686 



A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH TURF. 



ri 



and the Turf would not seem to have been richer to any impartial observer who 

 noticed that out of the enormous number of English thoroughbreds foaled in 1900, 

 only seven were good enough to go to the post for the Derby of 1903, six of whom 

 were beaten by a Frenchman. France, in fact, certainly seems to have produced 

 more stayers than we do at the present time, if the records of Ascot may be taken 

 as a sound indication. One reason for this is that in France and in other foreign 

 countries breeding for remounts is taken to be the first important matter ; racing 

 comes only second. We have not gained, I believe, by reversing the process. Not 

 a penny is contributed by the State or by the public purse to the Derby, St. Leger, 

 Two Thousand! One Thousand, Oaks, Eclipse Stakes, or Jockey Club Stakes. In the 



corresponding races in 

 France, on the other 

 hand, the total prize- 

 money of ,43,700 is 

 almost entirely solid 

 cash, which the winning 

 owners can put into 

 their pockets without 



^.^ ~ , . . having previously dis- 



bursed it. That part 

 of this prize - money 

 comes to the French 

 Government through 

 the percentage it exacts 

 on the " Totalisator " 



betting machines has no bearing on the argument. All public money distributed by 

 a Government can eventually be traced to individual sources. But a Prime Minister 

 does not call upon every member of his Government to put down so much out of his 

 pocket towards the official salaries. In France, the ten per cent, share of the total 

 "pari mutuel " receipts which goes to the State Breeding Studs, amounted in 1903 

 to nearly ,100,000, and charitable institutions benefited by double that sum, a 

 result which immediately induced the Kaiser to initiate similar arrangements on the 

 German Turf, with the single aim of encouraging German breeding. It should be 

 remembered, too, that racing Expenses have steadily increased in England of late, 

 not merely from the spectator's point of view, but more especially from that of the 



By permission of" Country Life." 



" Prince Hampton." 



