ELIZABETH FOND OF RACING 175 



In justice let it be said, however, that he bred 

 good stock, also that he was a better judge of a 

 horse than the bulk of his contemporaries — though 

 that is not high praise. While himself engaged 

 in roguery in connection with racing he was all 

 the time striving to purify the Turf. He would, 

 in all probability, have amassed a large fortune 

 — or what was deemed in those days to be a large 

 fortune — had he been less addicted to gambling 

 for gambling's sake, for it is certain that from 

 first to last he won much money by laying against 

 his own horses as well as by backing some of 

 them. The more amazing, therefore, is it that 

 certain writers, even in comparatively recent 

 times, should speak of him in all seriousness as 

 a man of remarkable integrity. 



Queen Elizabeth loved the Turf and apparently 

 was extremely fond of horses, while in her youth 

 she must have been rather a fine horsewoman. 

 She kept many riding horses for her own use and 

 many more for the ladies of her court, and we 

 know that she was extremely partial to chestnut 

 animals. 



There is not, I think, any trustworthy evidence 

 that she ever attended a race meeting held at 

 Newmarket, but the statement made in at least 

 one history of her period that she witnessed races 

 at Doncaster probably is accurate, for we have 

 proofs that a racecourse had been laid down there 

 or marked out by the year 1600. Also we know 



