LOCAL MEETINGS. 343 



judiciously be raised 7 Ibs., for 10 st. 7 Ibs. minimum would cer- 

 tainly shut out many gentlemen, farmers, and their sons who 

 owned likely four-year-olds, but could not get down so light. 

 It will be seen that the sweepstakes were very low, and natu- 

 rally horses were on the spot. There were no jockeys' fees to 

 pay, and, consequently, a farmer who wanted to run his horse 

 could do so at a very trifling cost. A farmer who has bred and 

 prepared a likely young horse is not inclined to risk 5/. or io/. 

 entrance fee for the sake of seeing what he can do over a 

 country ; but at Brocklesby a sovereign is the only outlay 

 required. 



Cups and money prizes are offered by members of the Hunt ; 

 a subscription of 7o/. or 8o/. is very easily raised. Lord Yar- 

 borough's own men erect the stand and enclose a paddock and 

 ring. The course is arranged and the trimming of the fences 

 supervised by a sub-committee. The sovereign entrance fee is 

 mainly demanded to add to the independence of the farmers, 

 who may thus feel that they are to some extent running for 

 their own money ; but in other places it often happens that a 

 member of the Hunt can run his horse without any cost to him- 

 self. A very successful meeting is yearly held at Aylesbury, for 

 instance, and here there are no fees of any kind. There is plenty 

 of sport, however. The six races at Aylesbury at a recent 

 meeting were contested by no fewer than sixty runners, while 

 at Brocklesby, though the fields were good, in no case less than 

 half a dozen, thirty- one runners went to the post for the five 

 races. At Aylesbury as many as twenty runners have been 

 seen in a flat race, and sixteen in a steeple-chase. 



The devices invented by unscrupulous men to secure unfair 

 advantages in local races would go far to make their fortunes 

 if legitimately worked. A so-called gentleman-rider has been 

 known to take a small farm in a district hunted by several 

 packs so that he might claim to call himself a farmer. The 

 conditions of the races often exclude thoroughbred horses, 

 and specify 'half-bred hunters,' as in the Scawby Stakes in 

 the programme quoted ; but that extraordinary horse Hesper 



