THE FRENCH JOCKEY CLUB 43 



M. de Normandie or Denormandie, for the latter is the 

 form adopted by the gentleman who was sc^me time 

 Governor of the Bank of France and a member of the 

 Senate, and who is understood to have been a nephew 

 or other relative of the redoubtable ' father of the 

 French Turf.' M. de Normandie, the great ' gentleman 

 jock,' is said to have been long resident in England, 

 where he imbibed those tastes, contracted those habits, 

 learned to advocate those doctrines which were ridi- 

 culed as ' anglomanie ' by Frenchmen who were 

 opposed to the ideas of the new Societe d'Encourage- 

 ment and attached to the views of the Administration 

 des Haras. Anyhow M. de Normandie, as has already 

 been stated, acquired the reputation of being the 

 'crack' gentleman rider, the French 'Arthur Coventry,' 

 of his g^eneration, able to hold his own asjainst Enc^lish 

 gentlemen and English jockeys, equal to ' showing the 

 way ' to such horsemen as MM. Edgar Ney, the Prince 

 de la Moscowa, Ernest Leroy, the Count de Vaublanc, 

 the Count de Morny, the Viscount de Hedouville, Charles 

 LafRtte (' Major Fridolin'), and even Mackenzie-Grieves, 

 the demi-French Scoto-Englishman, who has justly 

 been regarded as ' the father of French racecourses,' 

 M. de Normandie won what is said to have been the 

 first regular steeple-chase ever run in France on English 

 principles. It took place in 1829 or 1830 near St. 

 Germain, in the commune of Jouy ; and M. de Nor- 

 mandie came in first, havinof behind him the Prince de 

 la Moscowa and six others, includins^ two Enc^lishmen 

 (Captain Locke and Mr. Tomlin). M. de Normandie was 

 also the winner of an improvised race which took place 

 at Chantilly in 1833 between himself, Prince Lobanoff, 

 Viscount de Hedouville, and others, and which is said 

 to have suf?orested the idea of forminor the racecourse 



