seven rows are fixed, it does not detract from the legality of the issue.

It is the duty of the official authorities, the stewards included, to see that the course assimilates with the conditions prescribed, and to take care that every facility is afforded to perform the allotted task.

At

Although the starter has discretionary power to take the horses 100 yards behind the post, there is no law to limit the extension. A steward has started the horses for the Chester Cup one quarterof-a-mile before they arrived at the post. Goodwood, 1860, the starter, after a dead-heat, took the horses to the five-furlong mark instead of the half-mile. In this instance the second horse, Walloon, would have won if they had run the prescribed course.

There is another state of the law imperfectly understood: for 150 years, horses of a junior age have been allowed to run for public money and plates, for which they are apparently excludedfor instance, Bonny Black, in 1719, won the King's Plate for five-year-old mares at Hambleton, she being four years old; Eclipse, five years, won the King's Plate for six-year olds, at Lewes, 1769; Bedford, three years, won the Hunter's Stakes at Bedford, 1849, carrying four years' weight. On

this principle, which has never been disputed, a three-year-old can run for a plate for four-years and upwards, or a two-year-old can be entered for a three-year plate; the interpretation signifying they shall not exceed that age. This may be wrong in theory, and not in accordance with the articles of the race, but in practice it is harmless; if publicly known, it does not require revision.

The greatest improvement we have made at Newmarket, is the protection we have afforded to the horses, trainers, and jockeys, by surrounding the weighing-room with open iron palisades, by which means we exclude the idlers, and we avoid the noise and confusion inseparable to mixed society in a small room where silence and good order are essentially necessary to enable the Clerk of the Scales to weigh-out twenty jockeys in a limited period of time. In country race-courses this is a serious evil-the horses unsaddle in the midst of a crowd, where jostling and a transfer of loose weights may be easily made, and the weighing-rooms are crowded with persons who ought to be excluded by the police.

CHAPTER III.

ON THE RULES OF RACING.

IN 1857 the Laws of Racing were revised; the present mode is more concise, and I am at a loss to discover any point on which a dispute can be seriously raised, or where a difference of opinion can exist in their interpretation.

The laws of racing were separated from those of betting, and a formal declaration made by the Jockey Club, Rule 10, that the Jockey Club and the stewards thereof take no cognizance of any disputes or claims with respect to bets. Here I may remark that there is a wide distinction between the interests of the Turf and the interest of betting.

I allude to the practice of a person starting two horses in a race, and declaring to win with the worst if it suits his book. This is not racing, it is an illegal conventional act to facilitate a gambling transaction; it has not a pleasing influence to see the best horse pulled up, to make way for an

C

xiv

mc

Fr

in

Ho

aft

for th

pl:

hc

co

ΕΣ

It

al

r

t

18

E. Luring.

the propia và has never been disp a three-year-ld can ran for a plate for four-y and upwards, or a two-year-old can be en for a three-year plate; the interpretation siz they shall not exceed that age. This wrong in theory, and not in accordance articles of the race, but in practice it is if publicly known, it does not requireThe greatest improvement we h Newmarket, is the protection we l the horses, trainers, and jockeys, the weighing-room with open wh..ch means we exclude th the noise and confusion inse

in a stake room where si esonta y necessary. ↑

To Wolghout

IN 1857 the Laws of Har

present mode is more ques

to discover any point seriously raised, or wiem can exist in their

The laws of

of betting, and a Jockey Club, the stewards f disputes or

may rema

between of bett

ho

hree subscribers constitute a sweepthe number be reduced by death the idered a sweepstakes as long as two left, the property of different persons ; Le Juvenile Stakes at York, 1866, by the f Mr. Osborn, only Mr. Launde's two remain, but Mr. L., having sold one of with his engagements, the sweepstakes ds good.

Rule 9 raises the standard weight to 8 st. 10 lbs., che original St. Leger weight being for colts, 8 st.. and the Epsom Derby, 8 st. 2 lbs.