St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-11-18
ENGLAND's HORSE HAVEN.

Newmarket the Headquarters of
Racing, With Seven Meetings
Each Year.
Falcon, in English Sporting and Dramatic
News.
"The little town in Cambridgeshire"
part of it, by the way, is in Suffolk
is the acknowledged headquarters for
racing, and the dullest place in the
world to any one who does not take a
lively interest in the sport in question.
At Newmarket there is no driving to
the course on a COACH do not think
that the oldest habitue ever saw a team
on the heath; no luncheOns, as at Ascot
and GOOdWoOd: no booths or steam
roundabOutS, as at EPSON, and ne noise,
save the chant of the bOOkmaker. Dur
ing the July meeting. on 1.-THE other side
of the ditch" there is perhaps some
slight sign of relaxation, to the extent
of eating strawberries in the shade
of the plantation; but at other times
Newmarket racing is a very business
like affair. The horse and his dOingS
are what people come to Newmarket to
see, and while there they put on one
side all other considerations. No sooner
is one meeting over than the hacks and
brOughams 90 back into dock till the
next one comes round, and the town is
left to the natives. When Harry HE
over paid his first visit to Newmarket
he expected, he tells us. to find every
third shop a Saddlef's, the windows
crammed with caps. jackets, twO-pOund
saddles, whips. spurs and other articles
indicative of the chief business carried
on there; but now, as then, there are
comparatively few outward and visible
signs of racing to be seen, tailOrs', jew
elerS' and provision shops far outnum-
berIng those dedicated to silk and
leather. On Newmarket Heath itself,
however, great change has come about
since Harry HieOveT bowed himself
down in veneratiOn before the rubbing
house and the Dukes stand. The new
stand' was not even thought of then;
there was not even fixed winning
post, but the judges chair was wheeled
about from point to point as occasion re-
quired, while the equality" galloped
hither and thither on their hacks. But
all this is altered. The Jockey club,
having burden of debt round its neck,
has introduced many Improvements and
new departures, and the Newmarket
meetings are, for practical purposes, as
much after
THE GATE-MoNEY STAMP
as Sandown or Kempton-if. that is to
say, you want to do any business or to
see the horses. Pay boxes of regula-
ton cut confront you everywhere, and
In this respect Newmarket is modern
lied, even to the extent of introducing
mammoth stake. The new stand,
however, at the end of the Rowley
Mile is great boon, as afOrding some
shelter against the winds which blow
with wonderful keenneSs across the eX-
panse of the heath. Acre after
acre of turf fringed with plowed
fields of great size is what meets
the eye of the visitor as he surveys the
country from the stand. Of trees there
are none, except by the July course: in
fact, the country is about the most UNI
interesting to be found in England.
Yet Newmarket is held in more affec-
ton by racing men, or more properly
speaking by the patrons of racing
than any other half-doZen places put to-
gether, and the place has from the ear
lest times maintained its rae
ing celebrity. James l. is said to have
been the first to establish regular race
meetings at Newmarket, and he attend
ed the races there in 1905. three years
after he came TO the throne. The story
goes that soon after King James accord
ed his royal patronage to the meeting,
the horse strength OF Newmarket was
augmented by the arrival thither of
some of the horses which were cast
upon the coast Of Galloway from the
wreck of TIM Spanish Armada; but,
having regard for the fact that
the Armada was defeated in 1888,
and King James did not ascend
the throne of England till 1903, the
horses must have been pretty old for
racing purposes; yet in Lewis TOpO-
graphical Dictionary" the swiftness of
these horses is specifically mentioned.
Of Charles u.'s keenness for racing
there are many proofs; but we need go
no further than learning from that old
gossip, Pepys, that the king and his
companions set out from Whitehall at
three in the morning. The royal coach
was capsiZed in HolbOTn through the
torches not doing their work properly
In connection with the Town Plate,
which was won by horse belonging to
the Newmarket purveyor of sausages, it
may not be unintereSting to observe that
the articles for this contest were framed
in the reign of Charles H.; so. although
the race is not run at any of the TecOg-
nized meetings, 1t is very old affair.