ck at Caen is a
beautiful meadow upon the banks of the Orne, very long and bordered with
fine trees, but unfortunately too narrow, and consequently awkward at
the turns.

By the rules of the Societe colts of two years are not allowed to run
before the first of August, and as the Caen races take place during the
first week of this month, they have the first gathering of the season's
crop of two-year-olds--an event which naturally excites the curiosity of
followers of the turf. The wisdom and utility of subjecting animals of
this age to such a strain upon their powers have been much discussed,
and good judges have strongly condemned the precocious training
involved, as tending to check the natural development of the horse, and
sometimes putting a premature end to his career as a racer. In England
these races have been multiplied to abuse. There are signs of a
reaction, however, in France, where several owners of racing-stables,
following the example set by M. Lupin, have found their advantage in
refusing to take part in the pernicious practice. For, after all, these
first trials really prove nothing at all. They are found to furnish no
standard by which any accurate measure can be taken of the future
achievements of the horse. In fact, if one will take the trouble to
examine the lists of winners of these two-year-old criterions, as they
are called, he will find but very few names that have afterward become
illustrious in the annals of the turf.

The races of Caen over, their followers take themselves some few leagues
farther upon their circuit, to attend the meeting at Cabourg, one of
those pretty little towns, made up of about a hundred villas, four
hotels, a church and a casino, that lie scattered along the Norman coast
like beads of a broken necklace. Living is dear in these stylish little
out-of-the-way places, and this naturally keeps away the more plebeian
element that frequents the great centres. About the fifteenth of August
begins the week of races at Deauville, the principal event of the Norman
circuit, bringing together not unfrequently as many as a hundred and
sixty horses, and ranking, in fact, as third in importance in all
France, the meetings at Longchamps and Chantilly alone taking precedence
of it. It is to the duc de Morny that Deauville owes the existence of
its "hippodrome," but the choice of this bit of sandy beach, that seemed
to have been thrown up and abandoned by the sea like a waif, cannot be
c