80 THE ENGLISH TURF 



thousand miles of travelling, and though the specials are 

 pretty well filled every day, they cannot be correctly termed 

 popular ones. 



Villages in the immediate neighbourhood of Goodwood 

 are few and far between. Those actually nearest to the 

 course are Charlton and Singleton, and nearly all the 

 accommodation that these two places offer is taken up year 

 after year by the horses and their attendants, and by the 

 trainers and jockeys. Chichester possesses one good hotel, 

 the " Dolphin," but lodgings are plentiful in the race week, 

 and some are good, some bad, and some just passable, 

 while all are dear. As a rule all the accommodation avail- 

 able near the course is secured by those who have business 

 at the meeting, and a few parties still take houses, at all 

 sorts of distances from two to ten miles away. The taking 

 of a house for the week is not so common a custom as it 

 once was. Not so long ago parties were made up months 

 beforehand, but a high rent had to be paid, servants and 

 wine taken down, and usually the services of a waggonette 

 and a pair of horses to be procured, for driving to and 

 from the course. Nowadays the most popular plan is to 

 stay at Brighton or Southsea, and travel to Chichester by 

 rail every day. Brighton is about thirty miles away, and 

 Southsea seventeen, and of late years so many people have 

 resorted to the last-named place (or Portsmouth) that three 

 or four specials are run to Chichester on each racing day. 

 The train journey occupies about half an hour, and with 

 ordinary luck one can leave Portsmouth Town at 10.50, 

 and reach the course about 12.30. The return journey is 

 not so comfortable, because the passengers, carried in three 

 or four trains during the morning, all wish to depart at the 

 same time. The result is that there is much crowding, 

 and it is odds against the holder of a first-class ticket 

 returning in the class for which he has paid. Only return 

 tickets are issued, and the fare is raised about 50 per cent, 

 above the ordinary. This, however, is what racing men are 

 accustomed to in the South of England. 



Bognor, Littlehampton, and Worthing all have racing 

 visitors in the Goodwood week, but from Bognor to the 



