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DOUBLES IN BIG ENGLISH HANDICAPS But Few Horses Have Won Both the Famous Cesare witch and Cambridgeshire Looking down the list of winners of the Cesare wltch and Cambridgeshire from the commencement I cannot see that the double lias fallen to the same stable on more than five occasions Tliere may of course have been years when one stable brought off the coveted double in the early days of the two races but they were first rim for as long ago as 1839 rtnd I must plead guilty to knowing little about the trainers of the various winners of that early period As far as my particulars of the two big handicaps carry me the first occasion on which the double was brought off was in 18W when William Day the famous trainer won the Ce ire witch with his own filly Dulcibella and the Cam ¬ bridgeshire with P Swindells Weatherbound like ¬ wise a filly and also a threeyearold After Dulcibellas victory as it is related by Day in his Reminiscences of the Turf she became first favorite for the Cambridgeshire which it may be well to mention at that time and for many years afterward was run over the old Cambridgeshire course which finishes at the top of the town Dulcibella and Weatherbound were tried on the Thursday before Jhe race1 over the Cambridgeshire distance which at thattihic was a mile and a dis ¬ tance instead of the present mile and an eightii Prior to the trial Weatherbound was a 100 to 1 clance but in the result she defeated her stable companion by two lengths at even weights with the two fouryearolds Schism and Bevis behind the pair On receipt of a cypher telegram announc ¬ ing the result of the trial Armstrong one of Swin ¬ dells confederates would not believe it suggesting that either the telegraph clerk or William Day had made a mistake Swindell however was of a dif ¬ ferent opinion and told Armstrong Its right enough lad go and put the money on and if we hear anything from William to the contrary we will make the best of a bad bargain Accordingly Weatherbound was backed to win a good stake In the race itself she got off bndly and Admiral Rotts who assisted at the starting that year declined at first to believe it when told on his return to the stand that Weatherbound had won saying Non ¬ sense She never got off offThe The next occasion when one stable carried off the double was in 187C when Rosebery accomplished the feat for the late James Smith What a horse the son of Sneculum and Ladylike was I who wrote these lines was not yet racing in the middle of the seventies and the first time I saw Rosebery was on a gloomy winter Sunday afternoon at Tat tersalls in the early eighties when I went to Albert Gate with a friend to look over Sir John Astlevs horses in training which were coming up for sale on the following day At that time he was a much neglected stallion and Mr Vyner some lit ¬ tle time afterward bought him for the bagatelle of 100 guineas That was some time before he gave the turf a brilliant performer in Amphion and the latter in turn gave tis a great race horse and sire in Sundridge from which came a Derby winner in Stinstar and many other good race horses inclusive pJLwo winners of the Middle Park Plate in Absurd and Argos Rosebcry carried 103 pounds in the Ceuare witch Fred Archer up and in the Cam ¬ bridgeshire which he won by a neck from Sir John Astleys Hopbloom his weight inclusive of a four ¬ teen pounds extra was 117 pounds poundsFOXHALL FOXHALL AMONG THE SUCCESSFUL ONES ONESThe The example of Rosebery which was trained by Clement in carrying off the double was copied a few years later by Foxhall which won the Cam ¬ bridgeshire under the big weight for a threeyear old of 126 pounds Few trainers have done better in the past with the material supplied them than Reginald Day and he has always turned out his charges so well for their races that one would scarcely credit that in not a few instances they were bought as yearlings for small sums In his case I suppose1 it is inherited ability for his father F AV Day before him did big things in similar fashion with horses that either were castoffs from other stables like Airs and Graces with which he won the Oaks or generally reckoned of but little account like Georgic which nevertheless1 brought off a useful double indeed in 1S98 Georgic was an Australian mare a sixyear old which had been imported into this country by II C White The first event of her double was the Prince Edward Handicap for which she defeated a much better faVorite in Gazetteer and other gftod horses For that race Jthen only a mile affair Georgie which was by Clan Stewart Mlrzapore started fourth favorite at 100 to 12 and by winning it she incurred a ten pound extra in the Cam ¬ bridgeshire which brought her weight for the lat ¬ ter race up to 106 pounds Ridden in both events by Seth Chandley she brought off the second half of the double at the long odds of 40 to 1 by a length and a half from another 40 to 1 chance in Dinna Forget with an even longer priced one in the shape of Bottomleys Hawfinch 50 to 1 third Georgic may have been luckv to win for that was the Cambridgeshire for which Nonesuch Sloan up owned by King Edward then Prince of Wales was left at the post Georgic was giving eight pounds to Nonesuch and they both ran a couple days later for the Old Cambridgeshire and in that race they were first and second Nonesuch in receipt of twelve pounds beating Georgic in a trot by ten lengths lengthsThe The remaining doubles in the two big autumn handicaps that materialized were in 1884 and 1885 In the former year John Hammond won the Cesare witcli with his threeyearold St Gatien carrying 122 pounds arid tlfc Cambridgeshire with the four yearold Florence whose feat in scoring under 127 pounds has yet to be surpassed St Gatien and Florence were trained by Robert Sherwood Sr In 1883 Plaisanterle a Frenchbred threeyearold won both races this being the third and last oc ¬ casion on which they have been secured by the same animal Vigilant in London Sportsman
