THE FRENCH JOCKEY CLUB 21 



Leroy, the Chevalier de Machado, Prince N. de la 

 Moscowa (vice-president), M. de Normandie, and M. 

 Eieussec (vice-president). The King, Louis Philippe, 

 was patron of the Association, and the Duke d'Orleans 

 and the Duke de Nemours were honorary members, 

 making the number fourteen altogether. 



Let us see what manner of men these more or less 

 illastrious personages were, and wdiat they did to 

 ' ameliorate ' the French breed of horses and to promote 

 French horse-racinjx. 



Place aux rois ! Let us commence with the Royal 

 Family. 



Louis Philippe, as a son of old Egalite, would 

 naturally take to race liorses and racing ; but he had 

 ' other lish to fry,' and to his son and heir, the Duke 

 d'Orleans, to whom the King liad ceded the haras of 

 Meudon, which had been purchased from the ex- 

 Dauphin, it is said, for 250,000 francs (10,000/.), was 

 left the duty of developing the hereditary taste for 

 horseflesh. That the King was lukewarm in his pat- 

 ronage of horse-racing may be gathered from one sport- 

 ing paper at least of the day ; but, on the other hand, 

 he is credited with having sent M. Thiers to England 

 on a mission which included an enquiry into the English 

 system of managing a breeding stud, he decreed the 

 formation of the French ' Stud Book,' and he took a 

 certain interest in his son's horses, though his opinion 

 of them does not seem to have been very high, to judge 

 from the remark he is reported to have made after an 

 inspection of the son's stables : ' You haven't a single 

 horse, Orleans, with what I call a leg.' It has even 

 been asserted that the patronage accorded by the King 

 to the infant Jockey Club was prompted rather by 

 policy than by a love of sport or a regard for liorse- 



