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ENGLANDS MOST POPULAR HANDICAPS. Features Connected with the Winning of the Ebor Handicap by Great Racers. It has been claimed for Yorkshire and most likely the claim is well founded that that county of many acres is the birthplace of horse racing in this country. Certain it is that to Yorkshire sportsmen is largely due the foundation of the British thoroughbred stock which is drawn upon to this hour by those countries where racing has taken root or where efforts are made to improve the breed of horses in general. To Mr. Darley, of Aldby, we are inherited for the valuable Arabian that sired Childers; to Mr. Hutton of Marske, the British turf owes the possession of Eclipse, and the breeding and racing establishments of many Yorkshire worthies subsequently contributed in a great degree to the excellence of the English race horse. The history of sport on the Knavesinire goes .back a long way, and many quaint contests are recorded in its annals. It has, of course, developed as time lias travelled, and at the present day the arrangements in connection with the meetings there compare well with others held in high favor with the public, and in some particulars they can give them a start. The programs include several events of old establishment and interest, of which may be mentioned at the August meeting the Gimcrack Stakes considerably increased in value in recent years and the Great Yorkshire Stakes among the weight-forage races, while of the handicaps the "Ebor" stands out conspicuously. In a sense the Ebor Handicap and the Northumberland Plate can be termed sister races, for they were formerly botli decided over a couple of miles, but while that distance is still retained for the Gosforth Park, event, it has been reduced to a mile and three-quarters for that at York, and the prefix "Great" dropped. That ceased to be part of its title when general public interest began to wane on the falling off in the volume of ante-post speculation in connection with it, for at one period it was quite a heavy betting medium, and large amounts have often been netted by the owners of its winners. Formerly efforts were frequently made, especially by northern sportsmen to win both races with the same horse, but in comparatively few instances have they been successful. The first instance was that of Underhand, which, in addition to taking the Northumberland Plate three years in succession, won the race on the Knavesinire as a five-year-old in 1S59 with 127 pounds, his impost in the Newcastle Town Moor having been 124 pounds. Lily Agnes, winner of the "Plate" as a three-year-old, won the "Ebor" the following year, and Victor Emanuel brought off the double event as a five-year-old in 18S2 the Northumberland Plate with 112 pounds up, and the Ebor Handicap with a stone more on his back. The best performance associated with the race is that of Corrie Roy, which as a five-year-old in 1SS3 won in a canter under the crusher of 13S pounds, giving a good stayer like Hagioscope sixteen pounds. That she was formidable over a long course she had demonstrated the previous year by accounting for the Cesnrewitch, and in 1883 her "Ebor" victory was preceded by one in the Goodwood Stakes two miles and a half under 125 pounds, and after the York August meeting where she was allowed a walkover for Her Majestys Plate added to her reputation as a stayer by winning the Manchester November Handicap under 130 pounds, having meanwhile another walkover for a Queens Plate; at Shrewsbury. Another good performance in the "Ebor" was that of Paga-nini, which won witli 130 pounds in 1S70, and. like Corrie Roy, he was also successful in the Goodwood Stakes the same year. He won a large number of races during his career, mostly over a distance of ground, and many at the series of meetings the other side of the Border known as the "Scottish circuit." He was one of the popular handicap horses of his day, and from the frequence of his victories his owner came to be known as Mr. Paganini" Smith. From the list of notable achievements in connection with the race must by no means be omitted that of Isonomy, which scored as a four-year-old with 134 pounds up in 1S79. With odds on he beat four opponents by a verdict of eight lengths, but had nothing of any good class against him, and the field was reduced by the small chance there appeared of defeating him in view of what be had already done that season. Upon the quality of Isonomy there is no need to dwell, as lie stands out with great prominence in the gallery of great English thoroughbreds. From the date of its institution 1S43 down to the middle of the "eighties" Yorkshire stables had a big hanri in the riecision of the Ebor Handicap, and it lias often gone to the establishments at Malton and Mlddleham, to the Messrs. Osborne, Sanderson, Bates, Harry Hall and Peacock, for example. But wheu owners closely identified with sport in the north took to having their horses trained at Newmarket and places in lower latitudes many winners of the race have been sent out from the turf headquarters, and the stables of Yorkshire have lost their pre-eminence in connection with it. Some horses that have either won or run forward in the Great Ebor have afterwards carried off the Cesarewitcli of which cases in point were supplied by King Lud and Wargrave,. The first-named, in 1873, ran prominently on the Knavcsmire with 108 T pounds up, and when hewas allotted five pounds less in the Cesarewitcli he appeared to possess something much better than an outside chance. He had, however, to meet a number of good horses at Newmarket, including such as Corisande, Shannon, Lilian and others with a reputation for staying, and the substantial odds of 1,000 to 45 were obtainable about him at the start, after the acceptance of 40 shillings overnight. Wargrave, when lie won in 1902 as a four-year-old witli 114 pounds, started at 20 to 1, was not then quite the favorite with the public he was destined to be, for when he accounted for the Cesarewitcli lie not only started favorite, but probably carried more money for the general body of backers than any previous winner of that race. Like many another meeting, York August was not held last year but should it, as everyone hopes, be celebrated in the coming year, the "Ebor" will still find a place in the program, and there is little doubt that it will receive an adequate entry, and once more evoke local, if not general, interest.
