THE NEW THREE YEAR OLDS.

["P_.Ma.lßudget ,, _

Upon the Ist of January,' IS7B, everything pointed to the conclusion that Beanclerc, -J annetto. and Pilgrimage would divide the three year-old prizes of _c season betwreen them, so much, superior -did they appear upon their two-year-old running to all their possible opponents. The expectations so formed were in the main fulfilled: for Pilgrimage won the Two Thousand and the! One Thousand Guineas, while • Jannette secured the Oaks at Epsom and tbe St. Leger at Doncaster. The only one of the trio who did hot perform his early promise was Beauclerc, though bat for the accident which, occurred to'him in the spring he would assuredly*haveWon the Derby. The time, has arrived for forecasting tbe probable fate: of another batch of colts and fillies; who will now be reckoned as three-year-olds, and upon whose running at Newmarket, Epsom, and Doncaster the character of the sport for the forthcoming setaon will in a great measure depend. Just as Beauolerc, Jannette,; and Pilgrimage appeared to stand high above, all their rivals a twelvemonth- ago, so do Wheel of Fortune and Peter Seem superior to any of the animals which can be brought against them in the great races of the new •year :''■.''". ' . ; , Wheal of Fortune, though not engaged in; 'the' Two Thousand Guineas or the Derby,; deserves the first place ; for. she has never known defeat, and in the first of her six: .races beat Poter very ea»ily. This was in; the Richmond Stakes at Goodwood, when' .General Peel's colt ran second, and Cadogan, who carried a 61b pen-lfcy for his previous; victory in the Woodcote Stakes at Epsom, third. Wheel of Fortune's stable compa-; nion, Jannette, won the same race a twelvemonth Sefton, the future Derby winner, and Insulftire being among those who finished behind her. After this race, Wheel of Foitune won the Prince of Wales's Stakes at York, a sweepstakes at Doncaster, two prizes at the Newmarket First October Meeting, and wound up a brilliant-two-year-old career by carrying her 71b penalty into the first place for the Dewhurst Plate. She gave evidence of stamina and gameness in all her races;- and, being, to aU appearances sound in wind and limb, has a great chance of proving at least as successfulthis year as .Jannette did last. Her merits are further enhanced by the subsequent doings of Peter, who won the Hopeful Stakes at the New market First October Meeting from Marshal Scott, the winner of the Astley Stakes at Lewes, and who later in the same week secured the newly instituted Rons Memorial Stakes. In this batter race he agaia beat Marshal Scbtfc; while Mr Houldsworth'a Ruperra, who had won both his previous engagements, and was looked upon as the most promising colt of his year, and M. Andre's Monsieur Philippe, who. subsequently won the Criterion Stakee, also succumbed to him. In the absence of Wheel of Fortune, Peter, though carrying a 41b penalty, started a great favourite; and he was a third time successful, beatihg_by"i neck the Duke of Westminster's victor Chief, Mr Acton's Gunnersbury, who had obtained a r-lace in his three previous races, Count de Lagrange's Rayon dOr, Ruperra, and many others. As Peter will meet Victor Chief upon 4lb bettor terma in the Derby than he did in the' Middle Park Plate, there is no reason" for! anticipating that the latter will be abletotnrn the tables on him ; and he so decisively defeated all the others that, so far as the public running goes, he should have nothing to fear from them. Like Wheel of Fortnne,*_e appears to be a sound and hardy animal, aud until some accident occurs to him it seems waste of time to discuss the chances of {other candidates for the Two Thousand Guineas or the Derby, unless we except Falmouth, who has recently been sold out of the stable in which Peter is trained and who won two races at Stockton and York in the style of a first class horse, only succumbing to Wheel of Fortune in the Prince of Wales' Stakes at the last-named place, ' Falmouth did not run afterwards, and upon his latest performance appears to be almost the equal of Peter, though the fact of his being sold out of the stable leads to the belief that the trainer had arrived at a contrary conclusion. The Duke of Westminster's Victor Chief, after running second to Peter for the Middle Park Plate, won the Champion Stakes at Sandown Park ; beating by a head Discord, who was much further behind him the week before, but who at the next Newmarket meeting got third to 'Wheel of Fortune and Flavius for the Dewhurst Plate, and won the Houghton Stakes somewhat easily. Victor Chief is not engaged in the Two Thousand Guineas, but he appears to have as good a chance as anything next to Peter and Falmouth for the Derby. Three horses of whom much was at one time thought are trained at Findon, one of these being Blink Boy, half-brother to Petrarch, who has never yet run. Of the two others, Cadogan, then known as the Chance colt, won the Woodcote Stakes at Epsom; but, as he failed to get nearer than third for the New Stakes at Ascot and for two races at Goodwood, the merit of his first performance was considerably depreciated ; and Scapegrace, who won two races off the reel at Stockbridge, .was put before him until the latter ran very badly in the Middle Park Plate. Whether Cadogan will show in better colors this spring, or whether he will go the way of many another promising two-year-old, it would at present ,be premature to say; bnt even at his best there would be no reason for putting him before Peter or Falmouth. He would, however, have., more claims to consideration than Gunnersbury, who was third to him at Epsom,' and who afterwards ran second to Ruperra for tbe July Stakes at Newmarket; but Ruperra, Gunnersbury, and Rayon dOr were all unfurnished two-year-olds, and may turn out better than their most recent running would seem to foreshadow. Blink Boy seems to be the only possible representative of tbe"dark" Colts; for Blue Blood, who cost 3000 guineas as a yearling, is believed to be worthless for racing purposes, aud rumor has not been busy with any other name. The superiority of Wheel of Fortune over all the fillies engaged in the One Thousand Guineas or the Oaks appears so marked that; it is not worth: .while to discuss their prospects, the only filly of note whose doings .entitiaier to any notice being Mr Philippine, who Won two races at Sandown Park and a third at Goodwood. Mr Barclay put her by after her third victory for her engagements this season; and;with Wheel of Fortune removed from, her path Bhe would have much to fear from the latter's stable-companion. This ia Leap Year, -who won three races in good company, and only succumbed upon the two occasions that shewas playing a subordinate part, to Wheel of Fortune herself; so that if the rumor as to her being affected in her wind is untrue, she may be put before Alice Lorraine, Out of Bounds, and Jessie Agnes, who would come next in any handicap for three-year-old fillies which was framed after their two-year-old performances. But, as long as Wheel of' Fortune remains well, she may be left to fight out the battle alone ; and it is not very hazardous to anticipate that she will come near to Winning Lord Falmouth bis third St. Loger. ~