Related article: criticism is very much misplaced. The severest critic is generally incapable of sitting a horse at all, to say nothing Order Diovan Hct of taking one ova* a steeplechase like that of San- down. People who go to bet are apt to think themselves ill used if the object of their fancy is beaten through jockeyship ; but they know perfectly well what they have to expect, and that all army officers are not Arthur Nightin- galls. The hospitality of the cavalry regiments that are most intimately connected with the meeting is a feature, and with beautiful weather as nearly a certainty as English weather can 1 J 1899.1 "OUR VAN. •< 289 be, the attendance of ladies was, perhaps, a record one. Certainly nothing more brilliant has been seen at previous meetings. The racing was of an ordinary character, as was to be expected in so ordinary a season as this has been. The race for the Gold Cup possessed no interest, and it was won by Captain W. Murray- Threipland's Lambay ; but the Grand Military Steeplechase showed us County Council, a talked-of candidate for the Grand National, who won easily enough, Mr. Reginald Ward being satisfied to beat Sitric by a length. This gentleman rode with his usual success, though he did not enjoy so much of a *' beanfeast " as last year. At Gatwick we are repeatedly shown experiments in the direction of improving things by the aid of better stakes than the average, and a notable instance was that of the March meeting. On the first day there were two steeple- chases of 500 Diovan Hct Alternatives sovs. each, and two others of 200 sovs. each, whilst on the second day there was the International Hurdle race of i ,000 sovs. To show the difficulty there is Substitute For Diovan Hct with these large stakes, the race did not fill at the first time of asking. The meeting just escaped the frost, and it was very satis- factory that the attendance sug- gested that the management did not suffer through its liberality. The big race did not present any Diovan Hct Generic Alternative international features, the French, for one thing, having plenty of remimerative opportunities on their own side of the Channel. The appearance of Rampion was, of course, interesting, and he failed only in giving 22lbs. to Wales, who beat him by three- quarters of a length. On the whole, the field that ran did not inspire one with much enthusiasm in the cause of hurdle racing, for Side Effects Of Diovan Hct 320 the class was poor indeed to run for 1,000 sovs. Frenoh Raoing— Bookmakep Y. Pari-Mutuel.— Just when the vexed question of betting on race- courses has received a final settle- ment in England, without much apparent chance of revival, it makes its appearance in France. In that country the conditions under which racing is conducted differ in many important respects from those prevailing here ; but there is some analogy in the way the betting question has been raised on either side of the channel, inasmuch as, in each case, the opposition has been led by persons but little conversant with 'racing matters. Otherwise there is not much in common between the two movements, if the motive assigned for the action taken in France can be accepted as the true one. In England, public morality was what was fought for by the anti-gamblers ; in France, there is no mention of morality, which is supposed to be capable of looking after itself, the pecu- niary interests of the sport and municipal pocket being what it is sought to protect. It is not sought to Diovan Hct Generic Equivalent suppress betting — only the bookmaker, who has plied his trade with success, in spite of the universal adoption of the pari- muttiel. The pari-mutuel is a very material source of income, and * the incontrovertible argument is that the bookmaker taps this. From every transaction done through the medium of the pari- mutuel a certain percentage is deducted, but the bookmaker, of course, pays no percentage on his turnover. M. Chauvin, deputy of Buy Cheap Diovan Hct the Seine-et-Marne department, on these grounds, has drawn the attention of the Government to the breach of the Betting Law of 1 89 1, pleading that no less a sum than eighteen millions of francs, 290 BAILY S MAGAZINE. [Apwl from which the percentage would be deducted, is diverted. The Betting Act of 189 1 is plain enough in its text, for it prohibits, in the simplest language, the exploitation of betting in any form whatsoever on a racecourse. An exception was, however, made in favour of the pari-ntutuel, the authorisation for the employment of which is revocable at any time Cheap Diovan Hct at the hands of the Minister of Agriculture. Whether betting per bookmaker is allowed or disallowed on French racecourses might not appear to be a question of importance to us in England, but there is a good deal to be learnt by an investi- gation of Side Effects Of Diovan Hct 160 the matter. Another analogy is to be found in the fact that in each case the Act is being applied in a way contrary to that intended by the framer of it. As in the case of the English Act, upon which the anti-gamblers founded their action, the French Act was framed to put down a certain class of betting, but has been applied to the detriment of another class. The betting which it was sought to put down was the ready-money system as prac- tised in English racecourse en- closures, backers depositing their stake with the bookmaker, and receiving tickets by way of ac- knowledgment of the transaction. It is confidently alleged that no intention whatever existed of interfering with the bookmaker betting with clients **on the nod,'* as we agree to term it ; but, in the text of the Act before me, I can only say that, if this was in the mind of the framer, then the wording is very carelessly done. It is not a little remarkable that, in both France and England, an Act dealing with the same matter should have been so carelessly drawn up as to lead to disagree- ableness years afterwards. Those who disagree with the suppression