262 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



Nor is there evidence of his having ever 

 attended a race meeting after his accession, with 

 the exception of an important meeting held at 

 Winchester in 1685. 



The stakes run for at about this time were 

 of small value. Fifty sovereigns were deemed to 

 be a prize well worth winning, while a purse of 

 100 guineas attracted many spectators and large 

 fields and gave rise to ''heated and excited 

 speculation as to the probable results of the 

 contest." 



At some of the small meetings valuable horses 

 would be entered to run for a paltry stake of thirty 

 sovereigns, or even for five and twenty, and it 

 was quite common for insignificant races of this 

 kind to be " decided by vile persons." 



The weights carried in races run during the 

 latter half of the seventeenth century were out of 

 all proportion. Thus we read of horses carrying 

 ten, twelve and thirteen stone in the final heats 

 of short flat races — in those days almost all 

 races were run in heats. James II. does not 

 appear to have owned any exceptionally famous 

 horses, nor does the horse come prominently 

 to the front during his brief reign of four 

 years. 



Two events of national importance took place 



