start was managed as adroitly as the new officer in that department is now celebrated for. The pace, of course, was very earnest, among the early to make play being Best Bower, as his luggage was light. Other light weights were with him; but indeed the field was compact to the weighing-house, and pretty well together to the Duke's Stand, when the hill and the load had done for Alarm, and his easy handicap was showing the influence it had on the favourite's fortunes. Here this (till now) ill-omened nephew of Joanna was clear of his horses, running apparently pretty sure of the issue, with Sting next, then Lady Wildair, and all the rest of the company disposed of. At the ropes Sting challenged, all but caught the crack, then compounded, swerved, and was finally beaten by half a length. Lady Wildair was a bad third, and Terrier a bad fourth, not placed by the judge. Mr. Nunn, to whom the winner belonged, won a great stake, and the fielders dropped heavily. This colt was somehow the cynosure of all the latter heavy speculation. He ran a wretch for the Dee Stakes at Chester, his only public appearance; but whether that debut was his form or not, is another affair. This Cambridgeshire, however, was just the ideal of a handicap. The good horses were beaten; the bad won: this is the principle of the contrivance. The match between Vert Vert and Discontent, the first half of the Abingdon mile, was won by the former by a couple of lengths, with all ease, and giving 4lbs. A match over the T.Y.C., Lady Wildair, giving 12lbs., won from Remorse; and then there was a 10 sovs. Sweepstakes, for three years old and upwards, won by Lord Orford's Blackie, in a field of eight. In four matches there was forfeit paid; and thus a full day's sport came to a pleasant finale. Out A Tuesday's interest, indeed that of the whole remaining portion of the meeting (save Friday's two year old trial-too late for our present publication), centered in the race for the Criterion. It will be seen that this issue was quite shorn of its main features; wherefore one is not prepared to say, but of course from some sufficient reason. of 41 nominations but 4 went, a very beggarly account, all things considered. . . . The sport opened with a small 10 sovs. sweepstakes, for three years old and upwards; a scurry over the last half of the Abingdon mile, which turned out a spin suited to Arkwright's powers. This was followed by another 10 sovs. sweepstakes, for two years old, the winner to be sold for £200, D. M., which Circassian Maid won, beating a very moderate lot, nevertheless she was claimed. Handicap Plate of £100, for all animals over three years and inclusive, brought out a world of horses, at least nineteen, of all sorts. As it was a long journey-the Ditch In-the end did indeed "a tail unfold." The winner was Footstool. We now had the Criterion, a poor criteriou of 41 with but a quartet to represent them. The fortunate winner was Coningsby, "beating Clementina by a head," as the judge gave it; but, in fact, the poor filly was beaten by the 7lb. extra, and a good deal by her jock-more's the pity. ... The Duke of Bedford's Captain Phoebus had the best of the Duke of Rutland's Paultons, in a match, even weights, the D. M., by a neck, and so had the same noble Duke's Bethpage over Mr. Osbaldeston's Giselle, last half of Ab. M. A Fifty Pound Plate, for all ages, Lord Eglinton's Eyrx won in a field of eight, and then the second day closed "heavily with clouds." A murky mist covered the whole heath during these interesting occasions, and deprived them of much of their brilliancy. Nevertheless, they served well in the matter of sport, to act as arrière gardes to a season of peerless pastime. SIR TATTON SYKES, WINNER OF THE ST. LEGER, 1846. ENGRAVED BY E. HACKER, FROM A PAINTING BY J. F. HERRing, sen. With all the sharp practice of our " modern instances," there are still few finer pieces of hedging on record than that of the sagacious gentleman and his brace of birds-the one ready rehearsed to sing, : Long live Augustus!" and the other to spend his powers in the praises of Antony. It was a good idea well worked out, and one in which the possible was never for one moment sacrificed to the probable each pie had his own tune, and each tune, as the phrase goes, "a purpose to carry out." So it is with the Derby and St. Leger. A horse may effect his one object here, but there is no blending them; and of all the non sequiturs even in this age of plump contradictions, we have few indeed of more frequent occurrence. Tell us that your nomination just managed to cut up respectably for the Derby--that he was got badly off, hustled at the Corner, disappointed yet nearer home, or, in fact, met with some mishap or other, which, "of course," alone prevented his name and yours being handed down to posterity in connexion with that great event. Say thus much, and make him first favourite for the St. Leger forthwith; for it is all according to precedent that he may, on that understanding, be first in the odds and the race too. Go thus far, but no further, or, as the lawyers say, you may prove a little too much; it is only the invincible that are certain of being beaten at Doncaster, and with you it must be the good that cometh of evil. To be sure, we have heard an ancient tradition relating to some wonderful animal that did add to his Epsom laurels by travelling further north, and certainly, as if in corroboration thereof, read repeated warnings as to "So-and-so going to write his name We must But then, who ever did, or who ever will, believe them? have no monopoly here now-a-days; or at least, supposing both are allowed to go to the same stable, they must be at the expense of preparing each bird for his own victory. Only glance back for a few short years, and look at the Mamelukes, Priams, Coronations, Cotherstones, and Co., that in the one case fate has ordained to sing second at Doncaster, merely, as it would seem, because they were first at Epsom. And then, again, for the other part, remember the Does Colonels, Launcelots, and Sir Tattons that appear to have run first for the Leger because they ran second for the Derby. How many times has the double event been disappointed by not more than a short head! Moreover, there is scarcely one instance in the whole lot but in which it ought to have been accomplished, had the real merits of the competitors been the question. No one will say but that Mameluke should have beaten Matilda, but that Priam was a better horse than Birmingham, and that Coronation and Cotherstone were immensely superior to Satirist and Nutwith. As far as that alone goes, the two races might be provided with the self-same champion almost every other year, and so disappoint us of a print, and Mr. Herring of an annuity; but the Olympic gods, we repeat, are against it, and we shall attempt to show how it is so by the illustration before us. anybody for a moment suppose that, if Sir Tatton Sykes had won the Derby, he would have played ditto at Doncaster? Does anybody think that if, after all that Bacchanalian bravado, the boy in yellow, had been happy enough to roll home a neck before instead of a neck behind for the one, there would have been any keeping the body in temperance, soberness, and chastity for the other? Not a bit of it! In that case, 66 as sure as eggs is eggs," Frank Butler would have outgeneralled him as effectively for the grand as he did a week or two afterwards for the small. It was the dear lesson of experience, and nothing but it, that produced that conduct and caution which brought in Sweet William to his ninth Leger, and Sir Tatton to his first. Had the horse won the Derby, he would have gone for the St. Leger in all the cock-a-hoop conceit of high odds on him, but in reality with no more chance than, as the touts say, a man in boots;" while, vice versa, he was prepared, started, and ridden with all that judg ment and discretion that show off a good nag to the honour of himself and the credit of the Co. In a word, we may add on this as one more due to the list of "in and out" celebrities, and record Sir Tatton Sykes as having won the St. Leger because he lost the Derby. 66 This said Mr. William Scott presents in his proper person one of the most successful of jockeys, and of the most eccentric of owners, the turf has produced for a long day. In the latter character, especially in this age of studied insipidity, he comes out with even greater effect than when only "the rider-out" to the great northern firm. A simple enumeration, however, of his chief victories while in partnership with his brother will show that William Scott must always rank amongst the best and luckiest disciples of the cap and jacket. Some will say that the great secret of his fine horsemanship was in being constantly put on the picked horses of a fashionable stable; while others, with more justice, will give due allowance to that great power, fine judgment, and artistic elegance which was wont so generally to distinguish his riding. The sum-up of his success, extending over a period of rather more than twenty years, comes, even if we must split the difference between luck and merit, to this rarely-equalled result:-Four Derbys: in 1832, for Mr. Ridsdale, on St. Giles; in 1835, for Mr. Bowes, on Mundig; in 1842, for Colonel Anson, on Attila; and in 1843, for Mr. Bowes, on Cotherstone. Three Oaks: in 1836, for himself and his brother, on Cyprian; in 1838, for Lord Chesterfield, on Industry; and in 1841, for Lord Westminster, on |