'Tuene are (hose atill amongst us whose mem Arey them back to the days, and keep fresh' the racing deeds, of Sydney," Paitwar and Canrobert the old Race Cuurse. Tt is even possible that there may be one fu meetings wore held on a course irelnde the yet remoter time when the gr.two patriarchs whose recollections
situated near the Soochow Creek, whau the clumsy, sour-tompered, fiddle-headed ponies of that perind ray in heats, But at the time when the lorgeq we have named were the pride of their emuers and their friends when at each spring and autumn meeting the old battles were fought over again, racing had made considerable progress, and the cards included many descriptions of animals and events that have disappeared from our turf, There wore races for Colonials, Arabs and Hackueys, as well as for native and imported ponies. Subsequently, thoroughbreds were brought from England and Aus and played no inconsiderable part in inorensing the extravagance of the wild times in this Settlement and in the south, Large prices were given in Epgland for horses intended to compote for the Hongkong Challenge Cap perhaps the ugliest piece of plate which was ever run for on @ race-course. These animals were afterwards sent up here and took part in the valuable stakes, and cup races which at that time were ran for over our corse. But the frenzy was short lived, and for many years past no animal of nobler race than the China pony has appeared at the Shanghai mootings. That this change has boon beneficial to sport scarcely admits of doubt. 'The expense connedted with a racing stable. consisting anies is, of course, much less than' when English horses, first-class Colonials, and Arabs formed part or the whole of an owner's "atring," and there is, or ought to be, loss temptation to bet in order to cover the cost. In England it is suid that no owners except very wealthy men, can remain on the turf without betting, and this may be true, as heavy engagements are made for yearlings and two-year-olds before anything of their merits can be Known, and in the great majority of cages none of the money which is staked in that way is ever got back by winnings. Bat matters are different here,' where the engagements of a puny do not extend beyond one meoting, and consequently many gentlemen are able to afford themselves the plea-cure of buying, training, and rauning ponies without being obliged to plunge into betting, or make books, to save themselves from losses which they could ill hour, from having engaged their griffins heavily in races extending over yeyeral years or meetings. The generations which succeed us here will no doubt witness the straggles of imported thoroughbreds, but for us the contests between China ponies will be sufficient.
We have not sought to flatter the pony that competed here in the olden time. He was not a beautiful creature, nor amiable, nor fast, and he is not to be seen now-a-days in this Settlement, or in any part of the country near this. He was like the Mongolian ponies that Colonel Prejevalsky described, with thick neck and legs, large head, and shaggy coat. Fow, if any, of them were reserved solely by their owners for the highest walks of equine life; at ordinary times they were hacks, much given to bolting, and grinding their tiders' legs against walls; and in some cases the only liking they showed for their proprietors was one which led them endeavour to eat them. There wore, of course, exceptions, and some of these docile animals which might have been warranted free from vice, were at once excellent roadsters and racers of fame. It added greatly to the interest of the race meetings when men entered and rode their pony hacks, and more than once the victors were found in sedate animals that had carried ladies. The improvement in the breed of ponies in the North of China was due to the introduction of a la cumber of cavalry chargers from India, which were sold at Tientsin and other places after the termination of the it English and French expedite n in 1860. Since that time the ponies have been of a higher, indeed of quite a different, class, with more symmetry and speed. Some of the best, such as Teen-Tavang, resembled the Arab galloways which old China hands will remember to have seen in Hongkong, where there was an annual race for them. When the pony we have mentioned was at lis best here, the question of his ability to contend successfully with English thoroughbreds was sometimes discussed among racing men, a few of whom maintained that at the weights for the English Derby and with a start, he might win in a three-quarters-of-a. mile race. It is not probable, however, that with any length of start which would be fair to the thoroughbred, Teenkwang or any Chinese pony would have any chanco of victory. The length of stride of an English thoroughbred makes it almost impossible for an Atab to compete with him, except at a difference in weights which no owner of a good animal would nocent over a long distance. Admiral Rous said that a second class (English) race horse could give five stone to the best Arab or barb and beat him; which is probably an exaggeration, for Arabs, with an allowance of two-and-a half stone, have ran close up to thoroughbreds on the China racecourses. In the handicaps in England the difference between the highest and the lowest weights is sometimes three and a half stones, and it is likely that the stride of the worst horses engaged in these would enable them to give such @ pony as Teenkwang two, atones more over @ race of three.quarters-of-acmile. No owner of first or second class thoroughbred would be likely to match his horse to give 9 pong like Teenkwang five or six atone, And if the thoroughbred and the pony. ran at even weights, the latter would require a'start of ong-half the distance to be ran to give him a chance,. which would be insufficient to enable him to win the race, But in writing this we have no desire to deter any gentleman who may at the meeting which will commence to-day, find himself the owner of another Teenkwang from trying his own and his pony's fortunes in England; and should he elect to make the trial of @ China pony against a thoroughbred we shall hope that the result will prove more pleasant than that which has attended other exports from this.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.