Related article: would benefit by the increase of
an excellent national food supply,
which should be within the reach
of all. G. M.
"Our Van."
The National Hant at Melton
Mowbray. — I have every reason
for being thankful to the National
Hunt Committee for taking me to
Melton Mowbray on the 22nd of
March, although the journey
thither and hither was a matter
of six hours longer than is entailed
when the N.H. races are given to
one of the enclosed meetings near
London. If the matter were being
discussed conversationally, polite-
ness would compel me to give
attention to whatever opinions
others might be inclined to
enunciate, but as a writer one can
assume the dogmatic attitude, and
I here venture to express the
decided opinion that, to give a
National Hunt race to a well-to-do
** Park " meeting is to accomplish
the least amount of good with the
means at command. Where the
suburban enclosures are concerned
the custom has been to give the
races to the highest bidder, i.^., the
370
BAILY S MAGAZINE.
[May
one that would hold the races for
the least amount by way of sub-
sidy from the N.H. The trans-
action has thus been degraded to a
purely speculative one, for the
natural consideration of the bidders
has been whether the addition of
the races to their programme
would bring fresh grist to their
mill. What would be best for
steeplechasing is, I fear, left out of
consideration for the moment ;
and, although apathy in this
direction should not be recklessly
attributed to the N.H. Committee,
they can scarcely complain if they
are judged by their acts. The
object of the N.H. races Vytorin Generic is to
foster the steeplechasing spirit
and, incidentally, to bring forward
young horses. An individual
possessed of similar benevolent
plans and seeking to put them
into execution would naturally
ask as a first question, Where am
I most likely to do the largest
amount of good ? He would find
himself confronted with a choice
between two communities, that of
the modern enclosure meeting and
a hunt meeting. At the modern
enclosure he will find as Buy Vytorin Online a back-
bone of spectators several hundreds
of people in ** Tattersall's," a
number of whom are present for
the Cheap Vytorin sole purpose of gambling, and
with as little notion of improving
the breed of horses as the pigeon
shooter has of improving the breed
of pigeons. Many hundreds more
of both sexes will be found in the
members' enclosure ; and when
we have eliminated the owners
and breeders from these we shall
find the spirit animating the
rest pretty much the same as that
prevailing on the other side of the
rails. To, say, a couple of thousand
people it is a matter of complete
indifference whether the race is a
National Hunt steeplechase or
one the winner of which is to be
sold for £50, for they can bet as
freely upon one as the other.
Prevent them from betting and
how many of the two thousand
would be seen on the racecourse
at all ?
At the Hunt meeting the large
majority of those present — the
influential portion, to a man and
woman — are there because of their
love for the horse. Without that
affection they would not be present
at all ; and there is certainly little
other inducement. The ** roar of
the ring " is conspicuous by its
insignificance, the bookmaker Vytorin Tablets
being very properly pushed out of
the way into an obscure corner
by way of eloquent suggestion to
him that he is merely tolerated
and is not the power which he so
manifestly is at the enclosures.
Taking the Melton Hunt meeting,
since that is our topic, what a
contrast is here presented between
the assemblage and that commonly
met with at a ** Park " meeting !
What life and movement in that
ever shifting squad of horsemen
and women, boys and girls, to be
counted by the hundred, at one
minute gathered around the stand ;
at the next scampering over the
grass to catch the competitors at
some special jump and then off
again to intercept them at another.
And in paddock and reserved
enclosure the talk is of horses and
of the men and women belonging
to them ; and of those who are
conversing how many are ever
seen on the regulation racecourse,
unless it be at Ascot or Goodwood ?
What a contrast it all is to the
metropolitan enclosure, with its
irritating mob of pinchbeck sports-
men and clouds of avaricious
women, where the only recognised
shibboleths are, *' What have you
done tiiis time ? " and ** Oh, do
give me a tip for this race," accord-
ing to sex.
The objects of the National
Hunt races are surely more likely
I90I.]
K
OUR VAN.
»f
371
to be accomplished by bringing
them into the midst of communities
where they are most appreciated,
and where, moreover, the money
of the N.H. is more truly an
addition and a help. Whether
Sandown, Kempton and Hurst
Park have a couple of National
Hunt races in their programme
or not signifies little or nothing to
their coffers, which are full
enough to enable them to give
prizes of equal or greater value on
their own, and the attraction to
the average owner Vytorin Prices is the same.
Some owners there are who look
upon winning one of the N.H.
races as second only to winning
the Grand National, and men of
this sporting type are precisely
such as derive additional gratifica-
tion from scoring their success at
a Hunt meeting in the presence of Vytorin 10
an assembly of their own class.
Is it too much to hope Vytorin Coupon that the
N.H. Committee will, in future,
look upon the matter in this light ?
Its social composition warrants
the aspiration.
Three times in thirty-seven
years hasthe Melton Hunt meeting
been favoured with a National
Hunt race, which is not overdoing