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HOW GERMANS STOLE RACE HORSES The Jockey Club as the guardians of the good name of the turf in England could do no less in view of the information in their possession than resolve to have 110 dealings with the Germans and their associates They have consequently decided that until further notice no entries for races under their rules shall be accented for horses the property of any German Austrian Hungarian Itnlgariaii or Turkish subjects or in which such persons have any interest Lord Jersey at the meeting of the club May 7 of which the official report has just ap ¬ peared gave some interesting facts as to the con ¬ duct of the Germans lit regard to Belgian horses The Itelgian Jockey Club had forwarded a state ¬ ment in which they said that many thoroughbreds both nice horses and horses and mares from breed ¬ ing studs had been stolen by the German army or had been requisitioned by the German authorities These horses hail IKCII sent to Germany and had been scld for racing or breeding purposes but of course without the necessary papers to prove their identity they were useless for cither purpose These certificates consequently had been asked for and had been of course refused by the Belgian Jockey Club The Union Club of Berlin which was the German Jockey Club had insisted on the papers being delivered up and searches had been made in the offices of the Belgian Jockey Club with the avowed object of taking those papers by force As tliis search dil not succeed the Germans de ¬ ported the Itelgian Jockey Clubs starter an Eng ¬ lishman over fifty and when they were asked for his return the reply from the Union Club of Berlin the German Jockey Club was that a certain prince would have that done if he received a certificate for a valuable mare which had been stolen from a Belgian stml and which the crown prince himself had taken possession of for his own private use This cool impudence failed and then had come a letter saying that because of the re ¬ fusal nothing could be done for him and that tin Belgian stewards were the only people to blame As Lord Jersey said this was a f ir more serious matter than the horses being seized by the German army in the course of military operations The Union Club deliberately identified themselves with the policy of theft and blackmail for private pur l ses and in doing so Lord Jersey thought the members would agree they had disgraced themselves in the eyes of all honorable men There will be no exceptions in favor of any individuals Horse and Hound
