London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
A RACE MEETING IN BRITTANY.
Of course the meetings at and other large towns are not unlike our own sporting fixtures. But | |
135 | when one travels further afield there is a marked difference between racing at home and abroad. Frenchmen choose the hottest months of the summer for steeplechasing, and their example is followed by the Germans. Not very long ago I was visiting a town in Brittany where races had been organised. The month was August, and the sport, of course, steeplechasing. There were a number of wretched screws entered for every race, and it was absolutely a miracle how some of them surmounted the various that barred the way to the winning-post. There was a restive horse in one of the contests, and this animal bolted. Immediately a mounted gendarme started in pursuit, caught the creature up, and brought it back in triumph! Fancy such an affair occurring at Epsom! Fancy a mounted policeman pursuing Flying Fox and bringing him back! However, the spectators in Brittany only laughed and cheered. The incident, although not very novel, was evidently amusing. |