THE CLASSIC RACES. iii 



amount standing to be won on the various horses 

 in a good year for betting — when, for instance, 

 there is a strong run on five or six animals — being 

 not far short of a quarter of a milHon sterHng, 

 the stake ranging from a shilling to five hundred, 

 or even a thousand pounds. 



The " form " of the horses which compete is 

 generally so well known as to prevent the odds 

 offered against those supposed to have any 

 chance of winning from being high. Upon one 

 occasion, however, *' any odds " might in reality 

 have been obtained against the horse which won; 

 as a matter of fact, one bet of a hundred pounds 

 to a walking stick was laid. During these latter 

 years the highest rate of odds laid against a 

 winner at the start for the St. Leger was 40 to 

 I, the horse being Dutch Oven, About Haw- 

 thornden (an outsider) an Edinburgh gentleman 

 obtained early in the year the extraordinary bet 

 of ^500 to ^i, but the layer, once well known 

 as a big betting man, ultimately proved a de- 

 faulter ; the taker of the bet, however, was paid 

 in the course of time about a fourth of the 

 sum. 



Space cannot be afforded to record the early 

 struggles for the St. Leger. The progress of 

 the race was slow and the stakes nothing to 

 speak of; indeed, it was not till the century had 

 well advanced that subscribers became numerous. 

 In 1804 the nominators amounted to a couple 

 of dozen, five years later the entries exceeded 

 fifty horses by one. In 1839 107 became the 

 figure; in 1864 that number was doubled, 217 

 having been entered; and in 1879, when Rayon 

 d'Or proved victorious, 274 horses had been 

 nominated for the race. 



