Racing track

“ Present day racing comprises track meetings, practically all over the country, every Saturday. Many of these are unimportant. The aspirants to fame should keep a look out for the N.C.U. Championships which are now allotted to various centres. The clubs in London, Manchester, Birmingham, etc., hold various track meetings for races varying from one mile to fifty miles, the longer distances being sometimes paced by tandems. ”

“ From hacking to racing is but a step. The man who has learnt to ride (or thinks he has) , being already a member of the race club, takes his steed for a quiet canter round the course. The old racer no sooner finds himself on the familiar track than he is off with the speed of flames, and our young friend, being powerless to check him, with his feet out of the stirrups and hanging on to the back of the saddle for dear life, is carried a mile or so before a sudden swerve at the exit rail deposits him on the turf. ”

“ Assuming that gambling can be prevented, a race track would be a decided attraction to many visitors in addition to those who use it for driving. In addition to an oval track where horses can be properly trained for racing, there might be a straight speedway of any desired length. ”

“ Most of the experimenting went into the building of racing cars. The idea in those days was that a first-class car ought to be a racer. I never really thought much of racing, but following the bicycle idea, the manufacturers had the notion that winning a race on a track told the public something about the merits of an automobile—although I can hardly imagine any test that would tell less. ”

“ The longest sprint race, and the most severe of all, is the furlong dash—two hundred and twenty yards. This kind of racing is a tremendous strain on the lungs and heart, as the same pace which carries the runner over the hundred yard track has to be kept up and even increased. It requires a broad deep chest in the runner, with little flesh, and that hard and firm. To train for such a race requires at least a year's practice, and amateurs would do well to leave it alone altogether. ”

“ The introduction of pacing by multicycles and motors next took from cycle racing what interest was left. A motor race, in which the machines are run at top speed, is more exciting than the spectacle of a motor being driven at a rate which the cyclist can follow with the protection of a wind-shield. In America this system of proving what cyclists can do with racing machines was carried so far that in 1899 a board track was laid down on the Long Island railway for about 2 m. ”

“ In Great Britain the hurdles are fixed and the race is run on grass; in America the hurdles, although of the same height, are not fixed, and the races are run on the cinder track. The “low hurdle race” of 220 yds. is run over ten hurdles 2 ft. ”

“ There were sixty coaches occupied by families, which were all made to keep in line at a safe distance from the track. Several hundred gentlemen, well mounted, galloped at pleasure about the field; but the racing was very poor, both horses and riders being untrained. ”

“ Next week takes us to Gatwick and Sandown— (or rather the train takes us—another absurd expression) —the last day of the latter Meeting being devoted to "Jumping Races," which is the contemptuous way some people speak of the winter branch of our National Sport!—forgetting that it demands the two most desirable qualities in a horse, speed and endurance—whereas the modern flat-racing has degenerated, for the most part, into scrambles and gambles, where speed is the only requisite!—but more of this anon—but not anonymous, as I believe in signed articles, as the apprentice said! ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Racing on high bicycles began to attract the attention of the public when proper cycling tracks commenced to appear in various parts of the kingdom. Previous to the construction of cinder tracks some racing had taken place on grass running tracks, three and four laps making a mile. ”

“ I have never been a hanger-on at race-tracks, and have never had anything to do with a race-track of any kind other than visiting one for the first time in 1899 to see my own horse, Boralma, race, and four or five times since to see my own horses run. ”

“ It seemed to the mass of spectators, craning their necks to see what took place, as though that whole line of lithe runners sprang forward as one.
Every fellow doubtless had his favorite way of waiting for the signal; though a quick start is of far less importance in a long run of ten miles than when the race is a short dash. ”

“ HORSE-RACING
—has been a favorite sport with the superior classes for many centuries, but never arrived at any degree of local celebrity till the reign of Charles the Second; who, entering into the spirit of the TURF, and becoming personally present with the full splendor of his court, then laid the foundation of the meetings at Newmarket, which are now become so justly eminent, and where RACING has long since attained the full zenith of perfection. ”

“ In a foot race around a circular track judges do not let sprinters pick out their own course and "cut across lots" whenever they choose. Nor is it allowed in horse races, auto races, or any form of sport where time records are registered on curving courses. ”

“ A race in which the contestants are paired off by being strapped together at the ankles and thighs. Remarkable speed can be obtained by practice under this handicap. There are definite rules to govern three-legged races, and official harness may be bought from sporting goods outfitters. As a race, however, it is like sack racing, to be classed among the sports designed to afford amusement rather than as a display of skill. ”

“ During all these years, some events of which I have been endeavouring to describe, notwithstanding a good deal of duty, much of which entailed being out of the country, I was by no means neglecting racing—a sport to which, in those days, I was very devoted. To go racing meant being amongst almost the pleasantest of one’s friends, and amidst the cheeriest of surroundings, and, in addition, it became more interesting to me owing to the large increase in the size of the Sandringham Stud. ”

“ It is simply with motor racing as with any other sport. Put a man in competition, with an interest in common and a chance of winning, and it does not matter whether it is riding or driving horses, sailing yachts, or running a foot race, it's good sport. Enjoyment comes from environment, companionship, temperament, and conditions—from equality and uncertainty. I look on motor racing as the sport of sports, because it fills to the full all cravings of a restless, adventure-loving temperament. ”

“ Running and leaping, however, are nearly always combined on every occasion in two descriptions of contests, viz., steeplechasing and hurdle-racing. Race-walking finds most votaries in London, the northern counties of England, and in Ireland, all distances, from 1 mile to 7, being in vogue amongst amateurs. Running comprises all distances from 100 yards up to 4 miles. Leaping may be divided into three principal heads, viz., running high-leaping, running wide-leaping, and running pole-leaping, which are found to be included in nearly every athletic programme. ”

“ Since the days of Roman chariot racing the records of man describe nothing that parallels automobile racing, and, so far as we have any knowledge, chariot racing, save for the plaudits of vast throngs of spectators, was tame and uneventful compared with the frightful pace of sixty and eighty miles an hour in a throbbing, bounding, careering road locomotive, over roads practically unknown, passing persons, teams, vehicles, cattle, obstacles, and obstructions of all kinds, with a thousand hair-breadth escapes from wreck and destruction. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It will be gathered from the foregoing summary, brief as it may be thought, that horse-racing to those engaged in it is somewhat of a serious pastime. "It takes a bit out of a jockey" to ride two or three races per diem, whilst trainers as a meeting progresses have much to do; owners also, with "thousands" invested in entry moneys and bets, have anxious moments to endure. In short, without devoted, never-ceasing attention to the business incidental to the turf, horse-racing as a pastime for the people would speedily come to an end. ”

“ No attendant to accompany a competitor on the scratch or in the race.
2. Any competitor starting before the word, to be put back one yard, at the discretion of the starter. On a repetition of the offense, to be disqualified.
3. All races to start by report of pistol.
4. In hurdle-races each competitor to keep his own hurdles throughout the race.
5. In sprint racing each runner to keep his own course. ”

“ Most interesting it is to go in the early morning to the training-grounds, and look at the racers at exercise. Here you see them in every stage, from the yearling just being led about quietly with a lunging rein on to the adult racer taking his final spin, previously to competing for some stake, and a finer spectacle than this last cannot be seen: the magnificent animal in perfect condition, his satin coat, showing the play of the muscles underneath, striding along at his top speed, untouched by whip or spur, is a perfect picture of beauty. ”

“ At a half-mile race track, a little distance out, a very early rising citizen, if he happened to be in that vicinity at daybreak, would have wondered greatly to see a half-clad figure on an old bicycle go flying round and round the track. ”

“ Even should two bands be destroyed at a distance from each other and on the same side of the track, its action would not be destroyed, for although the isolated portion of wheels would be dead, those on the other side of the track would be in action, which, with the horizontal guide-wheels, would move forward the carriage, although, on such portion, at a diminished speed. ”

“ The modern race-horse is merely a racing machine, a racing machine very much as a Herreshoff yacht is. The contrast between this racing machine and a Denmark, a Morgan, or even an ordinary trotter is too great, and good results from the crossing of the strains is hardly to be expected; but the tendency is all towards greater speed for shorter journeys, and it will doubtless continue until the men who encourage and insist on the new style of racing bring racing under the ban of the law. ”

“ The advantage of "hugging the pole"—keeping to the inside of this line—on a circular or elliptic track, are too obvious to be enlarged upon, but the ardor of the horses seldom permits one to hold this advantage long, and the animals are continually crossing the line of distance, thereby making a serpentine course which equalizes the chances of all.
In pedestrian contests, on the other hand, each man hugs the rail as close as he can, and therefore the track must always be measured close to the inside rail. ”

“ PRACTICE FOR THE RACE.
“We must begin track work,” said Jerry one afternoon, when the three chums, having been out on a spin, stopped beneath the shade of a road-side tree. “A week from to-day the races take place.”
“I think we are all in pretty good trim, and so are the machines,” ventured Bob.
“That part’s all right, Chunky,” came from Ned, “but what we want is track work, as Jerry says. Nothing like getting right on the ground. Besides, we have been speeding on a wide road, where we have all the room we want. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There are, it may go without saying, many persons engaged in racing whom the turf would be better without, and it has been hinted "that in times past" a few of these gentry could ring the changes of racing in such a way as to render the game highly profitable. ”

“ Various particulars respecting the minutiæ of RACING will be found under the different heads of Horse Racing, Jockey Club, King's Plate, Newmarket, Training, and Turf; it being impracticable to bring so great a variety of distinct combined, and complicated matter, into any one single point of view. ”

“ The moment the car is empty it is tipped over on the side of the track to let the next loaded car pass it, and then it is tipped back again; and it is a sight to see it go flying back for another load, propelled by a horse at full gallop at the end of 60 or 80 feet of rope, ridden by a young Jehu, who drives furiously. ”