186 



handy, and we have the very lowest amount that can be, by any mode 

 of calculation, put upon the expenditure of owners to see their horses 

 race in England in 1891. 



To continue working out this problem I shall put the value of English 

 racehorses down at £500 apiece all round. This, in the face of the 

 returns we see of sales, and that a horse which is not worth £200 is not 

 kept a week in a crack English racing stable, must be considered a very 

 inadequate sum. That figures up £3,560,000. 



Bearing in mind the gigantic proportions, as compared with Irish 

 meetings, of such as Epsom, Ascot, Goodwood, Doncaster, Liverpool, 

 Manchester, and Sandown, and that the crowds which congregate at 

 nearly all the other meetings held in England are vastly greater than 

 those which are found at ours, and that an Englishman has a ten-pound 

 note to spend where an Irishman has often only a one-pound note, 

 I may, I think, with every degree of propriety, put down that £20,000 

 is spent, one way or another, by the general public— outside the owners 

 — upon attending the various meetings in England, against the £5,000 

 that is spent in Ireland. Mr. Weatherby tells us there were 378 

 meetings — race and steeplechase — held in England in 1891. We have, 

 therefore, only to multiply £20,000 by 378 to arrive at what the British 

 public spent upon going to see our sport that year. Here is the pro- 

 duct :— £7,560,000. 



As a companion to the table I gave of our Irish racing, I now give 

 one showing the 



Value of our English racehorses, what was spent by owners 

 to race them, and what was spent by the public to see 

 them race in 1891. 



Value in money of stakes for flat racing £448,695 



Value in money of stakes for steeplechases, say 130,000 



Total amount of stakes £578,695 



Valueof 7, 120 racehorses at £500 3 ,560,000 



Cost of keep and racing these horses 1,241,000 '^^— — 



Amount spent by the iMiblic attending English 



meetings .^. 7,560,000 



Total amount expended upon racing in England in 



1891 8,801,000 



Totals of both tables : — 



Value of stakes in Ireland £39,144 



Value of stakes in England 578,695 



Total amount of stakes £617,839 



Value of 1,770 Irish racehorses 265,500 



Valueof 7,120 English racehorses 3,560,000 



Total value of 8, 890 racehorses 3,825,50 



Cost of racing 1,770 horses in Ireland 154,260 



Cost of racing 7,120 horses in England 1,241,000 



Total cost of racing 8,890 horses 1,395,260 



Amount spent by public on Irish meetings 475,000 



Amount spent by public on English meetings 7,560,000 



Total cost attending race-meetings 8,035,000 



Grand total of expenditure consequent upon racing 



in 1891 :. £9,430,260 



