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TEST RACES GOING ON IN FRANCE. From Paris under date of September 1C a special letter to the New York Sun gave the following quite interesting details of the substitute racing progressing at prescribed points in France: "When the Minister of Agriculture reluctantly gave way to the pressure brought upon him by the Society for the Encouragement of Horse Breeding, which controls horse racing in France, and permitted horse racing to be resumed, he laid down such strict conditions that the meetings could hardly be called races. "They were not to be held on Sunday, the favorite day for racing in France; they were to take place in the morning, there was to be no betting and nobody was to be present except owners ami representatives of sporting papers, beyond the trainers, jockeys and necessary grooms of the horses engaged. "Three race tracks were selected, all situated far from any big town. Caen, in Normandy, had the honor of being the first track to initiate this new form of racing. Four meetings were held this week and four more will be held next. The eagerness to test horses, which had done nothing except for those which went to San Sebastian is shown b- the fact that no less than G20 entries were received for the first four days. "Seven races were held each day, the prizes varying from .1916.sh00 to .,000 and totaling 7,200. W. K. Vanderbilt carried olt eight firsts, 4,000 in all, which included the only 3,000 iirize :ind five of the seven ,000. On Tuesday he did the hat trick, winning three consecutive races, each worth .,000. At the end of the meeting he gave .0,000 to the Count de Marois, another owner,, for the National Assistance to Wounded Society, and ,000 for the wounded at Caen, leaving his net winnings ,000. "The number of spectators present never exceeded 400, although a few attempts were made to swell it by unauthorized persons who tried to enter. They were quickly ejected. As might be expected, a demand is already being made to relax the strictness of the regulations, it being proposed that at least possible buyers might be added to those qualified to attend. "The censorship has added the only touch of gayety that these race meetings have enjoyed. The order was sent out to the press that the word "courses" races must not appear in accounts of the Caen meeting, the only word admissible being "epreuve," or "test." "The censorship evidently was unwilling that the idea that France in the midst of its life or deatli struggle should be described as enjoying "races," and certainly races under prescribed conditions hardly correspond to the idea suggested by the word. "The races at San Sebastian had already disturbed the equanimity of the French authorities. Bookmakers were allowed at these meetings as well as the pari-mutuel. The French newspapers naturally gave the full, results of the San Sebastian races, with the pari-mutuel payments for each winner. It was then found that much money was being bet in France on the Spanish races and that clandestine pari-mutuels were being run, payment being made at the same rate as that reported from San Sebastian."
