Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Saturday 9 March 1872, page 26


THE HERO OF THE SEASON.

.Of flat racfs tlio greatoht prestige attache ?> to thosa inwh tho'competí.or» are ihr e-year-nlds ; and conni qmntly,

' hero of the coin* season wcuid generally bo looked (or i

only aniuui! the three ye*r oMs. but among th» o ihree-je old» which have been most Vurcensful in thu great events c fined to animals of their own uge. A'nr is it uiinaturjtl

rxiir.ct that thu h>-ro will b identical willi the winner of I Derby. It certainly was so in tho cases of We*t Au-itralbi Blair, í.th"! (Hadiuteur, and others but there wa» not t same undoubted superiority in the cases of mher winners the Derby, Pr tender n d Kingcr^fi. especially. Of cours* lometiuv'S happenn that f rum misfortune rather than fa the best, three-year-ohl of thu year dnee mit run iaaii/or snore than one nf the great ihree-yuar-nld races, iturl resit tlve merit has then to tie decided by what is called collate running. And perhaps, there seldom was a jeir in which was more difficult than lt is thin to pronounce on the e.vuliu of public performance which in tb« hero of tho «eason, or, other words, the sinftle boat among the three-yenr-olds.

you take tho Derby foryourcrlterioii, you would say Kavoni If the greatest number of the great three-year-ohl rac. Hannah ; if tho valuo of the stake.B won, llunnah again ; some splendid victories and even more spier.(lid defeats, mic great disadvantages of weight. Sterling. Albert Victor n King of the Forost, the former having once defeated Favorcj and thu latter Sterling and Hana-.li mirht under bott auspices have disputed thc first place, but it was fated tl they should drop ùnder a cloud or fall to pieces. Bocliw began well, having easily beaten Stealing foi the Two Thoi and, hut he ended ill and was loudly accused of that unpi donable offence a ' fluke.' - Shannon and Corisande bo achieved greatnass, the former in tbe race for the Cosdwoi Cup especially, and the latter in thu race for the Ccsarewiti especially ; but neither can bo said te have attained to t rank of Favonius, Hannah, and Sterling. And nf those thr which IB, the best? wiik respect to Favonius, it

'curious that, save tito Kerby, he won no ra of any great impretancc. He missed hy ju A bert "Victor's . hear) thu Thirteenth Nowmarkot Hiennir Won the Derby of £6125, won thc Midsuuunei- Htakei <it Nei market July Mèeting of £2Su from Mowbiay mid lleadinglc Wis(8at) half a length behind .-hannon (7flt 41b) fur thc Goo wood Cup, won (8st alb) tho Brighton Cup of £,il!> from Mai Hie (8 yrs, 7et 10:b), Corisande (3 yis, 7*t Alb) ami two other was unplaced (Sst lllb) for tho Cambridgeshire, and walkc over for tho .Sweepstakes of £'¿00, for which he was to liai boon opposnd by Sterling. So tli.it hu may be calle 1 tl winner uf four events out of seven and of i'SODO. t lanna won the One Thousand, of £:»400 ; ibu Oalis of 1'-1100 : and tl Bt. Leger of 4S00 : walked over for the Twenty-thirdTrlonnii Produce Stalcesof £430, at Newmarket First October Mcetini was third (Ost) to King of tho Forest fOst llb), and lUpponde (8st 31 ti) for tho Prince of Wales Stakes at Ascot, when Ste Ung (8st 13lb) was fourth : and was third (Dst 31b) to Verdu (8sttulb)and Verandah (8st 101b) tho Newmarket Oaks. S that she may bo called tho wine cr of four events out of i-ii ami of £12 730. Storfing was second to Bothwell, and thrc lengths before King of thu Forest for tho Two Thousand was fourth for the I'rluce of Wales' Stakes, won by King o .the Foro»t at Asco'. ; won (Sst 101b each) tho Thirtcent! Ascot Biennial of £675 from his enly opponent Kim; of th Forest ; won (Sst l'-lb the Kummer Stakes (handicap) of £5 il at Nowmarkot July Meeting from Azalea (S yrs, Ost llb), aiv 18 others ; was second (Sst lllb) to Bollnration (3 yrs, (lit 711 for tho Chesterfield Cttp(iir»iidlcap)at Uoodwood : was beute. (¿st) by his only opponent, Vulcan (aged. 9,it 41b). for th Chainpugnu Stukts at Brighton ; was unplaced (Ddt 61b) for th Great Eastern Ballway Handicap, wo« by Philomel

(3 yrs, fist Dib); ran a doad h-al (Sat lilli) with Alll.rool (6 yrs, (1st 01b) for second pUcu to Hnbinus (4 yrs, 8st Viii for ¿ho Cambrldgeshirs. and won 8st Gib) a Frei Handicap Sweepstakes of £000 at Newmarket Houghton fron Shannon (Sst) and live others, iso that he. won three even ti out uf nine and £2000. t will thus bo seen nt a glauco th'.t..n far as the numborof important raeeh and tho valueof thestiikc won aro concerned, tho order would bo Hann th, Favonius Starling; but lt must bo borne in mind that neither Favo n i ni nor Sterling had an opportunity of disputing with H annal her chief triumphs, that there ÍB reason to believe Favoniu superior to Hannah, and that In the race for thc Cambridge shire Sterling, at even weights, showed a clean pair ot heel to Favonius. Moroovor, though Hannah (Oat) once me Sterling and was third to his very good fourth (8stl31b)behini King of tho Foroht (Ost llb) it was tho only occasion in ¿iter ling's career when ho ran over so long a cours» : and th very next day, over u ill ort or course and at. even wplgi'ts Sterling reversed proceedings with King of th« Purest am resumod tho superiority ho hail nbuwn over the Bowiey il ile It c arnot be forgotten, again, that in many quarters, bott hero ana in America, Sterling Ins been evi 'entiy considered tho best horso of his year, un tho other hand, nmnr people will refuse to son thu liest three-year-old in him who has nevoi shown his capability of carrying nt least Sst 101b to victo.y over at least a mlle and a half ; and Sterling, ns has le cn Boen, only once in his lifo essayed to accomplish something Uko that feat, and wa» tin n beaten, at Arcot, by King of the Forest, ltlppond-n, and Hannah. Sterling »gain declined tho match aver a milo' and a half which was to have decidod tho relative superiority of himself ¡.nd Favonius ; and the refusal matters littl» what was tho reason of it) does not tell in h's ' favour. iN o doubt he did a great thing in tho taco for tile

Cambrldgoehire but he was not even a clear second, und it is aquesti-'ii whether,he did BO woll as, or_at any rate, bettor than Bluo <)own, with Ost, in 18Ü8, ana nobody put ho son of Beadsman, as enthusiasm has put tho son of f'xfnrd,

al'ove WoH Australian and tihidUtour. Nor is lt clear that when Sterling cave Shannon (llb, and won in a canter over one mile, two furlongs, and seventy-three yards the feat was greater than vhen Favoniu« gave Shannon* 101b, and was beaton by half a Imgth over two mile» and a hxlf ; for their is some reason for believing that Shaunnn would bo butter at tho longor distance. To sum up, it appeals that rt tr-ri i mr failed on tho only occasion when he attempted to ac cn mp ik]\ a victory over a milo and a hilf, and was beaten by King of the Forest and Hannah, buth carrying a little moro weight than he carried ; that If) fell a vlcttm to Bothwoll's ' fluke' ; that Ilia three victories were over courses ono mlle nix furlongs and about a milo anda q uar er respectively ; that in lils contests with Kitir of the Forest he WHS eonteuilirig with an already 'suspected'horso ; tlifithtsmostmomorahlo.and very memorable, achievements wero but splendid defeats ; anti that ho ct'rtatuly ilRished in front of Favonius f'jr the Cambridgeshire ovor a milo and a distance, but that ho douliued tho match over a milo and a half : whereas Favonius in tho Derby, o wily disposed of AUN rt Victor, Kin? of t ho Forest, and Bothwell-who had ' fluked ' thu Two Thousand from Starlin?, and was qui tu ready aftortho Cami) Idgeshire, foi which ho might probably havo boen 'ck-ser up,' to fulfil the match overa milo and a half, If then ^terlingbe called thu best horso of lils yoar, tho expression sh'iuld be motliUod by adding 'ovor short courses,' mid tho trim h;roof the hanson will be, ns ho oiiçjht to be, tho winnor of the Derby, Favonius who carried Sn 101b to victory ovor a mil« ami a half, arni who is ontitleil to tho bo nc Ur, of any Inference that can bo drawn from, Sterling's refusal to meet him in a match with that weight and ovor that distance. And if '?Hurling had gone over thu seas and succumbed lo Harry Hassett, ibo Americans would hardly have been justitiell in boasting that they had 'whipped' our bust three-year-old ot 1S7I. - l'ail

Mull Gazette.