The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-23
TRICKS OF THE TURF.
rbs Sport of Kings Has in a Great
Measure, Become the Livelihood of
Gamblers. Al

Equivalent to the unsatisfactory verdict
# moi proven" in Scottish Jurisprudence
i the decision just rendered by the stew
ards of the French Jockey Club at the
close of their inquiry into the peculiar
circumstances of the victory of Gospodar
Of the Chantilly derby-a victory that
ia5 TO his owner, NJ Michel Ephrussi,
bsing mobbed and hooted of the race
Course. The wording of their Judgment
is identical with that which they had
issued a couple of weeks previously in
the case of the strange running at Long
champs of Toujours, where both
the Jockey and the owner, M Ed
mond Blanc, of Monte Carlo fame,
were most severely handled by an
angry crowd, and owed their escape
from A worse fate only to the assistance
If the police and mounted soldiers In
zach instance the stewards declared that
they had failed to secure sufficient proof
of the existence Of fraudulent manoeuv-
res" While the general public has been
loud in the denunciation of the
undecided tone of the report, on the
ground that it contained no definite pro-
annexation as to the guilt or she limo
cence of the parties concerned, those
who possess any inside acquaintance
with modern racing and of the
turf methods of the present epoch
will be the first TO recognize that the
stewards had no other course open to
them, 1t is almost impossible NOWADAYS
to bring home to any stable or to any
owner of race-hOrses charges of unfair
dealing no matter how loud and positive
the voice of popular accusation, nor how
great the moral certainty of guilt, so
many are the forms of crookedness and
tricks that enable INSCRIPTIONS race
~, - 81
public and yet which cannot be definitely
proven. They are, as rule, of rela-
lively recent origin. and in Europe
at any rate, date from the
time when the turf ceased to be re-
striCted TO the aristocracy and TO the
gentry, who regarded racing from a
purely sporting point of view, and was
overrun by the masses, who consider it
solely as a means of gambling and of
speculation. 1t is for the most part no
longer an amusement or u sport, but
merely a business transaction. The
questionable methods and sharp practices
Of the bOurse have actually invaded tn
racing stables, which are now, alas, in
many instances no longer the property of
territorial magnates and great mobiles,
but of stockholders, traders and even of
persons who own and run gambling hells.
brief description of some of these
trickeries of the European turf of the
present day may perhaps be of interest
TO the reader, who like all good Ameri-
cans, has, am sure, a very warm corner
in his heart for everything pertaining to
sport. The same practices may prevail
on this side of the ocean, am quite in
dark about the turf here-but at any rate
my remarks may tend to show the trans
atlantic frequenter of old-world race
courses to what an extent everything con
nected with the alleged trial of speed is
cut and dried in advance.
Thus favorite form of triCkery which
is, perhaps, unjustly ascribed by popular
report to NJ. Michel Ephrussi in conpec-
ton with the victory of his horse Gospo-
dar at the french derby. is to have the
favorite of the stable entered for saw. the
"Poule des PrOduits, " taxing place two or
three weeks prior to the date fixed for the
Chantilly derby or the Grand Prix. Any
former successes that the nag may have
had are made the most of; its qualities
Wanted in every possible way, and the
fact proclaimed that one of the crack
English Jockeys has been engaged to ride
II III the race. Instead, how
ever, of being subjected to strict
training and plenty of exercise, it
only has short canter now and then,
while two days before the event il. is al
lowed TO eat its fill of clover. The result
is that the horse is as limp as rag when
the "POue des Produitf' comes off and
famous Jockey, finishes among the last,
running, in the words of its rider, like a
perfect calf" The general public, which
has laid its money on the favorite having
lost heavily, goes home convinced that
the horse has developed bad qualities
and firmly determines never to risk any
thing upon il in future The owner and
his friends experience, therefore, no diff
Guilty in booking any number of
bets and obtaining heavy odds
against the horse winning at Chan
ully or the Grand Prix. When, after
being plentifully worked every day during
the intervening fortnight and iudiciously
fed on oats instead of green stuff, the
morse, after secret satisfactory trials,
WINS hands down, the public begins to
suspect that there is something wrong,
and sometimes gives vent to its senti-
ments by endeavoring to subject the
owner, trainer and Jockey to much the
same treatment as that accorded TO WEIGH
ers on the English turf. This form of
crOokedness is, of course, one of the most
dlncult acts to bring home TO any stable,
ana consequently it is pretty frequently
INDUCED in on the race courses of France,
Germany and even of England
NJ Edmond Blancs mobbing at Long
champs was due to his horse Tou ours
having broken away out of the race
course; favorite method of throwing a
race, and one which the race going public
might consider as being due TO pure acct
Cent were it not too often repeated. NJ.
Blanc'S stable although one of the finest
IN France, enjoys an unenyiable reputa-
ton in this respect. His methods are the
reverse of popular. The public has no
confidence in them, and the sentiments
that generally prevail with regard there
70 we're wittily expressed by Henri
kochefort. who, in response to an inquiry
as to what could possibly have induced
PRESIDENT Grevy (actiug on the nom
nation of his son-in-law, NJ. Daniel Will
som TO confer the Cross of the Legion Of
Honor upon M. Edmond Blanc, remarked
unkndly:
oh, c'est pour avoir arrete un chevalr'
ITS for having stopped that is pulled
AT Brussels last winter the Jockey
Club made the discovery that the running
Oh every race was arranged in advance by
Ihe six or eight principal jockeys of the
belgian turf who formed kind of syndi-
cate and were wont TO meet on the even
ing before each race day at an English
tavern in the neighborhood Of the
Northern railroad terminus for the pur-
pose Of deciding who were to win As
Ihey were the leading Jockeys, and as
such had the hest ruoilntE the ma ter was