MODERN ENCLOSED COURSES 213 



new venture hardly paid its way at first, but all the difficulties 

 have long since been overcome, and the Gosforth Park 

 Company is now a prosperous, dividend-paying concern. 

 Its course is a magnificent one ; both the round course of a 

 mile and three-quarters and the straight mile are of great 

 width, and as the stands are nicely placed above them, a 

 splendid view of the racing is always possible. The club 

 stand and private boxes were formed from the old house, 

 and the public stands are joined on. What was once a 

 pleasure garden was turned into a spacious paddock, in 

 which are situated the business rooms — weighing-room, 

 jockeys' dressing-rooms, Press-room, etc. — of the company. 

 From Newcastle-on-Tyne the drive is pleasant enough, as 

 the old North Road over the Town Moor and through the 

 village of Gosforth is taken. No slums are passed through 

 as at Manchester, and the "going" is so sound that the 

 Newcastle cabs perform the journey in little over half an 

 hour. At the park gates a turn is made, and inside the 

 road winds through a splendid grove of rhododendrons which 

 extends right up to the paddock. The racecourse stands 

 high with fine views and a southerly aspect, and the turf is 

 old and sound except the first two furlongs of the new mile, 

 which were laid down (they are sound enough now) when 

 the company acquired the property. The course has not 

 the scenic properties of Goodwood ; but it is managed on 

 the club system, and has all the advantages of the modern 

 style combined with such a wonderful course. There is 

 so much space too everywhere, and if one avoids the 

 passage behind the stands, no crowding whatever, even on 

 a Northumberland Plate day, when about 50,000 people 

 visit the park. 



The Spring Meeting is held on Easter Monday and 

 Tuesday, and is chiefly of local interest, with a majority 

 of runners drawn from the Northern training stables. The 

 Summer Meeting, of three days, takes place towards the 

 end of June, but unfortunately this meeting nowadays is 

 invariably opposed by something nearly as good in the 

 South of England. It very often clashes with two days of 

 Windsor and one day of Sandown, and occasionally it has 



