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ENTRIES IN ENGLANDS GREAT SPRING RACES SOMEWHAT SCANTY NUMERICALLY, BUT ... MADE UP OF HIGH CLASS RACERS The closing of entries to English stake races of the first class took place early in January with the. following results: To be run. Name. Place. Distanc Entries. March 25.. LincolnshircHandienp. Lincoln 1 mile 28 March 28 Grand National Steeplechase, Liverpool. .. .4 miles 835 yards 47 April 21... .Lancashire Steeplechase, Manchester 3 1-2 miles 30 April 29....... .Great Metropolitan Handicap, Epsom 2 1-4 miles 23 April 30 .City and Suburban Handicap, Epsom 1 1-4 miles ...32 May 1 i Esher Cup, Sandown Park 1 mile 00 yards , 45 May 10 Victoria Cup, Hurst Park 7-8 mile 28 May 17 Great Jubilee Handicap, Kempton Park 1 1-4 miles : 25 June 5 Coronation Cup, Epsom 1 1-2 miles 24 June 19 Ascot Sold Cup, Ascot 2 1-2 miles 38 These races are among the greater enticements of the spring and early summer campaign and all highly important. Concerning the entries London Sportsman of January 17 said: "Although several events at Liverpool remain in abeyance pending the decision of the executive :1s to filling, we now know ,the best and the worst :of the Lincolnshire Handicap, the City and Suburban and the Kempton Park Jubilee Handicap, and although the entries in each instance fall short of expectation, it has been decided that all should be declared to have filled. I suppose it is hard to depart from old traditions; otherwise one would have thought that in these changed times it would Jiave been wiser to have deferred the date of closing to much later than the first Tuesday in January. Twenty-eight is a poor show by comparison for the Lincolnshire Handicap, aud thirty-two hut little better for the City and Suburban, while only twenty -five is distinctly disappointing for the Jubilee. Considering how rarely the first named event hasi fallen to the share of a young horse, it is not perhaps surprising that .the entry should be void of- a threeTi year-Dlti. .-ifiid; iriGnrover, it hinsf Iw-rOTiandnberBdithnt-1 horses of that age nowadays are much more liberally catered for with handicaps restricted to them, and a striking case in point is- the Esher Cup at Sandown, which has attracted forty-five. "In contrast the City and Suburban has frequently been won .by second season horses, and of such we find Alliance. Galloper Light, Roamer, Sir Douglas, Knight of Rlyth, Polygnotus and Daphne included in the Epsom affair, but only Rambola. Roseway and Knight of Rlyth at Kempton Park. The plain fact Is that the old-time handicaps have dwindled in interest since by gradual but sure process they depreciate as centers of ante-post " speculation, and it will not escape notice how satisfactory by comparison are the returns in connection with the weight-for-age races," the Gold Cup and Alexandria Plate at Ascot, for example, having done surprisingly well, the one with thirty-eight and the other with twenty-seven entries, with a fair French sprinkling in each. Not surprising, but satisfactory none the less, is the good show of forty-seven for the Liverpool Grand National, included among them being two heroes of the original and all three winners of the War substitute at Gatwick, and still more gratifying is the introduction of new blood. Thirty-six may also be considered a good show for the Lancashire Steeplechase at Manchester on Easter Mpnduy." In a way that is illuminating "The Special. Commissioner" gives in the same newspaper the following explanation of the seeming scarcity of horses for racing: Hin point of fact the number of thoroughbreds in England has increased considerably during "the war, the difficulty of export being the main cause of this. There is no lack whatever of material in this sense. The limitation which was put on the number of horses in training is the sole reason for there being even temporary difficulty. Day by day now there are fresh horses going into training that would never have seen a race course had racing been again confined to Newmarket. Within my own knowledge nine such animals have gone into training within the. past few weeks, and my experience is but a" sample of what other breeders could tell us. Several of the animals in question are now three-year-olds or even four, some broken, some unbroken, and all will need time to get into any sort of condition to hold their own against opponents which have already been through the mill; but some may turn out all the better for it, as did the great Australian mare Wakeful, -which never ran until she was four years old, and then went on and developed into the best they have ever seen at the Antiiodes. If the forage controllers can themselves he controlled we shall Iiave iiouglj-unKt0?pare of liorses In training in tlfe earlysfages of the flat race season. As to National Hunt performers, even if they be not forthcoming in great abundance at first,, it should not be forgotten that for many years past the stock of complaint was that we saw the same old jumpers at meeting after meeting, and, as regards the platers, at any rate, this was true. In short, the conditions were analogous to those in the much vaunted Argentine racing. The immediate difficulty is to get stablemen and boys who can ride schooling gallops. Trainers themselves have hardly had time, to turn round those at Epsom in particular. Meanwhile, if I may suggest, there should be as many soldier races as can be arranged, and private sweepstakes for hunters on the flat might be encouraged, as at Croxton Park. It was probably a. mistake in this year to fix nomination tiny as usual. More time was needed for trainers . to find their bearings and get some reasonable idea about the great number of untried liorses which they are dealing with. Personally I can testify that of stock by Javelin one four-year-old, five three-year-olds and one two-year-old have gone Into training within the last month, and Lady Dalmeny has a three-year-old filly by the same sire which I hope to hear is also going to be given a chance. This instance is . just one of many, and will serve to Illustrate what has been going on with regard to other young stock by other sires all over the country. Racing at Newmarket alone was an, effectual stopper on all but the most fashionable, but now the day of open competition has again dawned, aud so let the best win."
