he can win in a trot; the other, as a worthy worded it, that "he can't win no-how." The sore place just now is, that he is short of work. Augur, perhaps, as a natural consequence, finishes the month with a better look than he has had for some time. At one period he appeared ominously on the go. The few points more against Orelio may be traced to Northampton, while the next four on the table-Alfred the Great, Claverhouse, and Lord Ribbesdale's pair-all look at least steady and well. Alfred the Great and Lapidist for choice. We don't know that we can torture a remark out of the others, further than the Chief Baron has reached Stockbridge, but still on his own account." 66 Newmarket Handicap-8 to 1 agst. Bardolph, 3 years old, 5st. 6lb. 2,000 Gs. Stakes-9 to 2 against Home-Brewed, 6 to 1 each against Daniel O'Rourke and Filius, and 10 to 1 against Ambrose. . 307 THE TURF IN AUSTRALIA.-BY A "PILGRIM SPORTSMAN" . 318 THE CAMBRIDGESHIRE HOUNDS AND COUNTRY.-BY GELERT. 321 A LIST OF THE CAMBRIDGESHIRE FOXHOUNDS THE UNSUCCESSFUL MAN; OR, PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF TILBURY NOGO, ESQ.-BY FOXGLOVE. GRAND FINISH' OF THOMAS SMITH, ESQ., AND THE LAST DAY OF THE SEASON WITH THE HAMBLEDON HOUNDS 354 HOW THEY SQUARED HIM; WITH ANOTHER LEAF FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST.—BY A. SOFTUN, ESQ. 360 SOME MORE LAST WORDS ON THE WINTER EXHIBITION.-BY COVENTRY-DONCASTER SPRING MEETING - TURF REGISTER:-LINCOLN-LIVERPOOL SPRING MEETING— GAVENNY RACES-THE HOO-YORK SPRING MEETING. 1-16 24 M Champion Scullers' Match 311 14 3 55 4 10 r 3 59 4 Morning. 4 30 4 45 ats 7 55, 5 0 2 5 5 5 30 25 T Epsom Races. [Putney, for £200.r 3 57 6 0 40 5 55 6 20 26 W The Derby Day. 27 T 28 F The Oaks Day. s 7 58 7 1 11 6 45 7 15 r 3 55 8 1 36 7 308 30 s 8 0 9 1 58 9 10 9 45 29 S Royal London Y. Club Regatta. r 3 53 10 2 20 10 15 10 50 30 Whit Sunday. 31 MW ve Races. s 8 311 2 4111 2011 50 r 3 51 12 3 5 No tide 0 20 "When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war." LEE'S "ALEXANDER THE GREAT," Act IV., Scene 2. 66 In the past month the newspapers furnished the reading public with a proper literary text of the hexameter which constitutes my thesis, as well as the sporting public with a true reading of its philosophy. Is practical social experience the pioneer of generous conclusions? Like death, it is indeed a "great teacher;" but does its Master of Arts attain his degree by a course of gracious lore? If the present position of the turf does not "point a moral," apropos of the interrogatory, at all events it supplies a modern illustrative instance, that all who run may read. Soon after its institution as a national pastime among us, horseracing assumed the character of a keen equestrian encounter of wit. The staple of the course consisted for the most part of single combats between horses, and match-making became a noun-substantive common to both genders." In those days your turfite had the best of it at Olympics (there is an old saying which maintains that "bad is the best"). Betting on races was regarded as any other expensive luxury -only to be indulged in by those who could afford to pay a good price for it; though now and then some chevalier d'industrie would try his hand, and get a pull, or a bath in a horse-pond. But time works wonders. The fine old English gentleman gradually betrayed a diɛposition to grow "fast." He had a fine old estate, which, albeit he lived at a good old-fashioned rate, left him-like Jack with £100 of prizemoney, and only one day ashore to spend it--an embarrassing margin at Christmas to get rid of. It is true that even their stud-grooms, and trainers, and jockeys-to say nothing of the other et cetera of a Newmarket establishment, "all of the olden time"-were costly items of gentle recreation. Nevertheless, so it was that Tattersall's took up a local habitation and a name long ago, aud thereupon towards Hyde Park Corner turned the premier pas of that mighty movement, whose tug of war reached its climax "when Greeks joined Greeks." The narrative of the policy and practice which ultimately resulted in that junction has been written already in these pages. For years their progress has here been traced, and its bourne foretold. The fusion of racing with betting has been consummated, and the amalgam is the modern turf. Far be it from me to suggest that honour and honesty have bidden it farewell, or that men of noble principles and unimpeachable lives are not numbered among its patrons. But, constituted as it now is I write it with shame-they are the exception to the rule. It has become notorious as an instrument of gross social evil-as a pretence by which infamy obtains most unseemly sufferance. It is enveloped in mystery, rife with misgivings as to its faith, and environed with conventional chicane that startles the very lethargy of credulity. At whose instance, and on whose behalf has it come to pass that the especial rendezvous of the first gentlemen in the land connected that the first of its national sports should be thus polluted? How is it that the cause of this, and such as this, is not only tolerated, but countenanced? And the remedy that is proposed! Suffer but the inducements which have led to it to continue, borrow the Great Wall of China as a belt for Cambridgeshire, and it shall naught avail...... The following paragraph, which I quote from "Bell's Life" of the 18th ult., is the point of question...... "It is notorious that there is scarcely a trial at Newmarket that is not watched, its result ascertained, and forthwith despatched to various parts of the country, for the information of parties altogether unconnected with the horses; and we have heard it stated that one person alone pays the Electric Telegraph Company nearly £300 per annum for the transmission of messages of this description. This practice is seriously detrimental to the interest of the owners of race-horses, and Mr. J. Clark, jun., the architect, of Newmarket, has devised a plan by which he feels confident he shall effectually put an end to it. He proposes to form a private trial course parallel with the Devil's Ditch, by means of an earth embankment nine feet in height, and half a mile in length. Any distance up to three miles can be run, to finish on this course, by starting on the first part of the Beacon Course. The owner or trainer can ascertain the result of the trial from the summit of the Ditch, and at the same time perceive any person within the course or in the vicinity of the Ditch. A jockey when racing is seven feet from his cap to the ground; and it is stated by Mr. Clark that the line of sight would be carried 400 feet above the highest ground in Newmarket, thus rendering it impossible for the touts to see any trial within the proposed course. A plan of the proposed embankment has been submitted to the Jockey Club, and will be taken into consideration in the First Spring Meeting. If perfected, we think it will induce a much greater number of horses to be trained at Newmarket." The wild "wager of battle"-now so furiously fought, whose arena is the turf, and its contending forces the public and "the profession," is a struggle wherein the former is engaged against desperate odds. Unlike the issue which is attributed to a multitude of counsellors, precisely in the ratio of their strength is the weakness of the million. If it be not so now, it will very soon become the principle of the "list" interest to purchase the "scratching" of all horses that have been backed, so as to touch such and such an average. Now and then they will, no doubt, fail in their negotiations; but as a general speculation it would seem to promise profit, looking at the modus of the ring in relation to "getting on," and vice versâ. At all events, it admits of being scientifically worked as a system. For example, there would be no lack of excuses for being "full" against a nomination not to be got There's a sum of money to be expended in getting up a favourite already made sure of, might be underwritten by the trade. As yet the list scheme appears to be in its infancy; "by and by it will walk into wagering a stunner!" so, at least, said a good authority within earshot of where I was standing not many days ago...... Fact is strange-stranger than fiction." Let us see what marvels it has in store for us, culled from the past month. at. Epsom Spring Meeting began and ended on the First of April. This Olympian tryst might most appropriately be styled the City of London races. It is absolutely promoted by the licensed retailers of |