MID-NIGHT HORSE RACE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 269, 27 August 1935, Page 8

MID-NIGHT HORSE RACE

PARISIAN CARNIVAL. 11l honour of King George’s 25 years reign, a Jubilee Handicap, with a prize of £2BOO, was included in last months midnight races at Longchamp, Paris. It was won b-Jy Mrs iS. Guthmann’s Birmah. The course was bathed in moonlight and coloured by the glow of 10,000 lamps, which picked out the track in a double row of sparkling jewels. For hours before the opening of the fete all the roads and pathways of the Btois de Boulogne leading to the course were congested with motor and pedestrian traffic.

The President of the Republic and Mme. Lebrun, surrounded by distinguished guests, among whom was Sir George Clerk, the British Ambassador, remained in the presidential tribune until the.end of the racing. A gala dinner was served for 1000 guests, made up of the leaders of Parisian society and many well-known foreign visitors. More modest meals were enjoyed by great crowds in the public enclosures and under the trees on the outskirts of thq course. Racing was only one of the attractions. Fifteen dance orchestras played in different parts of the ground ; there were boxing contests in three rings, a vast variety of sideshows and a giant firework display to wind up the festivities.