THE KING AND SPORT.
During the King's recent visit to the Continent he paid a visit to the Jardy stud and racing stables owned by M. Blanc and also participated in a day's racing at St. Claud, where the spectators received litim with outbursts of cheering and cries ot "Vie le Roi." In reference to the matter the Morning Post had a leader, from which the following passage is taken:— "Thei King knows that his subjects concern themselves very little with the language and ceremony of diplomatic intercourse. Their feeling towards tihe French nation is cordial and friendly, but very few Englishmen grow enthusiastic over an official visit. Sport, however, is a matter on which we are all enthusiastic. This year it happens that among thei chief competitors in the Derby arc a 00-lt owned by Lord Rosebery and two colt® owned) by M. Edmond Blanc. One of these won the Middle Park Plate last autumn against the best two-year-olds this country could produce Unfortunately, Lord Rosebery's Cicero was not able to compete, and consequently tfae race is a very open affair between Cicero and the best of M. Blanc's horses, Val dOr or Jardy. The hop© of every Englishman is that the fastest horse will win, and as both of M. Blanc's horses are sired by our old favourite Flying Fox, a son of Orme, a grandson of the mighty Ormonde, and a great-grandson of Bend Or, it is pleasant to jnowttoat the international gooclfellowship between France anrl England extends to the racecourse. In theee circumstances the King could have done nclhing more likely to punctuate the friendship between France anrl "Rita-ln^d than to visit
Blanc's stud near St. Cloud. There he saw Flying Fox, who beat a strong French favourite, Holoeausie, for the Derby, and several yearlings by his own Derby winner. Persimmon. He ateo Saw the hors.es which will compete in the coming Derby. Jardy is specially mentioned because he has already run in this country, but Val dOr was not likely to be forgotten. Now, this act is worth more protocols and despatches than we care to count. Every Englishman feels that the King- has expressed for him. ihe hope thai the best horse will win, and has told the- French, nat-ipa that tihay apa
our comrades in sport. Being comrades in sport, they cannot help being our comrades in politics, because in this country we regard the laws of sport ac the highest expression of the principles of justice and fair-dealing and good-fellowship. The other day the King had some conversation with M. Dclcasse, and there, again, he gratified the feelingi of his subjects, becauee, although the French Minister of Foreign Affairs is too gravely occupied to devote much time to sport, it is recognised in this country that ho is a sportsman in the sense of being- just and a fair-dealer and well disposed to ourselves. In fact, the King has rot only expressed ..tihe deep-seated feeling of the whole country, but ho has done so in a manner which appeals to the schoolboy who is in every Englishman and never dies, and has called out the sporting instinct which counts for more in our politics than is generally known. An appeal to the sporting instincts of both races was the on© thiiig necessary to make their friendship lasting and complete."
THE KING AND SPORT.
Otago Witness, Issue 2674, 14 June 1905, Page 50
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