A DERBY DAY IN THE SNOW

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVIII, Issue 12911, 3 September 1902, Page 9

A DERBY DAY IN THE SNOW

(By MARCUS WOODWARD, in “Pearson’s Magazine.”) Lindarangen is the name of Stockholm’s racecourse—a. fine, long course on a great plain just outside the city. To, drive out to a winter race meeting here in a swiftmoving sledge, your horses making their bells tinkle at every movement, with other sledges by the hundred before and behind you, following one another in a great procession—this is the pleasantest way conceivable to go to the races. If you go in style, you travel, like the King of Sweden in a handsome carriage, on runners instead of wheels, drawn by a pair of handsome horses, with white nets hanging over their backs, to prevent any snow they might upraise from flying into your face. Or you go in the ordinary winter cab of Stockholm, a small sleigh drawn by a tall horse who jogs very slowly along, to the accompaniment of the driver’s curious lip-sounds of encouragement.' In this case your, vehicle will stop periodically, whilst the driver dismounts to turn the handle of the taxometer that registers your fare. After a drive of half-an-hour or so, you find yourself approaching the racecourse, marked by railings and flags. From a distance the thousands of folk there gathered appear like little black ants crawling over the snow. At one spot all the waiting sleighs are marshalled, packed closely together. The grand stand is thronged; a comfortless, shed-like erection of wood, with seats in tiers, and in the centre of the front row, special seats for the Royal party. In front'd' the stand is the winning post. About the railings here the crowd' is naturally most dense. The course is wide and roomy; a steepish jump in front of the principal stand only occupies a portion of the width, leaving plenty of room for a run home on the level. The most conspicuous figure in the stand is that of King Oscar. His Majesty would be conspicuous in any crowd. When he stands, his magnificently tall and broad figure towers high, even above the tall Swedes who surround him. In horse-racing, as in ail good sports, the King of Norway and Sweden takes the keenest interest, and ha has done everything to encourage the national sports among his subjects. Swedish racing is entirely delightful. It is radically different from English or American racing. Purity—material no less than moral—is its leading characteristic. There is no griminess about a Swedish mid-winter race meeting. In the cold, brisk, wonderfully clear air there is no dust; the white snow on the plain where the Lindarangen racecourse is situated is as pure as anything that can be imagined on earth. The crowd, too, is very different from the heterogeneous crowd that gathers on the racecourses to which we are accustomed. Every one seems to be smartly dressed; the civilians all in the fine fur-coats that good Swedes all wear in winter; the officers in their pretty uniforms. For picturesque effect, commend me to a Swedish racing crowd. One would search in vain for any sign of ruffianism—for “ welchers,” or for “ three-card ” tricksters. On a fashionable English racecourse. Royalty and noblemen, jockeys, trainers, and bookmakers rub shoulders together. At this Swedish race meeting there were Royal and noble folk beyond count; but there were no professional jockeys or bookmakers on the scene ; 3 no raucous shouting ; nothing that the most | ardent \nti-racing agitator could object to —and this for fcho simple reason that there was no betting. No one can well imagine, without experience, what a vast difference is made to a race meeting when the betting element is absent. It would seem, that, if you do away with betting, at one stroke you do array with all the disagreeable side of racing/ At once you have sport for sport’s sake alone. The racing has no more attractions for the average class of roughs than would a croquet tournament. The air, though it may ring with applause, is unbroken by the hideous roar of overexcited voices that you may hear from so'great a distance from any English or American racecourse. The jockeys at this midwinter meeting ait Lindarangen were generally the owners of the horses. Most of the starters were officers in the Swedish, cavalry; and they rode in their full field uniform, but without swords, of course.