x ; v PREFA CE. 



animals. We congratulate ourselves on abolishing the system of heats. We do 

 not race our horses so hard, or so often, perhaps. But there it ends. If the great 

 majority of supporters of the Turf desire the appearance of a favourite on various 

 distant racecourses he appears. We think much more of the spectators than of 

 what they look at. I have no particular humanitarian gospel to enforce ; but the facts 

 are worth considering by anyone who cares to follow me when I describe the doings 

 of a generation usually supposed to be considerably more callous than our own. 



If to their faults in this line we may well be kind, neither is it for us to throw the 

 first stone at that passion for gambling in the seventeenth, or especially in the 

 eighteenth, century, at which so many modern purists hold up uncompromising 

 hands of horror. At least let it be remembered that our predecessors had no 

 " Starting Price scandals," involving a delicate question of minutes in the handing in 

 of a telegram. Betting on horses then was only one form in which a spirit of 

 gambling, which is practically as universal as it is ineradicable, made its appearance ; 

 and it was by far the healthiest form. A very difficult question arises when modern 

 critics, who have seen almost every other species of hazardous sport ruthlessly put 

 down, begin to clamour for the total suppression of almost the last kind that remains. 

 Modern developments may have been the indirect result of much well-meaning 

 legislation, but while the Stock Exchange and the Racecourse are practically the only 

 outlets for an amusement inherent in human nature, I infinitely prefer the latter. 

 " Expellas furca tamen usque recurret." 



It is equally impossible to forget, at any rate when a writer is dealing with the 

 development of the Turf as his main subject, that but for this gambling spirit the 

 modern racehorse would never have existed at all. This may seem a large 

 statement at first, but I believe that the few who doubt it will not remain incredulous 

 when they have perused some of the pages in these volumes. Many causes for the 

 present effect may be suggested, and among them the importation of Arab stock will 

 of course take a leading place ; but Eastern horses have been known in England 

 since the days of the Roman conquest, and it was only when it became a matter of 

 high wagers that the imported Arab stallion, having proved his sterling qualities as 

 a sire, was demanded in increasing numbers for the production of winners on the 

 English racecourses. If mere love of a beautiful animal for itself alone had been 

 the motive, this studied importation would have begun far earlier and have gone on 

 increasing till the present clay ; but a blend that promised perfection in speed and 

 staying-powers was soon achieved. The mares we had already ; a "nick" that has 



