Page 24 Advertisements Column 3

Otago Witness, Issue 1950, 4 April 1889, Page 24

Glasgow was v! greatly chagrined, and a ris-« ing feu3T between' him arid the Leviathan! Jackson was in no way assuaged when- Jock v was seen at Blair Athol's.head triumphantly! leading him amidst the enthusiastic hurrahs, to the enclosure. , Some idea may be formed of the i .super-excellence of Blair. Athol when, it is, mentioned that the Derby third, Scottish Chief won the Ascot Cup a fortnight' after, and the next year twoTbthers that Blair had .cantered away from— vfz., General Peel and ; Ely, ran a dead heat for the same trophy. -At York,, Blair Athol being amiss suffered a flukey defeat by, The Miner, bat for the Dono&ster St. Leger, when "heavily backed, 1 he* fully eustained^his prestige, winning that important race with consummate ease, ridden, of. course," by our hero— General Peel j again occupying the barren position of colours being placed third with Cambuscan. Blair Athol's Leger was run on one of the wettest days ever known, and so thick was the mist and rain that until the horses approached the grand stand, it was impossible to distinguish them. A shout, however, was, speedily* rajsed, v Blair .Athol !, Blair Athol!" when the white face of the gallant son of Stockwell was seen" in the front. In this race Snowden got hemmed in, and if Blair had had a' less collected or experienced jockey ho might have suffered defeat;.. but. Jem patiently bided his time, and directly an opening presented itself, availed himself thereof, finally winning, if possible, more easily than he did ia the Derby. • ♦**. An English- sporting writer published the following interesting comparison between past and present, as shown by the following contrast of the prices and results in the 20 instances each given below -.—Past : Octavia,n (St. Leger ,winner)j Crucifix and dam (Oaks),, Venison, Lanercost, Miss Elis, The, Hero, andJdam,]Sweetmeai, Van Tromp (St. Leger), Flying Dutchman (Derby and Leger), Toltigeur (Derby and Leger),Teddington aDd dam (Derby), Stockwell (St. Leger), Virago, Mendicant (Oaks), Thormanby (Derby), Kettledrum (Derby), Dundee,, Musjid (Derby), Fisherman, Weathergage. (Thei above cost under £5000.) Present : Louisbourg, St: Houorat, D,evil to Pay, St. Mary, Whistle; Jacket, Deuce of Cluljs, Loyalist, .Evangeline,' Godolphin, Cereali?, Armida, Penitent, Cocoa- j nut, Sea King, Ha^eldeU, Esther Faa, Anomaly, > Rattlewings, Galanthus, Kingshill. These cost, over £60,000. I place, Octavian at the head of i the " past " division because, costing but a, " tenner " (!), he wonthe St. Leger, and afterward sired the dam of Crucifix, whose son, Surplice, in tarn won the Derby and St. Leger. I, commence the "present" with Louisbourg, because he cost 400Ogs— and died an example ; the two that come next (which represent together 8900gs more) might have followed for the benefit, they have so far conferred upon us, either as* racehorses or at the stud; as, indeed, might, nearly the whole lot of these sixty thousand pounders. One may well say with Hamlet, " Look on this picture and on that."