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THE SOCIAT PIDE OF K4CINQ The most marked change in the English turf is on the social side a change indicated by the increased attendance of ladies In a thoughtful review of the question London Field says saysThat That ladies have assisted at races in the past and even takeu actual part in them on rare oc ¬ casions tbe history of the turf informs us The presence of gaily dressed ladies at Ascot cnd Goodwood affords a spectacle of no novelty whatever but Aecot and Goodwood are social functions of high order and reputation At Newmarket where racing pure atd simple is the programme and where no string band charms the ear or delicacy laden table panders to the palate the feminine spectator was not j such a great while since a scarce phenomenon to be counted on the finsers This was in the days previous to the erection of tbe stand a comparatively modem affair and in the absence of any such shelter it was on by no means rare occasions no light thing to face the elements Newmarket has always been the slowest to adopt measures that tend to the greater con ¬ venience of visitors perhaps by way of gentle tfimindar that The plays tbe thing and that if good racing is provided on the finest of all race coursespeople should be perfectly satisfied The present season is the first in which provi ¬ sion has been made in tbe reserved Tatter sails for ladies in the shape of special seating accommodation Previously the bare boards covered with the dust from the soles of thou ¬ sands of boots was all there was to sit upon Newmarket could no doubt subsist very com ¬ fortably without the handful of ladies who fre ¬ quent Tattersalle and the incident is therefore noticeable as evidence of the mysterious force which compels all of us to march with the times We are here dealing with facts and not with the pointing of morals and we have no in ¬ tention of discussing how far tbe turf is helped by the very large attendance of ladies that is customary That the earning of dividends is materially assisted cannot be doubted or we should not eoo astute men of business like our clerks of the course going to the lengths they do stands at the most uptodate meetings being provided with glasssided drawing rooms that at the proper season of the year would not be miscalled by the name of summer gar ¬ dens The earning of dividends is tbe key to the situation and where tbe community to be attracted is one accustomed to some social re ¬ finement in its home the surest way of attract it is to provide comfort It has been discovered that by this means is a goodly membership to be secured for when ladies learn that charm ¬ ing rooms and flowerbedecked lawns are placed at their disposal for practically noth ¬ ing the male membership including a couple of ladies passes as a rule small wonder is it that husbands are enjoined by tbe family pow ¬ ers to enroll their names namesHere Here in America the most successful courses are those favored by refined women When racing was in its glory in South Carolina the social queens of the slaveholding states gath ¬ ered in Charleston and lent charm to the meet ¬ ings at the famous Washington course After the Civil War when steps were taken to revive racing in the North Dr John B Irving the ex secretary of the South Carolina Jockey Club was sent for and elected secretary of the Amer ¬ ican Jockey Club to carry out the ideas which had given social prestige to the turf at Charles ¬ ton The club house on tbe bluff at Jerome Park was made exclusive and the bright spirits of fashionable drawingrooms manifested an eagerness to go there Had it not been for CONTINUED ON SECOND PAGE THE SOCIAL SIDE OF RACING Continued from First Page the encouraging smile of refined woman the success of the meetings of the American Jockey Club would not have been so immediate and pronounced When Col M Liewia Clark rees ¬ tablished racing at Louisville he sought for and obtained the support of the fair women of the Blue Grass State and the founders of Wash ¬ ington Park at Chicago bowed to the dictates of a similar policy The trotting and rnnning clubs which provide at their tracks the best accommodations for ladies furnishing good music and preserving within fixed enclosures an atmosphere of refinement are the ones which pay their shareholders the largest dividends The development of the social side of racing is a Rood thing for the horse and his broaaer Turf Field nnd Farm
