THE L. S. D. OF THE TURF. 63 



men who supply the horses ? Who finds all, or, 

 at all events, say seven-eighths of the money for 

 the leviathan stakes now becoming so marked a 

 feature of the racing of the period ? The gentle- 

 men, of course ! As a matter of fact, it may be 

 said that a hundred or two hundred gentlemen 

 place a large sum of money in a pool, that one of 

 their number may win it in a race which tens of 

 thousands of people pay money to see run. In 

 plain language, these gentlemen contribute say 

 ^10,000 to a particular race, in order that 

 speculators, who have formed a racecourse and 

 erected a grand stand and numerous refreshment 

 bars, may make as much as the winner ; the rent of 

 the racecourse and the wages of the employds 

 being deducted, the profit derived from the venture 

 must still be enormous, and might as well find its 

 v/ay into the pockets of those who supply the 

 horses and the stakes. 



" Owners," as is well known, provide in reality 

 most of the so-called " added money," while in the 

 classic races, namely, the Two Thousand Guineas, 

 the Oaks, Derby, and St. Leger, it is simply their 

 own money which the patrons of these stakes run 

 ior. In such contests as the Derby and St. Leger, 

 as many as one hundred and eighty or two 

 hundred horses may be entered. As only one 

 animal can win, the owner of the horse which 

 accomplishes the feat is paid by the gentlemen 

 whose horses prove unsuccessful ; and were it not 

 that so much gambling can be accomplished by 

 making the matter dependent on a race between 

 a few horses, the persons interested might, as has 

 been said, toss up a copper to determine the 



