The New York herald., 1867-11-10
THE FRENCH TURF.
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE or THE HERALD.

The Emperor Of Austria mt n Steeplc Obnse-
sport nj yinoenner-The French SPOOL
Systcm-The Race Ground--A Brilliant
Sccnc-A Gross and studied Insult 10 Nu-
polcon.
The Austrian Emperor Of oourse attracts great deal
OF attention wherever he goes
Yesterday Sunday 1t was well understood that he
would be a,the steeple chase vncennes, and this,
with the that it the lrst day OF the autumn
meeting drew larger crowd than havo
upon . racccourse in France
The yncennes course. which is only used for ssieepe
chasesn lies upon the Emperors farm. about eight
miles Paris and two from the castellated or
yincennes railway &c several stations within
mile or two OF the course and up to the hour whom the
to commence long trains OF filed with
people running Arrived at the station, walk OF
. milo the fields brought the throngng thousands
to the Here a sad commentary upon the
beautiful sy ten and order with which thoy manage
these things In France In order enter the grounds
it necessary purchase ticket and supply the
immense crowd with those wcre little Offices,
about the size OF old fashioned watchmen's boxes
each attended by woman, and up to the little window
OF which but person could come a time Such
crushing, swearing smsshng of hats, crowding
treadng upon toes, and such maledicons upon
the bad arrangements OF thsl administration, have
never heard before IN France elsewhere Finally We
squeezed in however and found about thirty thousand
people gathered before There are. in addition TO
the Emperors pavilion, butlwo tribunes capable OF
commodatng than three four thousand per.
sons and the large majority OF people remained upon
the ''prars,n the entrance to which only half .
franc
Here brilliant scene. Hundreds of carriages or
eyery description, hundreds OF FAST women dressed
in tho gorgeous colors which they love put on on
raco days; officers their brilliant uniforms workmen
IN their blousss, betting men and loafsrs, gentlemen
and ladies, the long line of pool wagons made upa
richly variegsted scene
The spool systemr as adopted at the French races
believe entirely original, and does not exist in any
other country in the world At every one OF the French
races, there always in attendance dozen or
fifteen Of these pool wagons immense vehicles looking
likc overgrown omnibuses, with a dozen windows in
thcm, and sitting a. each ono Is woman, who Is pre-
pared to dispense the pooickes OF all values varying
from two TO twenty francs each. The whole thing IS
simply lottery, and IL conducted in this way -Suppos-
iug horses entered for In this race
great number OF tickets, bearing numbers from
,r. s0S and Suppose proves To- buy ns%SS wS
one Just before the commence seven
little balls each numbered like the tickets from
sevcn placed in wheel and drawn out by one.
The number drawn corresponding in the order OF its
drawing with tho ticket held by person decides the
horse upon which his money is slaked. IT. for cram.
Pile tho number drawn from the wheel is "fourr l.
holding ticket number one, am entitled to horse number
'Iourn as marked on the official programme. horse
number four, whatever he may be wins the race win
the pooseven times twenty frascs less percentage Of
ngs are made before the numbers OF the horses which
are 70 run are put up. and frequently draws
the number q horse which does not run
earthly chance 10 win. This however, is az broad a.
il is long, for the more horses Withdrawn the more are
the chances increased OF those who hold the numbers OF
tho horses which do really After the numbers OF
the running horses arc put up another drawing made
In which only the numbers Of those which actually run
are put into the wheel
Everybody bets At the pools. Three years ago they
were only gotten up on the course BY little Knots Of
" "a A hiatt thc nher
OF horses entered, and the winning number took the
pool without any percentage, Now u has become an
immense business. and companies are organized
70 carry u on. IL Is gambling, 70 all lntents
and purposes and hundreds OF people 60 on
the course and buy pools and win and lose
their money without seeing q horse and fer ali
practical purposes there might well be no horse in
the AFFAIR as the whole thing ~ simply lottery. But
the French people are nation of gamblers and must
have vent for the escape OF thcir passion so the
government winks at this, which 10 clearly Illegal A
fow months since however they pu, stop to branch
OF il The companies used TO sell tickets and make
drawInes q their Offices y .rs % The evening before
nocked 70 them and invested aud waited patiently till
Monday morning TO ascertain whether thalr numbers
bad drawn prtze or blank. This she governments
considered dangerous and denorslaug. and now only
permits the drawing Of pools on the course itself
thinx you have no "sieeple chase In the United
States your nearest approach % beay TIE ahardls
race Near Paris are two courses devoted 70 this
sgS 1 eIas a Sc M s .ls asd q u sac
sport Is intensely sxciizs Tho are run ike all
races 10 Europe upon ne green turf ard the distances
trark within track. A. Nlncenres VIA, A called ths
grAnde psis or principal rss, ssoai scsr thousand
ysris around
rho ssseple chase % supposed % B. an imitation of
ride tho country. over h.dgos and dichss and
rivers such the Old English sporsn.r used 10 in.
aage in, taking tner objective poius and place of
meeting tho steeps Of the county church The course
so arranged ,has the srttcia Obstacles Are set IN %
take the place OF shcss which nature AID its fsrmsrs
are supposed 10 supply In the country. on tho Vim.
Course these obstacle, cersss of seven hedges
srssered along NJ irregular insrvss each about three
feet high; stone wall about the same height turf
,nbankuisnt lille highr . ditch seven Feet wide,
marked BY hedge, and srver about the same width,
An these tho hsrses are required 70 sap, sud
mapy ia the ralk made, and many Is the tumble which
che ockeys ret The serious obstacle seems 10 be
lhs diteh st which horses frsquss,y bali and inso
which riders osn 10 heAdlong The spert Is not with.
eut s dangers End many broken hcnss have resulted
\ from ~
| Yes,srtay there were three races, the su, one or
watch was ridden. one urualyis On esrh day.
| by gentlemen riders" Those yessrday wsre officers