Racing Performances.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2773, 3 January 1878, Page 2

Racing Performances.

At this season of the year it may not prove out of place to give readers a resume of the performances of the winners of the great races in England, taken from Stonehenge. By examination of the racing time tables, as recorded, it will be seen that from \Z\ to 14 seconds per furlong is the highest rate of speed attained in any of the home races above a mile, and with Bst 71bs, carried by three year old horses. In 1818 Surplice and Oyraba won the Derby and Oaks, each runuing the distance in 2 minutes and 48 seconds, or exactly 14 seconds per furlong. This rate has, however, been^ since then exceeded several times. Blink ™

Bonny, Beadsman, Butterfly, Garactacus, Fillo de Lair and Gladiateur have tud, but Kettledrum and Blair Athol reduced it by five seconds. But the most extra* ordinary threo year old performance is that of Sir Tatton Sykes over the St. Leger course, 1 mile 6 furlongs and 132 yards in length, which he ran in three minutes and 16 seconds, or at the rate of as nearly as possible 131 seconds per furlong, whereas the celebrated Blink Bonny's time was 13f seconds per furlong over the Derby course, which, however, is very hilly, while Doncaster is nearly a dead level, with an additional year and the same weight. This speed has been slightly exceeded by West Australian, even over a longer and far more hilly course, as at Ascot in 1854, when he defeated Kingston by a head only, running 2 miles and 4 furlongs in 4 minutes and 27 seconds, or as nearly as possible at the rate of 13 seconds and one-third per furlong. This performance is the best in modern days, considering the weight and the distance, and it will compare very favourably with the often quoted exploit of Guilders over the Bound Course, in 1721, when, being six years old, he beat Almanzor and Brown Betty, carrying 9st 21bs, and doing the distance in 6 minutes and 40 seconds, or at the rate of 14 seconds and one-third per furlong. Thus, allowing him his year for the extra i mile in the course, and for the 2lbs which he carried above Kingston's weight, he was outdone by the latter horse at Ascot by 1 second per furlong, and likewise by West Australian at the usual allowance for his age. Again, comparing these performances on the English turf with the recently-lauded exploits of the American horses, it will be found that there is no cause for the fear lest our antagonists in the " go-ahead " department should deprive us of our laurels; On the 2nd of April, 1855, a time match was run at New Orleans between Lecomte and Lexington, both four years old, in which the latter, who won, did the four miles (carrying 7st 51bs) in seven minutes 19f seconds, or, as nearly as may be, 13f seconds per furlong. This is considered by the Americans the best time on record, and is undoubtedly a creditable performance, though, when the light weight is taken into account, not so near our best English time as would at first sight appear. On the 14th of April Brown Dick and Arrow ran 3 miles over same course in 5 minutes 28 seconds, or at the rate of 13 seconds and two-tbirds per furlong, the former, a three-year-old, carrying 6st2lbs, and the latter, five years old, 7st 121bs. Thus it will appear that Kingston, of the same age as Arrow, and carrying 9st instead of 7st 121 bs, ran 2\ miles at a better rate than Arrow did his 3 miles by one-third of a second per fur* long; and it has been shown that in the year last past two horses exceeded the greatest performance of the olden times by a second per furlong, and beat the best American time of modern days by. onethird of a second per mile. The assertion, therefore, that our present horses are degenerated in their power of staying a distance under weight is wholly without foundation; since I have shown that even taking the time of Ghilders' performance, at the true rate of which there is some doubt, yet it has recently been beaten very considerably by West Australian and Kingston. Many loose assertions have been made as to the rate of the horse for a single mile in the last century, but there is not the slightest reliance to be placed upon them. That any race horse ever ran a mile within the minute is an absurd fiction.

Old Spout.