“Our Van.”
RACING.
If Newmarket looms largely in this month’s budget it is not necessarily because of any phenomenal success attained, for if any conclusion could be formed upon the proceedings of the Craven and First Spring Meetings it would be to the effect that things are by no means too flourishing. We may take it that, nolens volens, the old conservative idea that the public are not wanted at Newmarket, which I have heard expressed by several of the old school of owners and habitués (also by officials) has had to undergo some modification in recent years. No doubt, amongst the Newmarket old-timers there are still some who would be prepared to put their hands in their pockets and pay for the exclusiveness of their hearts which is denied them. But that kind of person, nowadays, forms but a small and still decreasing class; the majority are bred to get as much as they can for as little as possible. Amongst such bargains the entry to the Jockey Club enclosure holds a not unimportant position, for, in return for a payment of £12, commutable into a payment of £5 down and ten shillings for each day’s attendance, one is entitled to twenty-nine days’ racing. What a bargain this is we realise when we consider that the visitor to Tattersall’s who attended on each day’s racing for a season, as members do, would be mulcted in the sum of £29, not counting an extra ten shillings for the paddock on certain days, which those in the Jockey Club do not pay. I am quite prepared to hear that some would gladly pay double the £12 demanded if they could once more have the place to themselves; but the process of popularisation, if that be the correct expression, has already been long in progress. Whatever may once have been the case, and however the public, judging from the only available data, may have been induced to think the contrary, the Jockey Club, regarded as a purveyor of racing, is by no means indifferent to its patronage. Indications, mere straws blown by the prevailing wind though they be, are not lacking of a desire to ameliorate the public lot, and it has even been realised at last that visitors to Tattersall’s are civilised enough to appreciate the provision of something else to sit upon than the hard and dirty beams of which the stand is constructed. Half a dozen garden chairs have created a departure from Newmarket traditions that might well make some of the old stagers wonder whether they dreamt; and it is not necessary to dwell upon the fact that the seats fulfil another purpose than that of affording seating accommodation by interfering with the operation of “runners” who dash about the rings in a manner discomposing to others anxious to take things more quietly. There are those who insist that the convenience of the public was far from being the sole consideration in pulling down the Old Cambridgeshire stand. There were even a few leather cushions on Tattersall’s stand for the use of the public.
GORGOS.
Photo by W. A. Rouch.]
When the time comes to race on the July course, strong evidence of the desire of the Jockey Club to attract the public will be found in the shape of an entirely new stand, so large that the best wish I can offer it is that the Club may live to see it filled. What the attraction is to be that is to accomplish this is, however, not clear. I do not suppose that the Jockey Club have a surprise in store in the shape of reduced ring charges. So long as meetings, presenting very indifferent programmes, are able to demand £1 per day, Newmarket cannot very well lower its prices; not that I ever heard of any intention in this direction, or that I should think it wise. If it were desirable to have our race meetings all of a pattern it could only be on the lines of a general levelling up.
But, within limits, it is convenient and proper that there should be different grades of race meetings, and Newmarket, I affirm, will be best served by always aiming at the highest. The “ifs” that contribute to schemes for the resuscitation of Newmarket as a popular racing resort, are numerous.
“If” the railway company would only reduce the fares, is one, for instance. With Newmarket 69½ miles from London by rail, cheap fares do not seem compatible, and I doubt whether a slight reduction in price would make any difference. What we want and expect at Newmarket is good racing; but although horses in plenty are trained on it, some people say—the racing for the heath—more than is good often falls far below the desired standard.