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NORTH STARS MIDDLE PARK PLATE. The famous Middle Park Plate, for two-year-olds, was run at Newmarket October 20, and was won by J. B. Joels Sunstar colt North Star, in a desperate finish with Pretty Pollys daughter Molly Desmond. It was worth 4,475 net, and the only really important nice won by Mr. Joel this year. The race used to be dubbed the "Two-Year-Old Derby," and its winners were expected to figure importantly in the next years Epsom Derby, although they frequently failed to do so. Of this years race, London Sporting Life of the next day, said: "In one particular, at least, race goers have been fortunate. That is in the matter of the weather, the conditions for the winding up stage at Newmarket being the brightest and best of the four days. Nor could the unexpected defeat of Molly Desmond in the Middle Park Plate be put down to faulty going or any other adverse circumstance. If there was a reason for it other than her running up against a better colt it was that she was feeling the effects of her previous race. Had she been reserved for this instead of having run on Wednesday, it would have been a more reliable test of merit. Desmond fillies have not, so far, proved themselves the hardiest or most robust. It has been different with the colts, for no amount of galloping ever upset a colt like The White Knight, either as a two, three or four-year-old. Today Molly Desmond did not look as bright in herself as on Wednesday and, without a doubt, her previous race had taken something out of her. She is, move-over, breaking fast in her coat. However, she made a gallant fight of it, and perchance time will show that there was no disgrace in her being beaten by so resolute a colt as North Star. First the filly and then the colt had the best of it. and they stubbornly contested every yard of the last furlong. Neither flinched in a hard-fought-out-finish, and it was only in the last stride that Mr. Joels colt could lay claim to any superiority, and then it was the smallest margin that seperated them. If North Star lias to be commended for his fighting propensities, Molly Desmond did not show the least want of courage, it simply being a case of the sterner sex prevailing over the weaker. The pair beat Grand Fleet a full couple of lengths, after the latter had raced into his bit with a little more alacrity than usual. The result of the last of the seasons two-year-old classics only goes to show that we have no animal of phenomenal merit, and as no colt stands out much superior to his rivals, the deductions to lie drawn is that there is no one above the usual standard. The victory of North Star, however, compensates Mr. Joel for rather a lean season, and it will reflect to the credit of Sunstar as a sire.
