104 IIORSE-EACING IN FRANCE 



Bourse ; and it was won, in accordance with the fitness 

 of things, by M. A. Lupin (winner of the first Goodwood 

 Cup — the first notable race ever won in England by a 

 Frenchman — and the ' doyen ' of the French Jockey Club 

 and of French ' homraes de cheval ') with Eclaireur, son 

 of imported Mr. Wags and home-bred Lanterne. 



At the same time that the Societe leased Longchamps 

 a contract was made with the State for the direction and 

 manaixement of the autumn races, which had hitherto 

 been imder the authority of the municipality and the 

 Administration des Haras jointly ; and thus the organi- 

 sation of the races, in all their details, rested in the 

 hands of the French Jockey Club. 



' The ground,' we are informed, ' measures about ^'o hectares 

 in superficies. Its vast extent admits of marking out upon it 

 several courses different in shape and dimensions, avoiding too 

 sharp or too frequent turns, and giving the horses every facihty 

 for allowing full play to their powers without any hindrance. The 

 course is covered with turf, the ground as good as artificial soil 

 can be. Thanks to the care of Mr. Mackenzie-Grieves and to 

 those expenses from which the Societe never recoils, it has be- 

 come as good as can possibly be desired.' 



There is always an Englishman, if only a Scoto- 

 Franco-Englishman, with a finger in tlie French horse 

 pie; the trainers, the lads, the jockeys, the grooms 

 have always been English almost to a man, and now 

 the very racecourses need the supervision of a perfidious 

 Briton. 



However, here we have Paris at last with a ' hippo- 

 drome ' worthy of her (at least so the ' compatriot ' 

 quoted above considers), and it is certainly as prettily 

 situated as heart or eye could desire. 



We may now, then, return to our muttons and 

 follow the progress of French horse-racing, having first 



