The details of the "Sport of Kings" embraced in the following pages,
do not claim to be a consecutive history of the turf, nor are they
intended for the instruction of professional racing men. The author
makes no pretensions to teach trainers how to train horses, or jockeys
how to ride them, and in no sense, except that it is offered for their
perusal, is the work intended for those who make the "business" of
the turf the work of their lives; the book has been written for other
persons and other purposes.
It is necessary to state this much plainly, because when a paper or an
article pertaining to the "great national sport" appears in a review
or magazine, it is at once stigmatised by the sporting journals as
containing only "pipers' news," and in the view of the critics it may
be so; but such articles are not written to instruct the critics, but
to inform the public.
Histories and other works dealing with horse-racing have at intervals
been published, while at the present time there are three daily
journals as well as a dozen weekly papers exclusively devoted to what
has been called "the great game," and other sports. In addition to
these, nearly all the daily newspapers contain full accounts of the
race meetings, and also publish weekly commentaries on the sport at
considerable length, the reading of which tends to excite interest and
provoke inquiry regarding the incidence of "the turf."
"Pray, Mr. Curzon," said once upon a time a worthy lady to the writer,
"what kind of horses are these which I notice are being milked on
the turf, and what becomes of the milk?" The ignorance of that most
respectable female, and her excellent husband as well, to whom she
had previously propounded the same riddle, is undoubtedly shared by
thousands, and it is for the edification of these and other thousands
who have never seen behind the mirror that this book has been written.
It will, perhaps, be thought by some persons that the dark side of
things is too much dwelt upon in the following pages, that too much is
said about the frauds and chicaneries of the turf, and too little about
the brighter aspects of the sport, but it must be borne in mind that
racing has unfortunately become a "business" of the most sordid kind;
the majority of the men engaged in the "sport" run their horses only as
"instruments of gambling," whilst not a few of them to ensure success
condescend to practices that will not bear the light of day. The turf
gambling of the period has become enormous, but few outside the range
of racing circles have hitherto had much knowledge of the immense
amount of money which changes hands day by day in the various betting
rings, or in the numerous turf clubs that abound in almost every city
and large town of the kingdom.
The betting in connection with horse-racing which has of late been so
fiercely denounced, and the rationale of which is so little understood
by even the best informed economists and legislators, is described at
considerable length in the following pages, whilst the practice of
betting on credit is honestly denounced for the reasons given. Chapters
of this book are also devoted to other phases of turf organisation;
the powers of the Jockey Club are detailed and explained, the rules
of racing are criticised, and the every-day work of trainers, touts,
tipsters, and jockeys set forth.
Sporting writers, when turf matters are being considered, and the
sordid motives of the majority of those who frequent racecourses and
other turf resorts are being called in question, cry out loudly about
the unfairness of attacking the turf, and allowing the more gigantic
gambling of which the Stock Exchange is the theatre to escape censure.
But as the proverb says, "two blacks will never make one white";
besides, this book is not "an attack" on horse-racing, it is simply, as
its title indicates, "a mirror of the turf."
It is the "Sport of Kings" only which is treated of in the following
pages; the author willingly leaves the wide subject of commercial
morality or immorality, to be treated by other pens.