Horse, also had among his suite an Italian horseman, named Claudio Corte, who wrote a book on the art of riding, which was published in London, in 1584. Thomas Blundeville, of Newton Hotman, in Norfolk, ere this date, had published a curious little black-letter volume, entitled “The Art of Ryding and Breaking Great Horses” (1566), which was sold by William Seres, at “The Sygne of the Hedgehogge,” in St. Paul’s Churchyard. Some extracts from this very interesting little work have been given in a previous book.[7]

JAMES I. (1603-1625).

The feature of King James’s reign was the formation of a racecourse at Newmarket, which had previously been a favourite hunting-ground of Royalty, and continued to be so, at least till James II.’s time.

Mr. J. P. Hore[8] says that the King probably resided at an inn known as “The Griffin,” and held court there during his early visits, and that this inn subsequently became the King’s own property. It is quite certain that Newmarket as a Turf centre dates from the time of James I.; he spent some days there in the year 1605, and appears to have paid very frequent visits to the place to enjoy the sport he was anxious to encourage. He kept racehorses, and in his purchase of the Markham Arabian[9] we have evidence that he did not spare endeavour to procure the best. It is true that this horse proved a failure on the Turf; that his indifferent performance did something to discredit the Arab in the eyes of Englishmen, and no doubt contributed to check the importation of Eastern sires for racing; but his failure does not affect the fact that his purchase goes for proof of King James’s desire to improve the breed of racehorses. Many foreign horses were imported into England during this reign. The Spanish horse still held its high reputation; in 1623, the Duke of Buckingham, then at Madrid, shipped from St. Sebastian thirty-five horses, a present from the Court of Spain to the Prince of Wales. Whether these were racehorses or not records omit to tell us.

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.