4 HORSE-KACmG IN FRANCE 



height of horses ' admis siir I'hippodrome ; ' and that, 

 moreover, m 1825, after the accession of horse-loving 

 Charles X., there had been an ordinance classifying 'les 

 chevaux de course ; ' but np to the eve of the Eevolu- 

 tion of July the Administration des Haras seems to have 

 dealt with French horse-racing and tlie French race 

 horse in a fashion as desultory as the racing was itself. 

 Moreover the Administration, even when it turned its 

 attention more seriouslv to horse-racinsf, still clunsf to 

 the ' half-bred ' or ' demi-sang ' heresy, and scouted the 

 growing ' thoroughbred ' ideas and the yearning after 

 horse races on the English plan as sheer ' anglomanie ; ' 

 and so it came to pass that the Eevolution of July 

 brought about a notable change not only in the dynasty 

 but also in the affairs of the French Turf, so far as 

 there can be said to have been any at that time. We 

 are told that ' the first ministerial decree in which the 

 words pur sang (thoroughbred) occur is dated 1832 ; ' 

 and certainly the French ' Stud Book ' (or Eegister of 

 Thoroughbreds, as it may be termed) owed its origin to 

 an ' ordinance ' of King Louis Philippe, dated 1833. In 

 that same year was established the French Jockey Club, 

 which had been for some time in process of incubation 

 and was formed of members of whom tlie most pro- 

 minent were diametrically opposed to the views and 

 methods of the Administration des Haras, and were 

 destined to triumph ultimately in the determined 

 struggle that took place between the two parties as 

 representatives respectively of ' pur sang ' and ' demi- 

 sang,' of so called ' anglomanie ' and implied ' pa- 

 triotism.' 



Meanwhile, as has been stated already, there had 

 been intermittent horse-racing from time to time in 

 France ; but the traces left of it, the records that remain 



