ABOUT THE JOCKEY CLUB.

I.

Although many sketches descriptive of the Jockey Club, its members and stewards, have from time to time made their appearance in sporting journals, no consecutive history of that institution has yet been published; and even were all the dribblets of information about it which have percolated through the press added together, the result would be rather bald. Till the Club itself shall put forth an account of its history, or allow some credible historian access to its archives with the view of placing before the public a full narrative of its origin and its ways and work, as also an account of the men who originated it and those who have carried it on, I despair of ever knowing more of it than I do at present. Few persons, indeed, other than those very intimately associated with the "sport of kings," know much about the interior working of what is undoubtedly the most remarkable institution of our day. Nor has it been given even to persons deeply interested in the business of the turf to ascertain with precision the varied functions of the Club, or the mechanism by which it moves. It would require the sum of knowledge possessed by perhaps a score of well-informed outsiders to make up a chronicle that would form something like a history of the institution, or supply a reliable account of its means or motives of action, or the wonderful powers with which it has endowed itself.

The Jockey Club, without being incorporated by Act of Parliament, and without any legal constitution—a self-elected body, in fact—through its stewards—a council of three—acts as a tribunal, civil and criminal, in every matter pertaining to the turf, its authority in all racing matters being acknowledged throughout the United Kingdom. From its judgments there lies no appeal, there being no higher court. No alternative remains, "obey, or depart without the pale" is the order of the day. Sinners have occasionally shown fight, and bearded the lions in their den; but, as a rule, implicit submission is given to the mandates of the club; every one having a part, however trivial, to perform in the national pastime comes under its sway. Trainers, touts, jockeys, judges, and starters, all must submit to "the stewards," whose words are law. Trainers who may drug, or boys who may pull their horses, have cause to tremble; should their sins find them out, banishment from the turf at Newmarket—the chief scene of horse-racing in England—as well as from every other racecourse in the United Kingdom, would be certain to follow. A sharp eye is now kept by the stewards on all inconsistencies of form; should an animal fail in a task to-day, and accomplish a difficult feat to-morrow, it is almost certain the "council of three" will call to account those connected with the horse and demand explanation.

As has been stated, the inner history of the Club is not as yet public property. The Jockey Club is simply of the nature of a private society, and racing authorities differ somewhat as to the time when it was instituted. One writer says it was during the reign of George II,; another tells us the Club was constituted between the years 1750 and 1760, when a few gentlemen interested in the sport of horse-racing, and who, moreover, were in the habit of riding their own horses, banded themselves together, and became founders of the tribunal which at present governs the "sport of kings." The original title to enrolment, it has been stated, was the wearing of boots and spurs. The first official mention of the Club occurs in Heber's Racing Calendar for 1758, under the heading of "Orders," given for the purpose of compelling riders to weigh when they came in from running their horses in a race, on pain of being dismissed, which order is signed by Lord March and other noblemen and gentlemen then members of the institution.

In an excellent, although brief, sketch of the history of the Club contributed to the "Badminton Library," we are told that tradition points to its origin in the year 1750, before which time the usual meeting-place for gentlemen attending Newmarket was the "Red Lion Inn," the site of which is supposed to have been on the present Station Road. In 1752, the subscription-room was built, and it may be taken for granted that the Club would then be formed, or had been formed a little time previously. It was not till the year 1770 that stewards began to be regularly appointed, and their duties defined; there were stewards, however, eight years previously, but the functions they fulfilled are not known. From its beginning, the members of the Jockey Club were persons of high social position.

Strictly speaking, the Jockey Club had no authority or power to extend or enforce the observance of their laws at any other meetings than those held at Newmarket; but it soon became evident that a uniform and general application of its rules or laws was desirable, and therefore by a sort of tacit understanding it gradually became customary for all race meetings of importance to place themselves under the laws of the Jockey Club by a general consent and acknowledgment of its authority. In many cases, however, there was a doubt respecting the extent and power of application of the said laws, and therefore, in 1831, the Jockey Club notified that their rules and orders applied to Newmarket only, but they recommended their adoption to the stewards of other races, and in places where they were publicly adopted and recognised the Jockey Club would investigate and decide on disputes submitted to them for adjudication, but not otherwise. It was also made a condition that when the question or dispute submitted originated elsewhere than at Newmarket, the statement of the case must be reduced to writing, and must be referred through or with the sanction of the stewards of the races where it happened.

I am indebted for these remarks which, so far, indicate the rise of the Jockey Club to power, to an anonymous volume published in 1863, which contains many observations on the powers and duties of the Club, and the mode in which they ought to be carried into execution, the object of the commentator being to point out how wonderful a circumstance it is that the whole racing community can be held in check by a self-constituted body. That is certainly remarkable, but is not more so than that, at every race meeting, tens of thousands of pounds sterling change hands, as it may be said, by means of a nod of the head of one person to another, neither bill nor bond being required to bind the transaction, which as a rule is honourably implemented by both parties.

What probably in the beginning most helped to give the Club that power it now exercises was its interest in Newmarket Heath. For two centuries and more Newmarket has been to trainers and jockeys what various seats of some particular industry are to the persons interested in that industry. The Jockey Club, which has no palatial London dwelling-place—having, as a matter of fact, only an office there for the transaction of business—possesses a suite of apartments at Newmarket, and holds in its own right, or by lease—chiefly the latter—all the land of the Heath now being used for the various racecourses or public training-grounds, from which it derives a large income, each horse exercised at Newmarket being charged for at the rate of five guineas per annum. Considerable sums of money are also derived from charges of admission made at various stands and enclosures pertaining to the different racecourses, and these are being multiplied by order of the Club, which seems to be fashioning racing on the Heath pretty much in the same way as if the meetings held under its auspices were gate-money meetings.

II.

The "Rules of Racing," which have for a long period given law to the turf, and the code of honour pertaining thereto which all racing men respect and obey, have been from time to time revised and made more perfect by the Jockey Club, which numbers at the present time about one hundred members, and makes itself felt through the stewards, to whom, for all practical purposes, its powers are delegated. During their period of office, to which they are nominated by their predecessors, the stewards address those who are interested in the sport of horse-racing through the official "Calendar," which is published in London by the Messrs. Weatherby, of Old Burlington Street, who may be termed the mouthpiece of the Club. In racing circles these gentlemen are much respected, one of them being "keeper of the match-book," and it would be rather difficult to say what functions connected with horse-racing they do not take part in.

Messrs. Weatherby, in addition to being, as may be said, clerks of the course for all races run over Newmarket Heath, and therefore recipients of entries, scratchings, etc., also officiate in a certain sense as bankers to a considerable number of gentlemen who own race-horses and have payments to make in connection therewith. By payment of a slight commission on such transactions as take place, gentlemen are saved the trouble which pertains to receiving stakes they may win, or of paying personally such entry-money and forfeits as may have been incurred in the races they have been entrusted by clients to enter horses in. The gentlemen likewise keep a record of sportsmen who, for various reasons, prefer to pursue their career on the turf under an assumed name; as also a register of the racing liveries or "colours" selected by owners to be worn by their jockeys, and of these about nine hundred different arrangements are annually chronicled.

Among their other duties, Messrs. Weatherby edit and print the Book and Sheet Calendars of the Jockey Club, in which race meetings are announced, entries of horses in various races published, handicaps made public, and through which the general business of racing is made known to its votaries. Nominally the head-quarters of the Club are at Newmarket, but it may be assumed that the larger portion of the business is transacted at the offices of Messrs. Weatherby, in the great metropolis.

The Jockey Club is, of course, best known through its works and the laws laid down for the government of the turf. The "Rules of Racing" are entirely the work of the Club. For the information of persons who have never been behind the scenes, these rules may be here briefly glanced at. They provide for all the contingencies which may be expected to occur during the progress of sport; these are so well provided for, indeed, that if a jockey meet with an accident or be killed at the winning-post, provision is made for his being carried to the scales to be weighed. An explicit date is set down when flat racing shall begin and end in each year. The powers bestowed on the stewards of the different race meetings throughout the country are generally defined; the gathering has to be under their direction, they must regulate the conduct of all officials and persons coming to the meeting on business—that is, trainers, jockeys, and others. The power of punishing evil-doers is vested in the stewards, who may fine or suspend any person in fault. Stewards of meetings, it is commanded in the "Rules of Racing," shall exclude from the stands, and other places under their control, every person who has been "warned off" Newmarket Heath, persons who are in the unpaid forfeit list, also every jockey suspended for corrupt practices on the turf, while as a means of ensuring good order at meetings it is ordained by the "Rules of Racing" that "the clerk of the course, or corresponding official, shall be the sole person responsible to the stewards for the general arrangement of the meeting," a clause evidently devised to bring some kind of machinery to bear for the exclusion of roughs and welshers from the racecourses of the kingdom.

The following remarks will be generally accepted as being greatly to the point: "If an individual member of the turf suffers a pecuniary wrong, it is the Jockey Club to whom he applies for redress; and should his honour be assailed, he places his reputation before the same authority for vindication. In truth, looking up as the sporting public do to this body as the chief and sovereign head of their own community for either approbation or condemnation, and with such serious obligations on their own part, and weighty and grave matters to deal with and adjudicate upon as regards others, it behoves them to be careful in their own actions, and tender in investigating and deciding upon the action of others. To have the moral right of sitting in judgment upon and deciding a question of honour with respect to others, they must themselves be beyond reproach as reflected in their own character and actions; but their verdict can never be impeached as long as in their own persons they set an example to others of high and honourable conduct."

III.

The jurisdiction of the Jockey Club will always, in my opinion, be incomplete till it accepts the responsibility of laying down the law in questions as to disputed bets, and of deciding when horses are in a race or when they are not; as, for instance, in the case of Maskelyne, about which there was a few years ago much discussion, resulting in the illogical conclusion that, although the entry of that horse was informal, and consequently inept, those who backed it were ordered by the committee of Tattersall's to pay their bets! Why should it be possible to make an informal entry of any horse for any race? Hitherto it appears to have been among the unwritten laws of the turf that any person might enter any animal he pleased in any way he liked, without let or hindrance, and any one can still do so, and thus open a wide door to fraud. To promote the interest of bookmakers possessing a dishonest turn, half-a-dozen Maskelynes might be entered for important races. Such entries, no doubt, as in the case of the horse named, may hitherto have been accidental; but in future such entries might be made all but impossible by being brought, by order of the Club, under the cognisance of some responsible official whose duty it should be to oversee all entries and check the age and breeding of the animals submitted for the various races.

With regard to bets, it is notorious that in the case of disputes a really logical decision on the merits of a case can seldom be obtained. Decisions are often given on what may be called a "sentimental" view of the subject; it would not be difficult to cull from the annals of Tattersall's a string of judgments each of which would put the other out of countenance. The committee to whom is confided the giving of a decision in a case of disputed betting is too big. A very small tribunal, always composed of the same men, the consistency of whose decisions could be watched and discussed by those interested in the purity of the turf, would act with such promptitude as would enable "quorums" to be dispensed with—the "quorum" system, indeed, might be advantageously done away with.

The unique position occupied by the Jockey Club, which has been, so far, described for the benefit of the uninitiated, is, of course, known to all interested in the business of racing. The Club, as lawgiver of the turf and as its own executive, is despotic; it makes laws and alters them at discretion; the plain truth is, it seems to be perpetually engaged in the patching of the "Rules of Racing," which have been the growth of the last seventy or eighty years, and which, instead of being occasionally patched, ought to be revised from beginning to end—or, perhaps, if they were "entirely reconstructed" it would be better. In all probability the original framework has been so patched as to be past recognition. Any person who takes the trouble to look over the "Rules of Racing," which are to be found in "Ruff" or any of the other guides to the turf, will at once see that many of them might be with advantage altogether excised. The terrible penalties against horse-watching, especially in regard to trials, might at once be removed from the statutes; as they stand they only provoke laughter; in fact they are altogether obsolete, and seem to us moderns "full of sound and fury."

The following sentences comprise the rules of racing, so far as they relate to "corrupt practices," among which will be found what is said in regard to the watching of trials: "(i.) If any person corruptly give or offer any money, share in a bet, or other benefit to any person having official duties in relation to a race or to any jockey; or (ii.) If any person having official duties in relation to a race, or any jockey, corruptly accept or offer to accept money, share in a bet, or other benefit; or (iii.) Wilfully enter or cause to be entered or to start for any race a horse which he knows to be disqualified; or (iv.) If any person be detected watching a trial, or proved to the satisfaction of the stewards of the Jockey Club to have employed any person to watch a trial, or to have obtained surreptitiously information respecting a trial from any person or persons engaged in it, or in the service of the owner as trainer of the horses tried, or respecting any horse in training from any person in such services; or (v.) If any person be guilty of any other corrupt or fraudulent practices on the turf in this or any other country; every person so offending shall be warned off Newmarket Heath and other places where these rules are in force."

These laws were evidently devised in favour of betting owners, who cared little about racing except for the opportunities afforded for gambling. During these latter years the Jockey Club has been criticised by several sporting writers with unsparing severity; various faults incident to a pastime which within the last sixty or seventy years has developed into an immense institution of the gambling order having been improperly laid at its door. The Club, or at all events the men who direct its work, are not seldom held up to the public as "anserous noodles" of the deepest dye, as "men, indeed, who could not be entrusted to groom a horse, far less to make laws for the regulation of horse-racing." Nothing comes easier to some writers when, unfortunately for the public, they are entrusted with the use of pen and ink, than abuse; but happily abuse is not argument, and no writer desirous of seeing the turf in a flourishing condition, or who is anxious to have its unsavoury surroundings eliminated, can ignore the useful work done by the Club within the last ten or twelve years, which may be assumed as the precursor of more good work to follow. What may, however, be very properly charged against the Jockey Club is that, being a dealer in racing itself, it is wrong for it to regulate the racing of other companies; it is, in reality, as if one firm of tailors were to constitute itself the supreme head of the trade, and say to all other tailors: "You shall do as I tell you; you must cut your cloth as I dictate, and sell at the price I name." The Club has in its day done much to further the interests of the turf, but much remains yet for it to do—not so much, however, in the devising of big stakes to be run on its own race-ground, but in various reforms incidental to race-running and in codifying and revising the laws of the turf.

CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.

Transcriber's Note: Obvious typographic errors have been corrected.