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HOW SKEETS MARTIN WON A CLASSIC The afternoon of April 2l at Newmarket Eng ¬ land when snow stopped the racing saw the run ¬ ning of the Itabraham Plate a classic of the Eng ¬ lish turf which Wise Mason won under Skects Martin The latter endeavored before the race to relinquish his engagement in order to ride some ¬ thing else and the only man found with courage to back the horse was his owner Mr A Stedall who took 2500 to 200 against his horse Nothing could be seen of the race from the stands and as a matter of fact betting was still in progress in all unconsciousness that the start had taken place when the horses were within a quarter of a mile of the winning post The snow was coining down in white sheets and the state of affairs which pre ¬ vailed while this race was going on is best de ¬ scribed In the words of some of the jockeys riding in it One of them said he saw horses a few lengths In front of him but butv v he had no notion whether those horses were at the head of their field or whether there were others a furlong In front of them s sAnother Another put it this way Yon could not see four yards in front of you I felt as if I was ab ¬ solutely blind 1 got some flakes of snow in my eyes and you could not tell If yon were in tho course or outside It must be noted the courses at Newmarket are not railed in but merely marked out with posts set about a hundred yards apart The chief thing the jockeys had to go by was the starting gate If you passed a starting gate you knew you were still In the course added this jockey Sporting Life
