he old Shanghai Almanack of 1884 describes May as a month in which there is little rain as a rule and in which the temperature tends to rise as the month finishes its course. Moreover It may be assumed that the decision fo hold races in the first week of May, or thereabouts was influenced by some sort of faith in the sport Ing Instincts of the weather. The Race Club had a bumper attendance for Champions' Day. The Champions' Race dates back from the Autumn Meeting of 1869, when it was won by Baron de Merlton's Mors aux Dents after a close finish with Mtr. Fungus' Vertugadin in a Meld of seven of whom six. were "winners." The time was recorded as 2 min. 5 secs for the mile and a quarter. The present Facecourse was then over seven years old, having been opened on Jan. 1, 1802. Before then races had been held twice a year on g course opened in 1853 under the auspices of a Committee headed by Mr. Medhurst and Mr, Wills after efforts started three years earlier had been rendered nugatory because the then proposed course would have run through a Fukien graveyard and too
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.