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THE NEWMARKET OF FRANCE Cliintilly is of course the cradle of horse racing in France and tlir designation of the French New ¬ market lias often been applied to it The domain of Chantilly with its beautiful chateau whoso his ¬ tory dates back even farther than that of Windsor was given to the nation by the Due dAumale twentyodd years ago In feudal times it was the seat of the Bouthillier family from which descended the Earls of Huntingdon aud Northampton in Eng ¬ land You may remember a horse called Bouthillier that used to run in England When the French branch of this family became extinct in the four ¬ teenth century Chantilly passed into the Jiands of the Moutmorencys and after the execution of tho last son of that famous race for conspiracy against Cardinal Richelieu Louis XIII who was a keen lover of the chase preserved the castle and forest for his own use After his death they were restored to the 1riucesse de Coude who was a Montinorency by birth and the Condes held Chantilly In an unin ¬ terrupted line until the Revolution It was then the great sporting center in France and the stables which the seventh Prince of Coudo built for his hunters provided accommodation for 240 horses while the rooms above were furnished in luxurious style for fifty of the equerries and gentlemen of the household householdThe The Due DAumale who did so much to keep up the hunting and shooting traditions of Chantilly never showed any fondness for horse racing but his eldest brother the Illfated Due dOrleans was the owner of Beggarman when that horse won the Goodwood Cup Had he not been killed In a carriage accident he would undoubtedly have done much for the French turf for with his brother the Due de Nemours he assisted Lord Henry Seymour in found ¬ ing the Societe dEncouragement which fulfils in France the same administrative and legislative duties as the Jockey Club does in England When racing at Chantilly was lirst inaugurated sportsmen had to I ost all the way from Paris on a badlypaved road and the Chantilly week comprised two Sundays and the Wednesday between the nonracing days be ¬ ing devoted to picnics and fetes The nobility and gentry stayed in the town and greatly contributed to its prosperity After the Revolution it looked for a time as if this prosperity would be brought to a premature end as the Government ordered the French Derby to be run at Versailles fearing that if it were run at Chautilly there might be an Orlean ist demonstration The race was afterwards trans ¬ ferred back to Cliantilly which again suffered in IS70 during the war with Germany the invader tak ¬ ing possession of the place and tilling the race course with their artillery It shows how well the Gee mans were posted In the local topography of Franco that they knew the ground below tho race course had been excavated the stone used in building tho stables having been obtained from it and before placing their cannons they carefully examined the underground galleries to see they were not mined minedOld Old residents of Cliantilly still often speak of these days of occupation which prevented the French Derby of 1S71 being run but they admit that no un ¬ necessary damage was done to the place or to the various racing stables The Germans even got up military races which were run on the Chantilly race course Since that time Chantilly has had i term of increasing prosperity and It is now one of the most nourishing towns in France London Sport ing Life
