A war of words has ensued between Admiral Rous and Viscount Daru, the
respective presidents of the two societies, in the course of which the
admiral has urged that as English horses are admitted to only two races
in France, the Grand Prix de Paris and the D[/e]auville Cup, while
French horses are at liberty to enter upon any course in England, it is
quite time that a reciprocity of privileges were recognized, and that
racers be put upon an equal footing in the two countries. Not at all,
replies M. Daru; and for this reason: there are three times as many
race-horses in England as in France, and the small number of the latter
would bring down the value of the French prizes to next to nothing if
the stakes are based, as they are in England, upon the sum-total of the
entries. In France the government, the encouragement societies, the
towns, the railway companies, all have to help to make up the purses,
and often with very considerable sums. Would it be fair to let in
English horses in the proportion of, say, three to one--supposing the
value of the horses to be equal--to carry off two-thirds of these
subscriptions? To this the Englishman answers, not without a show of
reason, that if the foreign horses should come into France in any great
numbers this very circumstance would make the entrance-moneys a
sufficient remuneration to the winner, and that the government, the
Jockey Club and the rest would be relieved from a continuance of their
subventions.
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