ASSUMED NAMES, ETC. 337 



three or four of the horsemen of the period, and 

 the men who act for them and serve themselves 

 at the same time. Particulars of what has been 

 " discovered " have not been permitted to trans- 

 pire, but at the time these remarks are 

 penned (May, 1891) the licenses of two or three 

 jockeys have not yet been renewed, and some 

 persons have been " warned off" The chief 

 difficulty which the Jockey Club has to encounter 

 is lack of direct proof of any evil having been 

 committed ; the stewards cannot take action on 

 the mere breath of rumour, and turf evil-doers 

 knowing that, are sufficiently cautious in their 

 operations to render proof difficult ; but it is stated 

 the stewards have at length so closed in their nets 

 as to have "bagged" some of the transgressors, or, 

 at any rate, have placed them in such a position 

 as to be able to demand that they shall "prove 

 their innocence " of the charges made against 

 them, some of which, it has been rumoured, are of 

 a serious kind, many persons being implicated. 

 The call for an examination of the bank-books of 

 some of the accused must have startled them not 

 a little, and the demand of whence came this 

 " monkey," or from whom did you receive that 

 " thou" has had to be answered. 



" Turf vitality" is a question that has of late 

 years more or less exercised the pens of some keen 

 critics of horse-racing ; but the vitality of the turf 

 may be taken for granted even by those who are 

 despondent in consequence of the increase of 

 short-distance races, and the consequent degene- 

 ration of our breeds of horses with " stamina," 

 There is nothing to be despondent over or to 

 grumble about, and there is at the present time 



