the sport of kings

[Jonathan Lighter]

OED has this as "war" from the 17th C. (the brackets in this case seem
hair-splitting to me), but as "horse racing" only from 1918.

1859 "The Druid" [Henry Hall Dixon] _Silk and Scarlet_ (London: Rogerson &
Tuxford) 85: That meeting, which is still marked with a white stone, in
Yorkshire hearts, was the dawn of a new era for the Turf, which had known
many ups and downs since the Duke of Cumberland's executors had sold off his
stud. The names of " Bolton," "Queensberry," and "Rockingham" had, it is
true, lent lustre to "the sport of kings," but it was not until the Prince
of Wales and "Bedford," "Grosvenor," "Abingdon," "Barrymore," and some ten
other equally choice spirits threw their souls into the cause, that it
revived in earnest on Newmarket Heath.

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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