CHAPTER VI 



THE JOCKEY CLUB — RACING OFFICIALS 

 THE JOCKEY CLUB 



The Jockey Club, an association of noblemen and 

 gentlemen dating from 1751, gradually became the 

 supreme authority and the governing body of the Turf. 

 The control of racing exercised by the Club is absolute. 

 The Rules of Racing have been drawn up by the 

 members with such continual additions and alterations 

 as circumstances have seemed to demand, and adher- 

 ence to them is rigidly enforced, offences against them 

 being visited by fines of various amounts, and penal- 

 ties which may effectually prevent those by whom 

 they are incurred from running horses or taking any 

 part in the sport ; for horses may be disqualified from 

 racing under Jockey Club Rules if, for instance, their 

 owners are found guilty of corrupt practices, or if they 

 run at unauthorised meetings — that is to say, meetings 

 not under Rules ; and men may be warned off New- 

 market Heath and other places where the Rules are 

 in force, as in fact they practically are at every place 

 where a thorough-bred horse is at all likely to run. 



