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THE PICK OF ENGLISH TWO-YEAR-OLDS. As far as classic two-year-old racing is concerned the season is virtually finished, and yet opinions are largely at variance as to which is the champion voungster" of the year. Friar Marcus. Roseland, Let Flv. Redfern. King Priam, and PoninuTn would each have his admirers, and even then the actual best might be missed. One naturally hopes that Friar Marcus will come out on top next year, for it woould be grand to see King George lead back the winner of the Derby, and the handsome son of Cicero is not onlv tlie hero of the Middle Park Plate but boasts an unbeaten certificate, having won all the five races in which lie has taken part. His career was interrupted by a summer cough, which prevented him from fulfilling Ids Ascot engagement, but happily there were no permanent ill-effects, and lie retires Into winter quarters perfectly sound in wind and limb. His last form, moreover, was his lest. as he lieat Redfern by three-quarters of a length over the Bretby six furlongs, a fair test of stamina which effectually dissipated the. notion present in many minds that he might not stay: but the style in which he did his work on that and every other cocasion was irreproachable. Still, there is only a narrow margin of superiority over Lord Cadogans colt, and he in turn is heads and tails with Let Fly. the pair having met four times with "honors easy." In the New Stakes the Foxhill rhampion had a neci:- :md a head the best of him. with R.iseland intervening, but the positions were reversed at Goodwood, when Redfern won the Mole-comb Stakes by a head, and that Torni was continued at Doncaster. when he again had the best of it. by a neck in tlie Champagne Stakes, while iu the final tussle Let Flv short-headed him in the Dewliurst Plate, the distance for which is seven furlongs. Here we have extraordinarily true miming, and it is a case of trick and tie between them, with one as likely to improve as the other during the recess, but Let Fly possibly the more strictly bred. Still there cannot be much to choose between them and Friar Marcus, and the Middle Park Plate ruiming shows Manxman and Sunlire right on top of them, and both of great promise. Ros;dand opened his account by winning the Fitzwilliaui Stakes at Newmarket in the spring, and was giving seven pouuds when beaten a neck by Let Fly at Ascot, which collaterally brings him quite on a level with "the Friar" through Redfern. But I fear there has been trouble with the brother to Roseworthv, of whom nothing has been seen in public since" he romped away from Elkington in the Ju!y Stakes, and lie would not have missed his subsequent engagements had all been well: indeed. I understand that leg trouble has kept him in retirement, and it mav interfere with his future progress. King Priam, "after lieing beaten first time out by Costello, established himself iu the top class when he easily disposed or Silver Tag the best of her sex at Ascot, aud did another meritorious performance when he gave Pen nant IS pounds and a neck beating, but then came a bad failure at Koinpton, which, at first sight, takes much of the gilt off tlie gingerbread, though it is more than likely he was taking on an impossible task in the endeavor to give eight pounds to Pomniern. As a matter of fact this son of Polv-meliis. which is one of tlie best-looking colts in training, scored so easily that the result would probably have been" the same hail they met on even terms, and he had previously given a taste of his quality when he ran awav from Sammarco and Jove at Goodwood. Moreover, there is plentv of scope for improvement, and It" would not in the "least surprise uie to find him the crack classic horse of next year. "Vigilant," In Loudon Sportsuiau.
