68 



have also contributed to the changes on the 

 Turf. By quickening the interest of the 

 people in racing, these factors have helped 

 to increase the attendance on race courses, 

 and at " gate money meetings," to enhance 

 the funds at the disposal of promoters, 

 whereby the latter are able to offer in prize 

 money sums beyond the conception of our 

 grandfathers in the early years of the 

 century. 



With the increase in the number of meet- 

 ings, of horses running and the value of 

 prizes, other changes have gradually crept 

 in. The Challenge Whip remains the 

 solitary^ survival of the old four-mile races. 

 The Whip, it may be well to remind the 

 reader, was originally the property of Thomas 

 Lennard, Lord Dacre, whose arms are en- 

 graved upon it. Lord Dacre was created 

 Earl of Sussex in 1674 by Charles II. : he 

 was devoted to the Turf, and it is believed 

 that he left his Whip (a short, heavy, old- 

 fashioned jockey-whip with hair from the 

 tail of Eclipse interwoven into the ring on 

 the handle) as a trophy to be run for at 

 Newmarket. He died in 1715, but the first 

 race for the Whip does not appear to have 

 been run till 1756, when Mr. Fenwick's 

 Match'em won from Mr. Bowies' Trajan. 



