horses for service and for the army." As the Encouragement Society
rests upon the Jockey Club, so the Society of Steeple-chases finds its
support in the Cercle of the Rue Royale, commonly called the Little Club
or the Moutard. This club was reorganized after the war under the
direction of the prince de Sagan, and has made great sacrifices to bring
Auteuil into fashion.

The regular racing-season in France begins on the 15th of March, and no
horse that has appeared upon any public track before this date is
permitted to enter. The first event of the series is the spring meeting
at Rheims--the French Lincoln. Of the six flat-races run here, one,
known as the Derby of the East, is for two-year-olds of the previous
year, with a purse of five thousand francs. In the "Champagne" races the
winner gets, besides his prize, a basket of a hundred bottles of the
sparkling wine instead of the empty "cup" that gives its name to other
famous contests. After Rheims the next meeting in course is at
Longchamps, in the beginning of April, opening with the Prix du Cadran,
twenty-five thousand francs, distance forty-two hundred metres, for
four-year-olds. Then comes the essay of horses of the year in the Trial
Sweepstakes and the Prix Daru, corresponding with the Two Thousand
Guineas and the Thousand Guineas at Newmarket. The quotation begins to
take shape as the favorites for the great events of May and June stand
out more clearly. Of all the prizes--not excepting even the Grand Prix
de Paris--the one most desired by French turfmen is the French Derby,
or, to call it by its official name, the Prix du Jockey Club, the
crowning event of the May meeting at Chantilly. The conditions of the
Derby are as follows: For colts and fillies of three years, distance
twenty-four hundred metres, or a mile and a half, fifty thousand francs,
or two thousand pounds sterling, with stakes added of forty pounds for
each horse--twenty-four pounds forfeit, or twenty pounds if declared out
at a fixed date; colts to carry one hundred and twenty-three pounds, and
fillies one hundred and twenty pounds. The purse last year amounted to
L3863 (96,575 francs). Like the English Derby, its French namesake is
regarded as the test and gauge of the quality of the year's production.
In the year of the foundation of this important race (1836), and for the
two succeeding years, it was gained by Lord Henry Seymour's stable,
whose trainer, Th. Carter, and whose stallion, Royal Oak