134 HORSE-RACING IN FRANCE 



Falmouth at their head, were some day to complain 

 that, whilst all English races were open to the French, 

 only a few paltry French races (not under the direct 

 management of the French Jockey Club) were open 

 to English owners ; that there was no reciprocal spirit 

 shown by the French. And the employers of the French 

 argument have supported their statement by appealing 

 to the notorious fact that the institution of the Grand 

 Prix was objected to by many persons in France on the 

 ground that it would be a sheer gift of 4,000/. or more 

 to ' perfidious Albion,' an objection which seemed to be 

 justified when Mr. Savile, an Englishman, won the first 

 Grand Prix with The Ranger. 



Saturnine Englishmen, on the contrary, will not 

 have this explanation for a moment. If there were 

 anything in it, they say, why was it not pointed out 

 and acknowledged more generally by a grateful ' sport- 

 ing press ' in England at the time ; and why was the 

 race not set for a day less objectionable to the English 

 people than Sunday ? It is well known, says the satur- 

 nine Englishman, that some of the most formidable 

 English owners (such as Sir E. Sutton, the ' lessee,' or 

 General Pearson, the owner of Lord Lyon ; Mr. Chaplin, 

 the owner of The Hermit ; Mr. Johnstone, the owner 

 of Pretender, and Sir J. Hawley, the owner of Blue 

 Gown and Pero Gomez ; Lord Falmouth, owner of 

 Kingcraft and Silvio ; and the Duke of Westminster, 

 owner of Bend Or and Shotover) either did not, do 

 not, and never will, enter their horses or certainly did 

 not, do not, and never will, send them to run for 

 the Grand Prix, out of respect — in some, if not in all 

 cases — for English opinion (whatever their own senti- 

 ments may have been) about horse-racing on Sunday ; 

 and the French were told that it would be so. ' Gammon,' 

 therefore, is the familiar term applied by the saturnine 



