TRIUMPH.

TRIUMPH, a red greyhound

bitch, the property of John Turner, Esq. of Clapham Common, was got by Barefoot (the property of Mr. Clark, of Barnby Moor), dam the late Colonel Mellish's Queen, by Blue Arrow, dam Cora, who was purchased by Colonel Mellish at Newmarket at 50gs.Blue Arrow, by Black Arrow, by Snowball; Barefoot, by Mr. Lumley's Cleveland, dam Old Caroline. -Triumph is a very speedy greyhound, and won the Goblet at Epsom, November 1828, and divided the Hedley Stakes with Mr. North's Lancer at Epsom, November 1829.

RACING SEASON FOR 1829.

SIR,

THE Racing Season is now

again on the approach, and in a short time, if the weather permit, the "note of preparation" will be sounding in all our training grounds: jocks, who have been living in clover for a short period, must again resume their lenten entertainment, and many will have to work in good earnest, for spins and trials will be on the qui vive: and then, farewell to roast beef, and hey for their potations, sweaters, and walks! I look forward to the coming season with pleasure, because I have every reason to believe, from several mat

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ters which have occurred, and some changes which have taken place in one or two of the crack stables, that affairs will be carried on with greater spirit and more fairness than has of late been the case. Even the fountain head, the Jockey Club, have thought fit to revive their Rules and Orders; and I shall take occasion to notice one or two of the fruits of their labours, and hope it will not be considered presumptuous in me to meddle with such high ground.

There is one matter which I am anxious (I trust in common with every lover of fair sporting) to impress on masters of race-horses -and that is, to beg them to lend their aid to put down the system of trainers playing into one another's hands at provincial meetings-which is to be done by supporting those men only who do not keep horses of their own:-for there have been sad complaints in the country of the manner in which people, who have subscribed their money to furnish sport, have been treated. Indeed I have reason to know, so highly-disgusted are many of the West of Englanders at the division of the spoil which last year (in particular) took place among the gentlemen trainers, that they are determined to with hold their money altogether, rather than be done as they have been. There have been some curious tales told lately of one or two of these parties in the West country; and I must confess I am surprised to learn, that gentlemen should lend their names to men, who, under cover thereof, commit all sorts of unfair peculations: but the bub ble has pretty well burst; and, as in most of these cases, the evil has at length worked its own cure.

Among some of the changes, I was most gratified to learn that

Lord Grosvenor's horses had at length been transferred to Newmarket-whence they ought never to have been taken-and in the hands of the Stevensons, and in the same stable as the Duke of Grafton and Lord Egremont, the two best supporters of the Southern turf. We may indeed expect something like the old form of the Grosvenor stud. Mr. Theobald, of Stockwell, (entitled to be noticed as a firm friend to the turf, having expended a pretty considerable sum on race-horses, though he has hitherto, I regret to say, had little profit or fame for his outlay,) has at length done the wise thing in going to Newmarket; and, in the accomplished hands of Mr. Pettit, will ere long, I trust, break out like a giant refreshed. A man like Mr. Theobald, fond of the thing for the sake of the sport, and with his appliances and means to boot, ought to take the front rank, and not creep about the provinces, where even a good horse stands, in nine cases out of ten, very little better chance than the greatest jade-so little has the animal to do with the matter. Though as a pecuniary loss I may regret for the owner's sake, yet, on the whole, I do not grieve that the Stockwell stud has lost Smolensko: for, on looking back at what this horse's progeny have performed; considering how many of the best mares, both North and South, were put to him; the result is very far from shewing what it ought to have done with the chances he has had. There is not a question but that his stock were mostly speedy; but the generality were weedy, and did not train on-and, with only one or two exceptions, did I ever see any of his get with good legs: take for example his most crack descendants. Jerry

(about the best of his get), who won the Leger, was doubtful to the day whether he would stand, and was almost immediately afterwards obliged to be fired; and nothing but the greatest care could bring him to the post for his subsequent races. Shakspeare, who ought to have won, and did run second for, the Derby, stood work but a very short period, and required a year's nursing and the actual cautery to bring him out again fit to go. Gulnare, the winner of the Oaks, has the worst legs and ancles to look as need be seen; and her probation in the stable will not, I imagine, be a very long one. I consider Banker and Picton to have been as good as any of Smolensko's get, and nearly the only two which remained in training aged: but then their shape and make were very different to the generality of the blood; and the former was out of one of the little compact short-legged Gohanna mares, poor old Quail (the dam of the great Merchant also), who I was sorry to see a few weeks since could hardly find a purchaser in Messrs. Tattersall's Yard at a few pounds; and Picton took after the cross of the Dick Andrews, though his grandam and sire were nearly related. Some of this horse's latter running, after he came into the possession of Mr. Whiteside, was as good almost as any thing we have on record; and, with his blood and make, ought to ensure him mares, though I understand he has hitherto had only one or two, thorough-bred ones. On the whole, I do not consider Smolensko any loss as a stallion to the Racing World. I have heard that Parson Hervey some time ago, either when Smolensko belonged to Mr. Wilson, of Bildes ton, or since he came into the pos

session of Mr. Theobald, was offered that horse and 10001. for Phantom, which offer the Parson declined. Had Phantom been at Stockwell, instead of Smolensko, I have no doubt the former would have had mares, and the latter would have gone into the oblivion which in my opinion he merited.

I paid a visit a short time ago to Mr. Hervey's stud, and perhaps a slight sketch of what I saw may be acceptable. The Parson was very particular as to the hour of my coming-" as," said he, “I never miss my matins at the Ab bey;" and indeed he is, I be lieve, to be found there almost as regularly as the choir themselves. On one occasion, when my worthy old friend Brown, of Lewes, called to see him, the Parson was just setting off to his morning devotion; and as he would not break his rule, though at the same time he would not keep his friend waiting till his return, he fairly tucked Brown under his arm, and deposited him on a seat in the Abbey; and, on the conclusion of the service, desired the attendant to give Mr. Brown a seat and book whenever he might come there again-which I believe has not yet been the case; for Brown, being unaccustomed to the cold and damps of the Abbey, caught a violent cold, and was laid up in consequence.

I found the Parson's blood-stock pretty numerous, the stallions in course forming the principal feature; and consisting of Phantom, Mr. Lowe, Orville Junior (by Or ville out of Mistake by Waxy), Rubens Junior (out of Web), and a horse by Soothsayer out of Bels voirina (Maria's dam).

The old horse Phantom was looking very fresh and well, but ragged in his coat, which is not to be wondered at, considering the

sort of grooming that is practised here. He has also got slack in his back; and "Time's devouring hand" is evident in other points; but he still occasionally serves his master for hack; and, if young mares be put to him, will no doubt yet throw speedy stock. I lay more stress on speedy; for none of his get have remained very long in training-" come like shadows, so depart."

Mr. Lowe, I am sorry to say, I found in a most piteous state. I heard, some time since, that he had met with an accident; but I was not prepared to find him in such a plight as I did. The Parson, we all know, is eccentric in more ways than one; and he will have his humours. The act of covering, he reasons, is an operation of nature; and therefore between two animals-which be it remembered have been bred up in the highest state of art should be left to nature to effect; that is, he turns mare and horse loose into a box; and the result is, that in nine cases out of ten there will be some accident, or the deed will not be half perpetrated. In one of these natural fits of his, poor Mr. Lowe, in descending from a mare, struck one of his fore legs against some projecting piece of wood, or stone, and snapped the bone of the arm short in two. Some march-of-intellect Veterinary Surgeon (!), who was called in, declared that there was no boue broken, but only the shoulder put out; and desired that the horse might be taken to the Pimlico Canal (luckily only a few yards distant), and swam about until the shoulder got into its place again. Unfortunately for the poor beast, this sage advice was acted on; and after having been dragged down on three legs, and swam about for half an hour,

they gave up the recipe, and sent for Mr. Field, who at once pointed out the disaster. The swimming remedy, however, had quite done away all chance of the leg being got into proper position again; so that poor Mr. Lowe was once more left to nature to effect a cure: and the consequence is, a most unnatural looking limb, in all sorts of shapes and angles; and from want of use, the leg has wasted, and the joints of the other leg have also given, that having to bear all the animal's weight. Notwithstanding this, the horse is in good bodily health, and is enabled, with a little assistance in descending, to cover mares as well as usual- Miss Craven's dam, and others, having been stinted to him last seasou, since his accident. He ought to get runners, being as well bred as auy horse in England (by Walton out of Pledge, the dam also of Tiresias and Mortgage), and was himself a good runner while in training. He is of the right size and make to my mind: but his accident has thrown him out of all shape; so that a person who saw him now for the first time would have some difficulty in making out his form.

Orville Junior is a dark brown horse, with some roan hairs in his coat, and did, I believe, formerly run in Oxfordshire. The Parson let him one season among the Kentish farmers, which was just his place-being a thick piggy horse without the least pretensions to length or shape as a race-horse.

Rubens Junior (out of the dam of Middleton and Glenartney) looked a flashy, staring horse at first sight; but, on closer inspection, there are too much legs and day-light to please me.

I was going up to look at a chesnut horse, which stood in a corner