Leger
As a four-year-old, this daughter of Persimmon and Ornament was out seven times, and won five, failing again in the Lincolnshire Handicap, but winning the Hardwicke Stakes, the Jockey Club Stakes, the Duke of York Stakes, the Champion, and the Limekiln Stakes. She was kept in training when past her best. Sir William Bass purchased her for 25,000 guineas.
Discussions have been rife as to whether Sceptre or Pretty Polly was the better animal, the balance of opinion being in favour of Major Eustace Loder's daughter of Gallinule and Admiration, for the reason that whereas Sceptre was beaten on several occasions, Pretty Polly only once knew defeat in England. In her first season Pretty Polly won nine races, valued at £13,502, without a failure, her first appearance having been sensational. Soon after the fall of the flag for the British Dominion Two-year-old Race at Sandown she was so far in advance an idea prevailed that she must have got off by herself, and photographers who were trying to take the finish of the race could only obtain a picture of Pretty Polly, the others being too far behind to come into [RACING the plate. As a three-year-old she ran seven times without a failure, accumulating a further sum of £18,440, her victories including the One Thousand Guineas, the Oaks, the Coronation, Nassau, and Park Hill Stakes, and the St. Leger. She ran four times as a four-year-old, adding £3,420 more to her record. Thus far she had never failed, and as a five-year-old she won two more races worth £1,935, unexpectedly meeting defeat in the Gold Cup, with odds of II to 4 on her. After a rough crossing to France, she was beaten in the Prix du Conseil Municipal, this and the Gold Cup being the only interruptions to her triumphant career. Amongst others whom it would have been a pleasure to dwell upon, were space unlimited, are Cyllene and William the Third, both of whom won the Ascot Cup with extraordinary ease, and Zinfandel, another Ascot Cup winner, and doubtless Persimmon's best son, in my opinion, at least, a decidedly better horse than the St.
Leger winner, Your Majesty.
BETTING. That the Jockey Club take no cognisance of bets is in the nature of a polite fiction, for disputed bets are settled by the Committee of Tattersall's, who meet the first Monday in almost every month at Tattersall's, and on the Wednesdays of race meetings at Newmarket, and report defaulters who have failed to comply with their orders to the Stewards of the. Jockey Club, with the result that men so reported are automatically warned off the turf. The Committee is representative of backers and of bookmakers. The members are Colonel Fludyer, chairman; the Earl of Suffolk and Berks, the Earl of Wolverton, Sir John Robinson, Messrs. J. H. Lock, Major Laing, Alfred E. T. Watson, Wingrove Smith, J.
George, and Henry Slowburn. Mr. H. A.
Ruston, a Newmarket solicitor, is secretary. resd SPEED AND STAYING. -Speed is the first requisite of the racehorse, his value depending largely upon the distance of ground over which he can maintain his best pace that is to say, whether or not he is a stayer. A good definition of a stayer is much needed, and for want of a better he may perhaps be described as a horse who can keep on galloping for a long way when fully extended. Many racehorses have a flash of speed with which to finish a race - "one effort in them," as the phrase runs, and it is among the first essentials of jockeyship to know precisely when this effort should be demanded. There are not a few horses that cannot "get" even five furlongs, RACING] WINNERS OF THE DERBY, 1899-1904.
FLYING FOX, 1899.
ARD PATRICK, 1902.
DIAMOND JUBILEE, 1900.
ROCK SAND, 1903.
VOLODYOVSKI, 1901. [Photographs by Sport & General.
ST. AMANT, 1904. 43° and among these very much depends upon the selection of the course, whether it is easy, as down the hill at Epsom (if the animal has good shoulders and can come down hill), at Derby and elsewhere, or severe as at Ascot, on the Rowley Mile, the Bunbury Mile, or where the winning post is at the top of an ascent. A really speedy horse that does not stay will beat bad animals over long distances, when running far beyond his course, in fact, because they fail to extend him. He is cantering while they are galloping hard; going on well within himself he does not tire, and so can keep with them at no exertion, reserving his speed; but put the same horse in his own class, among worthy rivals, so that he is kept at or near full stretch, and he is exhausted by a very much shorter course as is natural. A stayer" is a somewhat vague term, as regards the question of distance, but one generally understands by the expression a horse that can last with animals of his own class for at least a mile and a half. The combination of great speed and staying power is occasionally found, but it is exceedingly rare. ،، THE COST OF RACING.-The cost of racing may, of course, be anything. It may result in an annual profit or loss of many thousands of pounds, according to the scale on which it is followed and the luck which befalls an owner. The word "luck" is not carelessly employed; for much, very much, as judgment may achieve, the element of luck supervenes, and practically governs well-nigh everything. When the Duke of Westminster was mating his mares in 1882, it was surely to a great extent luck or chance that made him send Lily Agnes to Bend Or, with the result that Ormonde was born to show himself invincible, and to become the sire of Orme and Goldfinch.
Chance had much to do with the fact that the Duke of Portland became possessed of St.
Simon; an accident prevented the purchase of the colt after Prince Batthyany's death, before he was sold to his present owner; and, similarly, it was luck which induced the Duke, who seldom buys at an auction, to go to Bushey the day Memoir was put up, thereby securing an Oaks and Leger winner. Major Eustace Loder was amazingly lucky to obtain a Derby and Grand Prix winner in Spearmint for 300 guineas.
Without examining the matter too closely, it must be acknowledged that luck enormously influences victory or defeat.
But, returning to the cost of racing, there are certain inevitable expenses, and some light may be thrown on the subject by a [RACING little consideration of them. A thoroughbred horse may cost from five guineas up to thousands of times that sum-at meetings towards the end of the season runners in selling races have been knocked down for the small amount named, and Flying Fox was sold to M. Edmond Blanc at the dispersal of the late Duke of Westminster's stud for 37,500 guineas. Horses, therefore, go at all prices. Often, moreover, the dearest prove worthless, and the cheapest gallop their way to glory.
When an animal has been acquired, the questions of training and running have to be settled. The usual fee per horse is 50s. a week, though some trainers have of late years raised this to three guineas, and in certain cases the trainer also has a salary, or a percentage on the stakes won by the horses in his charge. After the weekly payment the matter of entries arises; and this is a very important one. A specially wellbred, good-looking animal will be, as a rule, freely engaged in weight-for-age races, and the cost here may be anything from a minor forfeit of a sovereign to a hard-and-fast sum-" p.p." as it is called, meaning "play or pay" of 200 guineas. The sum last named is the price of entrance, for example, to the Prince of Wales's Stake at Goodwood.
It is not at all an unusual thing for a young horse to have a thousand pounds' worth of engagements made for him; and if he is no good for racing, as so often happens, the money is lost at once. Having shown inability to win important stakes, an animal may be entered for handicaps, and, being beaten in them, so add to the total of loss. In order to run he must be ridden, and here the payment of jockey comes in.
The set fee is three guineas for a losing mount on the flat, five guineas for a win; but, in addition to this, special terms have to be made in order to secure the services of particularly accomplished horsemen, either by agreement for a sum per mount, or in the way of a retainer for first, second, or, in the case of riders who are much sought after, even a third call on the jockey's services. The writer of this article was once commissioned by a friend to offer as much as 4.000 guineas a year for first call on a popular jockey, with an intimation that another thousand would not be refused.
It will be perceived that when an owner is anxious that the fullest justice shall be done to his horses, the jockey's payment is an important item. Travelling is another expense. Most of the leading owners have their own vans on the railway, which is not only a convenience, as the van is always ready when wanted, but also to a great RACING] WINNERS OF THE DERBY, 1905-1910.
CICERO, 1905.
SIGNORINETTA, 1908.
SPEARMINT, 1906.