FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF THE RACE. 25 



actually give in cash £5,000, and increase the entrance- 

 fee from £50, half-forfeit, to £100, half-forfeit. We 

 may reasonably suppose that this liberal donation 

 Avould increase the number of entries, but even sup- 

 posing that they should remain the same as at present 

 (about 200), and that there are, say, twenty runners, 

 tliis gives £2,000 subscribed by the runners, £9,000 in 

 forfeits, with the £5,000 added by the execu*:ive, and 

 would make a total of £16,000, which should indeed 

 " eclipse " the value of any other race. Considering 

 the number who attended to see the great race at 

 Sandown under most depressing circumstances, it 

 is almost impossible to grasp the magnitude of the 

 assemblage we should see on Epsom Downs (the 

 scene of so many glorious contests) to witness the 

 Derby under these new and inspiriting conditions.' 



A recent writer on the financial aspects of the 

 Derby thus ventilates his ideas of how matters ought 

 to be adjusted between those who receive the nomina- 

 tions and those who make them : ' Were ovv^ners of 

 Derb}' horses to increase their subscriptions, in order 

 to make the race a startling one as to amount, and 

 thereb}' cause a sensation ; and were such a multitude 

 to be attracted to the Epsom enclosures (they have 

 been lately enlarged) as to make a gate worth £25,000, 

 would it be too much to ask thiit half, or at least 

 a third, of the sum that remained after expenses were 

 deducted should be divided among the hrst three 

 horses, and particuhirly that a handsome bonus 

 should be awarded to tlie owner of the animal which 

 obtains the second place ? It is not unreasonable to 

 cal(;ulate that by such means a sum of from £8,000 



