25 THE BLUE RIBBON OF THE TURF. 



to £10,000 might be added to the subscriptions, of 

 which £2,000 might be given to the owner of the 

 horse which the judge placed second, and half as 

 much to the owner of the other placed horse. The 

 Oaks could be dealt with on a similar plan.' 



The following scheme was propounded some years 

 since by the present writer, and may have had some 

 slight influence in shaping the conditions under which 

 the race is now run. ' A simple mode of augmenting 

 the stakes would be to allow the owner of the winner 

 to draw the whole amount subscribed, and that £1,000 

 and £500 respectively should be given to the owners 

 of the horses which run second and third in the Derby 

 and Oaks ; in which case the Epsom authorities would 

 have to find £3.000, Avhich they could well afford, and 

 have plenty left over for dividends to Grand Stand 

 shareholders. In this Avay £450 would be added to 

 the sum given to the winning horse, that being the 

 amount divided at present between the second and 

 third — namely, £300 and £150. On behalf of those 

 who would be more exacting in the matter of more 

 really added money, it may be suggested that the 

 chief stake should in every race be augmented to 

 even money — that is, if the subscriptions (say at 

 present rates) did not reach £5,000, £6,000, or £7,000, 

 as the case might be, they should be supplemented 

 in the way suggested. To j^revent misunderstanding, 

 here is an example : Take the Derby won by St. Blaise 

 in 1883; the sum came to £5,150: by the plan of the 

 winner getting all the subscriptions, St. Blaise would 

 have received the sum of £5,000, to be increased to 



