cast-off racers, if they can win them, and there is no fairness at all in the intrusion upon hunters' contests of animals unfitted to carry one's boots. At the present time the meanest pony-wretch out of training can run in hunters' contests with impunity. I would alter all that by striking out the existing qualification for hunters from the G.N. Hunt Code, and would enact in place of it that “a hunter must be a horse, mare, or gelding measuring 8 inches or more in the natural circumference of the forelegs (such measurement to be taken 2 inches below the knee); and before running, such hunter shall be certified by two stewards of the meeting to be well up to fourteen stone with hounds." Two hunters' contests daily of at least £50 in value should be compulsory at every meeting, and all hunting men should use their influence with proprietors of courses to secure the offering of hunters' prizes (mammoth or otherwise) really worth winning. With "the necessary plum" in evidence we should not have to wait long for good results. Horses would soon be forthcoming to win good prizes. The best of them would sell well enough to tempt breeders, and for every winner a dozen less speedy ones would be produced suitable for the ordinary purposes of the chase. Good honest horses would be running for "Hunters' Racés," and good honest fellows would no longer be party to the palpable lie under that heading which defaces every steeplechase programme now. Aylesbury, 20th March, 1890. Yours faithfully, G. L. L. The Beacon Course. NEWMARKET, one must fain confess, The mare doth make the money go; a guess Your trainer's budding hops may be, black care But to a casual idler, like myself, Who laughs to scorn the gambler's love of pelf, In secret sympathy with all that's true R. E. L. Odds and Ends. [The following paragraphs selected from old publications are considered worth repeating.] THE strong men of the present day are not the novelty some people imagine. In 1740, man named Topham, who was called The Second Samson," gave the first public exhibition of his extraordinary strength. Lying on his back, and placing his feet against a dwarf wall in Moorfields, he pulled against a horse, and the horse could not get away from him. The following are some of his other feats-By the strength of his fingers he could roll up a very strong and large pewter dish. He lifted a rolling stone of 800 lbs. with his hands only. Whilst standing on a wooden stage, over three hogsheads of wine weighing 1,831 lbs., he raised them several inches off the ground by means of a strong rope passing over his shoulders. This feat is well authenticated. Topham is said to have seized the tail of a cart, and, despite the driver whipping the horse in the shafts, he drew both horse and cart backwards. A GRAND rowing match, eight oars, took place on September 3rd, 1829, between the Eton and Westminster scholars, for 100 sovs. aside. The course was from Putney to Hammersmith Bridge and back again, about 4 miles. The Eton crew, stroked by the third Marquis of Waterford, won easily. By the overturning of the Derby stage coach, belonging ONE of the hardest races run at Newmarket for many years was between Mr. Fox's Pyrrhus and Lord Grosvenor's celebrated Mambrino. It was run in 1774: 8 st. each, "cross and jostle," over the Beacon course, for 2,000 guineas. At the start it was 4 to 1 on, and during the running 10 to 1 on Mambrino; but at the half distance the rider of Pyrrhus jockied (though not against the rules of Newmarket) the rider of Mambrino, drove him across the course, and by this means Pyrrhus won the heat by a neck. Pyrrhus was the best horse of his year, and he won in stakes 10,400 guineas and in forfeits 1,625 guineas. IN February, 1831, Robert Davidson, gamekeeper to Mr. Horatio Ross, of Rossie, killed eight wild geese, flying, at one shot. VACCINATION was recommended as far back as 1829 as a cure for distemper in dogs, and it was tried successfully by Mr. Richard Andrews, who had the management of a pack of hounds in the North. ** THE most heats ever won by a trotter in America were won by Goldsmith Maid, which was registered to have been successful in 332 heats; each one having a better record than a mile in two minutes thirty seconds. Her winnings are said to have been, during her long turf career, nearly 500,000 dollars. This sum should be compared with the receipts by the noble owner of Donovan, which at the end of his threeyear-old career, had earned, in American money, 276,000 dollars. * * THE highest price ever paid for a horse is said to have been for the famous American trotting stallion Axtell, who was sold for 105,000 dollars. Compared with this the price of Ormonde, £15,000 (which means 75,000 dollars) seems modest, though this is the second highest price on record. The highest-priced yearling is said to have been the American colt King Thomas, sold at the Madison sale for 38,000 dollars. The highest-priced yearling in England was Maximilian, whose price, expressed in dollars, was 20,000. ** THE most valuable stake ever run for was at Natchez, in Missouri, U.S.A., when 2,500 bales of cotton were staked on a side by the owners of two horses, Susan Gaudell (Mr. J. F. Claybourne's) and Rodolph (Mr. W. Thurston's). The latter, in American phrase, "took the big head" (a disease of rapid course) a few hours before the time fixed for starting, and Susan Gaudell "walked over." The cotton staked was estimated to be worth £50,000. ** * THE most remarkable performance on the turf was that of the Hungarian-bred mare Kincsem (an English thorough. bred by ancestry). Kincsem ran in fifty-four races, in several countries, and was never beaten. The nearest approach to defeat was a race with a German horse, Prince Giles I. Prince Giles got much the best of the start, but Kincsem pressed him so close at the finish that the judge's verdict was "a dead heat." On running this off Kincsem won easily. Her winnings on the turf amounted to 96,643 dollars. THE fastest mile ever run was that of Frying Pan, which in Melbourne, Australia, in 1884, obtained a record of a mile in 1 min. 37 sec. The American Maori, at Washington Park, Chicago, in 1889, covered the distance in 1 min. 39 sec. Gladiateur is said to have run, in England, in 1 min. 38 sec. a mile and seventeen yards. The highest jump is said to have been that of Rosebery, at Chicago, in November last, when he is credited with having cleared 6 ft. 11 in. For the facts stated in this and in the five preceding bits we are indebted to The American Breeder. [The Editor solicits contributions for these columns. They must refer to sporting and country-house topics, and the authority and date should be quoted.] |