HOKSKK \ri\<; 



797 



upon every horse entered or starting for any plate, 

 Vr , wits passed. Itefore George lll.'s long 

 came to an end the Prince of Wales waH a prominent 

 figure in the racing world, hb career an a home- 

 owner (luting from 1784. In 1786 the stud was 

 sold in consequence of tin- peruniary embarrass- 

 mi-lit < of the prince ; but, on parliament generously 

 ni'-it-iising his income, he in.ik to racing once more. 

 When the prince next gave up racing it was for 

 a very different reason. His horse Escape was 

 entered to run on the 20th and 21st at the New- 

 iii.ii kri October meeting in 1791. On the first day 

 it was beaten by three others ; but on the second 

 day it won easily, whereupon unpleasant remarks 

 were made, the Jockey Club took the matter up, 

 and Sir Charles Bunbury told the prince that if he 

 continued to allow Chifney to ride his horses no 

 gentleman would start against him. Rather than 

 sacrifice his jockey he retired from the turf, though 

 he made a modified reappearance in 1805 at the 

 request of the Jockey Club ; but the royal stable 

 was never represented at Newmarket after 1808. 

 William IV. naturally had no taste for racing, but 

 as a sort of duty he kept on so that the nomina- 

 tions should not uecome void. 



Since the accession of Queen Victoria the turf 

 has not received any particular encouragement from 

 royalty ; in fact, from a purely racing view a retro- 

 grade step has been taken, as in 1886 the Queen's 

 Plates were discontinued, and the sum they repre- 

 sented was increased to 5000, which has been 

 handed over yearly to the Royal Commission on 

 Horse-breeding, who have expended this amount in 

 promoting the breeding of hunters and other half- 

 bred horses. Since the time of William IV. no 

 member of the royal house owned racehorses until 

 the Prince of Wales bought a few. 



Of all the meetings held at the present time the 

 one at Chester is possibly the most ancient, as an 

 order bearing date 10th January 1571 provides for 

 the Saddlers' ball, which was of silk, being changed 

 into a silver bell of the value of 3s. 4d., and this 

 bell was to be the prize for the horse ' which, with 

 speed of runninge, then should runne before all 

 others.' In 1610 the one silver bell was changed 

 into three ' cupps,' and the race was then known as 

 ' St George's Race.' In 1623 ' one faire silver cupp,' 

 worth about 8, was substituted for the three cups. 

 The Chester Cup, as at present constituted, was 

 first run for in 1824. In Yorkshire, a horseracing 

 county par excellence, races took place, according 

 to Camden's Britannia, as early as 1590 in the 

 forest of Galtres, on the east of York, the prize 

 being a small bell with which the head of the 

 winning horse was decorated ; while Drake, in 

 his Eboracum, states that, when the river Ouse 

 was frozen over in 1607, a horserace was run upon 

 it from the tower at Marygate end, through the 

 great arch of Ouse Bridge, to the Crane at Skelder- 

 gate Postern. On the Knavesrnire racing dates 

 from 1709, though the first race for the King's 

 < iuineas did not take place till 1731. The St Leger 

 has done more than anything else to make Don- 

 caster Town Moor famous ; yet, though races do 

 not appear to have been held there so early as 

 at Chester or Newmarket, so long ago as 1703 

 the Yorkshiremen pitted their horses one against 

 another, and twelve years later the corporation 

 of Doncaster contributed towards the stakes. In 

 1776 a sweepstakes was won by the Marquis of 

 Rockingham s Allabulculia, and in 1777 by Mr 

 Sotheron's Bourbon. In 1778 the race, the condi- 

 tions for which were identical with those governing 

 the aforesaid sweepstakes, first received the name 

 of the St Leger, the proposal to so designate it 

 emanating from the Marquis of Rockingham, wh<> 

 presided at the dinner held at the Red Lion on the 

 entry day. A Colonel St Leger, who lived near 



DoncaMter, originated the sweepstake* in 1776, 

 und the race received its name in hi* honour. 

 Since its lirwt iiiMtitution the condition* of the 

 race and the weight* carried by the hornet* have 

 several times undergone alteration. Ascot (q.v.) 

 has been a seat of horneracing since 1711. 



Epsom (q.v.), perhaps the numt popular race- 

 course in England, lii-t became famoiiH in 1630 

 for it* mineral waters. It is uncertain when 

 racing was first practised, but it certainly existed 

 in 1648, and in 1660 Pepys regrets his 'inability 

 to be present at Banstead Downs to see a great 

 horse and foot race. When racing at Epsom 

 was in its infancy the usual custom was to decide 

 a race in the forenoon, after which the whole com- 

 pany went into the town to dinner, and if another 

 race was fixed for the same day, it took place 

 after dinner. In 1780 the Derby Stakes were 

 first instituted, and named after one of the turf's 

 best and most influential supporters the twelfth 

 Earl of Derby. In point or antiquity, however, 

 the Oaks can claim precedence over the Derby, the 

 ' Ladies' Race.' having first taken place in 1779. 

 On thirteen occasions since the Derby was first run 

 the winner of that race has succeeded in also win- 

 ning the St Leger. Champion achieved the dual 

 victory in 1800 ; and then ensued a period of forty- 

 eight years before the feat was again accomplished 

 by Surplice in 1848 ; and then, strange to say, the 

 same horse won both races in two successive years, 

 Flying Dutchman and Voltigeur winning in 1849 

 and 1850 respectively. The other double winners 

 have been W est Australian in 1853; Blair Athol, 

 1864; Gladiateur, 1865; Lord Lyon, 1866; Silvio, 

 1877; Iroquois, 1881; Melton, 1885; Ormonde, 

 1886 ; and Donovan, 1889. The St Leger has been 

 won by the Oaks winner on six occasions viz. 

 Formosa, 1868; Hannah, 1871; Marie Stuart, 

 1873; Apology, 1874; Janette, 1878; and Sea- 

 breeze, 1888. The Two Thousand Guineas, Derby, 

 and St Leger have been won by the same horse 

 six times only. The first-named race was first run 

 in 1809, but it was not till 1853 that Mr Bowes's 

 West Australian succeeded in carrying off all three 

 events ; the other wearers of what has been termed 

 the 'triple crown' being Gladiateur in 1865, Lord 

 Lyon in 1866, Ormonde in 1886, Common in 1891, 

 and Isinglass in 1893; but in 1868 Formosa, winner 

 of the Oaks, had been previously successful in the 

 Two Thousand, and subsequently won the St Leger. 

 The Derby ( won bv Lord Rosebery in 1894 and 1895 

 with Ladas and Sir Visto, and by the Prince of 

 Wales in 18f)6 with Persimmon ) is still regaided as 

 the great race of the year, but has hardly kept up its 

 character. In 1867, when Hermit won, there were 

 thirty starters, but that number has never been 

 reached since; and it is only in the years 1869, 

 1872, 1874, 1878, and 1879 that the starters have 

 numbered between twenty and thirty. In 1886 

 and 1888 there were nine competitors only, and a 

 proportionate falling off is noticeable in the oa-i-- 

 of the other 'classic* races, as they are termed. 

 This is doubtless owing to the competition of the 

 rich stakes offered by the executive of the ; 

 money meetings. In 1880 the sum of 2000, at 

 that time the largest amount ever given to any one 

 race, was added to the Manchester Cup. Since that 

 time stakes have been increasing in value. The 

 Sundown Park Eclipse Stakes, founded in 1SS6. 

 was in 1889 worth 11,160; \\w Royal Stakes at 

 Kempton Park, first run in 1889, was worth !r.oo : 

 the Portland Stakes at Leicester, for two-year-olds, 

 amounted to 5250; and the Prince of Wales's 

 Stakes, for three-year-olds, at the same meeting, 

 to 11, 000. Whether these valuable prizes are for 

 the ultimate good of the turf remains to be wen : 

 but it is indisputable that they have materially 

 interfered with the old-established races ; so in 



