THE L. S. D. OF THE TURF.

I.

The question of greatest importance in connection with horse-racing is—does it pay? Does it pay to breed horses or buy expensive yearlings, and run them merely for the stakes which can be won? Certainly not! The race-horses of the period are mostly used for gambling with, and, on the average, do not earn in stakes enough money to pay trainers' bills and miscellaneous expenses. It is chiefly as factors in the "great game" that "yearlings" bring those extraordinary prices so often chronicled. Horses of utility do not fetch sensational sums as yearlings. Some of the animals, however, which bring small prices at the yearling sales may, if thought suitable, be bought for hunters, or for the use of ladies. Messrs. Sangers, of Astley's, have before now bought horses of choice strains of blood to perform in their circus.

How can horses which cost two thousand pounds and upwards be made to pay, except by betting? When an animal is not quite good enough to figure as a Derby or Cup horse, he may, as the phrase goes, be "bottled up" and kept to win a large sum of money in a big handicap. That is the way some men manage to make their horses pay; but even that plan is precarious, so many are playing the same game. As to winning money on the turf without betting, it has been shown that, with the aggregate expenses at double the sum which can be won, it is, as a rule, impossible. The majority of those now running horses on the turf are simply gamblers, many of them having gone into the business on a large scale.

A round dozen of the most enthusiastic supporters of racing, it is said, do not bet, but are said to breed and run horses for their own pleasure; but among the many who have registered their colours will there be a dozen? Mr. Houldsworth is one, and Lord Falmouth was another. His lordship is reputed to have once betted with and lost a sixpence to a lady—the wife of his trainer, in fact—to whom the coin was in due time presented, set in a brooch, and surrounded with costly gems.

It has often been observed, as a curious feature of the racing world, that the horses of gentlemen who do not themselves bet become at times more prominent in the turf market than the animals of those who bet heavily themselves, either in propriâ personâ, or by the aid of a commissioner! How comes that? It is probably because the owner does not bet that the public, believing in his bona fides, and that his horses will run on their merits, and independent of all betting considerations, rush into the market, and by largely supporting them, bring them to what is called a short price. Still the horses of some reputed non-bettors often figure in the quotations of the turf market in a rather suspicious way, just as if they had been given over to a clique of bookmakers to do with them whatever they pleased. That most of the gentlemen who keep race-horses use them as instruments of gambling, has been often made manifest to those who can read the signs of the times. Instances of such being the case are daily thrust upon us.

It is somewhat difficult to make up an accurate account of the finance incidental to horse-racing; but by way of providing means of argument and illustration in that department of turf economy, we can take stock—it can only, however, be done in a rough-and-ready way—of the number and value of horses at present used in breeding and racing. The cost of maintaining and running these animals may then be estimated, and the interest on the money paid for them can be calculated, and the figures then obtained will give the best idea that can be formulated of the cost of the sport. Stakes run for and won can be subtracted, and the balance exhibited will form profit or loss, as the case may be.

According to "Ruff's Guide to the Turf," the money won by horses running under Newmarket rules, in 1889, amounted to £480,889 18s., and if for illustrative purposes the sum won by steeple-chasing and hurdle-racing be set down at the modest amount of £20,000, we thus obtain a grand total of half a million sterling. As a rule, the money won in racing is that of the gentlemen whose horses run for it. With the bright exception of Ascot, can a meeting be named that gives twenty-five or thirty per cent. of its drawings to the men who supply the horses? Who finds all, or, at all events, say seven-eighths of the money for the leviathan stakes now becoming so marked a feature of the racing of the period? The gentlemen, of course! As a matter of fact, it may be said that a hundred or two hundred gentlemen place a large sum of money in a pool, that one of their number may win it in a race which tens of thousands of people pay money to see run. In plain language, these gentlemen contribute say £10,000 to a particular race, in order that speculators, who have formed a racecourse and erected a grand stand and numerous refreshment bars, may make as much as the winner; the rent of the racecourse and the wages of the employés being deducted, the profit derived from the venture must still be enormous, and might as well find its way into the pockets of those who supply the horses and the stakes.

"Owners," as is well known, provide in reality most of the so-called "added money," while in the classic races, namely, the Two Thousand Guineas, the Oaks, Derby, and St. Leger, it is simply their own money which the patrons of these stakes run for. In such contests as the Derby and St. Leger, as many as one hundred and eighty or two hundred horses may be entered. As only one animal can win, the owner of the horse which accomplishes the feat is paid by the gentlemen whose horses prove unsuccessful; and were it not that so much gambling can be accomplished by making the matter dependent on a race between a few horses, the persons interested might, as has been said, toss up a copper to determine the result! Of the horses entered as yearlings for the classic events, how many will be found at the starting-post on the day of the race? Probably nine or ten on the average, or, at the most, fourteen.

Yearlings? These baby horses often turn out dire failures! An animal costing £2,000 may never win a race! One or two horses, which cost large sums of money, are at this moment probably travelling the country as "sires" at merely nominal fees. On the other hand, a horse which proves successful on the turf attains greater value with each new success it achieves, and at length, like Doncaster and Springfield, it may come to be "worth its weight in gold." "Yearlings" said the late Mr. Merry when he purchased All Heart and No Peel, afterwards known as Doncaster, "are a fearful lottery." He was right in saying so, although at the time he was drawing a prize and didn't know it—he was, in fact, for a sum of 950 gs., purchasing the Derby winner of 1873.

The following anecdote related in Parliament by Mr. Gerard Sturt is apropos: In 1825, there was a little mare which belonged to a country apothecary at Newcastle, and her vocation was to go up one street and down, whilst pills and what not were being delivered; well, this little mare of nominal value produced, in as many consecutive years, three of the best animals of their periods, namely, Rubens, Selim, and Castrel. The Deformed was purchased as a filly for £15 with her engagements in four large stakes, all of which she won! She was afterwards sold to a Captain Salt for 1,500 gs., was repurchased for a brood mare at 300 gs. and sold again for 600 gs. to the Marquis of Waterford, at whose sale she was purchased for Her Majesty's breeding stud.

II.

There are not less, so it has been computed—counting mere foals, yearlings, two, three, four, and five-year-olds, as well as sires and dams—than 10,000 horses devoted to the service of the turf. The brood mares at the stud number, on an average, 3,000, and the number of sires may be estimated at say 350; the net produce of the stud, deducting casualties of many kinds, such as barren mares, slipped foals, deaths, and exportation, may be taken as being 2,000 foals—colts and fillies—per annum. Of that number a considerable percentage never comes upon the racing scene; unfitness for the work of the turf, accidents, and death, being constant factors in determining the L. S. D. of racing. It would be curious to trace the many calamities that occur to prevent horses distinguishing themselves. Two hundred horses may be entered as yearlings for the Derby, but only about five per cent. of the number may contest a given race. Say that there are fourteen or even sixteen runners; what has become of the others? Several will have died; many after being trained will be found to have no chance; and not unlikely several of those entered may be found in the shafts of a cab. Some foals of last year, for instance, may ultimately be trained as horses for ladies; others may be drafted to the hunting-field or to the circus, whilst not a few may ultimately find their way to tramway stables. Many a time and oft has a high-bred horse changed hands for a twenty-pound note.

In forming an estimate of the value of the racing stock of the period, the price paid for the yearlings which change hands at the public sales must first of all be noted. In 1889, according to "Ruff," 851 of these baby horses were purchased at prices varying from 4,000 gs. to 8 gs. During the last twenty years large numbers of yearlings have changed hands at big prices, one, two, and three thousand guineas being often paid in the course of a sale for animals that purchasers fancy, colts or fillies, that look as if they would, when properly trained, "make race-horses," and probably in time reward their owners by winning a few of the great prizes of the turf. Other horses, mature animals, ready-made racers, that is to say, or those suited for breeding, occasionally fetch very high prices; but it is possible for illustrative purposes to strike an average as between those which sell for thousands and those which only bring tens. It should not be an over estimate to fix upon a sum of £300 each as being the value of the 10,000 animals of all ages, from colts to matrons of mature years, which would represent a total sum of £3,000,000, the interest on which, calculated at the rate of five per cent., would amount to £150,000 per annum.

There then comes the question of the annual expenditure incurred in keeping up the various racing studs of the country. The board and lodging of a race-horse varies, according to the stable in which he is kept and the status of the trainer, from two pounds or two guineas a week to a half more than that. Of horses told off for breeding purposes, no note need be taken, as breeding is a business that is at least self-supporting, and sometimes, as in the case of Hermit, immensely profitable; nor shall foals be considered. It will be about correct to consider half of the 10,000 as being in racing trim, horses ranging from two years of age to six, and 5,000 at £156 per annum for board and lodging—including various extras, in some of the stables—represents a total sum of £780,000.

In addition to the amount paid for board and lodging, the expenses attendant on the entering of a race-horse for the different events in which its owner may desire to see it run, are very heavy. These vary exceedingly. Some proprietors are in the habit of entering their animals in from half-a-dozen to twenty races, the forfeits in which for non-runners range from perhaps five to twenty-five pounds. It is not an easy matter to fix upon a figure that may be taken fairly as representative of these forfeits; but if ten pounds per horse be fixed upon for the whole 5,000, it will be much within, certainly not over the mark. A sum of £50,000 would thus be added to the account of outlays.

The travelling expenses of trainers and stable attendants when in charge of horses, and the fees paid to the boys who ride them, form an important item in the cost of a racing stud. Many horses in the course of a season will be taken to eight or ten meetings, some of which are situated a few hundred miles from the training quarters of the horses. The only mode by which an illustrative sum can be arrived at, is by adopting an average; some horses will cost over a hundred pounds a year for railway travelling and other expenses, including the fees paid to the jockeys who ride them in their races, and if a sum of £25 per annum be placed against each of the 5,000 horses assumed to be taking, at present, an active part in the sport of kings, in name of travelling and miscellaneous expenses, it gives a total of £125,000.

A recapitulation of these figures gives the following result:

Interest on capital sunk in race-horses £150,000

Cost of keeping horses 780,000

Amounts paid in entries and forfeits 50,000

Travelling and other expenses 125,000

——————

Making a grand total of £1,105,000

It becomes apparent, then, that the sum of £1,105,000 ought to be obtained every year in stakes, to recoup gentlemen and others engaged in the pastime of horse-racing for the outlays they make. But no such sum has ever been realised, and, in consequence, gambling has to be resorted to to provide the difference; hence that extensive betting, which is the most remarkable feature of the turf. The preceding figures are given with the view of illustrating the proposition that horse-racing, except in rare cases, cannot be made to pay. It happens every season, that one or two owners are so fortunate as to win from £10,000 to £20,000 in stakes—they may even experience a run of good fortune during three or four consecutive years, and, after all, the game may not have paid them, or done more than make ends meet. No matter the good fortune that may attend individuals, it is, as has been demonstrated, an undoubted fact that the cost of racing in any one year is far beyond the total amount which can be won.

The foregoing facts and figures must not be taken for more than they are worth, they are simply offered as being more or less illustrative of the L. S. D. of horse-racing, and the simplest methods of illustration have been resorted to. Columns of figures on the subject might have been given for the inspection of the reader; but probably the mode adopted will give a better idea of the L. S. D. of the turf (betting excepted), and the facts briefly stated may make a more lasting impression than a more formal statement would do.

What must be kept well in mind in connection with racing finance, is the great fact that the money expended is not hid away in a napkin, but is circulated. Stables and stores have to be built or extended, hay and corn has to be provided for the horses, the lads who groom them and ride them at exercise have to be paid, so have the fees of the jockeys who ride them; travelling expenses of horses, trainers, and jockeys help to swell railway receipts, and to augment the dividends of not a few who look with horror on the turf and the ways of life of those connected with it.

It has been calculated, for instance, that no less than £120,000 will be expended on the Derby Day by visitors to London and Epsom in travelling and personal expenses (i.e., eating and drinking), and there are at least 250 days in every year on which large sums are spent in the same direction. Travelling, hotel expenses, and entrance to race grounds soon take the corners off a ten-pound note, and there are thousands at that kind of work nearly all the year round. It has also been "calculated" that, in all probability, ten thousand persons are employed in various capacities in direct connection with racing, in stables, on stud farms, etc.; and if men and boys be set down as earning over-head, including board and lodging, £1 a week all the year round, the sum so expended will exceed half a million sterling.

III.

The following brief résumé of the yearling sales of 1889-90 will give readers a good illustration of the prices referred to in the preceding pages:

Recent sales almost indicate a return of the sensational prices which were the rule a good many years ago, when baby blood stock seemed to many buyers worth "thousands upon thousands"; very fair averages have at all events been obtained, and in one or two individual cases, big prices were the order of the day. The number of yearlings of both sexes which changed hands throughout the season of 1889, ending about the middle of October, was 662, the produce of 189 different sires. The average reached was, as near as possible, 300 gs., the total sum realised, by public sales in that year being 195,358 gs.

The figures which follow will afford a means of comparing the average prices obtained for yearlings sold during the seven years ending with 1890

1884 ... 544 Yearlings ... Average of 268 gs.

1885 ... 524 " ... " 257 "

1886 ... 521 " ... " 215 "

1887 ... 639 " ... " 200 "

1888 ... 592 " ... " 151 "

1889 ... 662 " ... " 300 "

1890 ... 454 " ... " 362 "

The price of 1889, it may be mentioned before going further, was 4,000 gs., paid by Colonel North for a colt by St. Simon, out of Garonne. Four colts by St. Simon changed hands at the very excellent average of 2,150 gs., but the distinction of yielding the highest average belongs to Isonomy, five colts of that celebrated sire fetching the splendid total of 11,880 gs.

Giving precedence to "Her Majesty's yearlings," we find that a lot of twenty-seven came to the hammer, three of which changed hands for 5,000 gs., one of the number, according to "Ruff," passing to Colonel North at a cost of 3,000 gs., a brown colt by Hampton, out of Landend. In the same lot was a chestnut colt by Bend Or, which brought only a hundred short of these figures, and there was a Springfield, which brought 50 gs. more than the Bend Or yearling; other four passed out of the Royal paddocks at Bushey Park for 1,640 gs., so that Her Majesty's breeding establishment must, in 1889, have earned such a handsome profit, as may help to reconcile Parliamentary economists to the continuance of the Royal Stud.

Coming now to individual sires, the figures show that Hermit, or, at all events, Blankney, maintained a good place, although his average exhibited a great falling-off when compared with some former years. It, however, reached 921 gs. for each of six yearlings, which is better than the return shown in the previous year, which gave an average of 700 gs. for five. One yearling, by Hermit or Galopin, is put down in the list of sales as having brought a sum of 1,950 gs. sterling. One prolific sire is credited with an average of 464 gs., for sixteen yearlings: St. Gatien, the property of Mr. John Hammond, contributed two of his "get" to the year's sales, at the price of 910 gs., a fair commencement. The Springfields (seven) changed hands at good quotations, making an average of 443 gs. Zenophon has five yearlings to his credit, and Wisdom double that number. The average of the latter horse's yearlings was 801 gs., and of those of the former 504 gs. respectively.

The highest price obtained has been stated above, 4,000 gs., the lowest may now be chronicled; it was 8 gs. for a foal by Savoyard out of Bohemian Girl. The heaviest individual buyer of yearlings throughout the season, and other blood stock, was Colonel North, who would require to write a big cheque in order to square his account. As is shown by the table, the sales have been very good both as regards individual prices, and the average, which as can be seen is more than double that of the year 1888, and considerably above that of 1884, which was thought excellent at the time. Six of the lots brought to the hammer in 1890 realised averages of from £445 to £928. Mr. Snarry's three produced the splendid return of £3,771; one of his, indeed, topped the list in 1888, and fetched the very handsome figure of £2,800, whilst three others which changed hands, did so to the tune of £2,600 each; in 1887, the big figure of 3,000 gs. was obtained for one colt, whilst a series of good prices were got for a few of the other yearlings.

Some excellent prices were made during the yearling sales of 1890. The Royal foals in particular were in great demand. The twenty colts which changed hands produced the handsome total of about 13,820 gs., which represents a high average; one of the number alone, however, fetched 5,500 gs. Others also brought good prices; large sums for individual yearlings was the rule, close upon sixty animals being knocked down at prices ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 gs., which must have recalled old times and prices to the memories of many racing men, whilst the names of the buyers would probably bring back to very many now on the turf recollections of the Hastings' era and the brave days of the Middle Park sales. The filly by St. Simon, which cost Baron Hirsch 5,500 gs. at the Queen's sale, represents in interest alone for the money expended, an annual sum at five per cent. of pretty nearly £300. A chestnut colt, by Sterling, cost Mr. D. Baird 2,000 gs. Lord Dudley, among his other purchases, gave 3,000 gs. for a colt and filly respectively; at another sale the same nobleman paid 2,100 gs. for a brown filly by Paradox, out of Wheatsheaf.

It would take up too much space to enumerate all the individual sales of the season at big prices; but it may be mentioned that one of the yearlings bought by Mr. Maple cost that gentleman the sum of 4,000 gs. Another big price was 3,100 gs. paid by Mr. Daly for a Springfield colt, which is 100 gs. less than was given by Colonel North for a St. Simon filly. Mr. H. Bass also figured among the buyers of high-priced yearlings, one of which, a Sterling filly, cost him 3,000 gs.; and, summing up these figures, we find that seven of the yearlings which changed hands at the summer sales, realised a total of 24,000 gs.

Some excellent averages were obtained at Bushey Park, for instance (Her Majesty's), where three yearlings only made less than 100 gs. The Yardley Stud yearlings (first lot) were sold at good figures; only one of the fifteen made less than a hundred, whilst one animal brought as much as 2,000 gs. In the second lot of fourteen was included Mr. Bass's cheque of 3,000 gs. The figures realised by the Park Paddock animals were as follows: 120, 730, 1,050, 300, 3,000, 1,050, and 2,100 gs. Other sales might be pointed to at which fine averages were also obtained, such as that of the Leybourne Grange yearlings, at which the lowest price realised was 120 gs., the highest sum obtained being 700 gs., the total amount given for the twelve lots being 4,460 gs. The lots put up by the Waresley Stud, as also by Mr. Beddington and Mr. Hoole, also brought good figures.

It would serve no good purpose to continue the analysis, but it may be stated that, in the course of 1890, 654 yearlings of both sexes were exposed for sale at the average price of about 362 gs., the total sum realised for the season's sales being 236,608 gs. The two sires which stand out with prominence are St. Simon, with an average for nine of 2,150 gs., and Ormonde, for two, with an average of 2,000 gs. The highest price obtained for any one of the yearlings has already been chronicled; the lowest sum realised, it may be stated, was 11 gs.

The foregoing statistics will serve to show that the breeding of blood stock is profitable, and that there is still a demand for good strains of blood, for which big sums of money are never grudged, although it is exceedingly rare to find the more expensive purchases showing to advantage on the racecourses of the kingdom.

It is somewhat pitiful, or, it may be said, painful, to find men—and among them members of Parliament—crying, more or less loudly, "down with sport." Such persons assuredly know not what they say, seeing that "sport" provides thousands of families every year with food, raiment, and habitation; the money usually expended on the up-keep of race-horses and hunters being largely distributed among those who are generally termed the "working classes." With regard to the cost of sport on the turf, it must be kept in view that the interest accruing on the prices paid for the animals amounts in itself to a large sum annually.

Take, by way of example, the sums expended by one gentleman in the purchase of blood stock, and let us call the amount £10,000; that of itself means £500 per annum, for which it is just possible he may never see any return, and have the keep of the horses, the entries, travelling expenses for trainer and grooms, and jockeys' fees to pay, a class of expenditure that may certainly be averaged at not less than £300 per annum for each animal.

As to the cry, which has been already referred to, of "down with sport," it is most unjust, and is probably seen to be so, even by the more ignorant of those to whom it was first addressed. "Down with sport," would mean the loss of daily bread to thousands who are employed in stables and in agriculture. Training stables cannot be built without masons, carpenters, and other workmen. Horse clothes employ our weavers, and harness-making gives remunerative employment to hundreds. The farrier in his forge feels all the better for there being 10,000 race-horses in the country, helpers in stables do not go without clothes, and racing grooms and jockeys will annually require, at least, 15,000 suits. Horses are fed on the best of oats and hay, and to provide this forage, two or three thousand persons will contribute a share of their labour. Important race meetings attract myriads of spectators, and so our railways flourish, and our hotel-keepers and their servants thrive. Over one million sterling is earned every year by servants and others who are dependent on the great national pastime of horse-racing. I am taking, in the foregoing remarks, sport as I find it. Some people will say that the oats eaten by horses would be better if given to men as food; but that mode of argument can be made to go in a circle. Men must have recreation, and nothing will prevent them picking out the pastime they like best. So much for the cry of "down with sport."