SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



Some eight or ten meetings are held 

 during the year, cross-country fixtures 

 being in excess of those under Jockey Club 

 rules. There are about five two-day or one- 

 day fixtures of flat racing, the dates of which 

 vary a little ; taking the season of 1902 as a 

 guide we find that the first meeting under 

 Jockey Club rules was held on 3 May, when 

 the Victoria Plate, a six-furlong handicap 

 of ;Ci,ooo was the most important race. 

 The next, held on 10 and 11 June, provided 

 for better-class racing, and included in its 

 • programme such events as the Lingfield 

 Spring Two-year-old Plate of ^£500, the 

 High Class Selling Handicap of ;£300, and 

 the Imperial Plate of ;Ci,ooo, one and a 

 quarter miles for three-year-olds, and the 

 Eden Welter Handicap of a mile and a half. 

 A month later, on 11 and 12 July, the most 

 important meeting of the year was held, 

 when the Lingfield Park Plate for three-year- 

 olds, of the full value of ;C3,ooo, and over 

 a mile and a quarter course, was the big 

 attraction. This race came into existence 

 in 1899, ^°*^ ^^^> ^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ years, run 

 on the straight mile ; the first winner, 

 Harrow, created a mile record by covering 

 the distance in i minute 2Si seconds. It 

 is said that a mUe has since been run in 

 faster time elsewhere, but the circum- 

 stance is worthy of note, because it shows 



what a remarkably fast course the straight 

 mile at Lingfield is. The American Colt 

 Caiman was the next winner; Mackintosh, 

 who secured the prize in 1901, was a really 

 good horse, but unfortunately could not 

 be kept long in training. He was followed 

 by St. Windeline, who also won the One 

 Thousand Guineas, and in 1903 Sir Ernest 

 Cassel's Love Charm, a useful colt and a 

 very genuine stayer, was the winner. On 

 the second day of this meeting the Great 

 Foal Plate of ;£ 1,000 for two-year-olds was 

 the big event of the card. 



A single-day meeting at the end of Sep- 

 tember had for its chief race the Lingfield 

 Handicap of a mile, worth ;£400, and a 

 single-day meeting a month later had a 

 varied programme of races, which were 

 attractive enough to draw large fields, but 

 were of no great value. The last meeting 

 of the year was held in the first week of 

 November, and extended over two days, 

 and again the fields were large, and the 

 prizes somewhat small. The place does not 

 draw big enough crowds to be able to afford 

 large prizes, except for some particular 

 races, but on the other hand there is no 

 racecourse in the kingdom where the fields 

 are regularly of such great size, and this 

 speaks volumes for the popularity of Ling- 

 field amongst owners and trainers. 



POLO 



Polo flourishes in Surrey, more especially 

 on those grounds which are within convenient 

 reach from London. The game was first 

 played at RANELAcnin 1893, the management 

 of its interests being entrusted to the late Mr. 

 J. Moray Brown. For two seasons one ground 

 sufiiced ; but the popularity of the game in- 

 creasing wdth great rapidity, a second ground 

 was opened at Ranelagh in the year 1 895 . The 

 polo managership by this time had passed into 

 the hands of Captain (then Mr.) E. W. Miller 

 who, with the co-operation of his brothers 

 Messrs. George and Charles Miller, made the 

 game the principal attraction at Barn Elms. 



The number of players continuing to in- 

 crease, the four grounds available at Hurling- 

 ham and Ranelagh became quite unequal to 

 their requirements : and in 1901 a strong 

 syndicate of polo players commissioned Mr. 

 Charles Miller to find a third resort. Thus 

 it came about that the Roehampton Club 

 near Barnes was established on a portion of 

 the Grove House Estate, between the Roe- 

 hampton and Priory Lanes, a site little, if at 

 all, less beautiful than that of Ranelagh. This 



513 



club, with Mr. C. Miller as manager and 

 secretary and Captain E. W. MiUer as polo 

 manager, achieved immediate success. It was 

 opened in the spring of 1902, and enjoys 

 the great advantage of possessing three full- 

 sized polo grounds ; so that it shares the pat- 

 ronage of players with its older neighbours, 

 Ranelagh and Hurlingham. 



The Wimbledon Club, established in 1900, 

 with one ground, owes its support to the 

 officers of the regiments of Foot Guards 

 quartered in London. 



The Fetcham Park Club at Leatherhead 

 is the successor of the Ashtead Polo Club 

 which was founded in 1887 by Mr. Walter 

 Peake. In 1892 the Ashtead ground ceased 

 to be available and the club migrated to 

 Fetcham, where Mr. J. Barnard Hankey 

 placed at its disposal a full-sized and very 

 picturesque ground in his park. 



Other clubs are : the London, formed in 

 the year 1899, whose ground is at the 

 Crystal Palace, Sydenham; and the Worcester 

 Park, organised in 1901, with a ground at 

 Worcester Park. 



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