RACING IN FRANCE 225 



middle of March ; Vincennes is also within very 

 easy reach of Paris, though the drive through the 

 streets, until one reaches the wood, is not so pleasant 

 as that to Longchamps or Auteuil, down the Champs 

 Elysees and through the Bois de Boulogne. 



Stakes in France are of good value ; indeed, as a 

 rule more money is to be won during a day's racing in 

 France than in England, though there is no meeting 

 where the prizes are so consistently high as at Ascot. 

 At Longchamps, racing begins early in April, a con- 

 siderable number of the events here and elsewhere 

 being for three-year-olds, as two-year-olds do not run 

 in France before the ist of August. This fact is 

 rather interesting, as it enables the student of the Turf 

 to see whether any distinct advantage accrues from 

 keeping back the young horses during the months 

 they are busily occupied in England ; and, on the 

 whole, this does not appear to be the case, for when 

 French and English horses meet the latter most 

 certainly hold their own, except that of late years in 

 the Grand Prix, as just shown, England has been 

 singularly unfortunate : and it may certainly be doubted 

 whether on the whole French horses last any longer 

 in training than English. Complaints are made that 

 the three-year-olds race a very great deal too often 

 and are run off their legs. 



At Maisons Laffitte, the Prix Lagrange for three- 

 year-olds, run about the second week in April, is 



worth not far short of ^2,000 ; and two or three 



o 



