HOME SPORTING NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume XVII, Issue 311, 4 January 1879, Page 1 (Supplement)

HOME SPORTING NOTES.

* (Correspondent Argus.) Bumo * has been busy with the names of a couple of well known racing men, the Earl of Lonsdale and Captain Machell to wit. It seems that in about a couple of years Lord Lonsdale. has managed to play ducks and drakes with the fine property, over £100,000 a year, left him by his father, and has become fearfully involved ; it being currently reported on the heath that nothing but five years' strict eoonomy could pull him together, and it was stated that a large firm of jewellers in Bondstreet held his bills to the extent of £125,000. Captain Machell has been managing his stud for him for some time ; it will be remembered by my readers that about ar year ago Lord Lonsdale bought the whole of the clever captain's stud of racers and! steeplechasers at so much a head all round, and during the last week he has been selling some of them, and those that he has sold without the captain's advice have been parted with at absurdly low prices, and, •to make matters worse, the captain has now stepped in and objected to the sales, as he asserts he has a lien over them, and since that it has been reported that " Captain Machell has purchased from Lord Lonsdale the whole of his valuable stud," and during the Oeaarewitch week the horses ran in the captain's colors. It is a sad pity that a young nobleman should, on coming in for such a magnificent patrimony, commence by seeing how great a fool he can make of himself, and in how short a time he can divide it amongst a tribe of hangers-on, who are only too ready to natter until the smash comes, and then to turn from flattery to ridicule. Aa an example of the Billy tricks this young lord has been playing, I may mention one. On the completion of the bargain which transferred Petrarch to Lord Caithorpe for 3030 guineas — the horse would have fetched at Feast double the amount at auction — Lord Lonsdale said he must have a cheque for £600 down at once, for he was very hard up, and the only reason he had' Bold the horse at so low a price was .that he wanted' ready money. The request was oOAlQUsd^ with, and the cheque handed the race for the Great Eastern Handicap waa being run. The race was woiL-by Archer gon Lord Lonsdale's Haclcthorpe, and &x the champion jockey got out of the acale his lordship met him, and Baying, " Well ridden, Archer," handed him aa a_ douceur Lord Calthorpe's cheque for the £600. - The rough element, since the building, of the new stand, ia slowly but surely permeating the sacred Newmarket as well as suburban meetings, and this helps to drive respectable people to town. The plain facts are, that ruffianism is fast working the downfall of the English turf, the police do little or nothing to preserve order, and as betting is illegal, and no one practising it can claim the protection of the law, so welahers openly ply their trade ; and so glaring and impudent have these robberies become that they often do not trouble to dispute the bet, but simply plainly refuse to pay, and ask lie unfortunate backer who has deposited money and comes for his stake and his winnings, whether he (the baoker) takes the layer for a "mug," that he expects to get paid. Until of late years these gentry were unknown on the famous heath, but during the late meetings pickpockets and ruffians of all descriptions nave abounded; and one

old fighting man said to me, "Well, air, they put down the noble art because they said such blackguards went to the ring side, but was there ever a much warmer crowd than this at a mill ?" As a case in point, however, and illustrative of the foregoing paragraph, I will relate a little incident that came under my observation. A gentleman (a Melbourne one, too), went to a bookmaker outside the ring, and took £9 to '£3 about Peter for the Middle-park Plate. He, of course, deposited his £3, and when the race was run went up and asked for his £12. _ The answer he received, of course embellished with a few choice adjectives which I will omit, was, "Well, you must take mo for a mug to think I should pay you £12 and winter coming on. Why, I got enough to do to live in the summer, £ 'aye, and don't part with no quids at this time of year." What was to be done? If the backer commenced to attempt force 40 ruffians would set on him, a cry of welsher would be raised, and he (the innocent party) would be quite likely to get half killed.