A Day's Racing in France.

Evening Post, Volume LXIV, Issue 131, 29 November 1902, Page 9 (Supplement)

A Day's Racing in France.

The American whoee acquaintance I haa made coming down the China coast (writes Banjo Paterson in the Sydney Herald) » a very good fellow but long reodence among the Chinese had made him look upon all foreigners aa so much dirt so when we landed at Marseilles ne insisted on talking -to the French in Chinese "pidgin English," and wanted to beat them when they did not understand him. I can speak French— or at least I vscd to think I could till L went to France — and I had to do the translating, punctuated with remarks such as "Can do," "Matkee you," *'Youi take luggage topside," addressed by the American to- the gesticulating Frenchmen. He was very pleased with himself when he got the guard of the tram to change a five-franc piece for him, by his own unaided vocabulary, but he got very silent and broody when he found ' that the money which the guard gave him was all

bad. We went to the hotel wheie most? l^uglibh people, go — 'die same hotel at which theie vas nearly a riot on tho day of Krugcr's landing. It seems that, as Kruger's, procession passed, some iiaigh&h people, wiio weie staying in the hotei, threw pennies among the crowd. Now, in France, to throw coppers to any performance is the most deadly insult; instead of hissing a music-hall singer who does not please them they throw coppers ou the stage — theieby expressing thfcir valuation ot the perioiinance. As Kruger's procession passed a whole shower of coppers was thrown from this hotel. Perhaps the people who threw them did not know what they weredoing j on the other hand perhaps they did ! Anyhow, the mob broke out into uncontrollable fury, and besieged tho holcl for two hours, while the English visitors cohered inside, and ohe P. and 0 boat had to delay her departure for a long lime before the passengers could get down to t-hc wharf. But, when the American and I arrived, all the excitement and frenzy had subsided, and beyond the fact that they looked upon all English-speaking people as asKif-.sius, they did not teem to mind taking our money at all. It was a Sunday when we arrived, and Sunday is the lecogni&cd day for races and .■sports in France. A French journal informed us that there was a day's racing to be held ; so the next thing was to find out where the course was, and how to get there. With this object in, view we went to the barber's shop all the shops were wide open although it was Sunday— and in my best French I asked how one could get out to th« course. 'Ihe barber got me to repeal 1 the sentence, and then said that they hao a man in the shop who spoke German, but he was out at his lunch. I explained to the American what hrd happened, and he said, "I- reckon that Australian French of yours doesn't go here. Let ma at himl" Then, talking through his nose at the top of his voice, he said "Whurrs the hoss-race, Sonny?" This only made the barber shrug up his shoulders and spread out his hands, and tha American looked at- him with supreme disgust. "He knows right enough," ha said, "but he won't tell us ! It's' all om account of that Boer war of yours!" Thea we went back to the hotel, and found out all about it from the "boots," who was— like the boots at hotels all tha world over— an ardent sportsman. Perhaps it is because they are such ardent sportsmen that they are reduced to being "boots." After hunch we chartered a cab, drawn by a horse whose forelegs fairly tottered under him— l have seen some equine wrecks in my time, but nothing to approach the French cab-horse — and' drove out to the course, and all the inhabitants of Marseilles Emit up their shops and came out also. A day's racing in France is something to remember. In Australia racing is a business, and every one who gqes out goes with bent brows and an anxious mind, to try and unravel what is to him a serious pioblem. But with the Frenchman, a day's racing is a light-hearted holiday. He closes his shop at 1 o'clock, and goes out with his wife, in a trap drawn by a little fat pony, with jingling bells and harness, and rattles awaythrough the clear crisp air, with the dryaromatic smell of the autumn leaves all round, dqwn the long avenue of sycamoivs out to the course. The tramcars, "loaded with the happy, laughing crowds, go thundering along the streets. Motorcars push past at a pace that would not be tolerated for an jiirtant in any Australian or English community ; on tho seat of each, motor-car, alongside tho dyiver, sits a large black French poodle, sagely contemplating tho moving scene around him, and with the wind blowing through his whiskers as the car lushes along. Every one is laughing, and e\ cry one looks on the racing in a light-hearted way quite . foreign to our idea. They have lett dull care behind them for thu day, and they will back a horsa because they like the look of his tail or tha colours of his jockey, and then say it is treachery if they lose th?ir money ! "Ailez-vous en!" Let her go, Gallagher! Tho trams roared, the motor-cars whizzed, the little fat ponies were urged to their wildest pace, and amidst shouting, laughing, and bell-ringing we arrived at the course, a beautiful piece or natural turf, shut in by sycamores and hedgerows of vaiious sorts. The track itself was very little prepared, but iv all tliesa countries the great rainfall and tha natural grass make such turf as we poor drought-stricken people can only wonder at. The sua-roundiugs of racing in the old countries are less business-like and more pleasant than in Australia. Wei drove in through the gates of the course, j and leit our trap standing in what we I -nouid call the "Sat," while we went 6a into the grand stand and saddling paddock. Prices of admission were much lha same as they are in Australia. The totalizators were at work in the saddling paddock, one being icr a straight-ouc win and the other for a place. Some horses were being paiaded lound a turf ring — the turf ring being enclosed by a lot of drying sheds, aud although the appointments weie complete enough there was a lack of the business-like formality about them which one notices with us. It Mas more like w&at we would call a picnic ineeting. The hor&es weru nearlyall English bred, and were equal to anystock 1 have seen anywhere. They dilfered from our horses only in the matter of condition. It would make a Kandwick traiuer weep to sse the condition in which these horses were sent out to race. Soma of them were as fat as fools, prancing about the paddock on their hind legs, led by their "trainers"— men who looked like a sort of cro^s between a Sicilian bandit and an ice-cream merchant. Belore getting out to the tiack we purchased a d.iily paper, which gave all the runners, and a collection of the "tips" of all the local newspapers, besides a set of "tijis" of its own. After a struggle with the French idioms, I gathered that one horse in the first race had at one time shown good form, but had since "couru obscurement." I thought this would probably be a good sort of hor»e to back, as I had had experience in Australia of horses that had run "obscurely" for a. time and then suddenlyastonished their critics. The crowd were pretty thick, about as numerous as would be seen at a suburban meeting near Sydney. The ladies Mere in great numbers, porgeously dressed, escorted by heavy French swells, who simply rioted in huge fur-lined overcoats, with great cuffs of fur running half-way up the arms. A few English visitors Mere present, look- , ing at the proceedings Mith dull eyes, but the horses of one stable were trained by Englis-b trainers, and the bulk of the riders in the races were English or American jockeys. I asked one of the English trainers whether the horses ran to win, and his remarkable reply M-as, "Yes; they always try here. The owners are all French noblemen ; they have lots of money and don't know nothing.' On. this comforting suggestion the Amoiican and I started to try and back winners,, being guided solely by the condition of the horses, occasionally fortifying bm opinions by reference to tlie tips in thg, daily paper which we carried^

The first race was for a prize of two thousand francs (about £80), and for a distance of 2200 metres (I should guess it at aboub a mile), and carrying 47 kilogrammes, which looked to me about eight stone seven. The horse that had "couru obscureinent" was nob a favourite on the totalisator, but then the French <lo not back horses on form ; they back them because they belong to local owners, or to a Bonapartist, or to a pro-Boer, or for any other reason that strikes their erratic fancy. A horse belonging to an Englishman could nob have found a bacicer in the crowd, though he were as good as Carbine. We decided to back the best-conditioned hoise, and away they went down to the post. There were four runners, three of the jockeys being American, riding in the gilt-edged Amen'can style, which is even more forward than our Australian boys ever get. Our horse justified our judgment by going to the front with a solitary opponent hanging on to him. Half a furlong from home our horse looked to be having the best of it, and his jockey then put m an American "finish," that is, to say, he lay flat down on the -hprse's neck, and struck out with his legs and arms exactly like a man swimming, making .wild flaps in the air with his whip at >tho toe time. He missed the hoiwe altogether with the whip more often than he hit him. His opponenb was ridden by a French jockey, in the ordinary way, and snatched a welldeserved victory by a neck. In the next, a selling race of 2200 metres, we went for a very wellrconditioned bay maro called Rentiere, by Gonsalvo from Relentless, and therefore evidently English » bred. The mare won her race for us, like the aristocrat she undoubtedly was ; but the interest in the racing was as no- j thing compared to the amusement oi | ■watching the spectators. A dashing j young Frenchman, with a waxed mous- i taohe, tall hat, and fur-lined coat, was Bitting in the stand near us with a party of three superb ly-dressed ladies round Mm. As the hoises started he fixed his glasses on ths race, and sprang to his feet, his face working with emotion. The ladies huddled together, and watchedj with undisguised admiration, the tornado of passion thab was racking the frame of their cavalier. He hid backed a big chestnut horse, which was running wdl up with the leaders. The horses not being wound up for condition, it is usual for them to muddie aivay the first half ' of a race, first one leading and then another, and every time that this, chestnut horse drew out to the lead the Frenchmail's faoe lit up, his chest expanded, and he | burned with the air of a conqueror to^the timid females behind him, saying, "II gagne, il gagne!" When the horse dropped back, an ashen grey hue spread over his countenance, and his hands trembled so that he could hardly hold,, the glasses. Round the turn they came, the chestnut and Renbiere fighbing it out in the lead. Both boys gob to work with their whips at the distance, and they raced home locked together. Every instant of that finish must have seemed a year to our French friend. He clutched the rail in front of him, and clenched his teeth, and fairly shook with the strain that was put on him, while the females never looked at the race, but watched him in mute sympathy. As the horses flashed past bhe post, with his chestnut beaten by a neck, he dropped back on the seat with the .air of a man whose hopes in life are crushed. He was too heartbroken to speak for a long time. It turned out afterwards tha-t 'he had five francs (four add twopence) on the chestnut in the place totalisator, so that he saved his money, bub -it was the defeat of his judgment thab annoyed' him. We gathered afterwards, from what he said, that the defeat of the chestnut horse was solely due to treachery. After the race, the American wished to walk up into a part of the grand stand which was marked in large letters, "Defendu" — evidently being reserved for the committee or some such body. I told him he could not go up there, but he said he would like to see them stop him, and he started to march gaily up the stone steps-. He had not got far before he was in altercation with a pink-trousered gendarme, who tried to stove him down the steps. The next minute he had tha gendarme round the waist, there was a flash of pink trousers in the air, we heard the gendarme's agonised cry of -"A moi !" and the two rolled down the steps, locked in each other's arms. The authorities were going to arrest the American under the impression that he was English, but when they found that he was an American they apologised, to him, and a dou,ceur to the gendarme settled all the trouble. While the racing was going on, the holiday-making crowd of workmen, with their wives and children, a merry-hearted laughing mob, sat on the turf outside the course, but only separated from it by a broad deep ditch. Here they had just as good a view of the racing as any one in the track, and they enjoyed the day thoroughly. That is ihe right way to go racing — to squirm and yell whoa your horse gets ahead, and prance about the paddock with an eagle-soaring Step after a win of one and six. The French do not know much about racing, but they get a lot of fun oub of it. They bake oub a little basket full of cakes and lemonade, and the old father and mother sit in the sun on the gra*s while the children play about. They look at the racing just as we look at a race on the stage, merely as a spectacle, and the entertainment doesn't cost them anything, v, The day's sport was brought to a. successful finish by a win in the last race by an English-bred, English-trained, and English-ridden horse, but as he belonged to a local owner, a French Vicomte, the crowd were quite satisfied, for they had all backed him, and they departed for Ihome in the best of spirits. The drive home was even more hilarious than the drive out. Everybody was laughing, shouting, and singing. We saw a horse run into by a motor-car and killed on the spot, but the carcase was soon taken away, and every one, including the owners of the horse, appeared to look upon the accident as an excellent jest. The crowd soon made their way back into their shops, and settled down for their next week's hard work, for the Frenchman lives in his shop, and his shop is open all the time that he is at home. The best prizes for the racing were given by a society for the encouragement of horse-breeding. Steeplechasing, that test of stamina and endurance, is at a. very much higher level in France than in England, and there is not much doubt that the French do try to make racing a means to improving tie breed of horses. Some day in Australia we may come to look at it in the same way.