50 



added that the scale of weights prescribed 

 for the Royal Plates was as follows : 



4-year-olds carried 10 stone 4 Ib. 



5-year-olds ,, n ,, 6 ,, 



6-and a^ed 12 



o 



Races decided in 4-mile heats. 



The King himself lent a somewhat per- 

 functory support to the Turf, keeping at 

 Hampton Court a grey Arab stallion, whose 

 services were available for mares at a stated 

 fee. 



A most important event in the history of 

 the Turf marks George II.'s reign. The 

 Jockey Club was founded, and its existence 

 first received public recognition in Mr. John 

 Pond's Sporting Kalendar, published at the 

 end of 1751 or the beginning of 1752. It 

 is probable, however, that the club was 

 actually in existence in the year 1750; but 

 it was started without any attempt at pub- 

 licity, and, so far as can be ascertained, 

 with no idea whatever of acquiring the 

 despotic power which eventually came into 

 its hands. As Mr. Robert Black, in The 

 Jockey Club and its Founders, remarks : 



" What more natural than that the noblemen and 

 gentlemen who frequented Newmarket, where ruffians 

 and blacklegs were wont to congregate, should con- 

 ceive the notion of forming themselves into a body 

 apart, so that they might have at Newmarket as 



