THE WORLD OF SPORT.

[From Our Specui* CoraiBSPONPUNTa.] LONDON, Jtily 3.

THE TURF.

RACING IN FRANCE.

Many Englishmen who are concerned with, racing have (our correspondent, "Centaur," writes) been keenly interested in the race for the Grand Prix do Paris, which was decided on Sundav last, at Longchamp, that lovely course in the Bois de Boulogne, 'there were many preseno to see what happily proved to bo ono of tho finest races witnessed on any racecourse lor many vears. Moreover, why should not English breeders and owners bo much concerned with this particular event r" It is one of the few important I rench races open to any country. In this, ot course, it differs from the I rench Derby, in which English horses are I not allowed to compete, though, as is penerallv well known, the French are i always welcome at Epsom for our own Derh'v. It is otherwise, as has been j remarked, where the Grand Prix is concerned, and certainly it attracts our breeders, as mav be gathered from the fact that for the event decided last Sundav there were originally no fewer than 94 entries made in England I he total entrv was between 500 and 600, and the value to the winner was little short of £15.000. This, of course, makes the brand Prix the richest race.in the world, and tho nearest approach to it m England is the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park, which last year was worth between £SOOO and-*£9ooo .to Mr August Belmont, who.was successful with tracery. The city of Pans guarantees £IO,OOO towards the gross value of the prise-money, which can bo put at something like £16,000. For, apart from the big sum earned by the winner, the second and third horses get substantial amounts, and there are j also various breeding grants. Alto-, aether therefore, it is a truly wonderful'race, and has undoubtedly done a great deal in encouraging the breeding of tho thoroughbred in France. . Unfortunately tor its international aspect there was no candidate to represerit England on this occasion. The last time an English horse won was in 1906 when the Derby winner. Spearmint, was successful. This year our Derbv winner was the French bred Duiv bar, who was included in last Sunday s field. There was certainly some curiosity to see how ho would shape;, .although in the interval be bad been beaten for the French Derby by Sardanapale. ' ■ A rich man. in Baron Maurice de Rothschild, won the richest race, and it was this .horse Sardanapale that enable him to add the, distinguished honours «of the Grand Prix to those of the Derby. And what a race it was—so thrilling in its closing stages, and so eminently satisfactory in what it yielded! Only those who were actual witnesses can realise the intense nature of the struggle that developed to a grand climax between Sardanapale and Baron Edouard de Rothschild's La Farina. On. an .earlier occasion this year the latter had defeated Sardanapale, and in, consequence there was a sharp division of opinion in France as to which would prevail. Thus there was only a shade of difference between them in the betting on tho Pari Mutual, tho preference resting with Sardariagale. This long drawn out battle began over half a mile from home when Sardanapale-drew tip-to La" Farina who to this point had made all the running. From -that moment every yard was doggedly contested, the jockeys Stern an<FO'Neill giving a brilliant display, and- stamping themselves as quite the finest jockeys in Europe at the present time. It was only in the last hundred yards"that La. Farina was mastered, SardanapaleV supremacy being demonstrated to the extent of a neok. • Four lengths "away, Durbar was third, a fact which suggests that the English three-year-olds' are poor by comparison, though it is as well to remember that the race for the Derby at Epsom was a fiasco owing to the complete failure of the start. Sardanapale is a better looking horse than La Farina, the latterbeing light > and narrow while the other one has ,a lot of substance." He is by Prestige, a great horse in his day in France, for. in the seasons 1905 and 1906 ,he. ran sixteen times and was never beaten. ENGLISH RACING. Coming now to English racing again, it has to be noted that at Sandown Park the chief-race, the Sandringham Foal- Stakes, was marked by another most expensive failure on the part of Mr J. B.; Joel's horse, Happy Warrior. When this horse was 'surprisingly beaten for the St James's Palace Stakes at Ascot, it was said that the owner had the enormous sum of £IO,OOO on him._ He was-again an odds-on favourite,, and could not gain a place. Either his able trainer, C. Morion, has made.a very big mistake or the horse will not reproduce his capabilities-on a racecourse. The race I am referring to was won for Mr W. M. Singer by his good horse Sir Eager, who beat Lanius, the best three-year-old apparently in Mr Gilpin's stable. The first of the extremely pleasant and informal July meetings at Newmarket opened on Tuesday, being honoured, with the presence of the King. His Majesty was suitably dressed for the weather, which was" simply tremendously hot. On this course, however, the saving grace is the stately plantation, which affords a cool and grateful shade. Society men in white flannels- and duoks, and the ladies in the "irreducible minimum" of garments, gathered under these trees, only emerging to watch some fairlv interesting racing. One of the events on the opening day was the July Stakes, perhaps the oldest race for two-year-olds in the country- Some famous horses, ha ve. won it in the past, but. the last winner subsequently to win the Derby was Lord Rosebery's Cicero in 1904. This year there were only four runners, of whom Mr Bassett's" Roseland so completely dwarfed the others in point of merit as to be made a long odds-on favourite. He won in a cantor by sis lengths, and this son of William the Third is unquestionably one of the best young horses of the season. . Others are Lady Josephine and King Priam, both Ascot winners. Roseland is not the only high-class two-year-old at this Newniarket meeting. , At Ascot he had just failed to give 71b to Colonel Hall Walker's debutant. Let Fly, a handsome eon of White Eagle, who now came out again to win the Exeter Stakes. He bad not a big task, but he won in such immacu-late-fashion as. to suggest ho must be right among the top class. Another smart-two-year-old winner nt the meeting is Security, who won the Brocklesby Stakes, in the first week of the season, for Lord Villiers. She still retains her form, as she showed by taking the Stud Produce Stakes. Many young horses that win early in the season train right off. and are never heard of again. For the second year in succession Santair won the Duke of Cambride's Handicap -—a.£looo mile race. This is an enormous horse, and it might be imagined that ho is unsuited by hard going, but he just- revels in it, and after a pretty finish he defeated Mr George Edwardes's Drinmore by a neck. . Of course the event of. the third day was the success of Lord Oadogan's The Grxrragh, in the Princess of Wales's Stakes, a mile and a half event that •was once of a nominal value of £IO,OOO. It is still a valuable race,_ and some famous horses have won it in the pastTile Curragh had not much to beat, and he- won by a neck from his _ Majesty's Brakespnar, who was receiving 51b less than weight for age. He had no cliance of winning at this margin, but he ran well, notwithstanding..' 'Only one other event need be mentioned. Golden Sun won the 1 July Cup for "'Mr Jack Joel. This if* a

famous race for sprinters, and for the second year in succession Hornet's Beauty was beaten by one of Mr Joel's. That horse is on the down grade, as he did not even run into a place.