616 
THE JOCKEY CLUB. 
The documents which I have now the honour to enclose were 
submitted and approved of at a meeting of the Council on Friday 
last, and adjourned to Monday last, which will prove the aspersions 
made in the two petitions to be entirely groundless. 
Having been Chairman of the Committee, I have consequently 
taken an active part in all the proceedings, and am ready and 
competent to substantiate the truth of the statements contained in 
the enclosed reply of the Council, if called in question. 
I have the honour to be, 
Sir James, 
Your most obedient and very humble Servant, 
311, Regent Street, 
July 23, 1844. 
Thomas Turner, President. 
We are glad to find that the Jockey Club, profiting by past 
experience, are taking proper precautions to prevent the fraudulent 
entry of horses for stakes, the competitors for which are, by their 
own laws, restricted to certain ages. Since trainers and their ser- 
vants are so unmeddling and innocent as never to give themselves 
the trouble to look into the mouths of horses sent to them with 
certain engagements, or so ignorant as not to be able to tell their 
ages supposing even they did happen to look into their mouths, it 
is high time that those who reign over the turf should take mea- 
sures to ascertain, before any horse be allowed to run, that his age 
be such as to qualify him for the stakes he is to compete. In such 
a racing country as ours, where thousands and thousands of pounds 
often change hands on the event of a single race, — where a fortune 
is, by speculations on the turf, one day made, another day lost, it 
is of the utmost consequence to insure fair play ; and yet, that 
many a four-year-old has run as a three-year-old, many a three- 
year-old as a two-year-old, there remains, since the late disclosures 
have been made, in our mind not the slightest doubt. Nothing 
can be more disheartening for fair-dealing men, or disgusting to 
