defeated. Where is our devotion to manly sports, so potent in the moulding
of our National character? What has become of our immemorial Right to Look
On? Where is our boasted liberty, deprived as we are now to be of a chance
to find the winner? What did WELLINGTON say of Waterloo? and MARLBOROUGH of
Blenheim? and BOTTOMLEY of the Battle of the Somme? By what perversity of
reasoning are we thus to asphyxiate the best instincts of our race?

We are said to be fighting for all that we hold sacred. Yet there is
nothing that is held more sacred in every cottage home throughout the land
than the Preservation of our Bloodstock. Let us not deceive ourselves. It
is our supremacy in Bloodstock alone that makes possible the governess car,
the milk van, the brewer's dray, the very plough itself. These are
fundamental facts.

It has been suggested that, in order to avoid the assembling of frivolous
crowds in war-time, races might be run in private. But that is quite
impracticable. Only on the public racecourse can the lofty virtues of our
British Bloodstock be displayed. The exciting presence of the crowd is
absolutely essential to tune up its nerve and temper. Already our
Bloodstock has suffered cruelly from gaps in the Grand Stand.

Then again there are some who actually complain that petrol is consumed in
large quantities by those attending race meetings. Are we to put new heart
into our enemies by letting it be known that we are short of petrol?

And finally there are some who so little understand the qualities of the
Thoroughbred as to suggest that gambling should be stopped in war-time. The
horse, unlike the Cabinet, is intelligent. Can he be expected to exhibit
his priceless qualities of speed and stamina if no one puts his money up?