Unlucky Leicester was even more unlucky than usual--and when the big race was run last Wednesday, so thick was the rain, that the horses could only be seen for the last half mile! Of course this made all the difference to the horse I selected--_Windgall_--who finished second;--as he only gives his _best_ performances _in public_, and as he doubtless _knew he couldn't be seen_, he thought it was only a private trial until he got close home, when his gallant effort was too late to be of any use!--at least, this is how _I_ read the result of the race, and who can know more about a horse than the racing-prophet, I should like to know?
I was told by Sir WALTER GREENINGTON, that the public "tumbled over each other" to back _Breach_, but I must say I didn't notice anything of the sort, and it was not the kind of day anyone would choose for a roll on the turf, the state of which was detrimental to any kind of _Breach_!--The believers in "coincidences"--(of which I need hardly say _I_ am one--a coincidence being a truly feminine reason for backing a horse)--had no option but to back the winner, _Rusticus_; as he drew the same berth he occupied in last year's race, which he alsop--(I mean also)--won for Mr. HAMAR BASS!--_Stuart_ was a great eleventh hour tip--(why _eleventh_ hour I wonder?--more than any other--and who fixes the precise moment when the _eleventh_ hour commences?)--but history tells us the STUARTS were mostly unreliable; and though I am told he ran a "great horse"--I thought him rather on the small side myself!
I hear that Mr. LEONARD BOYNE has received a "licence to ride" from the Jockey Club, and that his ambition is to ride the winner of the "Grand National"--to which end he has started "schooling" a well-known chaser over the private training-ground in Drury Lane, belonging to Sir AUGUSTUS HARRIS--if he hopes to escape observation by training at night, I fear his design will be frustrated, as, on the evening, I went to witness this "new departure" in training, I found most of the London racing-touts present, with the inevitable field-glasses!
Next week sees us once more at our beloved Newmarket First October--(this is a Jockey-Club joke, as the meeting _always_ takes place in _September_! But what does a little paradox of this kind matter to such an _August_ body!)--and I shall append my selection for the most important race of Wednesday, but I also wish to give a hint to the "Worldly Wise" not to miss the October Handicap, or the match, for which _Buccaneer_ will be favourite at the "fall of the flag!"--(The flag may _fall_, but such a _Buccaneer_ as this is will never "strike his flag" I feel sure!) Being absolutely overloaded with prophecy, I must also have a word to say on the Rutland Plate, which aristocratically-named race could only be won by the aristocratically-named _Buckingham_!--Yours devotedly, LADY GAY.