Northerly had had an outstanding campaign, and the Cox Plate was his fourth win in-a-row. Northerly returned to Perth, and his trainer Fred Kersley chose to run him in the Railway Stakes, which had been moved forward on the calendar. Unfortunately for the "home" crowd, the Cox Plate winner wilted badly in the home straight under 61.5 kilograms, and he finished an uncharacteristic 11th of 16 behind the Lindsey Smith trained Old Comrade, who again defeated Northerly in the Australian Cup in March. Northerly had shown strong lead-up form to the Australian Cup, including a close second in the C F
The Racecourse, Northampton found stolen property. The gang admitted forty-seven offences and were hanged at midday on Northampton Racecourse on 4 August. 5,000 people turned up to witness the hanging as the Culworth Gang were said to have terrorised as far as Oxford. As was the fashion of the time, the condemned were supplied with drink at the last inn on the way to the Racecourse — the Bantam Cock on Abington Square. The last executions on the Racecourse took place on Friday, March 27th 1818 and were those of James Cobbett and George Wilkin found guilty of passing forged bank notes. As