238 ASHGILL; OR, THE LIFE 



anticipated appeal for such interference when Parlia- 

 ment assembled that constituted " the black cloud on 

 the horizon" to which the Admiral referred at the 

 outset of his letter. 



In reply to certain correspondents who commented 

 on the Admiral's letter, he insisted, when the charge 

 was made of the decline of the English thoroughbred 

 as against the Anglo-Arab, that we possessed finer 

 horses than in the old days, basing his assertion upon 

 the horse having the best speed being the finest animal. 

 With regard to speculation on races his views were 

 " My friends speculate on races ; even young ladies lose 

 betting gloves. It is a great comfort that there are 

 many excellent men who keep horses in training for 

 patriotic purposes, but it is no sport to them when they 

 are beaten. I have known magnates of the Turf who, 

 after many years of success, gave up racing the very 

 season they lost their money and converted their stables 

 into a remunerative breeding establishment. The late 

 Lord Glasgow was a shining example. Eacing had 

 always been and would always be in the United 

 Kingdom a gambling speculation. From Queen 

 Elizabeth's to Queen Anne's reign many of the noblest 

 were reported to have been ruined by horse racing. 

 When Hambletonian beat Diamond in 1799 it cost the 

 losers 500,000. Individual betting has fallen from 50 

 per cent, in my time. Turf morality is much improved, 

 and the greatest gamblers are men who never keep a 

 racehorse or subscribe to a Plate, and who send from 

 5000 to 10,000 into the market to back a Derby 

 horse. The stigma of excessive gambling is credited to 

 the Turf ' Out of evil cometh good.' The prosperity 

 of the Turf was secured by active speculation. Breeders 

 go to an enormous expense for improvement of the 



