instance, a horse never had water the night before a race, and the system generally appears to have overtaxed the animal’s strength. A prominent consideration in trotting races is the adjustment of toe-weights, which are fastened on to the horses’ feet to equalize their action, and it is found that horses improve their time to the extent of several seconds when properly shod.
Pacing races are also frequent in the United States. In trotting the action may be described as diagonal; the pacer moves both legs on the same side at the same time, and both feet stride as one. A similar “gait,” to employ the American term, was called in England some centuries ago an “amble.” The pacer moves more easily and with apparently less exertion than the trotter, and the mile record (made by Prince Alert in 1903) stands at 1 m. 57 s.
Owing to the vast size of the country there are various centres of sport, which can be classified with reasonable accuracy as follows: the Eastern States, dominated by the Jockey Club, founded in New York in 1894, and recognized by a state law in 1895; the Middle Western States, under the control of the Western Jockey Club, whose headquarters are in Chicago; the Pacific Coast, with San Francisco for its centre; and the Southern and South-Western States, with Louisville as the most important centre. The passage of the racing law in New York State marked the opening of a new era. Supreme even over the Jockey Club is a State Racing Commission of three, appointed by the governor of the state. While the Jockey Club is only recognized by law in its native state, it has assumed and maintains control of all racing on the eastern seaboard, within certain lines of latitude and longitude, extending as far north as the Canadian border and south to Georgia. There is small question that other states, both east and west, will follow suit and enact similar laws. The Western Jockey Club, though not recognized by law, controls practically all the racing through the middle west, south-west and south; but the racing associations of the Pacific Coast have maintained a position of independence.
What New York is to the east, Chicago is to the middle west, and a very large proportion of American racing is conducted close to these centres. In New York State the Coney Island Jockey Club, at Sheepshead Bay; the Brooklyn Jockey Club, at Gravesend; the Westchester Racing Association, at Morris Park; the Brighton Beach Racing Association, at Brighton Beach; the Queen’s County Jockey Club, at Aqueduct; and the Saratoga Racing Association, at Saratoga, are the leading organizations; and all these race-courses, with the exception of Saratoga, are within a radius of 20 miles of the city. The Empire City Jockey Club, near Yonkers, and another club with headquarters near Jamaica, Long Island, have also become prominent institutions. The Washington Park Club, at Chicago, is the leading Turf body of the west, and the only one on an equal footing with the prominent associations of New York State. With this single exception the most important and valuable stakes of the American Turf are given in the east; and so great has the prosperity of the Turf been since the Jockey Club came into existence that the list of rich prizes is growing at a surprising rate. In this respect the principal fault is the undue encouragement given to the racing of two-year-olds. At the winter meetings held at New Orleans and San Francisco, two-year-olds are raced from the very beginning of the year; and under the rules of the Jockey Club of New York they run as early as March. The Westchester Racing Association, with which are closely identified some of the principal members of the Jockey Club, gives valuable two-year-old stakes in May. The Futurity Stakes, the richest event of the year—on one occasion it reached a value of $67,675—is for two-year-olds, and is run at Sheepshead Bay in the autumn. The institution of races, either absolutely or practically at weight-for-age, and over long courses, has engaged much attention. The Coney Island Jockey Club has the leading three-year-old stake in the Lawrence Realization, over 1 mile 5 furlongs, with an average value of about $30,000. The Westchester Racing Association’s two principal three-year-old stakes, the Withers, over a mile, run in May, and the Belmont, 1 mile and 3 furlongs, run later in the same month, are of less value, but are much older-established and have a species of “classic” prestige, dating from the old Jerome Park race-course in the ’sixties. The Coney Island Jockey Club’s Century and the Annual Champion Stakes, both for three-year-olds and upwards, over a mile and a half and two miles and a quarter respectively, are fair specimens of the races the associations have founded. At Saratoga a stake of $50,000 for three-year-olds and upwards, distance a mile and a quarter, was opened, and run for first in 1904. The hope is to wean owners from the practice of overtaxing their two-year-olds, which has resulted practically in a positive dearth, almost a total absence, of good four-year-olds and upwards of late years. Handicaps play a more important part than in England. The principal events of this character, such as the Brooklyn Handicap at Gravesend and the Suburban at Sheepshead Bay, have for years drawn the largest attendances of the racing season.
Practically all flat racing in the United States is held on “dirt-tracks,” i.e. courses with soil specially prepared for racing, instead of turf courses. At Sheepshead Bay there is a turf course, but it is only used for a minority of races. Dirt-tracks, which are, like many other things in American racing, a legacy from the once hugely popular harness-racing, are conducive to great speed, but are costly in the extreme strain on horses’ legs. Steeplechases are run on turf. This branch of the sport in the east is now flourishing under the administration of the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association, a sister body of the Jockey Club. Comparatively few races are, however, run under these rules, as the weather conditions render it impossible to have a separate season for cross-country sport and steeplechases, and hurdle races are incorporated in programmes of flat racing held through the spring, summer and autumn, though the ground is frequently so hard as to be unsafe. Since the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association assumed control, regulation courses, practically similar in every respect to those used in England, have been insisted upon in the east, the “open ditch” figuring under the name of the “Liverpool.” In the west and south there is not the same uniformity, and so far the sport has not flourished.
France
Racing in France as conducted on modern lines may be said to date from the year 1833, when the French Stud-Book was originated, and a body formed, somewhat after the model of the English Jockey Club, under the title of the Société d’Encouragement pour l’Amélioration des Races de Chevaux en France. Races took place in the Champs de Mars, and an unsuccessful attempt was made in 1834 to arrange for a course, or “hippodrome,” as it is termed in France, at Maisons Laffitte. Chantilly was, however, fixed upon as the principal racing centre; on the 22nd April 1836 the first meeting was held there, with five races on the card, the principal being the Prix d’Orléans, a stake of 3500 francs, named after the duc d’Orléans, one of the chief promoters of the fixture. Next day the first race for the Prix du Jockey Club was run, and won by Frank, the property of Lord Henry Seymour, who was at the time taking a very active part in French sport. The Prix du Jockey Club was then worth 5000 francs; the value has since increased to 200,000 francs. This race occupies in France the place of the English Derby. The Prix de Diane, which corresponds to the English Oaks, was first run in 1843. Chantilly still continues an important centre of the French Turf, and a great many horses are trained in the district. Attempts had been made to popularize racing at Longchamps prior to the year 1856, when the Société d’Encouragement obtained a lease, erected stands, laid out the course, and held their first meeting on the 27th August 1857. Next season two meetings were held, one of four days in the spring and another of three in the autumn; at the present time the sport is vigorously carried on from March to the end of October, except during a summer recess. In 1857 meetings under the auspices of the Société d’Encouragement began to
