MODERN ENCLOSED COURSES 185 



occasionally heavy in the winter. The land is well drained, 

 the going well cared for, however, and on the whole trainers 

 have no need to complain. Some of the cross-country 

 prizes and hurdle-races are well worth winning, and one 

 generally sees a fair number of the front rank of steeple- 

 chase horses at the early Spring Meetings, the most 

 conspicuous of which is the Grand Military fixture. This 

 always draws an enormous crowd, and is now one of the 

 most popular functions of the early London season. It is 

 quite a common thing to see candidates for the Grand 

 National given a public trial in one of the Sandown steeple- 

 chases. 



Racing at Kempton Park was established some three or 

 four years after the inauguration of Sandown, and when it 

 had become apparent that the venture at Esher was a suc- 

 cess. Sandown and Kempton are each about fourteen miles 

 from London, Kempton being rather more than two miles 

 from Hampton Court, on the Middlesex side of the river, 

 and the two places are not more than five miles apart. Both 

 can be easily reached from town by a variety of roads, and 

 both are equally popular with the large number of race- 

 goers who make a practice of driving to the various 

 Metropolitan meetings. In one respect Kempton has an 

 advantage over Sandown, because the railway passes by 

 the back of the stands, to each of which there is a covered 

 way from the platform. It is therefore possible to watch 

 a day's racing at Kempton in pouring rain, and yet remain 

 under cover from the time of leaving Waterloo until that 

 terminus is reached again. Another pleasing feature of 

 Kempton is the proximity of the paddock to the stands, 

 but owing to the flat nature of the ground the various races 

 are not so easily seen as at Sandown. The whole place is 

 beautifully kept in order, and twenty years of constant 

 attention have made the going remarkably good. In times 

 of dry weather sufficient herbage is left to allow of the con- 

 cussion being minimised, and so sound and well drained is 

 the turf, that mud is quite a rarity, even at the mid-winter 

 cross-country fixtures. 



The start for the Jubilee Stakes, when Kempton Park's 



