24 THE BLUE RIBBON OF THE TURF. 



and Oaks, said : ' There is not a better paying property 

 in. the country than Epsom Grand Stand, and it will 

 pay still more now that there is to be an autumn 

 meeting. The Stand has recently been improved at 

 a cost of £12,000, and of this sum not less than 

 £7,000 has already been got back. For the new club 

 no less than 700 members have already been elected, 

 the entrance fee being five guineas, and the annual 

 subscription five guineas.' Writing of the Epsom 

 Gratid Stand Company in another communication, 

 the same gentleman says : ' Despite its wealth, it is 

 the most niggardly racing corporation iu the kingdom, 

 and not only do they not give one shilling to the 

 Derby or Oaks, but not so long ago they had the 

 impudence to make the winner of these races pay the 

 salary of the judge and the police expenses for keep- 

 ing the course, and also £-30 for champagne !' 



IIT. 



The different plans promulgated from time to time 

 for the improvement of the Derby may now be 

 briefly alluded to. 



Mr. John Porter, of Kingsclere, proposed to enhance 

 the value of the race in the following fitshion : ' The 

 ])erby for more than a hundred years has been the 

 race for which all nations have striven, and if we are 

 to maintain its prestige something substantial must bo 

 done by the Epsom authorities. This is what I vv'ould 

 suggest to them — that, to make the Dciby of the 

 future still the greatest race in the world, they should 



