320 HORSE-EACING IN FRANCE 



Ces excellents fils d'Albion nous ont empoclie plus de • neuf 

 millions a nous, en neuf Grands Prix de Paris. Nous sommes 

 loin du conipte. 



Si le Jockey Club vote en seconde lecture la motion Craven, 

 il aura bien tort, car tout le monde alors ferait naturellement 

 cette remarque : Les petits-fils des Anglais de Fontenoy sont 

 devenus des Anglais d^OId Englcmd. 



In case anybody should be a little ' fogged ' about 

 the allusion to ' Old England,' it may be well to men- 

 tion that the notorious Mr. Gully, ex-prize-fighter, 

 ex-publican, and M.P. for Pontefract, had (in partner- 

 ship with ' honest ' John Day) a horse called Old Eng- 

 land in 1844, that period when there was so much 

 villany ' in the air ' (of the Turf) ; that Old England 

 was much fancied for the Derby of 1845 (for which he 

 eventually ran third to Merry Monarch and Annandale) ; 

 and that an attempt or proposition to 'nobble' him was 

 made, creating so much scandal that the matter was 

 brought before the Stewards of the Jockey Club, who, 

 after enquiry, ordered that Messrs. ' J. F. Bloodsworth, 

 Wilhara Stebbings, and Wilham Day,' who were held 

 to have conspired together for some more or less 

 nefarious purpose, ' be warned off the course at New- 

 market,' &c. It is said in the 'judgment' to have been 

 ' positively stated by William Day and Wilham Barrett 

 that Stebbings did at Bloodsworth's house recommend 

 that the horse's foot should be bruised by striking it 

 with a hard stone or by tying a handkerchief round 

 the lea and striking the sinew with a stick, and if that 

 was not sufficient that he (Stebbings) coidd easily get 

 a powder which, being mixed with the corn, would stop 

 him. They added that Bloodsworth was averse to the 



1 This seems to be a slight mistake for 900,000. Unless in French 

 100,000 stands for a million, as 1,000 millious make a billion (according to 

 French notation). 



