SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



includes seven races on the other days, is 

 curtailed to six events, and more time is 

 allowed before and after the Derby, which 

 race, of course, dominates the day's proceed- 

 ings. The Epsom Town Plate, a six fur- 

 long handicap on the new course, and the 

 Effingham Plate, a handicap of a mile, are 

 the most important races ; but apart from 

 the Derby the racing is the poorest of the 

 week as regards class, and, on the other 

 hand, Thursday's programme is much the 

 strongest of the four, except that it includes 

 no Derby or Oaks. The chief event on 

 this day is the Cup — sometimes called the 

 Epsom Cup, sometimes the Epsom Gold 

 Cup, and for the last two years the Corona- 

 tion Cup — and this, which always brings 

 out good horses, is often productive of a 

 capital race. It is run on the Derby course ; 

 and on the last mile and a quarter of the 

 same track the Durdans Plate, a high-class 

 handicap of ;^i,ooo is decided ; while on 

 the six furlongs of the new course the Royal 

 Stakes, also a thousand pound handicap, is run. 

 This race generally brings out many of the 

 best sprint runners of the day. Then there 

 is the Great Surrey Foal Stakes for two-year- 

 olds, and thus four of the six or seven races 

 decided on this day are not only valuable, but 

 are competed for by thoroughbreds of the best 

 class. 



On Friday fillies are chiefly catered for, 

 the pike de rhistance being the Oaks, a classic 

 race, and the most important three-year-old 

 filly contest of the year. The conditions are 

 the same as those of the Derby, and the two 

 races are run over the same course ; but the 

 Oaks does not by any means arouse the interest 

 excited by the Derby, though it is of great 

 historical interest, and includes in its list of 

 winners many of the most famous mares of 

 all time. From a purely racing point of 

 view it fairly maintains its prestige, and, like 

 the Derby with regard to the colts, it is, 

 as a very general rule, won by the best 

 filly of the year. Notable instances of re- 

 cent years may be quoted in La Fleche, 

 who was beaten by Sir Hugo in the 

 Derby, but won the Oaks, and turned the 

 tables on her Derby conqueror in the St. 

 Leger. Memoir too won the Oaks and 

 beat the Derby winner at Doncaster, as did 

 Seabreeze a couple of years before. A little 

 further back Apology and Marie Stuart each 

 in turn won the Oaks and St. Leger, and in 

 Marie Stuart's case she fought out the 

 St. Leger finish with her stable companion 

 Doncaster, who had won the Derby, and 

 beat him after a memorable encounter. On 

 this point it may be stated that, on the evi- 



dence of the last hundred and twenty years, 

 the colts are better than the fillies in about 

 three years out of every four, and that once 

 in every six or seven seasons one — very occa- 

 sionally more than one — filly stands out as 

 the best of the year, and she is almost in- 

 variably an Oaks winner. 



On the Epsom Friday fillies are also pro- 

 vided for with the Acorn Stakes, a valuable 

 prize for two-year-olds, and which often 

 brings out the future Oaks winner. This 

 race is run over five furlongs, and has been 

 won by many fillies which have afterwards 

 distinguished themselves on the turf. The 

 minor prizes decided on the last day of the 

 summer meeting are of second importance- 

 only, and perhaps on the whole the pro- 

 gramme is the least attractive of the four. 



SANDOWN PARK 



Previous to the year 1875 all racecourses 

 — apart from the stands and enclosures — 

 had been free to the public, as are still Epsom, 

 Ascot, Goodwood and Newmarket. Years 

 before an enclosed course had been tried, 

 without success (at the Bayswater Hippo- 

 drome), but Sandown, opened in 1875, was 

 the first venture of the sort to prove success- 

 ful, and has been so widely copied that 

 modern racing has been altered in an extra- 

 ordinary degree within the present genera- 

 tion. If we go back to the state of affairs 

 which existed previous to the present gate- 

 money period we find that the outside 

 portions of all racecourses were free to the 

 public ; and that those who could afford to 

 pay, patronized the Grand Stand, or a 

 cheaper stand, while the Jockey Club had 

 some small place reserved, which was gene- 

 rally called a Steward's Stand, and into part 

 of which the best racing men, other than 

 stewards, were also admitted. There were 

 also one or two small private stands, notably 

 at Ascot, Epsom, and Goodwood, but the 

 advent of Sandown Park caused a complete 

 alteration in these matters, for with the 

 institution of Sandown came the racing club, 

 with its own stand and lawn, and its ladies' 

 tickets. 



Sandown, in point of fact, introduced two 

 radical changes into the life of the average 

 racing man, partly by forming a large and 

 comprehensive club for the wealthier sup- 

 porters of racing, and secondly by charging 

 gate-money, and thus protecting the humbler 

 and poorer admirers of the sport, who can 

 nowadays see much of the best racing at a 

 very small outlay without being crowded 

 and hustled as are those who watch from 



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