DISRAELI AND THE RACE-COURSE 



since 1787 their efforts have met with no success. 

 Lord Rosebery once playfully consoled the present 

 Earl with the reminder that he ought to be well 

 content with the honour of giving his name to 

 the greatest race in the world. 



What is it that tempts men of rank and position 

 to devote themselves to the pursuit of racing ? 

 Assuredly, it is not lucri faciendi causa. An 

 authority, distinguished alike in the Senate and 

 on the Turf, has suggested two answers to the 

 question. He thinks that friendships are thus 

 formed which are invaluable to men who wish 

 to get on in life, and he quotes from a remark 

 made to Lord Houghton, that such friendships are 

 durable because each man knows something that 

 would hang the other. The second answer to 

 the question is that men are lured to race by the 

 ambition of owning the horse of the century. 

 Whatever value may be attributed to the first 

 answer, none belongs to the second. Sportsmen 

 do not dream of miraculous animals. They do 

 not contemplate such a deceitful mirage. They 

 are quite happy to win the chief prizes of the 

 Turf with any horse in any year. 



But to return to Disraeli and the ideal he held 

 up to Lord Bradford. If it be difficult to appreciate 

 the distinction between a great stable and a famous 

 one, at all events his observations on breeding 

 are sound enough. Possibly on his round of visits 

 to country houses he had been attracted by those 

 fascinating groups of mares and foals which are 

 the most delightful furniture of park or paddock : 

 but, wisely, the Prime Minister did not presume 

 beyond a general statement on the subject. The 



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