THIEVES AT ASCOT

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 48, 25 August 1923, Page 22

THIEVES AT ASCOT

HAPPENINGS OF A PAST GENERATION.

, In the old days thieves used to reap a fine, harvest every Ascot meeting, for! the task ■of keeping order devolved entirely upon the' Yeomen Prickers of Windsor Great Forest.—a body of men more imposing than, active. Things got so: bad, declares the "Manchester Guardian^" that, the Race Committee started recruiting special constables for each meeting'; frofti. the. villages in the neighbourhood of,Ascot,!giving them as a sign of authority .blue and.red striped poles, which .provoked much chaff from festive racegoers. .. it was in 1847, when the Metropolitan Police took' over the job, that, the first effective attempt.was made to protect the race going public at ,'A?cpt'.',;.V;'■';■'?■ i'"'."': .•■ ■." ' '•■■■.. ,>'Horse-racing, is'a".very different affair nowadays from,what it was.in jtlie early 'year's;of- the eighteenth century, when Queen Arihe instituted, the famous meeting' .oh".'Ascot "Heath. Horses intended for racing were then always kept tightly., girt-^-the;'idea .being that this reh'idered them swift of foot,—^^and for training feed were given soaked bread supplemented occasionally -with eggs. In the rules for the first race If or the 100-guinea plate at Ascot iU was stipulated "the runners to carry 12st. each," and probably that weight was generally exceeded, for Queen Anne jockeys, in* stead of wearing the lightest possible attire, were encased in full -suits of stiffest taffeta and bestrode cumbrous saddles. '.. .