BEGINNINGS 01' RACING. 3 



years B.C. With the aid of Dr. Smith's classical 

 dictionaries, it would be possible to compile an 

 interesting account of those races, which afforded 

 sport many hundred years ago to Greeks and 

 Romans. That horse-races were run in this country 

 in the time of the Romans is exceedingly likely. 

 Not, however, till two centuries had elapsed after 

 the departure of the Romans from Britain, do we 

 read of much that is of interest about the horse 

 and its uses in this country. King Athelstan, it is 

 recorded, received as a gift several running horses 

 of German breeding.* That King is said to have 

 shown a great love for the horse, and in his time 

 running horses were much prized, so much so that 

 none were allowed to be sent out of the kingdom, 

 except as Royal presents. Athelstan's liking for 

 horses was so well known, that he received many 

 gifts of fine animals, so that at the period of his 

 death, he was presumably in the possession of a 

 numerous stud. 



During the reign of Henry II. various docu- 

 ments record the fact of the English people having 

 become interested in horse-racing. At Smithfield, 

 where a market for horses had been established, 

 races were run from time to time, chiefly perhaps 

 with the view of testing the capabilities of these 

 animals before purchasing them. "Hackneys" 

 and " Charing Steeds " is the description given of 

 the horses raced in order to show off their paces at 

 Smithfield. That the running which took place 



* In Whyte's " History of the Turf" it is stated that the 

 earliest mention o^ running horses is of those in the 9th 

 century sent by the founder of the Royal house of Capet, in 

 France, as a present to King Athelstan, whose sister he was 

 soliciting in marriage. 



B 2 



