SPORT 



sportsmen whom the county has produced ; 

 rather must the circumstance of Kent's 

 loss of popularity as a racing area be at- 

 tributed to the fact that the position of 

 the county is out of the beaten track of 

 the regular race-goer, and that the means of 

 communication to and from its principal 

 centres of sport have never been of the best. 

 The race meetings of Kent have therefore 

 always been almost entirely of local interest. 

 In its day the south - eastern corner of 

 England was a noted field for sport and 

 sportsmen ; and no county can boast of a 

 more faithful set of local Turf followers. 

 Kent race meetings have been remarkabh' 

 numerous in the past, and on Kentish soil 

 have lived and flourished a goodly company 

 whose names were associated with the early 

 history of the sport. But from a review of 

 the history of Kentish racing, extending over 

 a period of something like two hundred years, 

 it is abundantly clear that the county has 

 been more prolific in the production of blood 

 stock than in the exhibition of their prowess 

 upon the race-courses which lie within its 

 boundaries. 



FLAT RACING 



Although horse-racing of a kind was un- 

 doubtedly recognized in Kent as a popular 

 sport during the earlier years of the eighteenth 

 century, it is not until the year 1 73 5 that any par- 

 ticular records of interest are found. The first 

 note of importance that we can discover tells 

 of the holding at about this period of meetings 

 at Barham Downs near Canterbury, where 

 the sport seems to have been of a very similar 

 kind to that in vogue at other meetings in 

 various parts of the country. The events 

 were quite local in character and most of 

 them were carried out under very primitive 

 conditions. Mr. John Cheny, a racing his- 

 torian of the period, has left behind him a 

 very interesting treatise bearing the some- 

 what extravagant title of An Historical List 

 of all the Horse Matches Run and of all Plates 

 and Prizes run for in England {of the value 

 of Ten Pounds and upwards) in 1733-36. 

 From this carefully compiled volume we learn 

 that Canterbury had its one day's racing at 

 that time on Barham Downs, and the pro- 

 gramme in 1736 consisted of a single event 

 only. The extract is worth giving if only 

 for the quaintnessof the nomenclature of the 

 competitors : 



Barham Downs, Kent, 1736. 

 On the 27 inst (August) at Barham Downs, 



Kent, the Associated Annual Prize of 10 gns 



was run ; 10 stone — one heat. 



Mr. Winter's bay m Cat . . .1 



M. Aldwell's chest, m Plain Dealer . 2 



Mr. Crosier's bay h Cripple . . 3 



Mr. Wall's roan g Strawberry . . 4 



Mr. Dennis' dun g Smuggler . . 5 



Mr. Hornsby's chest, m Clumse) . . 6 



Mr. Oakley's bay g Bacchus . . 7 



It would seem from the conditions of the 

 ' Associated Annual Prize ' that prior to 

 the publication of Mr. Cheny's chronicles 

 there had been racing of some sort on Barham 

 Downs, although it is probable that no other 

 racing of any importance had been held in 

 the county. This is the earliest discoverable 

 record of bona fide horse-racing in Kent. 



It is worthy of note, in passing, that Mr. 

 Cheny's records, which of course bear an 

 earlier date than those of Messrs. Weatherby, 

 and like the latter were published by county 

 subscription, contained the names of ten 

 subscribers only for the county of Kent in the 

 year mentioned. Among these we find that 

 three are referred to as ' Esquires ' — Richard 

 Hornsby, John Corbett, and Richard Denne ; 

 while the plain ' Misters ' include the names 

 of Bellamy, Harrison, Winter, West, Arnold, 

 Lee, and Crofter. In only one instance 

 among the foregoing can we trace the name 

 of any family known to latter day race-goers ; 

 and there is little doubt that the Mr. Hornsby 

 here referred to as taking part in the 1736 

 Barham Annual Prize came of the same stock 

 as the Hornsby of to-day, whose name will 

 always be associated with the training of 

 that popular horse, Victor Wild. 



Canterbury Races became more important 

 in 1739, when a King's Plate was granted 

 to the fixture by George III. It was decided 

 on 18 July, and was of the value of 100 

 guineas. The conditions further describe it 

 as being the ' eighth Royal Prize of the 

 year.' Dismal, a grey horse belonging to Mr. 

 South, was the winner, and appears to have 

 had a walk-over. 



For a considerable time after this date 

 Canterbury enjoyed fame in the racing world ; 

 but by degrees the popularity of the Bar- 

 ham Downs meeting began to wane, and 

 Tenterden, another early scene of racing 

 in Kent, went the same way as Canterbury ; 

 its supporters were attracted elsewhere and 

 its race-course was buried by the plough- 

 share. At the present time (1907) there is 

 only a single meeting under Jockey Club 

 Rules in the county, that weU-tried venture 

 at Westsnhanger near Folkestone. 



Amon^ other old-established meetings on 

 Kentish soil was that in the Isle of Thanet 



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