12 THE BLUE RIBBON OF THE TURF. 



and Gth of May, 1727, when a Give-and-Take Plate of 

 GO guineas, a plate of 40 guineas, and a gold cup value 

 40 guineas, were all run for. In the following year a 

 race for a plate of 30 guineas for horses that never rau 

 before was won by the Duke of Hamilton's Costly. 

 No other event is recorded till ] 732, when two races 

 took place on May 9th and 13th respectively — both 

 purses for 30 guineas. From the date of 1730 racing 

 was continued annually at Epsom, and carried on 

 with regularity. 



In those times, both at Epsom and elsewhere, the 

 day's racing was always interrupted by dinner. Sport 

 began at 11 o'clock; and as soon as a couple of heats 

 had been decided, the compan}'- adjourned from the 

 racecourse to the town, wliere dinners were served, after 

 which racing was resumed in the afternoon for an hour 

 or two. 



The social customs which began in those early racing 

 days were kept up for more than a century. In 182-i 

 Mr. Apperly (' Nimrod ') in alluding to the dining 

 customs, says : ' Chester, however, as a convivial meet- 

 ing is not what Chester was. The chilling stream of 

 refinement has passed over every corner of the empire; 

 and neither a Welsh nor Cheshire squire can now be 

 so vulgar as to be .seen on a racecourse after he has 

 had his dinner. The two o'clock ordinaries, formerly 

 so well aitended, and where so much mirth and good 

 fellowship prevailed, are all knocked on the head, and 

 private parties substituted in their room. The ofhco 

 of steward appears almost a sinecure, and, for my own 

 part, I never knew who they were till the races were 

 almost over; instead of, as in former days, having 



