BUSINESS OF HORSE-RACING: 



OFFICERS OF THE TURF. 

 I. 



Very few of the many thousands who annually 

 assemble on the breezy downs of Epsom to 

 gaze upon the fierce contest which takes place 

 for the " Blue Ribbon " of the turf, or who 

 witness the Cup races at Ascot, have even a 

 rudimentary idea of the " business," the real 

 *' work," in fact, which is incidental to horse- 

 racing. They have never been behind the 

 scenes, and have had no opportunity of becoming 

 acquainted with the economy of a racing stable, 

 or the labour and anxiety which pertain to 

 training race-horses ; nor do they care anything 

 about strains of racing blood, they know nothing 

 whatever about the sires or dams of the animals 

 which win or lose the races on which they gaze 

 with such interest. 



The spectacle of the Derby or the Royal 

 Hunt Cup, although brilliant and exciting in 

 the extreme, is but the work of a minute or 

 two and is soon forgotten, and so far as many 

 who witness them are concerned, the whole 

 affair might be an accident. The ordinary 



