NEWMARKET 25 



the century Yorkshire alone could boast of nearly twenty 

 meetings, while in a large county like Surrey, Epsom, 

 Guildford, Egham, and Reigate were the only centres of 

 racing, and Epsom was the solitary place holding more 

 than one meeting in the twelve months. The Midlands 

 enjoyed plenty of horse-racing in those days, Staffordshire 

 and Worcestershire providing the largest number of fixtures ; 

 but now in England and Scotland together there are less 

 than fifty places where racing under Jockey Club Rules takes 

 place, and, roughly speaking, about three-fourths of the old 

 fixtures have disappeared from the Calendar. 



The why and wherefore of the old county meetings 

 ceasing to exist are plain enough. When the sport became 

 general throughout the kingdom, there were no railways, 

 and each meeting depended for its existence upon the 

 local support it received. Its promoters worked with the 

 co-operation of the surrounding gentry, who owned the 

 horses which ran at the meeting, and who, as a rule, 

 trained them at home. The attendance was almost entirely 

 local, and, naturally enough, the stakes were of small value. 

 When a King's or Queen's Plate was run for horses certainly 

 came from other counties, and in some districts a series of 

 country meetings formed a little circuit, round which various 

 horses travelled, their trainers rarely galloping them, except 

 on the various racecourses, and they were often away from 

 home for a month at a time. Between the different towns 

 where racing took place the horses walked all the way, 

 for " vanning " by road only had a short existence, the 

 railway being brought into general use before the van 

 system had become common. 



With the advent of railways everything became changed, 

 and Newmarket-trained horses, which previously had done 

 nine-tenths of their racing at home, and had been sent to 

 such a meeting as Doncaster for not more than a decade 

 or two previously, began to appear everywhere, and, in like 

 manner, Yorkshire-trained horses made periodical visits to 

 Epsom, Newmarket, Ascot, and Goodwood, if thought likely 

 to recoup the cost of their journey, with possibly an eye 

 to something more. Thus, about the middle of the century, 



