Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, October, 1880Various
History
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, October, 1880
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
The races of Caen over, their followers take themselves some few leagues
farther upon their circuit, to attend the meeting at Cabourg, one of
those pretty little towns, made up of about a hundred villas, four
hotels, a church and a casino, that lie scattered along the Norman coast
like beads of a broken necklace. Living is dear in these stylish little
out-of-the-way places, and this naturally keeps away the more plebeian
element that frequents the great centres. About the fifteenth of August
begins the week of races at Deauville, the principal event of the Norman
circuit, bringing together not unfrequently as many as a hundred and
sixty horses, and ranking, in fact, as third in importance in all
France, the meetings at Longchamps and Chantilly alone taking precedence
of it. It is to the duc de Morny that Deauville owes the existence of
its "hippodrome," but the choice of this bit of sandy beach, that seemed
to have been thrown up and abandoned by the sea like a waif, cannot be
called a happy one. It may be, however, that the duke's selection of the
site was determined by its proximity to the luxuriant valley of the
Auge, so famous for its excellent pasturage and for the number of its
stables. The Victor stud belonging to M. Aumont, that of Fervacques, the
property of M. de Montgomery, and the baron de Rothschild's
establishment at Meautry, are all in the immediate neighborhood of
Deauville; but even these advantages do not compensate for the
unfavorable character of the track, laid out, as we have said, upon land
from which the sea had receded, and which, as might have been expected,
was sure to be hard and cracked in a dry season. To remedy this most
serious defect, and to bring the ground to its present degree of
excellence, large sums had to be expended. The aspect of the race-course
to-day, however, is really charming. A rustic air has been given to the
stands, the ring, even to the stables that enclose the paddock, but it
is a rusticity quite compatible with elegance, like that of the pretty
Norman farm in the garden of Trianon. The purse for two-year-olds used
to be called, under the Empire, the Prix Morny, but this name was
withdrawn at the same time that the statue of the duke, which once stood
in Deauville, was pulled down.
Our Norman circuit comes to a close with the races at Dieppe, which
finished last year on the 26th of August. Dieppe was celebrated during
the Empire for its steeple-chases, which were run upon a somewhat hilly
ground left almost in its natural state--a very unusual thing in France.
The flat- and hurdle-races which have succeeded to these since the war
are not of sufficient importance to detain us.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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