Minus the excitement attending the race, such a mode of procedure would be better than allowing their costly horses, provided at great expense, to run for the benefit of a body of persons who have a greater love--in all probability a far greater love--for a big dividend than for sport. No more curious feature of our present-day civilisation exists than that a large body of gentlemen (and ladies as well) should enter a couple of hundreds of the finest horses bred in the kingdom to take part in a race for the benefit of a joint stock company! As was recently said by a popular writer, the race for the Derby still attracts tens of thousands of people to Epsom to see it decided; but for all that it is thought by persons well qualified to offer an opinion that the great race has begun to decline, and that, unless those most interested in its popularity--namely, the lessees of the racecourse--take immediate steps to increase the value of the stake run for to a still greater extent than has been yet done the entries will diminish. Gentlemen up till 1890 have run for their own money only, but as there are now several races where the stakes total up to a much higher sum than in the Derby, it stands to reason that owners of likely horses will prefer to run them for the races of greater value. The Company which claims to have a vested interest in the "Blue Ribbon of the Turf" will require to supplement the value of the race by adding a few more thousands to the stake. They have made a beginning, but they will require to do more in the way of money-giving if they are to keep pace with the big sums now offered as an inducement for men to enter horses in other stakes. IV. THE TWO THOUSAND AND ONE THOUSAND GUINEAS. "The titles make a big mark in the annals of the Two Thousand," wrote, a few years since, a well-known sporting journalist. And so they do, as a glance at the list of winning names will show.