft sported the "orange" in his room. Such cavilling seems absurd to a degree, as certainly the Doncaster Stakes' running of Bonnie Scotland proved that Artillery had done well to finish level with him in the St. Leger, and the merest tyro could draw no inference in reason from Artillery's running in the Cup, where the pace was one of the most paltry things on record. In fact, the latter race shows that Artillery must be anything but the fast horse they thought him over a mile course, when he could not beat Fandango in a race which was only run in earnest from the Red House. John Osborne was, as usual, there or thereabouts in the Nursery. Madame Clicquot "went a clicker" successfully for her loved half-mile, and Malacca in the Brighton Handicap quiet failed to give Katherine Logie 26 lbs. This son of Ratan is a lengthy, strong, and plain horse, and was bred by a Mr. Sutton, of Colney, in Bucks. His childhood was a feeble one, as at fifteen weeks, while grazing in an orchard, he suddenly dropped, and could only be recovered by being carried bodily into a barn. When he did get up, he was totally unable to put one hind foot to the ground for many a day, and from that time his hind quarters seemed to waste. However, he recovered with care, and was sold with his dam for £200 with a moiety of his winnings in 1855-56, and in due course reached Hambleton. His maiden race was at Doncaster in autumn 1855, when he was fourth for the Revival, and he then ran second for an Optional Selling Stakes. Since that point his history becomes involved in mystery. He was condemned at Hambleton, and his breeder had the offer of him and his dam back at the same price, but declined it, and then some say that a purchaser was found at that price, and others, that he passed for a debt of £8 into his present owner's hands. The Life and The Post are at issue, and who therefore shall decide? Painfully as he got "snapped" by Fordham, in the very last race of the Newmarket season, not a soul left the Heath with any feeling unfavourable to D. Hughes, as civil and as rising a young jockey as we possess. Within our recollection, Twittchett did precisely the same to "Our Jim" on Rockingham at Goodwood. Job Marson on Rowland Trenchard and Cariboo equally disturbed the nap of Nat at Goodwood, and of one of Mr. Saxon's jockeys at Newmarket. Prince also achieved this feat at Carlisle on Rataplan last year, and even the great Fordham himself was "nobbed" by one Covey on Mons. Dobler, at Shrewsbury, three weeks afterwards. A lesson like this does a young lad no little good. Oddly enough Hughes opened the season at Chertsey by being second on the same mare. And so farewell to the Heath for this season. Aberystwith had merely a local interest; and at Worcester, Wakefield rode Poodle in the Handicap, with a care which showed that his Doncaster blunder had made him a wiser man. We had a sneaking fancy for this old black-brown in the Cesarewitch, but Malacca choked him off from the very start. Alonzo, the father of the Turf, was twice beaten at Liverpool, and Hungerford was 15th for the Autumn Cup, where Malacca's 13-mile weak point came out in strong relief -when could a Ratan stay? This will, it is rumoured, be the old chestnut's last race in public. We have an old Tory prejudice against these November meetings, which strengthens every year; but we must, however, grin and bear it. All actual interest in races dies out for the year with the Nursery Stakes, and these November ones are mere vulgar marts for "pulling" and betting, without one redeeming feature. The Tarporley Hunt is a mere shadow of itself, and recent events made worse of it this year. The Courts, whose names are so familiar with the scene, did not ride, and Wells and Sharpe appeared in the saddle in lieu of the "proud lords of Cheshire." One of the three contests was a hurdle race, the winner with 14 st. 7 lbs. on his back, and the two losers with 13 st.! Hence, on one of the losers there was 7 st. of Mr. G. S. Thompson, and 6 st. of saddle and saddle cloths! Hoylake is sinking its original character of a gentleman's race-course-a sort of table ground, upon which the riding bloods of Manchester and Liverpool may meet-and now we have handicaps for professional jockeys. But so it is now-a-days, and who can blame them for imitating their betters at Croxton? It was a pleasant little affair if the weather had only been nicer, and J. Goater sealed the position he has been gradually acquiring this year by his capital riding of Polestar in the Helibre Handicap-poor Pretty-boy, who received 10 lbs. from her, being only fifth. Wenlock had a natty little tryst, in which Silkmore scored a race for Cossack, and the racing year which began on January 18th at Chertsey, closed at Ludlow on November 21st. One looks in vain over the list of the seven events there for anything to comment on. Mr. Frail proved himself "a good and safe man" again in catering for an Autumn Shrewsbury Meeting; but neither the town nor the stables were so full as they were last year. Lord Anglesey won the first of the Yearling Races (an experiment which failed, we are glad to say, at Liverpool) with the chestnut Maid of Saragossa filly: Fordham the lucky rider. This is the first of Neasham's get which has appeared. It does seem as if racing men cannot give racing kicks enough, and if there is one argument stronger than another against these November meetings, it is that such races are got up to make them go. Nothing can be more intensely silly than the argument, that in six weeks more these animals would be two-year-olds. Counting by months, and striking an average, a racer may be said to be born on the 1st of March; and therefore yearlings run at Shrewsbury when they are rising twenty-one months. Hence we shall see them put into regular work for such engagements before they are eighteen months old. Added to this premature cripple-hood, if such races come into any vogue, they must tend to spoil two-year-old entries for the coming year, each autumn. The winner is one of the Middle Park yearlings, bought for 105 gs. on June 5th, and thus brought back her purchasemoney and her five months' keep. Three yearlings (75 gs., 50 gs., and 42 gs.) out of the Royal Stud, and a 45-guinea Rawcliffe scion, were also among the defeated half-dozen. In one respect, this was a wonderful meeting, as £980 was made by the sales. Garnet, to be sold for £20, was, for instance, bought in at 300 gs. ; and the regular halfmiler Alfred cost John Osborne some £250 to redeem ! The sales at Tattersalls' have been anything but interesting this month, though there have been some capital hunters in the yard. Four of Mr. Borrows' averaged 222 guineas; and Cock Robin was bought in to boot at 360 gs., and is not, we hear, to be parted with under 500 gs. Three Dutchmen (two of them two-year-olds) were less fortunate the next Monday, as they only averaged 50 gs. The Ignoramus colt fetched 630 guineas nearly four times more, we believe, than any young Hero ever fetched before. Ignorance certainly knows how to throw large colts, as this had far more size than any of the little chesnut's stock we have seen as yet. Wentworth looked in beautiful form after four months of holiday at Milton; and it was said that 800 gs. and 1,000 gs. were the selling prices for him and Aspasia (we forget which was named for which): but there was an impression afloat of this kind, and consequently there was hardly a bid. Both of them and Milton had each won a good race, so that Mr. Fitzwilliam's paddock essays have not been bootless. Amid all the ups and downs of the turf this year, there is anything but a bad prospect for the future. The Goodwood entries are as bad as they deserve to be, at that meanest of meetings, as far as added money is concerned. The change of the weights in the Whittlebury, at Northampton, has had its due weight on the three-year-olds. Last year, when the former had to give away 32lbs. to their juniors, only six of them figured among the forty; but now, when the difference is reduced to 28lbs., we find thirteen in the thirty-one. Newmarket (which has always, like Doncaster, a warm corner in our hearts) has a very excellent average of entries, and besides six new names, those of Ribblesdale and Peel reappear, and Bedford, Beaufort, Glasgow, Exeter, Portsmouth, Clifden, Zetland, Ailesbury, Wilton, Anglesey, Derby, Bulkeley, Bowes, &c., are faithful as ever to the Heath. York makes too many of her stakes close at one time, but it is good hearing that the race-committee have £1,500. If they are wise, they will |