184 THE ENGLISH TURF 



The stands are set on a hill high above the course, and 

 half a mile distant from the Esher Railway Station, and all 

 the racing takes place on the slope which occupies the 

 intervening space. The Eclipse Stakes Course, between 

 nine and ten furlongs, is straight and slightly downhill 

 for about five furlongs. It then turns right-handed, and 

 ends with a straight uphill run-in of a little under half a 

 mile. The finish is decidedly severe, but with a large field 

 there is naturally a lot of easing up round the very sharp 

 bend, and stamina is not quite so much served as it would 

 be on a straight-away course of the same distance, with the 

 same uphill finish. All races beyond five furlongs are run 

 on the round course, and it is worthy of note that six- 

 furlong races are seldom to be found in the programme, 

 because the start for such takes place close to the beginning 

 of the " elbow." The five-furlong course is straight across the 

 centre of the Park, and is a gradual rise all the way. It 

 suffers from two serious defects, one of which, viz. long 

 delays at the post, now that the starting-machine is coming 

 into general use, will gradually disappear. The other draw- 

 back is that the winning-post is nearly a quarter of a mile 

 from the stands, and thus, unless one walks across to it, 

 it is a very difficult matter to see what has actually won, 

 that is when two or three horses finish close together. 



The Steeplechase Course at Sandown is a very fine one, 

 the fences being strongly built up and very neatly planned. 

 In the western corner there are three jumps close together 

 which call for cleverness if they are to be properly nego- 

 tiated, and on the hillside there is another series of three, 

 including an open ditch, not quite so close together, but at 

 the same time nearer to each other than is the case at many 

 other courses. The water-jump is out in the open, on the 

 flat ground by the side of the railway, and a formidable 

 fence which brings more horses to grief than any other 

 is close to the entrance, and is generally known as the " pay- 

 gate" fence. What is wrong with this fence no one can 

 say, but the proportion of falls at it is certainly large. 



Much of the Sandown Course is on a clay soil, conse- 

 quently it becomes hard in times of drought and is 



