The sun., 1916-10-01
HARSH RULES SPOIL
RAGING IN FRANCE
Can't Be Held on Sunday. No
Outsiders Allowed to At
tend Meetings.
sp.cia, Coresposdence 10 Tnr srs

PARIS. Sept. l6.-Whcn the Minister
of Agriculture reluctantly gave a 70
the pressure brought upon him by the
Society for the Encouragement OF Horse
Breeding. which controls horse racing In
France, and permitted horse racing TO
be resumed he laid down such strict
conditions that the meetings could
hardly he called races.
They were not to be held on Sunday.
the t~avorite day for racing In France I:
they we're to take place in the morning.
there was to be no betting and nobody
was TO be present except n and rep
resentatives of sporting papers beyond
the trainers. Jockeys and necessary
grooms OF the horses engaged.
Three race tracks were selected. all
situated far from any big town. Caen.
in Normandy, had the honor of being the
first track TO initiate this new form OF
racing. Four meetings were held this
week and -four more will be held next.
The eagerness 10 test horses which had
lone nothing-cxcept for those which
went TO San Sebastian-is shown by the
fact that no less tnan eco entries were
received for the frs; four days.
Seven races were held each day. tho
ItlLfF w PV'V ~ No'VN 'i''
totaliing s37. 200. W. X. Vanderbilt
carried off eight frsts. $4,000 in all,
which included the only $4,000 prize and
five OF the seven $1,000. On Tuesday lie
did the hat trick. winning three consec-
utlye races. each worth $1,000, At the
end Of the meeting he gave $4,000 to
the Count d.. ~iiarois. another owner. for
the National Assistance TO Wounded So
clety and $1,000 for the wounded at
Caen. leaving his net winnings $4,000.
The number OF spectators present
never exceeded 400. although "A few at
tempts were made to swell IL BY I'M
authorized persons VINO tried 10 enter.
They were quickly elected. As might be
expected, II demand Is already being
made to relax the strictness Of the regu-
la,iuns, ii being proposed that at least
possible buyers might be added to those
qualified to attend.
The censorship has added the only
touch Of gayety that these race meetings
have enjoyed. The order "a sent out
to the press that the word courses
(raccs) must not appear In accounts OF
the caen meeting, the only word admis-
sible being "epreuve," or test"
The censorship evidently was unwill-
ing that the idea that France In tho
mid.t OF Cts He or death struggle should
" A's'l I''i 90 'i'J' w = ''A'
certainly races under the prescribed con
di,ions hardly correspond 10 the idea
suggested by the word,
The races AZ San Sebastian had al
ready disturbed the oquanimtty OF the
French authorities. D~ookmakers were
allowed ut these meetings as well as the
pari-mutucl. The French newspapers
naturally gave the fun results Of the San
Sebastian races, with the pari-mutuel
payments for each winner. II was then
found that much money was being bet
In France Oh the Spanish races and that
clandestinc parl-mutuels were being run.
payment being made at the saine rate as
that reported from San Sebastian.
The French newspapers were then told
not TO publish the programmes, prognos-
tics or results. Two days later the re-
suits wcr" allowed to hc given, but not
the betting, only two papers disoheyed
orders and printed Races NJ Caop.''
Most ~ the others used Selection Tests
at ,aen,' one using the English word
Meeting AT Cacn" and another the
phrase "Iiipp'' Meeting az Cacn,' hut
many left a blank aud their headline
ran The --- At Caen."