94 HORSE-RACING IN FRANCE 



Franc Picard, during his ten years' work, won some- 

 thing Hke a hundred prizes, worth more than 230,000 

 francs (about 9,200/.), to say nothing of ' crockery' 

 under tlie style and title of ' objets d'art.' This is a 

 large sum for France in those days, though they have 

 'altered all that.' Within the space of nine years Franc 

 Picard was seven times a winner of the Grand Steeple- 

 chase at Dieppe, and at Spa he was hardly less 

 successful. He did not make much of his ventures in 

 England, but he ran honourably ; it might be said of 

 him tliat ' all was lost but honour ' (though indeed he 

 did win something noteworthy in England), and in his 

 own country or in Belgium he constantly triumphed 

 over the English horses that were sent or were imported 

 to measure strength with him on his own soil. 



And now that steeple-chasing has been touched 

 upon it will not be impertinent to mention, on the 

 authority of ' Le Sport,' that Count de Morny's Diamant 

 (who ran a dead heat with Lion for the French Derby 

 of 1856) was expatriated to England, where he developed 

 a taste, or at any rate a capacity, for steeple-chasing, 

 won some ' chases ' in his new home, and ' exhibited to 

 the last til at endurance which had been his distinctive 

 characteristic on the fiat.' 



Small excuse is necessary for ' wandering out of the 

 record,' for deserting the main track of this narrative 

 (wliich is concerned chiefly, from the nature of the case, 

 witli flat racing, the ' legitimate ' part of horse-racing), 

 to follow Franc Picard over ' obstacles ; ' for it will 

 have been noticed that he was in his way a good 

 ' standard of measurement ' for the French, whether 

 they tried French or English horses against him ; that 

 he advanced tlie cause of tlie ' thoroughbred ' by that 

 example which is so much better than precept ; that 



