32(> HORSE-RACING TN FRANCE 



the Prince de Sagan (President of the Societe des Steeple- 

 chases), and his brother, Baron Frank, a granddaughter 

 (Mademoiselle de Gallifet) of the famous ' Major Fri- 

 dolin'(M. Ch. Laffitte) whose daughter married the 

 Marquis de Gallifet. Other illustrations are M. Maurice 

 Ephrussi (who married a Eothschild), the Duke de 

 Gramont (who also married a Eothschild), and Count 

 de Clermont-Tonnerre (who married a niece of M. 

 Auguste Lupin), &c., &c., the ' lien ' being apparently 

 a love of horse-racing, though, no doubt, there is also 

 ' financing ' in some cases, especially in the cases of tlie 

 Eothschild and Ephrussi families. 



Apropos of financing here is an exquisite specimen of 

 the view which the French (and probably English) female 

 mind took in 1886 of the turf and its operations, and the 

 unhesitating manner in which that mind is prepared to 

 take advantage of them, if at least the following letter 

 were really received (as it is said to have been) by a 

 correspondent of ' Le Sport.' 



Sir, — Having met with great misfortune, I slionld hke to win 

 a httle money to get me out of my difficulties. I apply to you — 

 swearing to keep everything perfectly secret — to tell me of some 

 certainty, one of those things that are arranged on racecourses 

 between owners and stewards, and where the result is known 

 beforehand. 



I am. Sir, etc. 



(signed) Pauline Z. 



It were a pity to doubt the genuineness of this letter ; 

 but it certainly seems to have been ' writ sarcastic ' by 

 somebody who had lost money when there appeared to 

 be a certainty of winning, and is probably what certain 

 members of Parliament would call ' an 'oax.' 



The French 'cracks' of 1886 were (up to the time 

 of writing this account) : Count de Berteux's Upas, by 



