274 HISTORY OF THE 



The Hurst Stakes of 5 sovs. each, with 50 added. 



The Hampton Court Stakes of 5 sovs. each, 

 with 35 added. 



Third day. The Opening Stakes of 5 sovs. 

 each, with 30 added. 



Sweepstakes of 3 sovs. each, with 40 added. 



The Hippodrome Race-course, Bayswater, near 

 Kensington Gardens. — This vast estabUshment, 

 which may, with justice, be called the Metropo- 

 litan Race Course, was opened to the public by 

 its founder, Mr. John Whyte, on the 3rd of June, 

 1837. Notwithstanding the popularity the races 

 here immediately acquired, and the patronage they 

 met with among our first nobility, Mr. Whyte did 

 not at first meet with that success which his public- 

 spirited and liberal outlay so fairly entitled him 

 to. This was owing to a few of the lower trades- 

 men of Kensington, led on by some fanatical 

 opponents of all public amusements, laying claim 

 to a footpath, (till then quite unfrequented) which 

 intersected the new course. 



Finding it impossible to carry on his establish- 

 ment with order and propriety so long as the 

 lowest dregs of society from Kensington and its 

 vicinity could enter by this path, the proprietor 

 was compelled to entirely re-model it. This is 

 now effected, and the footpath, which intersected 

 the old ground, now runs at the outside of the 

 park. These extensive grounds are entirely sur- 

 rounded by a high close paling, so that none can 



