HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND 



Epsom, York, Doncaster, Ascot, and Goodwood, 

 for Newmarket has become almost as ' private ' as 

 Sandown or Kempton) are now the rule, and 

 which, with the companies that ' run them,' and 

 the stud companies (with shareholders to satisfy) 

 that breed thoroughbreds for sale all over the 

 country, are among the distinctive growths of the 

 present reign, when, at last, ' the sport of kings ' 

 has reached the point towards which it had been 

 constantly tending more and more, as ' the ring ' 

 expanded and put the temptation of betting 

 within the reach of the little and the great, 

 with an ease before unknown, and on a scale 

 both smaller and larger than would otherwise 

 have been readily attainable, and has become, 

 for the most part, a mere matter of money- 

 making or money-losing, whether in the course 

 of legitimate business or by sheer gambling. 



It is all very well to tell us that something like 

 half a million of money is offered to be run for in 

 a year ; but that is not a permanent fund ; the 

 greater part of it comes out of the pockets of the 

 very men who enter their horses for it, and a 

 very considerable part out of the pockets of ' the 

 ring ' and of the public, whether ' backers ' or 



