PLATE I. REFRACTION. WINNER OF THE OAKS-1845. ENGRAVED BY E. HACKER, FROM A PAINTING BY A. COOPER, R.A. It is extraordinary how much more a man enjoys a race when he really does, or fancies he feels an interest in what is going forward; when he can join in with something like the hand and heart of a bonâ fide winner, sympathize in the defeat of a clever second or third, or shrink within himself at the very unpretending performance of the very unpretending outsider he had done the honour of associating his ideas with. Many and various are the ways and means for acquiring a touch of this said interest, among the most common and available of which are the betting book or the lottery ticket; agents, however, that confine themselves entirely to pecuniary considerations, and with which, consequently, we propose having no further discussion on these "presents." Is there not surely now and then something a little more like friendship than business to be found-a regard for man, we will say, rather than horse-a good wish for owner, jockey, or trainner perhaps, as well as the high-mettled animal just off for the Plate? You travelled the week before last the Dick Turpin trip, from London to York, in one day, side by side with Tommy Lye, and so of course you'd naturally like to see Mentor well up for the Derby; or one of your maid-servants, up fresh from the country -all servants now-a-days do come from the country-was born and bred within a mile and a-half of Petworth, and so, on Mary's account, you must mark how the Nonsense filly looks and cuts up for the Oaks; or, as your wife's brother's most particular friend, who has a pretty middling practice as a barrister, once got an insolvent-court brief from Mr. Ford, it is with unfeigned pleasure you behold the queer patchy blue-and-white jacket of that industrious gentleman in the ascendant. All people, however, have not these advantages; it is not every man that's been in conversation with a real live jockey, or who's had the luck to hire a housemaid with the recommendation of learning her business in the same parish a winner of the St. Leger learnt his. No, men in general must be a little more general in their notions, and may be, after all, fix their hopes and fears on a champion; chosen not because he can command success, but from having done everything to deserve it. And where, forsooth, on these terms could we find a better than the noble Duke it now becomes our duty to draw the reader's attention to a good soldier, a good farmer, a good sportsman-a country gentleman, a nobleman with the power to speak and the ability to execute much for the advantage of all the classes with which he is connected? Ye veterans, call out one cheer more for the success of a Waterloo man! ye farmers, curse not too fiercely the drunken cockneys for riding o'er your grounds, for every one of them this day has been doing honour to a true farmer's friend! ye aristocrats, who despise the mob and mixing on the Downs, hark back to your pedigrees, and trace out, step by step, a descendant of the Merry Monarch's! and, lastly, ye sportsmen, as you score Refraction's victory under that of Gulnare, name to us if you can a more worthy first favourite for the Oaks of next year than the worthy who ran first for it this. PEDIGREE. Refraction, a brown filly, was bred by the Duke of Richmond, her present owner, in 1842, and was got by Glaucus, out of Prism by Camel, her dam Elizabeth by Rainbow, out of Belvoirina by Stamford-Sister to Silver by Mercury. Prism, the property of the Duke of Rutland, won a two-year-old stake at Newmarket July Meeting in 1838, and was claimed by the Duke of Richmond, who ran second, for £200. She never appeared in public either before or since, being put to the stud almost inmediately on changing her quarters. Refraction, her third produce, as yet the only one we believe of any "account." Glaucus has rather disappointed the expectations entertained of him as stud horse; none perhaps ever had so many good mares put to him, and yet, with the exception of the Nob, Una, and Refraction, his sons and daughters are of a very so-so sort. He started on the commencement of the present season for Germany-a fashionable departure by no means to be regretted. PERFORMANCES. In 1844 Refraction, then two years old, auspiciously and appropriately enough commenced her racing career at Goodwood, where, on the Tuesday-ridden by that now "banished man," but then regular and, we must say, good servant to the Duke, Sam Rogers-she won the Ham Produce Stakes of 100 sovs. each, h. ft. (42 subs.), beating Mr. Wreford's, jun., Winchelsea (2), Col. Peel's Hersey (3), and the following, not placed :-Lord Glasgow's b. c. by Bay Middleton, out of Miss Whip, Mr. Gratwick's The Merry Monarch, Mr. Treen's Bastion, Col. Anson's Jezail, Lord George Bentinck's Nightcap, Mr. Bowes's As-you-like-it, and Lord Chesterfield's Stitch.5 to 1 agst. Refraction, who won by two lengths. The same day, ridden by Rogers, she ran third to Mr. Gully's The Maid of Orleans for the Lavant Stakes of 50 sovs. each, 30 ft. (26 subs.), Lord Eglinton's Plaudit beating her easily for second, and the following not placed:-Lord Albemarle's Tisiphone, Mr. W. Edwards's Full-sail, Lord George Bentinck's Pug, Mr. Osbaldeston's Secutor, and Duke of Richmond's b. f. by Glaucus, out of Estelle.-3 to 1 agst. Refraction. On the Thursday in the same meeting, ridden by Rogers, and carrying 5lbs. extra, she ran second to Mr. Gully's Nutbourne (since dead) for the Molecomb Stakes of 50 sovs. each, h. ft. (21 subs.): Lord Albemarle's Tisiphone, Lord George Bentinck's Pulce, Lord Chesterfield's Stitch, Lord Eglinton's Plaudit, Lord Eglinton's Bret walda, Mr. Gratwicke's Titmouse, Colonel Peel's Hersey, and Mr. Herbert's ch. f. by Elis out of Charlotte West, also started, but were not placed.-4 to 1 agst. Refraction, who was beaten by a neck. On the same day, she walked over and divided a Sweepstakes of 25 sovs. each (11 subs.) with Mr. Gully's The Maid of Orleans. On the Tuesday, in the Newmarket Second October Meeting, ridden by Edward Edwards, she won the Clearwell Stakes of 30 sovs. each, 20 ft. (31 subs.), beating Colonel Peel's Hersey (2), Mr. Payne's Sir Francis (3), and the following, not placed: Duke of Bedford's Prologue, Lord Eglinton's Plaudit, Lord Exeter's Tunick, Lord William Powlett's Energy, and Mr. Copeland's Arthur.—5 to 4 agst. Refraction, who won by a neck. In 1845, Refraction, on the Tuesday, in the Newmarket First Spring Meeting, ridden by Flatman, ran third and last for the Coffee Room Stakes of 50 sovs. cach, Lord Exeter's Lyons winning, and Duke of Bedford's Prologue running second.-7 to 4 on Refraction, who was beaten a length for second, and Prologue only a head by the winner. At Epsom, ridden by H. Bell, she rather unexpectedly "did the deed," in winning the Oaks Stakes of 50 sovs. each, h. ft. (128 subs.), beating Mr. Bennett's Hope (2), Major Yarburgh's Miss Sarah (3), Lord Chesterfield's Lady Wildair (4), and seventeen others not placed, for whose names we refer to page 34 of the Turf Register. -25 to 1 agst. Refraction, who won easily by two lengths. At Ascot Heath, on the Tuesday, ridden by Flatman, and carrying 6lbs. extra, she ran third for the Welcome Stakes of 20 sovs. each, Mr. Gully's Weatherbit being placed first, Lord Lonsdale's br. c. by Jerry out of Turquoise second, and Mr. Gully's Old England (3 lbs. extra) fourth. The following also started:-Lord Exeter's Adrianople, Sir Watkin W. Wynn's Undine, Mr. G. Ongley's Mystery, Duke of Bedford's Captain Phoebus, Mr. Worley's John Davis, and Mr. Copeland's Arthur.-4 to 1 agst. Refraction, who ran home a very indifferent third. At Goodwood, on the Friday, ridden by H. Bell, and carrying 9lbs. extra, she ran a dead heat with, and then beat, Sir Richard W. Bulkeley's Queen Pomare for the Nassau Stakes of 50 sovs. each (24 subs.): Lord George Bentinck's Pug, Lord Chesterfield's Stitch, Lord Eglinton's Britannia, and Lord Exeter's Topaz, also ran.-6 to 5 agst., and after the dead heat, 4 to 1 on Refraction, who won cleverly by a length. SUMMARY OF REFRACTION'S PERFORMANCES. In 1844, she started five times, and won twice, and divided once: The Ham Stakes at Goodwood, value clear The Clearwell Stakes at Newmarket... In 1845, she has started four times and won twice: £2,500 0 3,475 0 1050 0 £7,807 10 This includes every engagement for 1845 but the Drawing Room Stakes at Goodwood, and the Newmarket St. Leger yet to come off in the First October Meeting. For this same St. Leger, the Duke has also his Derby horse the Laird O'Cockpen down; but for its more important namesake farther north, neither the winner of the Oaks, nor in fact anything of his Grace's half in the long Goodwood string, have been put in nomination. For the Drawing Room we should say Refraction paid forfeit, no doubt out of compliment to Old England, the actual winner of it. And here, in concluding our somewhat lengthy, but still necessary memoir of this good-looking, good-serving filly-a mare who has always been "well up" and always in the best of company-we repeat, that the result of the last Oaks should be a source of gratification to the true sportsman, and to all in fact not interested to look at it in a merely personal point of view; and even these could never have a more fitting opportunity for applying the not unusual nolens volens greeting of a handy second to a clever winner-" Well, your Grace, I am glad you did win, as I did not." Elderly gentlemen, who sigh and sorrow at the unrelenting force and course of Father Time, for the palmy days of their Shelleys, Graftons, and Grosvenors, may brighten up again with the knowledge that there is yet a strong supply of our Exeters, Albemarles, and Richmonds to take their places; men whose names must benefit racing without injuring themselves, so long as they continue to regard and practise it (as they hitherto have done) rather as the becoming amusement of an English gentleman than the serious speculation of a man of business. Of such as these, of such a sample as Sussex this season brought out, and the Brothers Bell brought home, for both Derby and Oaks, may our customary opening, "The property of, and bred by," run on for many a long day. NIMROD'S ANALYSIS OF "THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN," BY THOMAS SMITH, ESQ., LATE MASTER OF THE CRAVEN. Chapter the eighth treats of earth-stopping, and is an interesting one, not only by the general remarks of the writer, but by his going out of the beaten track, and, instead of trusting to earth-stoppers, having all the earths in a country stopped before regular hunting begins. His plan was this: In the month of October he sent a whipper-in round to every earth-stopper, and had the earth what is called stunk out with brimstone, &c. Three days subsequently, the same whipper-in sees that each earth is stopped in the following manner:-"First make a faggot of sticks the size of each hole, which should be thrust in; then drive a stake through it; after which, with a spade, cover the whole over with earth." In this state are the earths to remain till the spring, when they are to be opened for the reception of heavy vixens, say not later than the last week in February, and I heartily concur in the propriety of this practice. |