THE COST OF RACING 151 



racing, there are certain inevitable expenses, and some 

 light may be thrown on the subject by a little con- 

 sideration of them. A thoroughbred horse may cost 

 from five guineas up to at least six thousand times 

 that sum — at meetings towards the end of the season 

 runners in sellinor races have been knocked down for 

 the small amount named, and the larger sum is under- 

 stood to have been oflfered and declined for Ormonde. 

 Horses, therefore, go at all prices. Often, moreover, 

 the dearest prove worthless, and the cheapest gallop 

 their way to glory. 



When an animal has been secured, training and 

 running have to come into consideration. The usual 

 fee per horse is ^os. a week, though some trainers 

 have of late years raised this to three guineas, and in 

 certain cases the trainer also has a salary, or a 

 percentage on the stakes won by the horses in his 

 charge. After the weekly payment the question of 

 entries arises ; and this is a very important one. A 

 specially well-bred, good-looking animal will be, as a 

 rule, freely entered in weight-for-age races, and the 

 cost here may be anything from a minor forfeit of a 

 sovereign to a hard-and-fast sum — "p-p," as it is 

 called, meaning " play or pay," — of 200 guineas. The 

 sum named is the price of entrance, for example, to 

 the Prince of Wales's Stakes at Goodwood. It is not 

 at all an unusual thing for a young horse to have a 

 thousand pounds worth of engagements made for him ; 

 and if he is no good for racing, as so often happens, 



