THE ST. LEGER

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 62, 10 September 1924, Page 12

THE ST. LEGER

The St. Leger will be decided at Doncaster to-day. The laet of the classics has provided some' very decided surprises of recent years, but when the last mail left England there seemed every: possibility of a'better field than, usual,,';and-th_at the. winner would come from J,ho well-backed" division. Sansovi'tio,' ".S£raitlace,;-:and^ Polyphontes were the most'discussed St. Leger candidates at the end ofJxily, and at that tinXe. all were going on well with their work. ' . ■:

, • Vlh ■a . reference to the St. Leger an say^ :; "Yorkshire is a : , Sporting "county,- and.-probably the." prehistoric "Sorkshiremen. used to run their be^t'-bred; megatheriums, or whatever .breed'/pf-; 'extinct monsters favoured the cbuuty ; ,pf<broad acres with their pres-. ence,. aga.inst one another at Doncaster, assuming, ;bf' course, that the racecourse was theri'.iin'; existence, and not a submarine algae park. Certain at is that horseracing has taken place on the famous battleground so long that'the 'memory of nian runneth not to the contrary,' since,, as far back, as 1615 the^ Doncaster .Corporation found it necessary to .ordain that 'for the preventynge of sutes, quarells, murders, and bloodshed,' racing should cease, and to that end .the stands were directed to be pulled down and the posts pulled up. But whether this was actually done;is doubtful.., ;'As a a-matter of fact there .is.'.'fiays. Mr.'; J. S. Fletcher in his "History ,of, the St" Leger," 'no evidence to show that the.'drastic'order of 1615 was ever carried .into, effect.'. On the contrary, in the following year twelve pennies were paid for making a 'way for the horse, race at the water gapp. In 1764; the Doncaster. Corporation had completely taken the races:. under its control and voted a sum.of £50 for a race to be called the Corporation Plate —:a control which has never been relaxed, to the great .benefit of the residents, who, in.consequence of Doncaster being the Mecca of northern sportsmen,: find themselves in the happy, position of paying lower rates than those charged by any other municipality in England. The Corporation archives contain detailed account of receipts and disbursements, and some of the items are decidedly quamt. The account,for 1775 exhibits the following :—'Paid the person who gave the alarm when the horses ' were to start, one. guinea."' His services were evidently less esteemed than Lord v &carubvbugh's French horn man ' wno got four guineas. 'Mr. Shaw, a nmsition irom York,' who received half that sum, and 'Mr. Harrison and another musitwn,' who, divided three guineas, while the "Town Waites' haß the same amount, to cut-", up among them. ■I.he secretary an d clerk of the course's .nnfT 13 UI"e;! s' -'-and !two candleMiuffers, John Rainoy and Son, Hodson to wit,' were given 9a each ' Tile press, came off'badly : 'Paid for ad Ve ■ fasingthe races in the London papers Sail i t> t ell?g the comP^hensive entry against their name. .. Altogether the" 18s Ul 6d reoelPt t S,forthe^eting^ere £5U