248 THE JOCKEY CLUB 1773- 



purchases, whether of lease or freehold, the Club has 

 made since : of the exercise-grounds known as the 

 Bury Hill, the Warren Hill, the Limekilns, where 

 there is now a straight gallop of two miles, and the 

 winter-ground, with what is considered to be the 

 finest ' tan gallop ' in the world, dwarfing to insignifi- 

 cance that which was laid down in the North by the 

 famous Mr. John Bowes, of Streatlam, and his trainer, 

 John Scott, of Whitehall ; and lastly, in 1882, when 

 the Exning estate, lying close to ' The Flat ' from end 

 to end, was for sale, the Club was constrained to pur- 

 chase it lest speculative builders should erect upon it 

 houses which, overlooking the Heath, might be used 

 as ' stands ' at race-time and as ' tout-nests ' on other 

 days. The outlay, says Lord Suffolk and Berkshire, 

 was so great as to necessitate a mortgage on the whole 

 property ; but there were hopes that great gain rather 

 than some loss might result after all, if that part of 

 the estate from which neither race nor trial can be 

 seen, and which borders upon the growing town of 

 Newmarket and the village of Exning, should be 

 utilised for building purposes and the rest for 'gallops.' 

 The foreshadowed sale took place on June 30, 1891, 

 when not all the lots found purchasers at a price 

 beyond the reserve ; but most of them were sold, the 

 principal purchasers being Lord Durham, Captain 

 E. W. Baird, and Mr. Hewes, at bids which may or 

 may not have come up to expectation. Perhaps not, 

 as sixteen lots, including Exning House and Park, 

 went to Captain Baird for 32,000£. 



