RACES IN NOVEMBER. Epsom Autumn .. 4 Worcester Autumn 6 Hampton Autumn . 11 Warwick ........ 18 Tarporley Hunt ... 5 Shrewslury ...... 10 | Liverpool Autumn.. 18 Aberystwith Hunt.. 20 STEEPLE CHASES IN NOVEMBER. Irish Metropolitan.. 2 | Stretford.......... 6 Shrewsbury ...... 12 Warwick and LeaCarrickmacross.... 8 Worcester ....... 7| Emy-vale (Irish).. 18 mington ........ Scarborough ...... Navan ........... 10 Liverpool ........ 14 | Liverpool Hunt .. Epsom ........... 5 Hampton ......... 11 Aberystwith ...... 18 | Crewe ..... COURSING MEETINGS IN NOVEMBER. Workington... 3 & 4 | Altcar Club.....6 & 7 | Baldock ...... 12 & 131 Spelthorne ...19 & 20 Thirsk ........4 & 5 | Ridgway Club ..6 & 7 Swaff ham 13, 14, 15 & 16 South Lancashire Cardington ..4, 6, & 6 Kenilworth.... 11 & 12 | Malleny 18, 19, & 21! (Chatsworth) 20 & 21 Lowder (Penrith).. 6 1 Newcastle Open.... Sundorne & Long | Southminster.,25 & 26 Coquetdale......6 &c. Ti, 12, & 13 ner ........19 & 20 | Wolverhampton27 & 98 Hainton (South), Everley Club, and Deptford Inn, not fixed. THE RACING IN OCTOBER. BY CRAVEN. " Jog on, jog on the footpath way, And merrily hent the stile a': The sad tires in a mile, a'.” OLD Song. We tread hard on the kibes of a memorable year. A mighty anniversary of progress draws fast towards its close. The occasion is a meet one in which to sum up a social account. The civilization, the industry, the intelligence “ of all nations ” have celebrated their inauguration upon our shores-a gracious and a glorious solemnity. What heaps of doubts and anxieties heralded the convention ! what an answer has its issue given to the logic which contends that the world is used up! “The lesson it teaches," I quote from Emerson, “is that which vigour always teaches, that there is always room for it.” Its moral is action. Hear Emerson again : “ I think all men know better than they do : know that the institutions we so volubly commend are go-carts and baubles; but they dare not trust their presentiments.” Shall we have any longer such misgivings? In the spring, Old England believed that " nothing new could be undertaken in farming ;" in the summer, she learnt how fifty per cent. was to be saved in one of its most vital processes. Who would have thought six months since that Japan was to show Sheffield how to make a carpenter's auger? Who would have listened to the assertion that a schooner was on its voyage from New York to beat the combined fleets of all the British yacht clubs? In the challenge of the Pacha of Egypt was there not something that “ all who run might read ?” Come, then, "jog on, jog on;" and with a merry heart. It won't do to stand still.“ Haud progredi est regredi." Let racing take the hint and sum up its account. The initiative is before it. There is hazard in being weighed in the balance and found wanting.... In the matter of race meetings an embarras de richesse, a compliment by no means epidemic on the turf, affected the last week of September, or to speak with greater chronological accuracy, the six days between the 22nd and the 27th of the month inclusive. It comprised Bedford Races, Manchester Autumn Races, and Eglinton Park Meeting, besides minor trysts at Cheadle and Leamington, and Upton-upon-Severn, and Tenby, and Cheam, and Walsall, and Barnet, &c., &c. A slight reference to the three first, however, is as much as space will permit or occasion require. Bedford, under the especial patronage of Woburn, was in the ascendant. There was £455 of public money to be run for, and all else " in a concatenation accordingly"-Captain Rous to start the “ fractious" teams; Mr. Clarke on the bench, &c., &c. Manchester, on its autumnal anniversary, put forth £530 of added capital. Still it was not a brilliant affair. All, indeed, was excellently ordered ; but the sport was an indifferent average, and the weather unpropitious. Contemporary with the Manchester merry-making was the gathering at Eglinton Park. Here the additions amounted to £1,210; it may be supererogatory to add that the attendance also was considerable. Also the character of some of the stakes was peculiarly graceful ; as for instance, the Sweepstakes of 20 sovs. each, p. p., with £300 added by the Earl of Glasgow, for three-year-olds that had not been placed in the Derby, Oaks, or St. Leger. This event placed £640 to the creditor side of Nancy's account. I suppose the feeling will be called a sordid one; nevertheless, I confess a partiality for two days such as those at Eglinton Park, with their proemia somewhat of a more sterling kind than the Olympian laurel —store of gentle company, a couple of dozen horses, and a dozen of hundreds to race for. Many of the engagements here are for gentlemen riders, such amateurs as Captains Little and Pettat, who make their tours in the capacity of amateur jockeys as regularly as gentlemen of the long robes their circuits, and don the silk quite as professionally. What a specific for your "homme blazé !' Newmarket First October Meeting—the least important of the autumnal weeks at the great racing emporium-commenced on the last day of September, and concluded on the 2nd ult. Although the sport was not, in quantity, much above the ordinary average, the quality was improved. The scheme of Triennial Produce Stakes was in mature operation, and it possessed, moreover, some temporary incidents of interest that added to its flavour. The bill of particulars contained the subjoined items. Tuesday's list, with a promise of nine events at one time, produced but four races. The first of these was a Sweepstakes of 10 sovereigns each, for all ages—T.Y.C.--for which there were three nominations, and the “ lot” at the post. A Newmarket race for a score of pounds certainly sounds like a bad beginning. The best fancied by the ring, of this trio, was Lord Clifden's filly by Bay Middleton, out of H.R.H., at 5 to 4 against her, 7 to 4 agst. Songster, and 5 to 2 agst. the filly by St. Martin, out of Amina. The pick of the talents won cleverly by a length. The Grand Duke Michael Stakes, A.F., had a dozen nominations, and although they were required to pay the whole 50 sovs. whether they ran or let it alone, but half the number went. The betting was 7 to 4 against Mountain Deer, the same agst. Anspach, and nothing else named. The pace was bad, and at the bushes nothing was in the race save the pair which the nominal betting refers to: the winner, without an effort, was Mountain Deer-the “ tailers” were Midas, Eolus, Phlegra, and Goliah. The Hopeful, last half of Ab. M., twenty-five subscribers, came off a trio. In the market 2 to l was betted upon Flirt, where she had all the business to herself-like the Great Exhibition. The crack cut out the work, and carried on the running to the bushes, where Kingston caught and beat her-Ambrose getting the second place, half a length behind the winner. Kingston is one of the team purchased by Lord Ribblesdale from Colonel Peelit was stated to be the noble lord's Olympian debût. The second year of the Triennial Produce Stakes of 10 sovs. each—produce to run at three years old, &c., &c., 76 subscribers, A.F. Here was something worth picking up, but the gleaners only numbered seven ; of these the best in the circle of speculation was The Ban, at 7 to 4 against him, 5 to 2 Ariosto, and 7 to 2 Hernandez. It would be setting cold porridge. before the needy to broach a theory anent this wagering. Lord Byron was a cynic, and dubbed one's friends “prophets of the past," a term for that reason not used by the poet in a complimentary sense. Racing prognostication is to me what philosophy was to the eccentric author of Don Juan, and what porridge with the chill on is to the million....... They are off, and Lamartine is making the running ; this he continued to do as long as he was able, and that was till Midas went before him. At the ropes the real race began, of which Hernandez had the best, easily, by a length-Ariosto second, and Midas third-beaten off-with The Ban behind him. Several items, as aforesaid, having gone off in compromises, walks over, and the like, the list was disposed of. Wednesday's programme was better filled than its predecessors ; it began with a Fifty Sovs., D.I., for all ages over two years old, and was run a match between Westow and Retail at about even betting. A very uninteresting denouement resulted in favour of the former of the brace, by two lengths. A Handicap Sweepstakes of 20 sovs. each, for threeyear-olds, D.M., 4 subs., came off a trio. The Croupier was backed against the field, 5 to 2 agst. Runnymede, and 3 to 1 agst. Necklace. This the crack won in a canter by a couple of lengths. The St. Leger Stakes of its eleven nominations mustered three runners—for the Ditch In Course. They laid 5 to 4 on Merry Peal, 3 to 1 agst. Midas, and the same agst. Artisan. Notwithstanding the long journey it was a very close finish, of which Midas had the best by a head, Artisan beating Merry Peal by several lengths. The Third Year of the Second Triennial Stakes-Produce-of 10 sovs. each, for four-year-olds, D.I., bad another nomination list of seventy-six, and another field of seven. The odds closed with 5 to 2 against The Nigger, 5 to 1 agst. the filly by Slane, out of Exotic, the same agst. Abdallah, 6 to 1 agst. Cranberry, and the same agst. Hardinge, 8 to 1 Clelia, and 10 to 1 William the Conqueror. After a wild goose chase across the flat, led by Abdallah, and sundry changes and chances, they passed the Duke's Stand, with Cranberry in the front. The Nigger, however, was handy, and presently was leading, in which position he passed the chair, winning easily by a length. The finish was an emphatic finish in reference to the field. The Grandby Stakes, 30 sovs., 20 ft., for two-year-olds, &c., &c., from the turn of the lands in, of a dozen nominations gathered the half at the starting post. They backed Freedom even, and laid 3 to 1 against Sophistry, and 6 to 1 agst. Bilberry. All the way, hill included, the pace was very true, and the run-in very severe-between Bilberry and Sophistry, of which the former had the best by a neckon the post...... Three matches paid, and the return home was quietly effected. Thursday was in every sense of the word the best of the meeting ; the weather was delightful, and the sport ample and good“ see, here it is !” A Sweepstakes of 5 sovs. each, for all ages ; from the turn of the lands in. Betting 2 to 1 agst. Chaffinch, 5 to 1 agst. Poodle, and the same agst. the filly by Bay Middleton, out of H.R.H. There were seven subscribers, and all went. A scrambling beginning, and a right resolute ending, terminated in favour of Poodle by a length. The Rutland Stakes of 30 sovs. each, 20 ft., for two-year-olds, had twelve nominations, and the moiety went. The odds were 5 to 2 agst. the filly by Epirus, out of Joanna, the same agst. Adine, 5 to 2 agst. Ambrose, and 5 to 1 offered agst. anything else. The course was the same as the last. An in and out run race was finally won easily by Adine by two lengths ; it was a case of “tailers" as regarded the best esteemed before the issue. A Match for 100 sovs., h. ft., T.Y.C., between Hot Cross Bun and Weathergage—the latter with 7 to 4 on him --the former won easily by a length. The Queen's Plate, for all ages over two years old, Round Course, had three starters-5 to 4 on Westow; he won in a canter by five lengths. First year of the fourth Triennial Stakes-produce--of 10 sovs. each, two-year-olds, 73 subs., T.Y.C. There was a team of eight for this pretty little stake-the odds being 6 to 4 agst. Red Hind, 7 to 4 Longbow, and 8 to 1 Hirsuta. The favourite made all the running, and won all the way, finishing first by a couple of lengths, Longbow was second, and the others, save the colt by Sir Hercules, out of Odessa--third-were out of it-bodily. The Town Plate of 50 sovs., for three-year-olds, D.I., finished the engagements for the week. Five ran for it--Anspach backed against the lot, 4 to 1 agst. Phlegethon, and 5 to 1 agst. Trinket. A most unsymmetrical sail across the flat brought Anspach in front from the bottom of the hill, hard upon the distance ; there Trinket went up to her, and won eventually by a length; the others were “nowhere." ...... What an emblem of the vanity of human hopes awaits the traveller whose route lies eastward of Shoreditch ! Contemporary with the races in Cambridgeshire were those of Richmond, in Yorkshire. They consisted of two good days—without heats -the Tyke knows how to honour the turf! At Pain's Lane all the events were in heats—as they were, with one exception, at Chesterfield. At Westbury all the races were heats ; and so they were, with one exception, at Sandbach. At Belford they had them in threes and fours—what was the Cattle Cruelty Association about? The Royal Caledonian Hunt and Western Meeting was a sporting tryst. The money, too, was added with a liberal hand, .£695 being added, and only £10 deducted. This is the way to command success for a racemeeting—as well as, most certainly, to deserve it. Passing Monmouth, and other rendezvous of less account, we arrive at the Chester Autumn Races on the 7th ult. Their spirit was a strictly commercial one. The amount of “ added money in the two days was exactly £500. Of this the Grand Stand proprietors, as the most beneficially interesteu, gave £290 : next came the “citizens”- the community of lodginghouse keepers, et hoc genus omne- £130; then the “ Proprietors of the Dee Stands,” £50; and last, but surely not the least concerned in “ the plunder," the Innkeepers, with £30. However, the system was a sound one, albeit the carrying out might have been more equitably adjusted. The Tom-and-Jerry shops ought to subscribe liberally, considering the “ pull” they derive from such occasions...... Malgré the money the meeting was a bad one-- " flat," and consequently “unprofitable.” The ring was all but void : various causes were assigned for this ; but may not the real one have been that which was the most natural ? Chester is a " tidy" distance from town : folks can get betting enough within more easy distance of their dwelling-places. The Stock Exchange is situated in the “ city" par excellence !-the Book Exchange in the cities of London and Westminster ....... The racing was by no means of a character to call for especial record. The stakes were all of the kind known as “ chicken" among bad boys who dabble in hazard, and the sport--entre nous—in the nearest grade of affinity to that which rejoices in the nom-de-guerre of “ leather-plating.” Mr. Parr opened the ball by winning with Thorne ; and at the conclusion of the eleventh essay-whereof Mr. Fowler had the best – the programme was perfected. Blackpool we pass unsung : and now here is |