The above copy of the rubric shows what the movements made to reform the Derby Stakes have resulted in--namely, the ensuring of a fixed sum to the owner of the winner, as also a gratuity to the breeder of the victorious horse, but no increased allowance is to be given to the animal which comes in second; the third horse, however, will now get £200 instead of £150. The "proprietors of the race" will probably never require to afflict their souls by putting their hands in their pockets, but to change the old time condition at all must have sadly disturbed their serenity. But that which is demanded of the Epsom magnates is not what has so tardily been given. Owners of race-horses would most assuredly have logic on their side if they were to say to the powers that reign over Epsom heath, "You must do as much for us as we do for you." The case may be put in a nutshell in this way, namely, that the two great races run there--Oaks and Derby--bring to the Grand Stand exchequer a sum of at least £20,000, not one penny of which could be otherwise pocketed. Say that £5,000 will be required to defray expenses, and let a similar sum be allocated for division among the shareholders, and there would still remain £10,000 for division among those chivalrous sportsmen who enter their horses, and to these men might well be left the task of organising the division. The most curious feature of Derby history is undoubtedly how the race came to be the property of any person or body of persons. It was named after the Earl of Derby when it was instituted in 1780, but, as has been mentioned, a long time elapsed before the afterwards great Epsom event became the popular meeting which it now is. Not till 1831 did the entry in any year exceed one hundred horses; so that up to that date, if all the subscribers paid their money, the value of the Derby--the figure was greatly dependent, of course, on the number of horses that came to the starting-post--would very seldom reach a sum of £3,000. Not till George Fordham steered Mr. Acton's Sir Bevys to victory in 1879 did the stake reach its highest value, when, with 278 entries and 22 runners, the sum must have amounted to £7,500, if all who entered their colts paid their stakes. But long before that son of Favonius had placed the Blue Ribbon of the Turf to the credit of his owner, the Epsom Summer Meeting had been placed on a thoroughly business footing, such a footing as has secured for many years a magnificent dividend to the proprietors of the grand stand, who are lessees of the course on which the Derby, Oaks, and other races have for so many years been run; but it has been said that so far as the gentlemen of England--who run colts in the Derby or fillies in the Oaks--and their foreign friends are concerned, they might as well write the names of their horses on pieces of paper, and shaking them together in a hat, select at random the first three and divide the money in accordance with the result of the draw.