Part 2

NOTES ON MEMORABLE MATCHES 158

WITH THE PROPHETS 171

MODERN BETTING ILLUSTRATED AND EXPLAINED 190

RACING ADVENTURERS 224

RACING ROGUERIES 270

THE LADY ELIZABETH SCANDAL 301

RACING REFORM. SIR J. HAWLEY, ETC. 314

ASSUMED NAMES. JOCKEYS AND THEIR COMMISSIONERS 330

JOCKEYS 339

ABOUT THE JOCKEY CLUB 360

A MIRROR OF THE TURF.

BEGINNINGS OF RACING.

The origin of horse-racing cannot be fixed by any quotation of dates, as none are extant to show by whom the first race was planned, the terms on which it was run, the distance traversed, the kind of horses which ran, the men who trained them, or the jockeys who rode them.

It may, however, be taken for granted that, as an English sport, horse-racing began in homely fashion, and, in the days of old, centuries ago that is to say, was a very different pastime from what it is to-day.

Attempts have often been made to trace the beginnings of horse-racing, but not with much success. It has been assumed by writers on the subject, that there would in the first place be trials of strength of a friendly description among neighbours, matches, perhaps, between horses which their owners looked upon as being animals above the common run. Scientific, or planned racing, in other words, the elaborately arranged contests with which, as a nation, we are familiar is, it may be said, a comparatively modern pastime. But the sport of horse-racing, as we know it to-day, has undoubtedly been elaborated from those simple trials of equine strength that took place centuries ago, which may, in many instances, have been arranged to promote the selling of horses.

"Look ye, sir, let us try our horses against each other, and if yours prove better than mine I'll buy it," is a saying that might represent the idea entertained; and so, on an improvised course, ridden very likely by their owners--"owners up"--at what are called catch-weights, there would off hand be run a race of the kind indicated. At village feasts, fairs, and other gatherings of a popular kind, as has been often told, races of a rough-and-ready sort--precursors of the more elaborate meetings with which the public are now familiar--were long ago run.

Accustomed as we have long been to very complete records of racing, we look with some impatience on the dry fragments and supposititious statements, in which are embodied what is known regarding the birth of horse-racing. Our public journals day by day contain more in one publication than can be gathered from the historic records of the country about the horse-racing of a hundred years, when the compiler requires to carry his search back to days before good Queen Bess began to reign. In those days neither "our racing reporter" nor "our sporting correspondent" had come upon the scene.

We know more about the sports enjoyed in olden times by the people of Greece and Italy than we know about those of our own country. There was, as all who please may read, an Oaks in the Grecian Games of the 71st Olympiad, 496 years B.C. With the aid of Dr. Smith's classical dictionaries, it would be possible to compile an interesting account of those races, which afforded sport many hundred years ago to Greeks and Romans. That horse-races were run in this country in the time of the Romans is exceedingly likely. Not, however, till two centuries had elapsed after the departure of the Romans from Britain, do we read of much that is of interest about the horse and its uses in this country. King Athelstan, it is recorded, received as a gift several running horses of German breeding. That King is said to have shown a great love for the horse, and in his time running horses were much prized, so much so that none were allowed to be sent out of the kingdom, except as Royal presents. Athelstan's liking for horses was so well known, that he received many gifts of fine animals, so that at the period of his death, he was presumably in the possession of a numerous stud.

During the reign of Henry II. various documents record the fact of the English people having become interested in horse-racing. At Smithfield, where a market for horses had been established, races were run from time to time, chiefly perhaps with the view of testing the capabilities of these animals before purchasing them. "Hackneys" and "Charing Steeds" is the description given of the horses raced in order to show off their paces at Smithfield. That the running which took place was other than would be incidental to buying and selling need not be argued, there being no indication of any set race being run for a stake of money or other prize.

Some historians of the turf, desirous of establishing the fact of these contests being other than simple trials of speed and stamina--that they were organised races, in fact--endeavour to prove their case by the oft quoted description of an old chronicler, Fitz Stephen, who thus describes what took place: "When a race is to be run by this sort of horses, and perhaps by others, which, of their kind, are also strong and fleet, a shout is immediately raised and the common horses are ordered to withdraw out of the way. Three jockeys, or sometimes only two, as the match is made, prepare themselves for the contest. The grand point is to prevent a competitor getting before them. The horses themselves are not without emulation; they tremble, and are impatient and are continually in motion. At last the signal once given, they start, devour the course, and hurry along with unremitting swiftness. The jockeys, inspired with the thought of applause and the hope of victory, clap spurs to their willing horses, brandish their whips, and cheer them with their cries."

The writer of these lines, as all readers of history know, was the secretary of Archbishop A'Becket, and was himself a monk of Canterbury, and Drayton the poet bears testimony to the accuracy of what he has stated.

The word "jockey," as used in the above extract, may denote a professional horseman; but at the time in question the word was applied generally to dealers in horses, and related, as has often been argued, more to bargaining and pricing than to riding.

In the succeeding reign horse-racing as a pastime--that is organised racing--appears to have been established, grafted most likely on the practice already referred to of "showing off," by a few runs, the paces of such animals as were exposed for sale. When the pastime was first established, racing took place only at fixed periods, generally during the Easter and Whitsuntide holidays. The racing of those days is alluded to in an old metrical romance:

In Somertyme at Whitsuntyde, When Knights most on horseback ryde; A Cours let they make on a day, Steeds and Palfraye, for to essaye Which horse that best may run. Three miles the Cours was then, Who that might ryde him shoulde Have forty pounds of redy golde.

Records of racing and notices of the horse as a courser begin after this time to be frequent. In the latter part of the reign of Edward II., and in the beginning of the reign of his successor, prices are occasionally quoted for that class of horse.

Taking now a leap to the reign of "bluff King Hal," the belief that horse-racing, as a pastime, had by that time taken root, and was gradually deepening its hold on the affections of the English people, can hardly be resisted. In a document relating to the Royal household, mention is made of His Majesty's horses as follows: "Coursers, young horses, hunting geldings, hobies, Barbary horses, stallions, geldings, mail bottles, pack, Berage Robe, and stalking horses." In this list is comprised the elements of the modern stud.

During the reign of Henry VIII. various enactments were made with a view to improving the breed of horses. To make sure that the country should possess horses of commanding strength and size, the proportions of both sires and dams were regulated by an Act, one of the provisions of which was that no person should put in on forest, chace, moor, or heath, any stoned horse above the age of two years not being fifteen hands high, nor under fourteen hands, on pain of forfeiting the same. This Act, which discriminated the sizes in different counties, was undoubtedly judicious in its results, which ultimately proved beneficial to the general breed of horses throughout the kingdom. Some curious regulations, devised by the King were from time to time made public. He obliged all men of a given position, especially clergymen, to keep a certain number of horses. Thus Archbishops and Dukes, were enjoined in this reign to keep seven trotting stone horses of fourteen hands in height for the saddle. Clergymen also who possessed a benefice of £600 per annum, or laymen, whose wives wore French hoods, or velvet bonnets, were ordered to keep one trotting stone horse, under a penalty of twenty pounds.

In the time of Queen Elizabeth, public racing was not much in vogue; still, in the days of "good Queen Bess," the race-horse continued to be prized. Her successor on the throne, James I., was remarkable for his attention to horse-breeding. He ordered £500 to be paid to Mr. Markham for an Arabian, the first animal of that breed seen in England, while in the time of the same king, races were run in many parts of England for silver bells, notably at Gatherly, in Yorkshire, Chester, Croydon, and some other localities. At this period the condition of the competing horses began to attract attention, their wants being methodically attended to, the weights to be carried adjusted, their exercise gallops and sweats being also properly defined. The repute of English race-horses during the reign of the first James became so great that they attracted attention in France, to which country several were exported, the methods of keeping and training them which then prevailed here being adopted by the French.