A HISTORY OF SURREY 



' outside ' at an open meeting. Then again 

 another great change, for which Sandown is 

 chiefly responsible, is the presence of ladies 

 at all modern race meetings. Before the 

 days of gate-money fixtures ladies went to 

 Ascot, a few to the boxes at Epsom, a few to 

 Goodwood, and very few to Newmarket. 

 Practically there was no room or accom- 

 modation for them in the old-fashioned 

 stands, and at the country meetings they 

 were mostly to be seen in carriages on the 

 far side of the course. Sandown, however, 

 altered all this, for the club house and en- 

 closure were made big enough to accom- 

 modate thousands of ladies, and to every full 

 member of the club two ladies' badges were 

 issued, while more could be obtained for a 

 reasonable daily payment. Thus in a very 

 short space of time it became customary for 

 ladies to go to Sandown, and now on a big 

 day the club enclosure contains as many as 

 four or five thousand. Indeed, on this part 

 of the course it is a fact that there are often 

 more women than men, and probably a 

 similar state of affairs obtains at Kempton 

 Park on a Jubilee day, this enclosure being a 

 good second to Sandown in the matter of 

 popularity. 



' Drawing-Room Racing ' is an epithet 

 often used with regard to the sport which 

 takes place at Sandown and similar places, 

 but such a description only applies to the 

 comfort of visitors, and has nothing to do 

 with the horses or the course. It means 

 indeed that the crowd are better treated 

 than they were at the old-fashioned open 

 meetings, that the stands are better adapted 

 for watching the sport than were the flat, or 

 nearly flat, roofs of the old stands, that music 

 is provided, that luncheon can be eaten 

 comfortably in what is nothing more than 

 a big restaurant, and that going and coming 

 is rendered easy by special trains — many of 

 which are for club members only — and that 

 in fact a sort of garden-party picnic can be 

 enjoyed, with the sport thrown in. 



The first meeting at Sandown Park was 

 held in April 1875, immediately following 

 the Epsom Spring meeting of that year, and 

 was an unqualified success. The course, 

 situated at the village of Esher, is thirteen 

 miles by road from Hyde Park Corner, and 

 the railway station is at the bottom of the 

 course, a short half-mile from the stands. 

 The spacious paddock lies between the 

 stands and the village ; the lawn— in which 



stands a handsome royal pavilion is at 



the western end of the club stand, and 

 great part of it is shaded by magnificent old 

 timber. The stands — which in 1903 were 



reconstructed — are placed at such an angle 

 that a huge crowd can watch the racing, and 

 as at Epsom the course lies well below the 

 stands, and every inch of it is easily seen. 



From a purely racing point of view it 

 cannot be said that the course is a good one, 

 because in all the races, except those run over 

 five furlongs, there is a very big turn or elbow 

 to be negotiated, and this necessitates horses 

 being to a certain extent pulled back for 

 something over a furlong in every race, as 

 a horse cannot gallop round it at top speed 

 without losing ground by going wide. At 

 the same time the circular racing is far more 

 popular with the public than the straight 

 mile business, when little of the early part 

 of many races can be properly seen. San- 

 down Park is undoubtedly the most popular 

 enclosure in the kingdom, and yet its course 

 is in many ways quite the worst. The five- 

 furlong track is right across the centre of the 

 Park, and on the rise all the way ; its chief 

 faults are that the finish is a long way from 

 the stands, and that there is not sufficient 

 room between the outside palings of the 

 Park and the starting gate in which to 

 manoeuvre a large field of horses. The 

 round course is a mile and five furlongs, 

 horses starting in front of the stands ; and 

 the Eclipse Stakes course is between nine and 

 ten furlongs going straight and slightly down 

 hiU for half its distance, then round the 

 aforementioned elbow, and turning right- 

 handed straight and uphill for the last four 

 furlongs, the finish being somewhat severe. 



The Eclipse Stakes, established in 1886, 

 was the first ;fio,ooo prize ever given in 

 England, and therefore Sandown Park was 

 the pioneer of what has often been called the 

 ' mammoth ' stake. Its example was copied 

 at Manchester, Leicester and Kempton Park, 

 but at all these places such races have ceased 

 to exist, and now the only imitators of San- 

 down in the matter of great prizes are the 

 Jockey Club, who in 1894 established the Prin- 

 cess of Wales Stakes and the Jockey Club Stakes 

 run respectively in the First July week and 

 the First October week at Newmarket. The 

 Eclipse Stakes is much more valuable to the 

 winner than either of the races decided at 

 Newmarket, because very large deductions 

 are made for the benefit of the second and 

 third horses, and also for the nominators at 

 the last-named place. Almost from its com- 

 mencement the Eclipse Stakes has been an 

 extraordinary success, and though it failed 

 to fill in its second and fifth years, it can 

 claim a brilliant list of winners, and has only 

 once been won by a moderate horse. In 

 1886 the winner was Mr. Hedworth Barclay's 



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