Ascot Race Course

“ The fact that the Epsom Meeting was not over, appeared to have no effect on the attendance, for faces well-known in the world of sport were to be seen—it was an "indoor Ascot"—Ascot Cup Day so far as the dresses were concerned, mingled with the paddock on Derby Day, with its multiplicity of languages—Ascot with magnificent horses, and instead of racing on the flat, jumping, trotting, and tandem driving. ”

“ Ascot, which has been a seat of racing for so long a period, has seen several generations of sportsmen come and go; but to-day it is more gay and brilliant; more attractive to fine ladies and gay cavaliers than it ever was before. Princes and Princesses continue to give it their patronage, and the most celebrated horses of the kingdom compete on its green turf for the liberal prizes with which the meeting has been endowed. ”

“ The Ascot Cup is generally spoken of as a race success in which sets the seal to the fame of a good horse. It is a prize of the highest distinction, and of late years has been of considerable value, the winner in 1909 having gained for his owner £3430. ”

“ After the race meeting known as Royal Ascot had been inaugurated by Queen Anne, in 1712, the tone of the Turf in England greatly improved. The rules of racing were revised, and more attention was paid to their enforcement. Also steps were taken to prevent “undesirable and roguish persons” from “indulging in their wicked and thievish habits”—in short, a serious attempt was made to purify the Turf, as the process is termed now. ”

“ Leger, and the following season L’Abbesse de Jouarre, a daughter of Trappist, was the heroine of the ladies’ race. Other great winners by Hermit, and their descendants again, have been almost legion. There was Timothy, winner of the Ascot Cup and Alexandra Plate in 1888; Gay Hermit the Royal Hunt Cup in 1887; and Peter ditto seven years before; St. Helena, second in the Oaks to Lonely, and winner of the Coronation Stakes at Ascot; Philosophy, winner of the Great Whitsuntide Plate at Manchester, and many other valuable races ”

“ Victor’s best distance was thought to be a mile, and under a very light weight, 5 st. 13 lb., as a four-year-old, he spread-eagled a large field for the Royal Hunt Cup at Ascot. Ascetic was thought best of for the six furlongs in the Stewards Cup at Goodwood and about his best race was over the easy six furlongs at Brighton. The sharp quick horse to be into his bridle in a moment, as the saying goes, seems to be the most likely horse to get jumpers. ”

“ But it's the public sentiment, not the cash, that makes this race what it is. The Essex isn't any six furlong scramble for two-year-olds; it's a mile and a quarter for three-year-olds and upwards. It's none of your get-away sprints; it's a horse-race, from start to finish. And more than all that, it's our oldest stake race, with its records for thirty years filled with stories of courage and speed and daring and skill; it's part and parcel of the turf history of the country. Yes, by gad, sir—I beg your pardon, Miss Ashton, I do, indeed—the Essex Handicap's a part of American history itself. ”

“ It is useless to enter slow, plodding horse to take part in a short-distance race where speed is the chief quality required, nor on the other hand is it worth while to enter a horse suitable to a five-furlong course, in the Great Metropolitan or Cesarewitch Handicaps, which can only be won by horses of staying powers. ”

“ Ascot, to which we now come, up a rise, is a depressing backwoods-settlement kind of a place, with no history except that which belongs to a hundred years of horse-racing. The village (for such, presumably, it should be called) is singular in consisting of practically a one-sided street. This is made up of a row of shops and villas and the back of the long range of buildings belonging to the racecourse, a white clock-tower overlooking all. The whole place is built on what was once the desolate heath of Ascot—and looks it! ”

“ It has of late years been revived and practised by the gentry as a graceful amusement, and an occasion for assembling together at certain periods in the country; but as an adjunct of the field sports it is past for ever. Racing, every one knows, is a matter of intense interest with a great portion of the nobility, gentry, and others; and those who delight in it, know where to find Newmarket, Epsom, Ascot Heath, Doncaster, and other places, often to their cost: almost every county and considerable town, has its course and annual races. ”

“ These are races on which plenty of speculation takes place, so that the loss of the "great" handicaps is not of much moment, there being so many other outlets for the gambling instinct of the nation, which was never so strong as it now is. The races for the Ascot Stakes and the Goodwood Stakes do not give rise to betting of any consequence till the days set for their decision; nor does speculation, as of old, begin on the Portland Plate, decided at Doncaster, till the names of the runners are known. ”

“ The race-course is a two-mile distance, perfectly level, on a smooth and stoneless road, and forming a complete circle—light trotting waggons are driving about in the centre, taking it easy at sixteen miles an hour; outside are groups of "rowdies." making their hooks and looking out for greenhorns—an article not so readily found at Long Island as at Epsom.
The race is to be "under the saddle," and the long list of competitors which had been announced has dwindled down to the old and far-famed Lady Suffolk and the young and unfamed Tacony. ”

“ No man can stand the pace at which he's been goin'; it's not in reason."
"Will you please take me back to the coach?" Rada spoke imperiously. "I have promised to be with Sir Roderick and Mr. Trelawny for the race. They will look after me then and afterwards."
Indeed, there was little time to spare. The bell was ringing; people were scurrying across the course. Rada and Jack had barely reached the other side when a low cry went up from the crowd and a black horse emerged from the paddock, a horse which was proclaimed by the puce and black of the jockey to be Mostyn Clithero's Pollux. ”

“ But Mostyn shook his head. "I don't want to bet," he said. "Gambling doesn't attract me a bit. It's just the sport of the thing."
And so the time had passed until the course was cleared for the big race. Mostyn had remained in the Paddock almost to the last minute, and then Royce had hurried him back to the coach. They had remained close to the railings, however, to see the preliminary canter.
"I don't fancy the favourite," Royce repeated. "Lochiel may have won the Guineas, but he's got a devilish uncertain temper. He'll either win in a walk or come in with the ruck. ”

“ Those who are not behind the scenes of turf life have in general no idea of how races are run and won. They see the horses gallop from end to end of the course, but they may not be aware that each jockey has received from his master or his master's trainer particular instructions as to how he must comport himself in the race. The rider is not allowed to ride as he pleases, but must guide his horse at the will of his master. The directions given to a jockey are sometimes exceedingly simple. "Get home first," Lord George Bentinck used to say, "and to do that make every post a winning-post." ”

“ During the last forty years several proprietary race clubs have come into existence. They race at Rosehill, Canterbury Park, Moorefield and Warwick Farm. Racing under the rules and regulations of the Jockey Club they have done well. In addition to these, four other clubs were racing in the metropolitan area in 1921, under what was termed Associated Club Rules—Ascot, Victoria Park, Kensington and Rosebery Clubs. ”

“ The race is the most popular of British sporting events. The Ascot races are patronized by royalty; the world of fashion is to be found at Goodwood; but Derby-day draws to Epsom a vast crowd of every class. During the European War the race was suspended, but a substitute Derby was run at Newmarket from 1915 to 1918. ”

“ He recrossed the Channel, and the following Sunday was second again in the Grand Prix de Paris, Thurio passing him only by a head. Making the passage again—and this was his fourth voyage within fifteen days—he gained the Ascot Derby. It is not unlikely that if this remarkable horse had remained permanently in the one country or the other he would have carried off the principal prizes of the turf.
For the last three or four years the racing men have been in the habit of meeting, after the Grand Prix de Paris, in the pretty park of La Marche, between St. Cloud and St. ”

“ Passing to the end of the down-grade, they reached a slight upward incline, and the mare, as if she had come to familiar ground, broke into a gallop, a matchless, swinging stride. Swerving to right and to left among the great boulders, like a football player running a broken field, she increased the gallop to a racing pace.
That twisting course would have shaken an ordinary horseman to the toes, but Pierre, swaying easily in the saddle, dropped the reins into the crook of his left arm and rolled a cigarette in spite of the motion and the wind. ”

“ Horse-racing has so long figured in the eyes of the unlearned in turf matters as a "pastime," that the idea of there being any "business" to transact in connection with it has often drawn from persons, who know no better, an expression of surprise; but before any race meeting can be advertised, or any race be run, much work of a thorough kind has to be got through, the whole machinery of racing has, in fact, to be evoked. ”

“ The breeder of the winner receives 250 sovereigns.
The Spring Stakes, a weight-for-age event, 11⁄2 miles, involving 2,500 sovereigns, is another important race of this day, as well as the Epsom Handicap, 1 mile, of 3,000 sovereigns. A considerable amount of ante-post wagering in connection with this race and the Metropolitan is indulged in prior to the meeting. The second day’s programme includes the latter race, a handicap worth 6,000 sovereigns to the winner plus a sweepstake of 30 sovereigns for starters, the distance of which is one mile and five furlongs. ”

“ Two ropes were stretched across the course at the starting-point—one the whole width of the track, the other leaving a gap through which the horses could pass into line so as to get as fair a start as possible; though every one knows, and the fantino as much as any one, that the start has little to do with the race. ”

“ But, of course, if I have correctly grasped the situation, the Derby is not a race that you need consider seriously just yet. You have plenty of other chances to win your money, and it is over those that you had better lay yourself out. You've got to earn your legacy first, and then you'll be in the position to direct all your attention to the Derby—that is, if you're still anxious to make good what you said upon my coach at Epsom a week or so back—that you would win the classic race in five years' time."
Sir Roderick laughed heartily as he recalled the scene. ”

“ The result showed that the track used in the Astley belt match lacked several feet of being a full furlong, and the difference spoiled all the records, taking six or eight miles off Rowell's excellent performance.
The commonest cause of country records being bad is that country pedestrians too frequently use horse-racing tracks, which are measured in a peculiar manner. In a horse-race, especially in a trotting contest with wheels, the mile or half-mile line runs in the middle, or near the middle of the track, to equalize the chances of horses starting abreast. ”

“ Racing then was more for encouraging a breed of horses, swift, yet of such staying powers as to be able to run a four-mile heat without breaking down: not like our “exaggerated greyhounds,” who can barely stagger over a course of six furlongs, or three quarters of a mile. ”

“ And now look at the race track itself. The straight course, six furlongs in length, and the “course proper,” are nearly as level as a table. The Newmarket Course, the only straight six furlongs in Australia, with the exception, I think, of that at Singleton, runs from the foot of the pine-clad hillside where the Members’ and Public Drives merge into the general traffic, straight down to the winning post. ”

“ General Asboth likes to ride at the top of his horse's speed, and at once put his gray into a trot so rapid that we were compelled to gallop in order to keep up. We dashed over a rough road, down a steep decline, and suddenly found ourselves floundering through a stream nearly up to our saddle-girths. My horse had had a hard day's work. He began to be unsteady on his pins. So I drew up, preferring the hazards of a night-ride across the prairie to a fall upon the stony road. ”

“ The horsemen instinctively edged away to the sides of the track, and on to the edge of the rough moorland which bounded it on the east. Some had the presence of mind to whip out their pistols, but as the cycle raced towards them with ever-quickening speed they found themselves in trouble with their horses, which began to quiver and sweat and prance at the strange sight and the terrifying sounds. Down flew the cycle, Tim gripping the handle-bar hard, no longer able to pick his course, but keeping the middle of the track, rough or smooth. ”

“ The older braves passed their time in horse racing. This species of sport varies but little among the Indians from that which obtains among civilized communities. A track is mapped out upon the level prairie, and a couple of lances, from which pennants are streaming, are planted firmly in the ground at a point which denotes the goal. The riders start from the upper end of the course, and plying the whip with all their vigor, come thundering down the course with the speed of the wind. ”