Under royal encouragement and patronage the Turf soon took its place as a national institution. Races were held at Croydon, Theobalds on Enfield Chase, and Garterly in Yorkshire, among other places, and of each of the meetings named the King was the President. James's most important studs were stabled at Newmarket, Middle Park, Eltham, Malmesbury, Nutbury and Tetbury. During this reign a silver bell and bowl were among the prizes offered at the Chester Races; the races for these were now run on St. George's Day, and the trophies then came to be known by the name of England's patron saint. Horses were regularly trained and prepared for these "bell courses;" the usual weight carried was 10 stone, and riders went to scale before starting. [Illustration: GUY, EARL OF WARWICK. XVIth CENTURY. _The fact that Guy of Warwick was a hero of legend does not affect the utility of the picture as an example of the type of horse ridden by knights in the XVIth century._] In Scotland it would appear that betting on races was carried on to an extent that called for legislative interference; for in 1621 the Parliament at Edinburgh passed an Act which required any man who might win over 100 marks in twenty-four hours "at cards, dice, or wagering on horse races," to make over the surplus to the kirk for the benefit of the poor. Apart from the fostering care James I. bestowed upon the Turf, the only proceedings that require mention are: his Proclamation issued in 1608, which notified that the laws against the export of horses were not being obeyed, and would thenceforward be enforced; and his repeal in 1624 of Henry VIII.'s law obliging every person whose wife wore "any French hood or bonnet of velvet" to keep a stallion. He also repealed 32 Henry VIII., so far as it applied to Cornwall (21 Jac. I., c. 28), even as Queen Elizabeth had relieved some Eastern and Midland counties from operation of that law, in view of their unsuitability to breed heavy horses. CHARLES I. (1625, Behd. 1649).