76 THE ENGLISH TURF 



GOODWOOD 



If Newmarket possesses the best, Goodwood certainly has 

 the second best racecourse in the country, and there are 

 many good judges of racing who even prefer the famous 

 tracks laid down by Lord George Bentinck to the galloping 

 grounds of the classic heath. There is no need to compare 

 the two places, and if I am individually of opinion that 

 Newmarket cannot be beaten — neither the Flat nor the 

 magnificent course behind the Ditch — I may still say that 

 Goodwood is almost as good as headquarters, and probably 

 in nine years out of ten it affords better going at the end 

 of July than Newmarket would give at the same period 

 of the year. The Cup Course in the Duke of Richmond's 

 park stands out by itself as the model of what a Cup Course 

 should be, but there is no longer straight course than the 

 six furlongs used for the Stewards' Cup. It is probably 

 well known that nowadays the Stewards of the Jockey Club 

 will not license any new racecourse which has not a straight 

 mile amongst its courses, but it is very debatable whether 

 a straight mile is universally popular, and certainly there 

 are owners and trainers who prefer a mile course with some 

 kind of turn in it to one that is absolutely straight. Races 

 of five and six furlongs ought certainly to be run on a 

 straight course, for a bend or turn necessitates easing up 

 or running wide, and sprint races are — or should be — run 

 from end to end at top speed. In mile races, however, 

 the horses do not go at top speed all the way, and in about 

 nine out of ten of such races the winner is waited with 

 until somewhere about the distance-post* The chief ob- 

 jection to running mile races on circular tracks is that when 

 the field is large there is often a deal of crowding at the 

 turns, so that horses are very liable to be shut in ; but 

 with similar fields on a straight course the same thing 

 frequently occurs. Visitors to Newmarket will be able to 

 call to mind more than one instance of a horse being badly 

 shut in with only four or five runners. The being shut in 

 is largely a question of jockeyship, though partly a question 



* A "distance" is 240 yards. 



