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FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

FLAT-RACING

EXPLAINED

BY

'ANALYST

A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON RACING, DE-
SIGNED TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS
OF OWNERS, BREEDERS, TRAIN-
ERS, JOCKEYS, AND THE
GENERAL PUBLIC.

NEW YORK

GOODWIN BROS.

1440 Broadway
London: EDMUND SEALE

Copyright 1899.

BY EXPRESS PERMISSION THIS WORK IS DEDICATED

TO

THE RIGiHT HONOURABLE

THE EARL OF DURHAM

(SENIOR STEWARD OF THE JOCKEY CLUB.)

INTRODUCTION.

In submitting this work to the sporting public, es-
peciailly those so well recognized as taking an intelli-
gent as well as a lively interest in the thoroughbred
and his doings, I desire it will be understood that prac-
tical information, rather than literary production, has
alone 'been aimed at.

The work is not to be regarded in any sense as having
exhausted the various subjects with which it deals.
It is intended, in its inception, as merely the grounds
work upon which it is hoped in the future to erect a
literary edifice worthy the traditions of the greatest
of our national pastimes.

That a work of the kind was needed, to mark out
more clearly the dlistinguishing features of racing, will,
I think, be found to have been exemiplified at every
step that has been taken throughout the investig'ation
of the various sulbjects treated upon.

vi INTRODUCTION

When it is indelibly realized tliat in racing, as in
mathematics, deviation from a straig^it line proves the
longer way round, perhaps the part scientific demon-
s'tration must yet play, to increase enlightenment, and
make more effedtive ordinary "understanding," will
not be overlooked.

After some years of attentive study and very close
observaition I desire to express the gratification it was
to me that manj' results at which I had arrived should
have met with confirmation by the 'timely act of Lord
Durham in the famous speech he delivered on the oc-
casion of the G-imcrack Clu)b Meeting held at York in
Deceintoer la&t.

Commenting, as I trust 1 may 'be permitted to do, on
the subject of a speech conitaining, as it did, so much
of the highest value and importance to the best in-
terests of the turf, perhaps it will not be deemed out
of place if I take the liberty of reminding his lordship
that It W9,s the extreme accuracy of the incident3 and
circumgitancps to which he referred, cotupled with re-
sults most clearly defined in all that appeared, that led
to the present work iDeing puiblished.

When his lordship said, "It had been a year of medi-
ocrity. They had had moderate horses, moderate rid-
ing, moderate racing, and moderate handicapping,"
nothing better to the purpose could have been ex-
pressed, and the pubjic in general certainly owe a dpbt

INTRODUCTION vii

of ig-i-atitude to Lord Durham for having put those
words on record.

I must apologize that in the course of the work in
some respects repetition became unavoidable.

I have to thank several gentlemen for at times giving
me access to notes containing points in racing results
of undoubted interest and value— so important, indeed,
in one or two respects that I regret I am not permitted
to render my acknowledgments to them in name. They,
too, like myself, prefer to be unknown rather than bask
in the sunshine of publicity.

ANALYST.

March, 1SD9.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Introduction . . . . -; ^

CHAPTER I.

BREEDING.

Delight men take in Iiorses— S'tandard of the thor-
oughbred— Celebrities in times past— Eclipse v.
Victor Wild— Question of excellence— Scientific
ibreediiiig-—'Weeds'—Fashiion— Breeders for sale—
Sale-ringr . . . . . .1-8

CHAPTER II.

BREEDING (continued).
Private breeders — ^Horses of superb physique — Con-
formation—What is physique?— Bone and mus-
cle—Spinal structure— Hindquarters set some-
what obliquely on^Hindquarter ipropulsion —
Under-reach— Spinal structure the mainspring in
the mechanism of the race-horse — Why horses
tire so quickly— Nature's restorer— Horses per-
mitted to roll on their backs— Back of a horse
curves— Want of anatomical insight— Natural
laws wrongly put aside— TAppeal to owners to pro-

CONTENTS.

PAGE

vide for horses rolHing-— Hunt horses, too— Character
of 'Place required— Directions— Buyers forewarned
as to selection of horses— (Spinal strengith— Well-
developed dock— Exception rare . . . 9-15

CHAPTER III.

HORSES.

Career when puiblished— Topic of horses— Pedigree
—Racing- opinions, how regarded— Quesition of 2 lb.
weight— Genuine and falsely run races— 'One run
or dash' method of racing— Admiral Rous on the
principles of handicapping— Horses run fastest
when carrying biggest burden— Reputafion for dis-
tances—Six furlong horses— Two-year-olds at Ep-
som and Ascot — Racing governed by gradient—
Jeddah in the Derby and St. Lege r— Eccentricities
in running 16-24

CHAPTER IV.

HORSES (continued).

Fallacy in handicaps— Weight-for-age races when
turned into handicaps— Adaptabiliity of horses for
gradients— On different ground— Mixture of horses
in training slaibles- Why horses do not win races-
Supposed 'bad' horses— 'Mannerisms' of horses—
•Horses for eourses' ..... 25-30

CHAPTER V.

HORSES (continued).

Dissimilanity in running of horses — ^Wind or lung
capacity— Running distance a cultivated art— When
£50 plateis and four-mile heats existed^Stayir)^

CONTENTS. xi

PAGE

powers V. muscular powers— Result of 'waiting' in
races— Hig-h speed— How to recharge tiie lungs
wirth air— Short-distance horses can be raced over
longer distances— Victor Wild as a cup horse— All-
round horses— La F16che— Performances unsur-
passed during present century— Suggestion as to
skeleton being preserved in the cause of anatomical
science ...... 31-36

CHAPTER VI.

OWNERS A>D TRAINERS.

Character of duties of a trainer— Ait home and away
—His Obligations to Ms employers— ^Management
of horses— StaJble secrets— 'Sensitive horses— The re-
sults of mistakes in training — What happens in
cases such as Ingeibrigt— The effects of racing on
wrong gr'adients— Want of skill dn the placing of
horses— Owners' mistakes— Trainers' blunders— Ill-
placed horses in races- The result— High and low
»peea ....... 57-45

CHAPTER VII.

JOCKEYg.

When they do not win— Much belauded when they do
—The art of race-riding— Fordham and Archer—
The American jockeys Simims and Rieff — Scientific
iMing— Racing opinion of It— Sloan rides to time-
Sea^ on the withers— <Style and method of riding-
fully explained — Curve in horse's back— (How it can
be seen — Recoil in horse's stride— 'How 'recoil' af-
fects speed-^Horses that 'dwell' in their stride-
Origin explained— Beaten horses— What is speed?—
The effect of air in horses' lungs— Lung^ capacity

CONTENTS.

PAGE

in horses— Distress in horses— Fast and slow racing
— I.imit of lung capacity, 1V4 miles— Above IM, or
races of l^/^ miles, horses reinflate— English jockeys
not acquired the art— Sloan's scientific method-
Peter and the Royal Hunt Cup— Rockdove in the
Cesarewitch— Georgic's running— Jockeys ride to
orders— Period of time in racing-stable- Effect of
'waiting' in racing — Holding against horse acts as a
lever— Waste of energy— High as distinguished
from excessive speed — Young jockeys riding on
Sloan model ...... 46-67

CHAPTER VIII.

HANDICAPS.

Major Egerton— Principle of handiicaps— How com-
piled—Educated esbimate— 'Best and worst form
idea— Failure to make racing fair— Made on basis
of level course — Dry ground and /wet ground— Royal
Hunt Cup course at Ascot— Reserv^ed horses— Close
finishes— jHow these arise— Handicaps should be
done away wiith— Suggested method of weights—
The Derby Cup— Supposed 'science' of handicap-
ping ....... 68-76

CHAPTER IX.

WEIGHTS.

Weights founded on estimate- Races run on a single
course — Equal and unequal terms— Racing on basis
of estimate— *No weight will bring certain horses
together— Good and bad horses— Suggested modifi-
cation— Scientific conditions— Owners and trainers
—Knowledge of form—Handicap run on different
courses— Weight governed by rule— Scale revised in

CONTENTS. xiii

PAGE

1873 requires further revision— Nursery handicaps
—Weights when 'guesswork'— Weights assigned
by merit — Weights governed by scale — Horses di-
vided into classes— Unknown merit governed by
rule— Weight for two-year-olds— Principle of ad-
justing weights should be made gradual in opera-
tion 77-86

CHAPTER X.

COURSES.

Believed to be the best in the world— All differ in for-
mation—Clerks of courses— Surveys not made-
Why there is contradictory running— Gradients—
What should be done— Distance and level— Surface
measurements— Running distances— Racing on
rolled grass— Management of courses on Newmar-
ket Heath ...... 87-93

CHAPTER XI.

TIME.

Records of races 4,000 in number— Value of the use
of the watch— How to use it— Racing and non-rac-
ing horses — Wet-ground and dry-ground horses —
Horses for level or incline only — Angle in physical
construction of horses at present unknown— Rel-
ative speed in horses — Horses repeat performances
— Workington's running — Amphion's fastest race —
Best Man not of the Mellon tribe— Florizel II. . 94-102

CHAPTER XII.

TIME (continued).

Time: how applied to placed horses-^Georgic's speed
at Manchester and at Newmarket— Georgic com-

xiv CONTENTS,

FAOK

pared with other horses— Rodomont— Speed, dis-
tance and gradient— La Pl^che In the Derfl>y and
the Oaks— La Fl&che's running in the Carnibrldge-
shire 103-109

CHAPTER XIII.

TIME (continued).

St. Prusquin when beaten by Teufel-^St. Frusquin
and the Middle Park Plate— Teufel, how reg-arded
in the future— Sporting writers— All races should
be oflicially timed — Speed of horses differs on every
course — 'Track-riding' on grass courses . . 110-116

CHAPTER XIV.

NAMING HORSES.

Should unnamed horses be permitted to compete for
public stakes?— The late Lord Glasgow — Why he
did not name his horses— The 'jargon of the ring'
—Why the horse General Peel was so named—
Pleasing and suii table names for horses — Names
should not exceed ten letters— Practice of naming
horses as now adopted should be discontinued-
Vain attempts at erudition— Ill-named horses and
turf history— Suggested names of places in British
colonies, etc. . . . . . 117-122

CHAPTER XV.

TIPSTERS.

What the best interests of the turf demand— Best in-
terests bemg assailed— Tipsters increase year by
year— Their misrepresentations and aids— Adver-

CONTENTS. XV

PAGE

tisements, circulars and pamphlets— Profits— Pal ice
court records— Bookmakers prosecuted— 'Moralists'
—Mr. Dunn and 'Mr. Tipster'— Betting not illegal—
Legitimate and illegitimate backers— Victims of
the tipster— The law should be made to stop the
promulgation of inducement— Persons should alone
bet by their own initiation, and not at the insitance
of o-thers— What the duty of the Legislature is . 123-128

Flat-Racing Explained^

CHAPTER I.

BREEDING.

The delight which men take in horses is not con-
fined to the British Isles, nor to any portion of Her
Majesty's dominions. The feeling is universal
throughout the world, wherever men and horses
exist. From very early times the British have been
a horse-loving people, and as a natural consequence
improvement in the several breeds has been pursued
with the utmost possible care by successive genera-
tions, and at the present it is a moot question if a
higher point of excellence can under any circum-
stances be attained.

However, in the study of the thoroughbred no
country has been so pertinacious as our own, and I
think it may be safely said, in development and

2 FLAT -RACING EXPLAINED.

general characteristics, we have not only surpassed
every other, but we have been the medium of all
that is possessed elsewhere in these essential par-
ticulars.

Since racing was first inaugurated in this country,
we have made great strides in the number and qual-
ity of our thoroughbreds. In years gone by, as in
more recent times, of course horses of exceptional
character and merit came, as it were, to the front,
and historically have been handed down to us as
examples to be followed, on account of the great
achievements they performed. For sucli we have
the most profound admiration, knowing full well
what we have to-day amongst our equine celebrities
we owe to previous generations, to long strains of
blood chosen from the best running blood of pre-
vious times.

It is of very great interest whether the standard
of the thoroughbred has advanced or retrograded
with time, and whether we have at the present a
class of animal superior or inferior to those our
forefathers had a generation or two ago. Unfoi-
tunately, there is nothing to tell us this. We might
go back to the celebrities at any period we might
choose to select, and relatively we are without the
least guide that would say whether they were of
greater or of lesser degi'ee, in point of superiority

BREEDING. 3

and excellence, than those we have to-day. Upon
the point there is just this, that, if we except what
are called the "classic races," there are no certain
or ascertained facts to judge by.

It is out of the question to place reliauce on han-
dicap running as any sort of guide to relative su-
periority, such as is referred to, so we are left to
glean what we can from weight-for-age races. If
we take by way of test the winners of the Derby or
St. Leger at particular times in the past, and en-
deavor to compare them with the winners of those
races in recent years, the only possible link is de-
rived from the published time in which the respec-
tive races were run. This in itself is of no value
whatever, unless accompanied with accurate details
of the climatic conditions that existed, and, above
all, the precise state the ground was in. But even
with these data to go upon, only a general idea can
be arrived at, leaving practically all else undeter-
mined.

However, to show the absurdity of attempting to
deduce anything from the stated time in which races
were run, in the almost forgotten age when that
splendid horse Eclipse carried all before him, we
have only to call to mind that that celebrity was
accredited with having covered a mile in the utterly
impossible time of one tninute. Whatever Eclipse

4 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

might have beeu iu the flesh as a race horse, I think,
by way of comparison, we may judge him iu point
of merit on the record of that superb mller — on a
flat course — Victor Wild, and he was only able to do
the distance in Im, 39i/4s., and this, too, under the
most favorable conditions for securing an accurate
test for speed. How Eclipse could have been cred-
ited with doing a mile in 39i/^ seconds less time it is
impossible to say, but I am quite sure we have had
no other horse in this country, during my experi-
ence, that could have beaten Victor Wild's time.

That the time I have given was correct does noi
admit of doubt, though I am quite aware that th«i
times of races as we often see them in print are not
always to be relied upon. Therefore, when we iind
it stated that Eclipse did a mile in the short spact^ of
00 seconds, it is incorrect on the fact of it, or Victor
Wild would comparatively have been only a very
moderate horse at his best.

As I have said, it is a question if a higher point of
excellence can be attained in our thoroughbreds, i
think I might also couple with it the question
whether a "higher point" is iCally desirable. How
ever, our breeders' answer is in the aflarmative, and
by the aid of "scientific breeding" we may await
results in the future which will be a surprise to us, if
all we are told is true. Of what is called "scientific

11

BREEDING. 5

breeding," in the sense of producing a better class
of race horse than we have been familiar with, I am
afraid, like the majority of people, I am not a little
sceptical.

We know, however, that breeders, taking them as
a body, are both zealous and enterprising, and not
easily balked when ditficulties must necessarily be
overcome. But if "scientific breeding" is to be taken
as the outcome of mating on the method of fusing
certain strains of blood, with no other object than to
peri)etuate a particular line on the "heir-male" prin-
ciple, I am bound to say that my knowledge and
breeding experience do not lead me to suppose it will
be attended with satisfactory results. To perpet-
uate the best running blood in a race horse, there
cannot be doubt, is both sound in principle and cor-
rect in judgment. But to seek to perpetuate the
best running blood by fusion, in the way that is
said, when both sire and dam possess this qualifica-
tion, I believe to be thoroughly inexpedient.

It may be that those who advocate "scientific
breeding" on the lines I have said may have this in
view, and if so they have me so far on their side.
What I object to is that the subject of conformation,
the external qualities in a race horse, should play
the comparatively insignificant part it does in the
estimation of t)re^er§> We Jiuow, of course, that

6 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

breeding has its linaucial asi^ect. Putting that
aside, if the aim and end is the production of higher
characteristics than we yet have in tlie thorough-
bred, my humble judgment goes to the point, not
that we shall get it by fusion on the heir-male prin-
ciple, nor by the peri>etuation of the best running
blood in combination, as I have above said. Rather
by the perpetuation of the best running blood on the
one side only, in combination with conformation on
the other side, tending to supply points in frame con-
struction either absent or requiring development, as
the case may be.

As "weeds" are useless as race-horses, and it is
therefore ruination to breed them, however good the
blood may be in their veins, surely, in the absence
of exception to strain on special grounds, the first
of primary condition in the production of race-horses
is conformation and general racing characteristics^ —
in the sense that the highest running qualifications
should be associated with the best possible model in
point of frame.

That "scientific breeding" is destined to give us
conformation and racing style remains to be seen,
but for my part I should be disposed to think the
proportion of horses lacking in substance, and not
of the wear and tear sort, will be sensibly increased.
As it is, in the matter of breeding there m only a low

BREEDING. 7

percentage of good horses 'turned out year by year,
compared with the indifferent and rank bad ones. I
refer to the running horses, or those which find their
way into training establishments, as distinguished
from the very large number that are bred, many of
which never leave the breeders' premises, or, if they
do, are relegated in most cases to cab work, as
worthless animals for any other purpose.

It is a question of much curiosity why, with all
the care that appears to be taken, and the very large
fees that all round are paid by breeders for stud ser-
vices, there should be comparatively so few" of the
good and so very many of the other kind. That
there should be room for saying this, on facts that
are indisputable, casts a somewhat serious reflec-
tion on our breeding system, but that the system is
accountable for it there cannot be much doubt. We
have long drifted into the meshes of fashion, and
we all know "fashion" governs the acts of breeders
with a rod of iron.

Perhaps breeders who can afford to indulge their
own taste, and who race their own stock, are some-
what differently placed. For all that, even with
them, unconsciously to themselves it may be, to a
large extent they are the slaves of their own imag-
ination, that "fashion" should alone dictate their
stud policy.

8 FLAT-RAVING EXPLAINED.

Why do breeders iu commou follow each other in
the use of some particular sire like so many sheep? |

If it is because the progeny of this sire fetches" high 'i

prices when the progeny of less celebrated sires do
not, breeders are not so much to blame, for the evil
rests more with the buyers than with them. But,
then, does it not come to this: Breeders do not
trouble to breed race-horses per ae: they only trouble
to breed such that people having "more money than
brains" will be induced, when the sales are on, to
compete against each other to invest in.

Although there may not be pretence for this, yet
the fact remains that breeders who breed for sale
too often send up their thoroughbred stock to the
sale-ring beefy, so overladen with fat, presumably
that their defects shall not be seen, and their good
or essential qualities only a dream of the imagina-
tion. However, we know this, that, by the aid and
glitter of sire qualification and attraction, a vast
amount of blood stock rubbish Is foisted upon buy-
ers, who, in return for the fabulous sums they pay,
reap, as it so frequently happens, only a barren re-
ward for their seemingly injudicious enterprise.

CHAPTEU II.

BREEDING (continued.)

It is a remarkable fact that the finest specimen of
the thoroughbred and the highest class race- horse
should invariably be found to exist in the same
animal, and equally remarkable, too, that these
should invariably be bred by private breeders rather
than by those who breed for sale. Of course there
are exceptions, but I feel I am not too wide of the
mark in saying this. For instance, take the case of
Galtee More, Persimmon* (a grand horse on the
level), St. Frusquin (an equally good horse on stiff
gradients), Ladas, Isinglass, Ravensbury, Orme, La
Fleche, Ormonde, all of recent years, and others that
could be largely added to in point of number, well
known to everybody as animals of superb physique.

Why private breeders should favor us, as they
consistently^ do, with the finest specimens of th^

10 FLAT-RAGING EXPLAINED.

thoroughbred is that conformation and general rac-
ing style is a ruling passion with them, much more
so than with those who are goverened by financial
considerations in the choice of a sire. To make up
deficiencies in the dam by the selection of a suitable
sire has led, in the furtherance of this particular
aim, to most satisfactory results, and has done more
to make the thoroughbred what it is to-day than the
adoption of any other breeding system. I do not
suggest that private breeders do not give effect to
the proverbial idea of uniting the best and, at the
same time, the most suitable strains. To a very
marked degree tlie perpetuation of a direct line has,
as events have shown, rightly been made to give
place to Nature's requirements in the matter of sus-
taining the by no means less important idea of
physique.

Now, what is "physique" in a race horse? The
muscular proportions are undoubtedly "physique"
in every sense, but the most brilliant specimen of
the thoroughbred must go further than what is con-
veyed by the w^ords "muscular development."
"Where there is bone there is muscle" is an old idea,
but it is not too much to say we must have the bone
in a structural sense in the right places. For in-
stance, how many of the best judges are not satis-
fied with size and substance, freedom from lumber, a

BREEDING. 11

bright intelligent head, good shoulders and forehand,
with a depth of girth, an evenly, balanced frame, —
and .a well-shaped and sound set of legs and feet?
These characteristics, as a rule, are the beau-ideal
of a youngster, esijecially when in type he is repre-
sentative of the strain of blood to which he is ac-
credited. Does this go far enough? In my experi-
ence it does not, for the simple reason that there
are wanting the two chief elements in point of
structure that constitute a perfect specimen, in the
sense of what is required in a race-horse. These
are strength and general development of the spinal
structure. In the second place depth of hock, with
the hind-quarters somewhat obliquely, rather than
perpendicularly, set on, permitting the greatest pos-
sible under-reach and hind-quarter propulsion from
behind. To avoid repetition as to the necessity and
value of this, I refer my readers to the chapter on
jockeys (pp. 49-52). However, I take the opportu-
nity of saying there has been no horse having gained
celebrity on the turf, since racing became an estab-
lished institution in this country down to the pres-
ent, that did not owe its success to the possession of
abnormal powers in these two mentioned particu-
lars.

The "spinal structure," which is the mainspring
in the mechanism of the race-horse, is by no means

12 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

the most studied part of a horse's frame, I regret to
say, by either breeders or buyers. If a colt has bone
below the kuee, and a seemingly powerful frame,
people are generally satisfied; but they forget that
very often there is a lack of power in the back and
loins to wield the strength and weight below, which
in such cases is only so much lumber. It is for this
reason that so many horses, looking to have great
power, tire so quickly, and never turn out good race-
horses. What these horses, I may add, endure
when efforts are made to develop their supposed
racing capabilities can only be imagined when it is
remembered they are never allowed to have re-
course to Nature's restorer, which would relieve
them at once, namely, to roll on their backs in the
same manner that grazing colts always do after a
bout of galloping, when something or other had set
them to do so.

As I have mentioned in the pages devoted to
jockeys, in galloping, the back of a horse curves to
an extent to almost describe a half-circle, and there
can be no doubt that the natural desire a horse has
to roll after a severe gallop is prompted by natural
laws, and it is only our ignorance and want of
anatomical insight that have failed us in providing
for it.

Why natural laws should be put aside in any om

BREEDING. 13

respect with horses in training is difficult to under-
stand. It may be sought to be justified by circum-
stances the trainer's art may have deftly concealed
from us, but, notwithstanding, it is a hundred to one
the circumstances are wrong. I know this, how-
ever, that in principle the structural condition re-
quires the back of a horse should be straightened
out and the extreme tension relieved, to enable him
to be free from pain after long-continued galloping,
and more especially if the siDeed has been excessive
— as a liorse experiences in training equally as in
racing.

In thus writing, I cannot but think what a hu-
mane act this work will have achieved in the cause
of the noble animal we love so well, and how' in-
tensely gratifying it will be, at least to me, if I shall
have induced some, if not all amongst the more
honored of our turf patrons, to give attention to this
subject, on the lines I have pointed out. If I have
appealed to their conviction, I hope, too, I may not
have appealed in vain to the necessity that their
horses on coming in from fast work, as soon as< the
saddle and sheets are removed, shall be permitted,
say in an inclosed shed or other suitable place ar-
ranged for the purpose, to throw themselves down
and turn over a time or two. The effect this will
be found to have upon horses in training, and upon

14 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

hunt-horses, too, is astonishing, for it at once im-
parts freshness and vigor, when otherwise they
would remain for hours tired and listless.

How many horses after being hard galloped, al-
though allowed to get apparently composed, refuse
to feed, and now and again may be seen looking
somewhat anxiously around! When this happens,
horses are not wholly free from pain, the remedy
for it being what I have said. Upon this I must
leave my readers to judge for themselves how a
horse comes out of the ordeal of excessive training,
if the idea is to improve as well as to secure the
retention of speed.

It will certainly not be by prolonging the tension
and strain upon the spinal structure, but rather by
giving relief to that organ of the equine frame, for
expansion and development, with as little delay as
possible.

In the matter of providing a suitable place in
which horses may be attracted to roll, much care is
necessary. If possible it should be round or oblong,
rather than square, in shape. There should be
plenty of straw or sand placed round the outer edge,
so that a horse may not get cast or injured in any
way.

When a horse has seen another throw himself
down and roll, when his turn comes he takes to it

BREEDING. 15

just as a (luck takes to water, and in a short time it
apparently becomes tbe chief phnisure to look for-
ward to, in the course of his daily, though otherwise
monotonous, life. There should be no training es-
tablishment without this provision attached to it,
and, as a matter of fact, no hunting establishment
either.

In the purchase of thoroughbred stock for rac-
ing purposes, buyers should be forewarned not to
make selection of any lacking "spinal" development.
It is not sufficient that appearances indicate a good
back and loins. Care should be taken to see, as
with many horses, that the spinal strength does not
end at the root of the tail, followed on by a weak
and only partially developed dock. To be perfect in
back or spinal structure, the bone should not only be
massive and in due proportion with the rest of the
frame, but the strength and power it imparts should
be found to be carried throughout the dock itself.
A powerful and well developed dock is a tolerably
sure sign that a horse has a strong and well-devel-
oped back. I have known, however, a horse to l^e
extremely strong in its dock, and not overdeveloped
in point of strength in the back, but in my experi-
ence such cases- are rare.

ClIAI'TKK III.

HORSES.

I f tbe interest which people take in the thorough-
bred is great in the matter of character and pedi-
gree, it is yet enhanced by their doings on a race
course. In this respect everj^ particular is eagerly
scrutinized and dilated upon, from the time he
leaves the breeders' hands to take his place in the
string under the trainer's charge, in his daily work
on the gallops, till he shall have completed his rec-
ord, for good or for evil, and quitted the post for the
paddock. One can only realize this by supposing
a work to be published containing every detail that
finds its way into print during the career of a single
horse that has found favor with the public, and one
may picture books as big as the "London Directory"
to grace one's library shelves, and perhaps a place as
big as Olympia to store them in, in the few yearS
one may number by the fingers on one's hands.

HORSES 17

I cannot say that any one has need to complain of
this enthusiasm on the part of the British public,
but rather to feel the greatest satisfaction that so
healthful a diversion should exist, to stimulate the
better side of people's natures. Wherever men are
wont to congregate, there are sure to be some
amongst them imbued with a natural insfmct for
sport, and it will not be long before the congenial
topic of horses and horse lore finds vent to engross
attention.

The subject of horses is very naturally provoca-
tive of contention, and equally so when it has ref-
erence to the qualities and merits of the thorough-
bred.

On the subject of pedigree it is. marvellous the
wealth of information some men possess, and the
facility with which they dive into the labyrinths
of descent and the many knotty points that are
present touching the perpetuation of strain.

To be well versed in pedigree was regarded a
generation or so ago as one of the highest accom-
plishments a man recognized as a sportsman could
possess. The same sentiment, indeed, prevails even
now amongst many who delight to adhere to the
precepts of the old school, and therefore it will be
a period of humiliation for those who come after
should they allow the siMrit that guides it to decay
and die out.

18 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

What was thought to be practical then is perhaps
more of theory now; but, as far as can be seen, no
signal benefit has come by the change. In the re-
searches of pedigree, as in the elucidation of the
mysteries of racing, the ambition of all is, of course,
to be practical, as well as far-seeing. That this
ambition, however, has been realized by many may
be open to doubt- — and I think very much doubt —
when judged by one's common understanding.

I may have taken an erroneous view— I hope I
have — of the opinions generally entertained by
racing men on racing subjects, but I have never
regarded them, I am bound to observe, as par-
taking of a very high standard. I happen to be
acquainted with a good many owners, and amongst
the trainers I think only a few would be able to
say I was not personally known to them. Then, of
the general followers of the noble pastime I have
rather an extended acquaintance, so I have the
means, at any rate, of forming a fairly accurate
notion of what racing opinion is among racing men.

It is always futile to make sweeping allegations,
and extremely wrong, I should say, at any time, if
not well founded. But racing men, in my experi-
ence, are much given to taking a superficial view
of events and circumstances, only to be construed
in the light of what has grown to be a sort of ac-

HORSES 19

cepted doctrine amongst themselves. This arises
more especially in regard to horses running, though
it permeates almost everything that transpires in
racing. Take, for instance, a race which a horse
has won by a head. The idea with them prevails
that 2 lb. would have brought the winner and the
second horse together, and that, should these same
two animals again meet, giving the second horse
that advantage, his chance would be equal to the
other.

There surely can be nothing more haphazard
than this, and nothing more fatal to the best in-
terests of racing. This question of the 2 lb. weight,
although upheld by handicap rules, and thereby
accepted with authoritative sanction, is ridiculous
on the face of it. Suppose these two horses do
meet on the same ground, and on the altered con-
ditions, and we are treated to the show of a race
at the finish, and, watch in hand, you have ex-
amined both races with the practised eye of a
critic. You will have found that the difference in
running, in ix)iut of time, amounted probably to
several seconds — sufficient, indeed, to have sepa-
rated the horses, on their merits, by some three or
four lengths.

Instead of having witnessed two genuine races,
you will probably have seen two falsely-run races,

20 FLAT-RAGING EXPLAINED.

neither of which was of the least possible value
so far as the merits of the horses were concerned.
In all probability all the horses running were, to
adopt the method so popular with some people,
"waiting to make one run or dash," with the result
that the race was run at no sort of speed, the whole
lot being "all out" at the finish.

But suppose the second race to have taken place
on another course, the course itself being up hill or
down hill, or as dry and hard as a road, or in mud
nearly up to the horses' fetlocks, the 2 lb. difference
would remain the same. The relative chances of
horses under saich conditions — being a perfect im-
possibility to forecast — would be governed by the 2
lb. difference, and in the future treated accordingly.

There was this in the running of Haw/inch and
Succoth last autumn, and these horses are handi-
capped and supported for future engagements on
the hypothesis that a change of course, and possibly
altered climatic conditions, will in no way make
any alteration. "Where the one is, the other is
bound to be," wrote an inspired writer not long
since, which was intended to be sagacious, no
doubt.

Of course, it will be understood I refer to the
head-beating and the 2 lb. as a matter of common
acceptance in the rules, as well as in the practice

HORSES 21

of racing. AYhat I have said in this respect must
be taken to apply in all cases where readjustment
of weights is supposed to bring horses together.
Of the principle of handicapping, the late Admiral
Rous used to say that "weight could be so adjusted
in racing as to bring a horse and a donkey together."
I do not know if the great turf mentor really in-
tended this to be taken seriously, or whether it
was one of those ponderous flights of fancy the
gallant old salt so delighted to indulge in.

In any case, it could have no practical mean-
ing beyond the suggestion that in racing "weight
governs all things." Taken at this, my admiration
for one who did so much to popularize the great
institution of racing is in no sense diminished by
the belief I enttrtain, that in this idea of his he
was mistaken, it being an incontestable fact that
horses almost in all cases run their fastest races
when carrying the biggest burden. That a man of
his experience and high intelligence should have
been as-«ociated with the turf so very many years,
and — so far as one can judge — not found this out,
surpasses one's comprehension; yet it occurred con-
stantly during his time, as it is happening now
during ours.

All horses running in races have a reputation
for distances. Thus, we have five-furlong and six-

22 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

furlong horses; we have then milers, and those des-
ignated "long-distance horses," which may mean
any distance up to two or two and a half miles. We
have three miles, it is true, but those races are few
and far between now.

Of the running of horses over short distances
a singular erroneous idea appears to prevail. If
a "six-furlong horse" wins, say, at Epsom, he is
treated as being the same horse at that distance
on all courses, and it is not of any consequence
whether it be Ascot, Goodwood, Sandowne, or any
other place. Why this should be so it is impossible
to say. How many horses there are that win at
Epsom on the short courses, and seldom, if ever,
win anywhere else! It is true I once saw a couple
of two-year-olds run a close race at Epsom, and
they were afterwards matched for a large stake to
run five furlongs on tlie same conditions in point of
weight at Ascot, and they finished a close race there.
It was, however, only a sorry exhibition at the
latter place, and it practically settled both, for
neither was of any use afterwards.

But upon what theory these colts were matched
to run on a total change of gradients it is diflacult
to understand. If the question of gradient alone
inspired the match, there would have been some-
thing in it, and at the same time something to
record, on the scientific as also on the practical side

HORSES 23

of racing. While these colts were adapted to the
Epsom gradients, and might have become good
animals had they been reserved for racing only on
such gradients, they were useless for incline gallop-
ing, and it was the worst possible judgment to put
them to do it.

But, then, how often do we not see horses put
to race on courses where, in point of gradient, they
have no chance whatever! To write affirmatively
that the principle of racing is entirely governed
by gradient, and that the apportioning of weights
(presuma)bly to bring the running capabilities of
horses to a common level) has no practical result
to that end, I suppose will be derided as imaginary,
and possibly unsound.

If there are those who take that view, let them
explain why it is that horse'^ run in races under
favorable conditions time after time, backed by
the stable, and j'et make no show, and when cA^ery-
body is disgusted, and not :i shilliiv:]? is^n. tlioy
come out and win witliout an effort. Why did Per-
simmon beat St. Ffus<.^uin at Epsom, and then get
beaten by St. Frusquin at Newmarket? Why did
Georgic run perhaps the fastest Cambridgeshire we
may see for years, and then, at a slight difference
in weight two days lat^r, get beaten by ten lengths,
in a slower-run race, in the Old Cambridgeshire?
Why did Jeddah win the Derb}- last year compara-

24 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

Tively so easily, au<.l then get beaten anyhow iu
the St. Leger by nil auimal supposed to have but
an indifferent chance?

Take these as instances only of performances
that occur with horses almost dally throughout the
season, and what is the an?v,^or to it?

Can it be alleged that it was caused by the
changed conditions in point of weight? The
weights were practically the same, so it cannot l>e
that. Can it be that the old story — that certain
horses have *conie on a bit,* or 'gone back a bit.'
or have 'joined the ranks of the currish lot, and
won't do their best,' and endless phrases of the
kind which ara always made to account for defeat
— is true, or does it arise from causes for which
no excuses need be vouchsafed ?

The latter Is the point; no excuses are needed.
Any one who applies his mind to a study of these
eccentricities in the running of horses should ex-

V

perience little diificulty in finding it out. So far,
however, I have never heard that auj' one has
taken the trouble to do so.

CHAPTER IV.

HORSES {continued.)]

In handicaps tbe woi^lits are always made the
seapegoait for every conceivable discrepancy, simply
because there is little else to fall back upon. Noth-
ing can be more Illogical, because it is not in handi-
caps alone that a solution is to be found. You have
only to take the weight-for-age races and turn thoni
into handicaps, on the basis of handicap rales, be-
fore they are rim, and tlicn see for yourself how
they come out after the races are over. If this does
not convince yoa of the fallacy of the principle upon
which handicaps are framed you will be incapable
of conviction in matters of racing, however sound
an argument may h'.\

Take the tunning in the Derby .and the St.
Leger last year, and apply the test to those races.
Jeddah won the Derby with something in hand
by three-qnartcrs of a length, and the performance

26 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

was thought to be good enough to cause him to
start for the St. Leger with the call In the market
at 6 to 5 on.

If the race for the St. Leger had been a handi-
cap, Jeddali obviously would have been top weight,
and at the very least would have been set to give
Wildflower 7 lbs. As it was, the latter colt met
Jeddah on even terms, both carrying 9 St., and yet
Wildfowler beat Jeddah by four lengths. If the
principle of handicapping is worth anything it
would show conclusively that it would make this
kind of running impo:^s:blo, but this we know can-
not be done, and as a matter of fact never is done,
in any handicap ever framed.

The real explanation in the case of Jeddah is that
which applies with equal force to the running of
Persimmon, St. Frusquin, Georgic, and every other
horse seen on a race course— that is, special adapta-
tion and peculiarity in respect of gradient. When
horses win in fast-run races they are obviously
on a right gradient; when their speed is slow, and
they are seen to labor in their stride, they are on a
wrong gradient.

About the peculiarity of horses in this respect,
a great deal might be written. There are some
alone adapted to race on courses perfectly level,
and they are of no practical good when put to

HORSES 27

run on ground that differs in this essential. Some
horses are of litiie u.^e on a strictly level course,
and are only seen to advantage when the winning-
post stands, or is placed at a spot, very much below
the level of the starting post. Then, again, others
are of little account on either of the courses just
mentioned, but have sterling qualities when put to
race where there is a steep incline, and this right
up to the finish.

Next to be considered are a class that, whatever
their peculiarity might be in point of gradient,
never show anything approaching their best form,
or, in other words, "high class speed," unless in a
sense the ground is as hard as a brickbat. These
horses, in a wet season, are generally of little good
for racing, and it is quite by chance they can be
made to pay their training expenses.

But perhaps the most rcriuirkiible, those possess-
ing the greatest peculiarity, are horses capable of
racing in the deepest ground, and with mud almost
up to their fetlocks skim along apparently without
an effort, looking to be going on the surface as light
as a feather. These horses, however, Invariably
are useless when the ground is hardt being too slow,
unless placed in very moderate company.

In every training establishment, there is neces-
sarily a rare mixture of horses haviug peculiarities

28 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

of the character to which I 1 ave referred. What
is done to single them out and phice them on suit-
able courses, under suitable condition?;, is best un-
derstood by what is to be seen of their perform-
ances.

As everybody who j^oes racing knows, there are
horses continually running tluU go for months with-
out winning a single race. When this happens,
there is, of course, no commiseration or kindly word
expressed in respect of the horse, but, on the con-
trary, the wretched animal is made tlie object of
every kind of abuse for liis supposed cowardice and
ungovernable temper. Under these circumstances,
unfavorable as they apparently are to any chance
of reclamation, it will be determined to get rid of
him, and the iiorse will pass into other hands.

A new order of tbings now springs up, and, in
spite of what the horse h.'is gone through, he will
begin to win races, and in a sliort time put several
to his credit. Now the secret is out. The horse at
length got into the possession of some one who had
the good sense to discover th? character of ground
upon which he could stretch himself, and hence the
result.

It is clear enough there would not be half the
number of bad horses, or supposed bad hor.-es, there
are if they were properly understood, in the sense

HORSES 29

of gratifying the particul-ir desire they may have
for work to their liking. It is sheer nonsense, with
the intelligence horses possess, to pretend to ignore
that they are not endowed with sufficient reason
to be able to discriminate the character of ground
upon which they can do their best, or whicli goes
best w ith them.

You have only to observe what I shall choose
to call the 'mannerisms' of horses in their work,
and now and again you will see some particular
animal object to go here or there, but elsewhere
he will be quite contented, and will jump oft' and
put heart into his work, going throughout with
evident relish. Taking things as you liud Ihem,
this is always put dov/n to tejnper, and a horse
won't be long before he gets the credit of being
a wayward brute, and will be treated as such.

It is, however, any odds on a horse of this char-
acter being in the right, and if his course of train-
ing, in point of the selction of the ground, were so
followed, it would be far better lor the Jiorse, j.nd
doubly so for his owner. I am quite aware there
will be a good many, having charge of horses, who
will not be disix)sed to agree with this maimer of
treatment, but for all that, I recommend them, for
once in a way, to put aside their prejudices and
try it.

30 FLAT-RAGING EXPLAINED.

"Horses for courses and courses for horses" is
so old as to be quite proverbial. Its application
is general, to courses of all kinds, when horses
repeat their performances upon thera; but it Ijas
special significance when applied to horses, for the
simple reason that it recognizes their adaptability
to some particular ground. That these facts should
not have become impressed upon the minds of rac-
ing people has always struck me as being strange.
If horses were singular in this peculiarity, and their
performances partook of isolated cases, much need
not be said, but we all know there is a constant
recurrence at almost .every meeting that is held.

I have thought it strange for two reasons. In
the first place, it affords a solution to a horse's run-
ning capabilities, on a scientific basis, that should
have been of material importance to horse owners;
while, in the second place, it points so directly to the
peculiarities in the natural formation of courses as
to afford a positive clue to the vagaries — called in
sporting language the "glorious uncertainty" — of
racing results, ynder all kinds of conditions.

CHAPTER V.

HORSES {continued.)

In point of distance there is great dissimilarity in
the running powers disphiyed by horses. The ma-
jority of those in training are undoubtedly of the
"sprinter" or short-distance class, but there are a
large number variously described as "middle-class"
and "long-distance" runners. Whether a horse be-
longs to either the one or the other entirely depends
on his wind, or lung capacity, and the combined
powers possessed in the back and loins. With most
horses, however, as we see them, their running dis-
tance is an acquired or cultivated art, more than
anything else, the course of training being fashioned
to suit the character of race those concerned in a
horse may prefer to indulge in. With a good many
it is not a question of whati a horse may be fitted for
and made to accomplish, within its, so to speak,
"capacity," but something else is designed — I am

32 FLAT-RAGING EXPLAINED.

afraid only too frequently — for which a horse has no
special merit or fitness. For this kind of thing in
these days there is really no excuse. It may have
been justified in the old days on the grounds of ex-
pediency, when £50 plates with four-mile heats ex-
isted; but now, thanks to the new rules, there are
not only large stakes to be raced for in plenty, but a
choice of distance is made to accommodate every
class of horse.

I have seen many horses confined to five furlong
races that probably should have been raced over
longer distances; but this, it is to be hoped, by the
well-timed action of the Jockey Club, will be altered
in the future. There is no reason why horses, pre-
sumably stayers only at five furlongs, should not
race equally well over longer distances.

In judging horses' staying powers, it should always
be remembered, those that apparently do not get
beyond five furlongs are not limited to this distance
by failure of muscular power, but from the vacua-
tion of air from the lungs. As a rule, horses that
stop at five or six furlongs have small lung capacity,
and frequently the only chance of getting them to
cover the distance at one "burst" is at high speed
from the beginning to the end.

These horses, however, can be made to cover
longer distances without difficulty if, instead of the

HORSES 33

foolish practice of holding them back and "waiting,"
as it is termed, they are allowed to travel through-
out at high speed, the only difference made being
that, at a given point, when they are getting toward
the end of a "burst" (say a half-furlong sliort of the
known distance they can stay), they are pulled sud-
denly up, as though to stop. This momentary ac-
tion on the part of the jockey recharges the lungs,
when the horse will continue the struggle with re-
newed vigor, and will be found to go on and com-
plete another "burst."

In this way "sprinters," or sli'oi"t-distance horses,
can be raced over long distances, provided, of course,
proper care is used and the method of "hanging
back" and "waiting" is not pursued. When a horse
is suddenly" pulled up to reinflate the lungs, as I
have siaid, it should be when he is well up in tlie
race; and if done with skill, it will not only be un-
perceived, but a horse need not lose an inch of
ground in the process. But even supposing he does
lose a little ground, it will be made up afterwai'd,
not merely once, but many times over, by the time
the winning-post is reached, should sufficient room
be given for the purpose.

It should here be noted it was thought at one time
to convert that splendid miler, Victor Wild, into
y^hat is called a "cup horse," and in furtherance of

34 FLAT-RAGING EXPLAINED.

it he was entered idcI ran for the Ascot Cup of two
and a half miles in 1896 Tliere was certainly, il
must be said, some good reaso)i for running the
horse on the Ascot gradients, for two years previous-
ly, viz.. in 1894, he had won thi Koyal Hunt Cup.

It was clear, however, Victor Wild was seen to
tlie best advantage at a mile and on a perfectly fial
course; and, as his speed was extraordinary, it could
not be expected he would be able to cover two and
a half miles, unless pulled up to reinflate his lungs
at the end of each mile, or, say, seven and a half
furlongs. Had this been done in the manner I have
described, there is little doubt AHctor Wild would
have done the last five furlongs at his usual rate of
speed, and without showing any signs of being over-
done.

Whilst 99 horses out of every 100 must needs be
placed exactly on the character of ground adapted
to their requirements, there is even an exception to
this supposed rule. This refers to what I may call
"all-round" horses; those it is almost impossible to
misplace^ — in the sense of being put on a wrong
course— under almost any conditions. You may put
them, indeed, on any course, regardless of its cli-
matic state, the weight to be carried, the distance
to be run, or the class of the company to be met.
Of these, I have only seen one during my experir

HORSES 35

ence, and that is La Fleche, 1889, by St. Simon out
of Quiver, tlie property, during: the mare's racing
career, of that generous friend of the English peo-
ple, and withal great philanthropist, the late Baron
de Hirsch.

It is quite unnecessary for me, in the present
work, to recapitulate the splendid achievements of
La Fleche, an animal whose performances on the
turf, in my judgment, stand out as unsurpassed, if,
indeed, equalled, by any other during the present
century. In thus writing, I have not overlooked
that La Fleche won races at all distances and at
all weights; on courses of all gradients, as well as
on the level, and when the gi'ound in point of con-
dition was as hard as a road, or, deluged with rain,
of the deepest kind. There is also the fact that
she raced four whole seasons, finally quitting the
post for the paddock as sound as the day when she
was foaled.

As a showyard specimen of the thoroughbred, it
is to be doubted if La Fleche would have been "com-
mended" by judges. Built on the most perfect
lines for speed and endurance, it always struck me,
when looking her over during her racing career,
that her model was as near perfection as one may
ever hope to see in a race-horse. She was not what
is called a "big one," but the colossal strength of
her b^ck was most remarkable, while the getting of

36 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

the hindquarters at aii angle for speed, to be cor-
rectly described, was in itself almost a "freak of
nature."

What La Fleche displaj'ed in physical conforma-
tion, more especially in construction of frame, she
exhibited in action, when fully extended. Her
stride, in point of length, was a thing to be remem-
bered for the rest of one's life as quite abnormal in
any race-horse. iDiff ering from other horses in this
respect, it was unrestricted by gradient or by the
state the ground hapi>ened to be in. A new stride
followed an expended one with such rapidity that
I can alone describe it to have been like a "flash of
lightning."

When this grand mare shall have ended her days,
having left, as we hope, some specimens of progeny
to enrich our strains of the thoroughbred, as well
possibly as to emulate her glorious deeds on the
turf, it is also to be hoped that her respected and
popular owner may then be induced, in the cause
of equine anatomical science, to have her skeleton
preserved. And not only preserved, but, above all,
anatomically notated, showing both the weight and
the measurement, particularly of the spinal struc-
ture, that it may hereafter afford a standard guide
(on the female side) in point of frame to the high-
est excellence in the thoroughbred and iu a racp^
liprse,

CHAPTER VI.

OWNERS AND TRAINERS.

The responsibilities associated witli the duties of
a trainer of race-horses are prodigious, if one only
takes into account what is committed to his charge
in the matter of pounds, shillings and pence. In
this, of course, there are questions of degree, for
while some may have in their care what may
amount in point of value only to a few hundred
pounds, there are others, and many of them, in this
country who may total a sum to very many thou-
sands, and even to tens of thousands of pounds.

Trainers' responsibilities by no means end with
the mere physical duties of training, laborious as
they are. They have in numerous cases the entii-e
management of an owner's racing stud. Probably
there will be several patrons identified with the
stable, all of whom may be described as "large own-
ers," whose interests must severally be an object

38 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

of extreme care, and very evenly balanced in mat-
ters of honorable understanding, while affairs gen-
erally must be made to trend in the direeiiiou of
reciprocal and trustworthy obligation.

Many trainers are entrusted with the delicate
duties of making the entries, involving their patrons
in large sums for forfeits, extending from year to
year, and in some cases for several years. They
have frequently to advise their patrons in matters
of policy, more especially concerning the capabili-
ties of their horses, based on a variety of circum-
stances within their knowledge, and about which
their patrons could not otherwise derive necessary
information. They have also to keep voluminous
accounts, provide for the carrying on of a large
correspondence in the general business of the estab-
lishment, as well as arrange the somewhat onerous
and frequently perplexing duties associated with
stable trials.

I do not say that these things exhaust the multi-
farious duties a trainer in a large way of business
has to combat with, but, at any rate, it gives some
general idea of what his daily life consists when at
home amongst hisi surroundings.

Elsewhere than at home a trainer's duties are by
no means light, for when his horses are running,
sometimes at distant places, he needs to be there,
not onlj' to watch over the interests of his employer

OWNERS AND TRAINERS. 39

so far as the welfare of the horses is concerned, but
there are endless duties both before racing begins,
during its progress, and when it has ended, all of
which, in detail. I do not venture, in the capacity of
the present work, to enlarge upon.

But, after all, perhaps the most anxious time a
trainer has is in the daily work associated with the
direction and management of a large stud, what
with various horses all differing in iDcculiarities and
characteristics incidental to age, degrees of sound-
ness, and maybe, countless infirmities. All claim
his attention with unvarying regularity from early
morning till stable duties are brought down to the
time when the horses are done up for the night, and
the lads and all concerned are thankful to retire to
rest.

With a big team, it is a serious business to parcel
out the worki which has to be done in view of imme-
diate or distant engagements. Every horse's prepa-
ration must needs be applicable to the requirements
of the horse itself. Those requirements depend on
a variety of circumstances, all destined to satisfy
the wishes of the employer and the policy to be pur-
sued. ,

About these affairs there is in some instances
much secrecy to be observed, and the trainer is fre-
quently the depository of that which is estimated, on
lines suggestive in many cases of preposterous sig-

40 FLAT-RAGINQ EXPLAINED.

nificance, of no possible value to the owner or any-
body else.

Perhaps I may remark here that the old time-
honored practice of maintaining inviolable secrecy
in stable affairs, if not a thing of the past, should
have been so long ago.

When fifty-ix)und plates and that racing abomi-
nation, "four-mile heats," were the order of the day,
there was a sort of legitimate excuse for it; but
feince all that kind of thing has been swept away by
the advent of big stakes and more healthy condi-
tions all round, surely bygone methods, rendered
obsolete by force of circumstances, might in a large
measure have been swept away too. I do not think,
if every vestige of information relating to stable
affairs were absolutely laid bare, it would be of the
least possible disadvantage, and I firmly believe, as
a consequence of it, no owner of racehorses would
suffer in the slightest degree. Some persons are apt
to think market operations would be unduly influ-
enced if the course suggested were resorted to. I
have, however, not the least doubt just the opposite
w^ould occur, and that a far healthier tone would
prevail, to the advantage of everybody, owners of
horses included.

Whether trainers will be induced to adopt the
method of ascertaining the exact distance their
horses can gallop at a single "burst" or stretch, auck

OWNERS AND TRAINERS. 41

then train them to- that particular disanee, remains
to be seen. How many horses I have known within
the space of, say, some half-dozen years that could
cover distances, varying from five furlongs to a mile
and a quarter, and in a short time became utterly
ruined through being raced out of their distance,
and on gradients upon which their powers were al-
most useless, I should be afraid to say, but they
would run into a large number.

There is hardly a more sensitive animal than a
race-horse, and few with half his intelligence. At
five furlongs you might have a colt possessing very
great speed on a level course. Your trainer, and
yourself probably too, might have thought that he
can be made a useful miler. Accordingly he is
trained for it, and galloped on all sorts of gra-
dients— which are supposed to develop his muscles in
the right places, strengthen his wind, and make him
stay. Before very long you are told the colt is not
doing well. He has shown currishness in his work,
and at times refuses to gallop. He is sent, notwith-
standing, to take his chance in a mile race, with the
result that he gets hopelessly beaten. If he is not
now sold for what he will fetch, he returns home to
undergo the usual corrective — viz., to be added to
the list.

In ninety-nine cases out of every hundred of this
kind the fault is in the training and management of

42 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

tlie colt, it being, for some unaccountable reason,
<iuite overlooked that you cannot give a horse what
he does not possess in nature, you can only develop
what Nature has given him.

If this were acted up to, how few worthless horses
compared to the present would pass out of trainers'
hands! And as for racing, what an improvement we
should see! I have in recollection a number of
horses of which great hopes were entertained, but
for some unexpected cause their career was sud-
dnly cut short.

A case in point was that of Ingebrigt, a horse
still in training as a jumper. As a two and thvee
year old, I knew him as one of the fastest animals I
ever timed over five furlongs on a level course. He
was built on the right iiues for tliat class of work,
and for no other. He won his races so easily and
with so much go that he was pronounced a stayer
and, as was stated at the time, capable of better
things, and to that end, almost as a matter of course,
his attention was directed. Now came what I may
call a "struggle between man and beast," for the
colt, according to report, resented the treatment, and
had in the end to undergo the corrective referred to,
preparatory to being trained for hurdle-racing. It is
needless to say his career as a first-class "sprinter"
was over, and what promised to be one of the finest
of records in that line of business was doomed to

OWNERS AND TRAINERS. 43

litter disappointment. The last time that I ever
cared to look at the horse again was after he had
been put to hurdle-jumping, and was sent to run in
a race up the hill at Sandown Park. And what a
sorry exliibition it was! I had seen him go with the
dash of a rocket over ground tliat was as Nature in-
tended. Here, on gradients which Nature, in his
case at least, never intended, he ran, to my thinking,
as helpless as a cab-horse, and with about the same
look of discouragement.

It is impossible to say, with a horse of the tem-
perament of Ingebrigt when at three years of age,
what would have been the result if his sensitiveness
had been humored, to the extent that he would never
have been galloped or raced on other than level
ground, and not beyond, in point of distance, five or
six furlongs. Built on lines wholly for speed, with
"recoil" so prompt that the strength of his back must
have been prodigious, one marvels that a horse pos-
sessing special characteristics like this should be
taken out of his sphere, and put to accompllsli things
for which he is wholly unfitted. Tliis compels me
to say that, in this particular, the art of training ap-
pears to fail in a way not to he exp(}cted, seeing the
results of experience and good judgment in other
directions.

As a rule, owmers seldom exhibit skill or judgment

44 FLAT-RACINO EXPLAINED.

in the placing of tUoir Li^rses, though in this respect
I am aware there are very notable exceptions. For
owners makiag mistakes of the kind there are
legitimate excuses; but when it is known that if (en-
tries are aot made by trainers in their behalf, it is
done under the guidance, and most probably at the
suggestion, of tht latter, then it is primarily trainers,
and trainers only, who are to be blamed for tlie
blunders that are made.

It is lamentable, in a sense, when one goes, as I so
often do, lo enjoy racing as the most exhilaratir-g
and delightful of all outdoor sports, to observe _so
many Ul-2:>laced horses in the events that come on for
decision in the course of a sicgle day.

In this respect it is no common thing to see a beau-
tiful horse, full of point,? for a race he is in, revel in
delight at his work, and win at his ease. Here \^as
a happy seleciion of ground, a straightaway course,
and not very far removed from the level. *Ju an-
other occasion I may see him as fit and as bright-
looking as a star. He goes to the post not quite so
jauntily, probably not liking the ground. One sees
him get well away and come on in front till he
reaches the hill, when he suddenly falters and loses
his place. Hard driven, one will see him still strug-
gle on, but to be beaten for speed, and to return to
weigh in apparently downcast and discouraged.

OWNERS AND TRAINERS. 45

This to a large extent is typical of the happening
of events in racing. One has applied the watch,
which is unerring in the information it gives, only to
discover the utter want of analogy between the
races themselves and between the performances of
the horse. The first of these races will probably
have been run at a high rate of speed; while In the
latter case, after allowing for the gradients and
making a careful comparison of previous running
over the same ground, it will be found the speed was
slow, and the performance even of the winner of lit-
tle merit.

CHAPTER VII.

JOCKEYS.

As a rule, jockeys are a much-abused class — that
is, when they do not win, though they are much
belauded when they do. This, I am afraid, is
the fate of other people as well as jockeys. Per-
verseness is not a characteristic of the public in
general; but when the monej' is on. who is not
perverse should the happening of events not accord
with preconceived anticipations?

The art of race-riding has not undergone many
changes, at least in this country, during the past
half-century, and I think the jockeys of to-day
compare favorably with those we have seen of late
years. The methods of Fordham and Archer, which
were original methods in recent times, have been
perpetuated in the younger generation of jockeys,
and so far. in the matter of race-riding, may be sBid
to liave satisfied the requirement^ of both owners

JOCKEYS 47

and trainers pretty consistently. The advent, how-
ever, of the American joc-keys — Sims and RielT,
and more recently Sloan — so altered the corapl?xion
of things by the style of riding they introduced that,
unless our jockeys can show us something fresh —
something we have yet been unacquainted with —
it will be difficult for them in public estimation, I
think, to keep pace with present surroundings.

Some time ago. Sims and Rieff showed the Brit-
ish racing public what they could do in the saddle;
but these jockeys, skilled as they were, cannot be
said to have then had a very appreciative audi-
ence. Their style of riding, the manner of placing
themselves on the back of the horse, was new, and
being new was rather derided in consequence, es-
pecially by old-fashioned, out-of-date people. But
perhaps the worst that has to be said is that no-
body, not even one among the most experienced
horsemen in the country, could be found to be able
to make the discovery that there was scientfic
method in it. I do not say thej' were unwilling
to learn, but the fact is the style did not please, and
ponsequenly they saw comparatively little to merit
approbation. The result was these two good
jockeys got no riding outside their own stable, and
it never came to my knowledge they were offered a
juount by any gne to enable them to ^how what they

48 FLAT-RAGING EXPLAINED.

could do on English horses. With some few excep-
tions the running of the American horses during
the season to which I refer was a little disappoint-
ing. The explanation given was that they were
unused to our English grass tracks, but for my part
I did not think the horses were by any means fully
acclimatized. For all that, these two jockeys put
in some smart riding, and under the watch made
our English style look comparatively small. They
rode as Sloan always rides, viz., fo time, a method
which makes a visible impression when the win-
ning-post is reached, for, instead of being on a
beaten horse, there is generally plenty left to finish
with, and most likely something to spare.

With reference to the riding-seat of the jockeys
I have mentioned, and to which so much excep-
tion is taken, I have personally not been a little
surprised its advantages have not been more read-
ily recognized. Never having seen the style of rid-
ing put to practical test before the American
jockeys introduced it here, I cannot be accused of
being unduly influenced in its favor; but feeling
convinced that riding in the way these jockeys
did there was reason for it, and that, too, on proba-
bly substantial grounds, I was soon able to dis
cover its meaning. It must be quite understood I
cjo not enter into the pontroversy whiph jtook place

JOCKEYS 49

some time ago in the sporting press on tliis sub-
ject; and, fiirtliermore, tliat I do not venture to
reply to the very foolish letters that Avere pub-
lished, not one of wliieh was a credit to the sagac-
ity of the writer.

The forward seat on the withers, with the legs
tlirnst still more forward and the head and
shoulders poised over the horse's neck, to enable
the liands to almost touch the bit in his mouth, is in
itself devised to avoid all possible wind-pressure
against tlie body of tlie rider. At tlie same time
remove every ounce of weight that can be from the
saddle, that it may not impede the natural curve of
the back of the horse as it rises and falls (in his
stride), to permit the full underreach and propulsion
from the hind-quarters — in successive order like a
piece of machinery — as he gallops.

There is surely no one in charge of horses, or,
I may say, aciiuainted with horses, who does not
know that tlie back of a horse as he gallops bends
or curves to almost reach the point of a half-
circle. Without this 'curve' it would be impossible
to get underreach, and Avithout underreach a hcirso
is practically without speed.

If anybody doubts — or, to put it milder, is un-
acquainted with — the extent to which a horse
'curves' his back Avhen galloping, and the effect

50 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

it has upon his speed, let him get on something
that can go a bit and chase a loose horse in a field,
and if that animal does not show him all I hare
expressed he will be blind indeed. As a hunting
man, intimately acquainted with horses all my
life, and having had experience of them under al-
most every condition, I do not think one would be
able to boast much of one's alphabetical knowledge
in the matter of horse-lore should I not have made
the discovery long ago that speed, whether of high
or of low degree in horses, was the outcome, or
derived from, the spinal construction of the animal
frame.

A horse possessing very great speed must neces-
sarily have abnormal spinal structure wherewith
to effect what I must call 'prompt recoil action' so
soon as the full hind-quarter leverage has been ex-
pended. This 'recoil,' this recovery to the original
position after the full power of the whole frame
has been exerted, it should always be remembered,
is the initial or primary condition of speed in
horses. —

In the course of a single season how constantly
we see it represented that certain horses have 'lost
their speed.' And do we not also see those animals
going from bad to worse, without a suggestion they
are troubled with any kind of unsoundness? If it
were fair to their owners to do so, I think it would

JOCKEYS 51

be attended with little difficulty to mention the
names of a number of horses within a given time
that have most sensibly 'lost speed,' and all of
them, with scarcely an exception, from the same
cause. These stride out quite evenly, and appar-
ently with plenty of vigor, but the 'recoil' is slow,
and if you watch it closely, you will observe it to
be intermittent, and finally to unmistakably 'dwell,'
as the horse continufs to gallop.

When a horse, so to speak, lingei's or dwells in
his stride in the way I have described, the reten-
tion of a certain fixed rate of speed is out of the
question, and as this infirmity increases he be-
comes slower and slower as time goes on.

Then, again, how often we hear it stated, and also
see it in print, that during a race a certain horse
had 'turned it up' or ' cut it when the pinch came,'
but for which he 'undoubtedly would have won!'
This is alwaj's set down to be an exhibition of
temper, and many a good horse has paid the penal-
ty of his sex in consequence of it, and been from
thence on transformed into a jumper.

Now, what is the origin of this failure in 're-
coil,' this 'lingering or dwelling' by a horse in his
stride, which I have ventured to stigmatize as an
'infirmity'? The origin or seat of ailment — if such
it can be called — may best be stated as a weaken-
ing or slackening of the spinal structure, the mus-

52 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

ciilar fibre of the back and loins being a part of
that which I have so cU scribed. What may be the
precise anatomical effect prodnced on this Vital
part of a horse's organization I am not prepared
to say certainly from a scientific point of view.
From a physical point, and from observation and
general stndy, I have long arrived at the conclu-
sion that it is wholly caused by excessive training
and undue riding in races on gradients for which
a horse may not have the least possible natural
aptitude or qualification.

When a horse has 'lost speed/ it is generally sup-
posed he is short of work. The universal practice
then is to increase his gallops, and the training art
will endeavor to wring more out of him by its
means. When this is done, the horse drifts fr.m
bad to worse, and the more fast work he is put to
do, the sooner his career on the turf comes to an
end.

I have often made the inquiry of owners, train-
ers, and also jockeys, in order to discover, from
their point of view, in what part of a horse's or-
ganization, taking him from head to foot, he most
feels the effect when he is beaten ("all out,'' as the
term is), in a race, fixing the distance at five fur-
longs, or say any distance up to two and a half
miles. I cannot say my fund of information has

JOCKEYS 53

been nmeh enhanced by doing this. Some think one
tiling and some another, but I never got anything
definite or reliable upon the subject, except, perhaps,
the following, from one of the old hands amongst
the jockeys. Said he: "When a hoise is beat, he's
beat, and it don't take us long to find that out when
we wants him to finish."

Generally speaking, I think racing people are of
opinion that at the end of a five-furlong race a
horse feels more distressed in his wind than else-
where, mostly on account of his blowing pretty
freely. When, however, you have to remember that
a horse having great speed takes 1 min. 2 sec. to
2 1-2 sec. to cover a distance of five furlongs on
the level, and that the shorter the time, the better
and fresher he is at the finish, one dare not be too
certain the conclusions arrived at are altogether well
founded.

But there is this also to remember: A horse run-
ning at high speed does not breathe from the lungs
in covering a distance of five furlongs, his respira-
tion being entirely confined to the head and throat,
so that his "wind," in the sense in which it is put,
is comparatively unaffected by the exertion. There
cannot be the least doubt that horses in all cases
charge their lungs with as much air as is possible
on setting off, as it were, in preparation for any ex-

54 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

crtiou that is to come. If the exertion is not acute,
ihe air passes out of the lungs, and is replenished
at will. When, however, the exertion becomes sud-
denly acute, as in jumping off and galloping on at
high pressure, the stock of air with which the lungs
are charged exhausts, in proportion to the poAver
of retention a horse may possess, pending the oppor-
tunity of replenishing the lungs, and through the
lungs the entire system, with a new supply.

As a horse is only able to gallop so long as the
lungs remain charged with air, it must always be
a question with all horses when running at higli
speed how long this supply will last. That horses
differ to a large extent in lung capacity is well
known, but it must not be overlooked it is duration
of time, rather than rate of sx)eed, that must always
determine the maximum extent of a horse's poAvers.
In this respect a curious fact arises, and as it is
indisputable, I cannot too strongly impress it upon
jockeys, as well as upon all persons interested in
racing. It is this — and I have constantly found it
to be so — a horse having won a five or six furlong
race in very fast time, finishing full of running,
when again running over the same ground, under
the same conditions, and some three or four sec-
onds longer time is taken in the duration of the
race, has not only figured among the beaten horses,
but pulled up very much distressed. Hprsjffs al-

JOCKEYS 55

ways show distress when they pull up at the end
of five or six furlongs after a slow-run race, and
just the contrary when the speed has been fast.

The lung capacity in horses is necessarily a dif-
ficult question, but I am far from saying it cannot
be pretty accurately ascertained. On a straight and
level course I should fix one and a quarter miles,
or ten furlongs, as the extreme limit a horse is able
to gallop at high speed on the stock of air with
which he has supplied himself on jumping oil in
a race. It is far more accurate, however, to gauga
it, as I have said, by "period of time" than by dis-
tance; and when high speed has been maintained, I
have found the distance covered at the expiration
of a given time to be extremely coiTect.

Everybody who goes racing has experienced the
very great discrepancy there is in the result be-
tween races run at a high rate of speed and those
run at a low rate, or, say, in the latter case, accord-
ing to the beau-ideal method so popular with very
many people — viz., to "wait, and then make one run
or dash at the finish." Races so run must necessa-
rily have a totally different result, and they always
have. It is ridiculous to suppose the same horse
would win in either case, or that the same horses
would be placed even in both instances. And, then,
what happens in races in this respect up to a f!i,Sr

56 FLAT-RAGING EXPLAINED.

taiice of oue and a quarter miles would be different
m result with another set of horses in races of one
and a half miles and upwards. In the latter —
that is to say, in races of one and a half miles and
upwards — the discrepancy would not be so great,
for it is quite possible, whether these be run fast or
sloAv, the same horse may win, and the same horses
likewise may be placed.

Referring to the former cases, in races up to one
and a quarter miles, at a high rate of speed, these
are run under conditions that do not alloAV a. re-
charging of air in a horse's lungs, and the shorter
the time that is taken to cover the distance, the
more certain will be the result. If the same race
should be run at low sjK^cd or on the "oue run or
dash" idea, the process of waiting so highly thought
of may or may not enable a horse to recharge with
air. Should a horse happen to be successful in this,
he will be the winner.

In slow-run races at five furlongs, for instance,
if 3'ou see a liorse "drop from the clouds, '* as the
saying is, and, to the astonishm nt of evtnybody,
come out and win l)y lengths at the tinish, and
Ihen hardly blow enougli to put out a caudle,
this animal by some means, possibly by accident,
got his lungs recharged with air, while all the other
horses failed to do so. If it is, therefore, desirable
to cherish the fossil idea of the "glorious uncer-

JOCKEYS 57

taiiity" ill racing, joelveys will continue to "wait
and come with one run or dash at the finish;" but I
am hoping, by what is set out in the pages of this
work. I may to some small extent help to "screw
the neck" of that long-continued and, I may add,
egregious folly.

I can only infer that races of one and a half miles
and upwards arc not run without reinliating the
lungs. Our English method of riding this kind
of races in every way favors the idea that horses
do reiuflate, or, as I have said, "recharge," the rate
of speed not being so fast as to prevent it. Further-
more, we have no straightawaj' mile and a half
courses, and where there are turns and necessities
for easing up in running, horses invariably can
manage to get some air in. Wlien they can do this,
they do not get beaten very readily.

In the matter of race-riding, however, jockeys, it
would seem, are as yet a longish way from having
acquired the necessary knowledge of the subject
to enable them to accomplish the task of rein-
flating a horse's lungs, quite apart from the some-
what delicate art of effecting it at the right or
critical moment.

Consistent with rather ancient, and I am afraid
prejudiced, notions, they too often prefer to sit
still in the saddle, and in many cases pull and

58 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

dodge their mount about, until in long races be
has spun himself out. When this happens, and
the horse cannot be driven to reacli the winning-
post (making practically only a poor show at the
finish), the same old story always comes up to
account for it. "The horse had a bit the worst
of the weights, and could not quite get home. He
was short a gallop or two, perhaps, but will do
better next time."

While horses of suflScient lung capacity can be
trained and ridden to run their races at various
distances up to one and a quarter miles at high
Sliced without reinflatiug the lungs, so by the
adoption of the process of reinflatiou, as I have
said, horses can be trained and ridden to run at
liigh speed any distance upwards prescribed by the
rules of racing.

To say that English jockeys cannot ride on these
lines would certainly be very unfair to them, espe-
cially when we know how many of them are en-
dowed with keen observation and no inconsiderable
intelligence. But whether they will find a means
of breaking away from the old style, and in its
place have recourse to the scientific methods Sloan
lias favored us with, Avhich I have ventured to point
out, remains to be seen. Instead of the suicidal
policy of "waiting"— a policy Sloan does not put
)pt,o practice— perhaps they will be jufiuced to rcr

JOCKEYS 59

fleet on the manner of riding that jockey displayed
in the Liverpool Cup last autumn on perhaps, in
point of merit, not one of the best animals running
in the race, in time as bad as could be. However,
experience tells us that jockey knows how to inflate
a horse's lungs as a race proceeds, and any one tak-
ing the trouble to ascertain the result of it will read-
ily find it amongst the records of the past season.
He rode winner after winner that should not have
been winners, at least on those occasions, if the
idea of merit was worth anything.

It will be of interest, perhaps, and at the same
time in a w^ay tend to illustrate what I have pre-
viously written, if I refer to the running of Peter,
a horse that achieved a famous victory in the
Royal Hunt Cup as Ascot nearly twenty years
ago, in the then popular colors of that fine sports-
man. Sir John B. Astley, Bart,

Of this splendid success, rendered historic by
sporting writers of every degree, the simple facts,
as I have always understood them, were these.
After being backed by his owner, and, indeed, by
many others, to win a large stake (so popufar was
anything carrying the canary jacket in those days),
the horse only got home, to land them their money,
after stopping to kick whilst the race was being
run, and when the field had got about half way
through the Journey.

60 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED,

That a horse should have possessed such sterling
qualities, having been left behind the entire field of
runners, to have been able to rejoin his horses,
and win with 9 st. 4 lb. on his back notwithstand-
ing, has been the theme of many a pen, brimming
over with enthusiasm, from that day to this.

But they have always forgotten to tell us that,
had it not been for this stopping to kiclv, or what-
ever the horse did, no Peter would have won that
day. As a matter of fact, he stopped to put his
head down, and the "kicking" really existed only
in the imagination of the writers. It can never be
known what actually caused the horse to stop, but
it is quite certain he was dead settled as far as
racing was concerned when he did so. There can
be no doubt of this, however, tliat he put his head
down to take in air, and, being a horse that carried
his head high, was not able to get beyond five fur-
longs on the Ascot gradients. He won, as horses
are able to do when the wind is in them, but are
helpless when their lungs are empty.

But perhaps one of the most remarkable wins to
be seen from a big field of horses of late years
was that Rockdove in the Cesarewitcli of 1895.
All along that splendid piece of galloping ground,
from the point where they come into view after
passing the ditch, Rockdove was going so well that
defeat seemed impossible. However, nearing tl^e

JOCKEYS 61

Rowley Mile Stand, she was observed to falter,
then swerve to the left, or near side, and momen-
tarily stop. With a bound, however, the mare was
in her stride again, and, renewing the struggle with
as it were a fresh start, she dashed past the post
full of running, winning comparatively in a canter.
To have done this tells how dead settled every other
horse in the race was, and the snail's pace at which
they w^ere going.

Why did Rockdove stop? Why was it that at
the end of two and a quarter miles she was able to
finish so full of running, and as a question of form
accomplish a performance she was never equal to
either before or after during her career on the turf?

The answers to these questions are necessarily
obvious. As in Peter's case, the mare was, at the
point where she stopped, equally settled, but acci-
dentally getting her lungs recharged, the previous
exertion was of little consequence, and she was
ready for another "burst" of one and a quarter
miles, probably as fresh as when she started. I
have said the fact of the mare getting air into her
lungs was "accidental," and I believe that to be so.
It cannot be said the method of riding by the jockey
contributed anything to invest the mare with new
running powers, except by accident, for so far our
jockeys even now have not acquired the art of

62 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

doing that which it is by no means common for
horses, when they get the chance, to do for them-
selves.

But, after all, where would Roekdove have been
in the race had the jockeys on other horses been
able to do for them what the mare in que.^tion had
done for herself?

Horses, as I have said before, having the most
capacious lungs cannot get beyond a mile and a
quarter in a fast run race on a level course without
a fresh supply, and when there are gradients they
cannot get that distance, or anything like it.

From the same point of view I may take the
running of Georgic at Manchester, in the Cam-
bridgeshire, and in the Old Cambridgeshire, last
autumn. At the first named place there is no doubt
that, at tlje speed at which the race was run, it was
accomplished at one burst without reinflation of the
lungs.

In the Cambridgeshire there is also no doubt it
was done at one "burst," and the watch quite clear-
ly made it to be so. In tue Old Cambridgeshire tl.e
mare ran with one "burst" only, and without rein-
flation she just got the running distance, as would
be shown to be a mile and a quarter on the level,
beyond which, as the race was run, she could not be
expected to go.

The winner Nunsuch was ridden by Sloan, who

JOCKEYS 63

did not fail to reinflate the filly's lungs, I should ex-
pect, somewhere about the Red Post when he got
there, and as a consequence she won by ten lengths.
Had Sloan ridden Georgic, and reinflated as I have
said, that mare would have won by ten lengths
instead of the other.

We in this country are universally supposed to
be scientific and practical, and 1 believe in most
things we are, but in the matter of race-riding we
certainly are not. There would be no difficulty in
giving numerous instances of hoists' running con-
firming what I have above set out, but I think the
particulars I have given need not be enlarged upon.

With reference to the system of race-riding our
jockeys pursue, it has to be expressly pointed out
how very little the teaching of anatomical science
has hitherto been of advantage to them. Jockeys,
we know, ride to orders. Apart from this, we do
not forget they have served a long probationary
period in a training stable, to learn their business,
where, under the watchful eye of the trainer, who
may have been a jockey himself, they have the best
of guidance in every branch of their calling.

It is frequently said people "expect too much of
jockeys." That, as they are as capable now as
jockeys have ever been, should be deemed sufficient-
ly satisfactory. I am certainly not one who would

64 FLAT-RAGING EXPLAINED.

seek to disparage their efforts in any way; but for
all that, I do not shut my eyes to there being much
room for improvement. There is room for scientific
advancement in the art of race-riding, and I shonkl
be no friend to them or their calling if I did not say
so. It is out of the question they will ever go back
to the time when one of their order evinced his
intelligence in describing a horse as "a thing with
four legs, like a table;" but for all that, race-riding
to be a perfect art must be capable of much more
than we have seen. As an instance of this, as
showing the shortcomings of race-riding in one
particular only, without going into others that are
present to me as I write, take the case of a jockey
riding what is called a "waiting race," and the
effect it has from a practical, as well as from a
scientific, point of view. In thus riding, by force
of circumstances, a jockey is compelled to sit back
in the saddle. If the horse is not a puller, and only
needs to be "steadied," the weight in the seat of the
saddle impedes the "curve" in the back of the
horse, by which his stride is shortened to the extent
that in a race of five furlongs only, several lengths
^will be lost. If the horse is only a moderate puller,
the act of holding against the horse has the effect
not only of shortening the horse's stride to the ex-
tent I have said, but it becomes a lever, with the
seat in the saddle as the fulcrum, against the curve

JOCKEYS 65

in the back of the horse. And not only is the stride
shortened the more the horse pulls, and an increased
distance of ground lost, but the pressure caused by
the leverage becomes equivalent to more than
doubling the weight otherwise to be carried.

It is a fact that horses exhaust the more quickly
as the pressure against the curve in the back is
enforced, by the waste of energy that necessarily is
created.

There is nothing so detrimental to success in rac-
ing, as Lord Durham said, as "waste of energy."
Upon this point, I very strongly recommend jockeys
to ascertain for themselves what the loss of an
inch or two in a horse's stride amounts to at the end
of a race, say at all racing distances.

It is a simple arithmetical calculation that obvi-
ously will be of the greatest possible value to them.

As the length horses stride in tlieir gallop differs
so very materially, my calculation can only be
based on average. However, taking it at that, it
may be safely put that for evevi/ inch a horse loses
in his stride in a race of five furlongs he will be a
length in arrear, and will consequently liave a
length, or it may be many lengths, to make up at
the finish. Races at longer distances increase pro-
portionately, except in the case of a very sliort-
striding horse, when the loss will b3 greater.

66 FLAT-RACTNCr EXPLAINED.

A linrd-pnlling horse, by the process of **wait-
ing," would lose about ten inches per stride. I have
seen them lose much more than this, but I think
ten inches may be reckoned a fair average. -H

I have said in a previous chapter that Sloan's
method of riding was "riding to time," or, in the
words of Lord Durham, "to cover the allotted dis-
tance of ground in the shortest time." That this is
correct in principle there cannot be any doubt, and
for two very important reasons. In the first place,
it obviates all chance of "waste of energy" in the
horse; while in the second it enables every atom of
physical strength a horse has got within him to be
utilized to the utmost possible advantage. Riding
to "time" is essentially a steady rate of progression
at high, as distinguished from excessive, speed
from start to finish.

As far as it is possible, a horse should be ridden
with an evenness and regularity, which perhaps
may be best described, or explained by way of illus-
tration, as an arrow or bullet travels through the
air. When, however, a horse is a hard puller, as
very many are, he should under no circumstances,
provided there is plenty of room and he is not at
the heels of another horse, be hard held or pulled
and hauled about.

At high, or indeed at excessive, speed, should
the horse of himself have set it, he should be al-

JOCKEYS 67

lowed to foiitiniie. the effort of the jockey being,
so far as the horse is concerned, alone directed to
keeping him steady in his stride, and to steering
him into the best available berth without risk of
Infringing the rules.

It is to be feared, amongst the rising generation
of jockeys, comparatively little is being done to
teach them scientific riding, adopting Sloan's style
as a model. What will be the course of things in
the future it is impossible to say.

During the past season, however, I was on the
lookout for any newcomer who presented himself,
and amongst all the apprentices I only saw one
capable of grasping the idea. This appeared to be
a very promising youngster, by name J. Forest,
said to have been schooled by Brown, who trains
somewhere near Royston. The lad was badly
mounted; but I was pleased to see he rode exactly
to reproduce the correct style. I noticed, too, "the
special commissioner" made favorable mention of
the lad's riding, so we may hope not only to see
him again when there is riding on. but again setting
an example on all hands so worthy to be followed.

CHAPTER VJIl.

IIANDICAI'S.

It cannot be long now before the whole system
of handicapping mnst be dealt with. It is found,
and has been for a considerable time past, to be
extremely unsatisfactory, and to work on lines no-
body seems to clearly understand.

The late Major Egerton was a most assiduous
handicapper, and he was thought by very many to
have a special gift in the art of adjusting the bal-
ance, as is were, between notoriously bad horses
and those having form and creditable running cre-
dentials, with which he had to deal in framing a
handicap. When he failed, as I am afraid he often
did, to give satisfaction to numerous oAvners, it was
certainly no fault of his; for, as far as human inge-
nuity could go, that estimable and gallant gentle-
man's efforts were directed in the most upright and
painstaking course.

In no sense could he be called an unjust or vin-

HANDICAPS. 69

dictive hnndioapper; yei, looking over the results
of his labors, there were certainly times when
owners conlrt hardly feel assured they had been
fairly dealt with. The fact is. it was not the gal-
lant Major who was open to reproach; it was
rather the principle upon which handicaps were
founded, and handicapping of itself carried out,
not onl3' by him, but by many others, both before
and since his time.

I am not aware there are any prescribed rules in
the matter or manner of framing a handicap, the
principle, as most people understand it, being a care-
ful and well-noted-up particular of every horse's
form whose name figures in the entry, accompanied
with practical observation of the relative merits of
each horse's previous running and what he may or
may not be capable of under conditions applicable to
the event then under consideration. That it went
beyond Avhat may be called "an educated estimate"
can hardly be supposed, but there is little doubt, as
far as general oi)iuiou went, it was perhaps the most
rational method that could be devised, in view of the
very great difficulty there naturally would be in en-
deavoring to give satisfaction to all parties immedi-
ately concerned.

Another view has been to adjust the weights in a
handicap on a sort of sliding-scale basis, by which a

70 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

horse was to be judged by takiug the best form ho
had given evidence of, and practically the worst, and
thereupon strike a sort of balance between the two.
This, as a means of getting at a horse's correct form,
might be satisfactory to a certain class of people, but
it strikes one as being unreliable, to say the least,
and I should think extremely haphazard into the
bargain. Whether this method of arriving at a
supposed just conclusion has been acted upon by
handicappers I cannot say with certainty, but I
should imagine it to be very doubtful.

But the extraordinary thing about handicapping
is that it misses the mark in what it intends to
effect. If the idea of a handicap is to so adjust the
weights as to put all the horses engaged in the race
on an equal footing, and at the same time giA'e every
one a fair chance of success, that is just what it
does not do. This, no doubt, to a large number of
persons will read as probably somewhat strange, not
because they may not have thought out the subject
for themselves, but rather because it is directly
opposed to a system they may have been familiar
with, if not wholly satisfied with, practically all
their lives.

It nmst be said, however, that handicaps on the
present system of adjusting weights fail in two very
material respects. First, they fail to equalize the
respective chances of the horses engaged in a race.

HANDICAPS. 71

being framed on the presumption of running on the
level, and without regard to the necessities or the
requirements of gradient; and in the second, they
fail to apportion weight in accordance witli correct
running distance, surface measurement not being
running distance on any course not strictly a level
course.

In view of the first of these propositions, it can-
not be contended that handicaps are framed other-
wise than on what I may call "paper" results, or
as results come out and appear in guide book form,
it may be months, or possibly the following year,
after some particular race has taken place. In other
words, a head or a length beating is the same for all
practical purposes in the matter of adjusting
weights, quite irrespective of the course where the
results in question happened to have occurred. So
far as the ground or course is concerned, there is ab-
solutely no distinction ever made. The figures
particular beatings remain just the same as they
have been for any period of time; yet new courses
are constantly made, and a new set of gradients
brought into use, to be raced upon year by year.

What difference is made in handicapping between
a head or a length beating on a level course, and the
same results when the race has been run on a steep
incline? Positively none. Yet supposing the same

72 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

horses have run under precisely the same conditions
on both courses, there would not only be a different
result, so far as the winning horses are concerned,
for contemplation, but it is more than probable the
winner on the level would not be placed on the in-
cline, and the winner on the incline would not be
placed on the level.

Now take a course where there is a decline, such
as at Epsom, Lingfleld, Brighton and other places,
and here you will have a totally different result
again; and if you expect the winner on either the
level or the incline to show to advantage on this
occasion, the chances are that both will be out of it
before the distance is reached. Of course, in these
cases I am assuming the state of the ground to be
dry; but, on the other hand, should it be Avet, say in
a sodden state, then I think those who venture on a
basis of calculation must be sanguine to a degree
slightly beyond ordinary conception.

Then again, by way of further example of what
handicapping in a large measure consists, take the
condition of things we find relative to a race, it may
be, on the Royal Hunt Cup course at Ascot. Here
Avc have 7 furlongs and 166 yards surface measure-
ment. In framing a handicap for this course it
must necessarily be on the basis of this particular
distance. With some seventy or eighty horses in

HANDICAPS. n

the entry, the weights are by force of circumstances
allotted on the running form shown by each horse,
as it may have been disclosed on all manner of
courses and under all sorts of conditions.

Among the number to be weighted are horses
proved stayers on level courses up to seven furlongs,
and they may be trusted perhaps to even get a mile.
Attracted by the conditions, and especially the dis-
tance to be run, these horses get supported in the
market by both owners and those who are not
owners, with the result, when the race comes to be
fought out, they make practically no show, Aviuding
up. indeed, in most disappointing fashion. Then,
of course, comes the usual howl of discontent, and
all sorts of unkind things said touching the bona
fides of everybody concerned, and this without any
substantial reason.

Horses that have done good things and carried
big burdens on the. flat are easily weighted out
of it at Ascot, simply because they cannot act on
the gradients they find there. But there is another
and perhap a more serious difficulty to encounter.
The running distance, as compared with 7 furlongs
and 16G yards surface measurement, makes the dis-
tance of the Royal Hunt Cup course, on the level, to
require something like a furlong more doing than
appears, and this very naturally settles the preten-
sions of horses of the character I have described.

4 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

As I have said, taking the riiiiiiing form of horses
gauged by their performances on all kinds of
courses, under all sorts of conditions, a handicap
framed on the basis in point of distance of 7 fur-
longs and 166 yards must necessarily be incorrect
relatively in regard to merit, and quite useless in
the sense that each horse has been given a fair
chance. In handicaps even of this character we
occasionally see, as a matter of course, hoises per-
haps weighted at almost the top and the bottom
coming together at the finish, divided, it may be, by
a head or a neck.

When this happens — and it would be strange in-
deed if it did not happen occasionally — we are
treated on all sides to a sort of rhapsody of praise
and exultation, and the triumph of tlie handicapper
is extolled to a degree almost to be sickening. Well
merited praise is naturally approved by everybody
disposed to be generous, but when one knows such
a result to be little less than a chance shot, with
jockeys riding in Avaiting at each otlier's heels, and
not venturing to make a race of it in many cases
till only the last few strides, one cannot help think-
ing much of the enthusiasm displayed on these
occasions might with advantage be just a trifle re-
si rained, or at any rate reserved fur something more
worthy of it.

HANDICAPS. 75

However, looking at the results of handicapping
from every point of view, especially in the true
interest of racing, it becomes a question of the
greatest importance whether it would not be better
to endeavor to discover some other, and, should it
be possible, a far better method of determining
the weight, under all circumstances, horses shall
carry to bring each and every one into contest on
fair terms. In my humble judgment, we should
see better racing, more fair play, and an increased
measure of sport, if handicaps were wholly done
away with.

I believe that, on the principle of dividing horses
of three years and upward into classes, and appor-
tioning the weight to be carried in all races eoav
under handicap conditions in accordance w^ith
merit would work out w^ell. Such a principle
w^ould be devoid of all imputation of unfairness, and
in the future would put a stop to such exhibitions
as seen last autumn in the Derby Cup, when a
horse which had been run out fairly and squarely
on his merits was made to concede an animal of his
own age, of undoubted, though at the same time
unknown, merit, no less than 39 lbs., and at a
period of the year, too, that favored the latter's
sex.

As an incident in the supposed "science" of han-
dicapping, this, unfortunately, is only one of many

76 FLAT-RAGING EXPLAINED.

similar in character tliat crop up g^eason after sea-
son, until it is sincerely to be hoped the time has
arrived when, in the interest of sport, it will cease
to be tolerated. I make not the remotest sugges-
tion of wrong-doing in the case referred to, but
nevertheless the idea rather extensively prevails
that, under the present handicap system, an animal
possessing extraordinary racing capabilities only
needs to be kept in reserve long enough to descend
in the handicap scale until the minimum impost of
*t) St. is certain to be reached.

When this happens, as I am afraid it does oftener
than Ave think, the wrong that is done is most
serious in numerous directions. Perhaps, however,
the worst feature of all is, when a race with a horse
so handicapped comes off, tlie scandal it creates,
people having to witness every means being re-
sorted to to prevent the horse in question squander-
ing the field and coming in alone.

*St. (stone) is equivalent to 14 lbs.

CHAPTER IX.

Tlie principle of fixing or determining the weight
horses shall carry in races, refined by the term
"handicap," is, as everybody more or less knows,
founded on "estimate." That is to say, the best
opinion that can be arrived at of respective merit
derived from a study of relative form.

How that opinion shall be arrived at, must neces-
sarily be open to question. Not in one direction
only, but in very many. What may be a horse's
merit, gauged by relative running with other
horses, must needs depend on a variety of circum-
stances in the result all more or less obscure.

If races were run on a single course at prescribed
distances and on the level, assuming the ground not
to be liable to climatic change, it may be quite

78 FLAT-RACinO EXPLAINED.

possible to handicap a given number of horses by
computation of weight on equal competitive terms.
But to make this apply as a matter of principle,
without reservation, to all horses, would be futile
in the extreme.

As I have pointed out, I am afraid by too frequent
repetition, there are only a limited number of horses
liaving racing merit not confined to a particular
character of ground. Thus, when it has to be
borne in mind tliat every course differ.^, the practi-
cal assimilation of weight, to satisfy all conditions
on this score alone, if not beyond human conception,
must needs drift into that sphere, when con pled
with it are the characteristics and adaptabilitlc s of
horses to ground, subject to climatic variety or
change, such as is experienced. _^

Handicaps by the method employed of adjust-
ing the weiglit horses shall carry over a certain dis-
tance of ground, may have advantages in providing
amusement as an equine spectacle. When put for-
ward, however, to be regarded as a sound and Y^-
lial)le test of the merits of horses on a basis of that
which is equal, and upon which calculation can
foreshadow results, hardly coincides with views I
should care to indulge in. or if calhd upon express
what I thought.

When people enjoy racing for racing's salce, it is

WtJtOBTS. 79

because it enables them to see the very best strains
of the thoroughbred the worhl can produce, broughl:
into contest under circumstances Nature intended.

When the contest is upon terms that are equal,
their pleasure is enhanced; when it is unequal, as
in handicaps, where the weights offer no sort of
guarantee to the contrary of this, they can only
feel that the conditions have changed, and as a re-
sult hope for better things on some other occasion.

The fact is, there is no such thing as racing on
equal terras on the basis of "estimate."

Suppose every course to be surveyed and the
running distances reduced by ordinary computation
(to which I have referred in the chapter on Courses),
to come out at the level, and the stated distances
to be run over made the actual distance or length
of course at the level, it must not be overlooked
there is then the adaptability of every horse in the
entry to the particular gradient to be adjusted, for
which weight in no sense can be said to provide.

There are, in every handicap entry, horses of
varied running characteristics, such as I endea-
vored to illustrate in the respective running of Best
Man and Georgic, that no course and no weight
would bring together to race on equal terms, for
the simple reason that on a particular character cf
ground the one horse would win, while the same

80 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

would apply elsewhere in the ease of the other,
with little or no chance of being able to prevent it.

It was seen, as I have said, in the Derby Cup,
how a difference of 39 lbs. between two horses of
the same age was made to afford a basis of "esti-
mate," but if this was supposed to be racing on
equal terms, and to satisfy the aims of racing in the
sense of "legitimate sport," I thinli, lilce a good
many others, I should not be induced to travel very
far to witness such exhibitions.

The idea which has always prevailed of making
the conditions in racing such as will bring the "good
and the bad" horses together, however acceptable in
theory, is subject, nevertheless, to much reserva-
tion in practice. A four-year-old at the top of a
handicap and a five-year-old at the bottom, placed
at a difference of about 3 st. (42 lbs.), if it does not
shock one's notion of fair play, rather conveys to
one's understanding that something is wrong.

There is a limit within which a handicapper
must range, in fixing the weights at the top and the
bottom, but so far as age is concerned, there is no
limit, or indeed anything to disallow a three-year-
old being: placed at the top, and an aged horse at the
bottom, should their respective capabilities appear
to sanction it on the basis of "estimate."

One cannot help thinking tlie "idea" of "good and

WEIGHTS. SI

bad" hcrses being brought together needs consid-
erable modification. Supposed "bad horses," and
treated as such, are only too often good ones in dis
guise. That which allows "good and bad" horses
to be brought together not only fosters the con-
cealment of merit, but is a direct inducement to
wrong-doing, especially when seemingly it outrages
fair play. In principle, as well as in the intert?.sts
of racing, there is nothing to encourage, or even to
make desirable, the fact of bad horses racing with
those of the first class, on any terms whatever.

On strict lines, the idea of racing should be to
bring into contest, into entry for certain races,
horses of particular class and suitability for the
ground upon which the races are to take place.

Whatever the prize offered may be, the conditions
should make the chances of horses more a matter
of scientific investigation and study by those in-
terested in them, than the haphazard character rac-
ing represents on the model prescribed by the han-
dicap system.

So far as "investigation and study" have hitherto
gone in the matter of handicap racing, I think any
one would be open to be accused of very bold
assertion if he was prepared to say these were not
confined to the work of the handicapper in allotting
the weights. As an instance of it, I have known

82 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

many owners — and trainers, too — who, in tlie
course of conversation, would have at their fingers'
ends a most graphic Ivuowledge of every detail
affording a "line" to the compilation of a handicap.
I have known them, besides, to be able off-hand to
trace out in a most masterly manner from mem-
ory voluminous running results, coupled with
voluminous particulars, relating to handicaps and
their supposed peculiarities, but, strangely enough,
unable to offer an opinion, by way of explanation or
otherwise, on any point outside what the weights,
as these were assigned, may or may not have done.

I must say in the face of this, I join with the
many in thinking that the best interests of our
great national pastime demand a far wider and
broader field of inquiry, into the merits of the thor-
oughbred, than is furnished for delectation by the
work of the handicapper.

In the chapters on "Horses" I have referred to
the characteristics and peculiarities of horses,
coupled with their running capabilities on the level,
and on gradients, as also on ground subject to
climatic changes.

Though my statements are founded on actual ex-
perience and very attentive observation, it will be
understood I do not arrogate to myself the acquisi-

WEIGHTS. 83

tion of other than general information touching tlie
subjects referred to.

I saj^ this, liowever, that it opens up matter in
the interests of racing of very serious consequence,
\Yhile it sliould afford facilities for scientific in-
quiry, the advantages of which should not be over-
looked by race-horse owners or, indeed, any one
associated with the thoroughbred or with racing.

If what I have said is accurate and well founded,
as I believe it to be, then I think it goes a long way
to show how little the allotment of weight in han-
dicaps has had to do in the long run with races of
that description.

It should be well known that a handicap run over
different courses will have a different winner and
different placed horses on each occasion, and this,
of itself, should have caused something more ef-
fective than weights fixed by estimate to have been
long since substituted for it.

The principle of apportioning weight that horses
shall carry in races should be governed in certain
cases by "scale," as weight-for-age races are so gov-
erned. There is this, how^ever, to be said: — Weight-
for-age races are races irrespective of merit, while
races arranged on the basis of "weight-for-merit,"
are races irrespective of age.

84 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

The basis of weight should be the actual and not
the assumed basis of merit. For instance, it is ob-
viously unjust that horses of four years and up-
ward having no records, in the sense that their
merits may have been concealed, should be per-
mitted to race with three-year-olds on the same
terms. In such cases weight governed by rule
would alone be a corrective.

I cannot but think the scale of weight-for-age,
devised by that gallant sportsman, Admiral Rous,
and since 1873 "modified to satisfy practical sug-
gestions," yet needs careful revision in respect of
two-year-olds racing with older horses in the spring
and summer months. Tliere is little room for
doubt the terms as set are by far too mucii in favor
of the older horses.

The nursery handicaps, commencing in Septem-
ber, that we have been familiar Avith, can only be
said in point of merit to have been of an exceeding-
ly doubtful kind. It is true an occasional close
finish may be seen. But so far as "close finishes"
are concerned, these prove little beyond the fact
that horses running on the most unequal terms now
and again so run, and will continue to do so, and be
as devoid of merit as over, as long as jockeys ride
"waiting" races.

Nursery handicaps, however, compiled with all

WEIGHTS. 85

the care that is possible, can in the main be only
guesswork, and nothing further need be said con-
cerning them.

Any disposition of weight in the absence of
known merit must necessarily be guesswork, and
for my part I cannot but regard a horse let into a
race under such conditions as sufficient, in the
spirit of fair play, to render it void on that ground.

I see no reason why weiglit, assigned by **merit,"
should not be governed by "scale," dividing horses
of three years and upward into classes. The prin-
ciple should be to make each horse bear his right
burden in accordance with age, coupled with the
class his merits shall have determined.

Horses of unknown merit when running in races
other than weight-for-age races should be expressly
governed by "rule," as I have said.

In arranging the weights for two-year-olds there
should necessarily be different treatment, though
the principle of "merit" must needs be kept in view.
To my mind there are two points of essential im-
portance in this. Not only should two-year-old
running be governed by merit, but it should also be
made to become a basis for three-year-old racing in
the following season.

One great advantage of the principle of adjusting
tbe weights for horses on the lines to which I have

86 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

only cursorily referred is that it would be gradual
in operation, and may easily be made to work,
as it weve,2)ari2Ki8su with methods of racing very
greatly in detail, which it is sincerely to be hoped,
in the interest of racing, we shall see ere long fast
drifting on the side of improvement.

CHAriEK X.

COURSES.

The race-courses we have in England are gen-
erally upheld, and are believed to be the best in the
world. The reason for this is, that mostly they
are laid out on the finest old turf, are well drained,
and do not throw up an abnormal crop of herbage.
The majority of them are smooth from constant
chain harrowing and rolling, and reflect great
credit to those intrusted with the duties of man-
agement. When all is done, however, to get the
various courses into a state of the greatest possi-
ble perfection for racing purposes, there are no
two strictly alike anywhere, or the running of
horses upon them tells a very untruthful tale.

Those who are well acquainted with the several
courses referred to in all parts of the Kingdom are
aware that in formation all more of less differ, but

88 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

it is to be doubted if any amongst these good peo-
ple, even the clerks of courses included, could give
a correct definition practically of any one of them,
of vv^hat it consisted.

In the absence of precise information, it is highly
difficult to understand the ins and outs and the gen-
eral peculiarities of a race-course, and yet it is so
important a matter that nobody who goes racing
should \w in ignorance of it. To find it out for your-
self is an event l>oth troublesome and not a little
perplexing. You may walk over the ground, you
may view it from a spot here and a spot there, you
may look at it from the stand and the stand enclos-
ure, you may ask whom you will for information,
but it all ends at this: the actual levels, the forma-
tion of the ground itself, the lengths of the gradients,
are so much Greek to you, that so far as getting ad-
vised upon these necessary details, you must needs
give it up, and retire very little wiser than when you
came.

If this were an isolated case some provision might
be made for it, but it happens to be the state of
things a person must be prepared to encounter, let
him select any race-meeting he may choose to visit
anywhere in the kingdom. For some reason or other
a survey giving details of courses appears never to
be made, or if this should be made, it certainly is

I

COURSES. 89

uot made known by ordinary publication. The curi-
ous thing about it, however, is that upon these
courses racing goes on year by year, and although
now and again some marvellously contradictory run-
ning is seen, people never appear to inquire the ex-
tent to which the conformation of the ground may
have contributed to it.

Why people should ostensibly know so much
about horses, and know little, or it may be nothing,
about the character of the ground upon which they
gallop in a race, is most surprising; yet, for all that,
I should think the time cannot be so far distant now
when this branch of the ethics of racing will be
thought to merit a little of the attention it certainly
deserves.

It was only the other day I met a well-known
clerk of the course — a man recognized everywhere
as a thoroughly practical and painstaking offtcial —
of whom I inquired whether a survey had been
made of any course under his management, and it
certainly did not surprise me when he said it had
not. The measurements in point of distance had
been arrived at, he said, ''pretty accurately, al-
though the chain had not been run over them."
"Our races," he went on to say, "are always stated
to be 'aibout' the distance mentioned in the condi-
tions, and that is near enough for me, and I am
satisfied with it."

90 FLAT-RAGING EXPLAINED.

"Don't you think," I said, "that a survey should
be made, and the details of measurements set out.
showing the gradients for public guidance?"

"No," he said; "we are not required to do it, and
I should not incur that trouble and expense unless a
rule were passed making it compulsory. I do not,
however, see that it is wanted, for people who run
horses should get to know the ups and downs for
themselves."

"But," said I, "about the outsiders?"

"Oh, we don't need to trouble about them, they
are able to look after themselves."

This, I think, pretty clearly shows there is some-
thing to be done, at least by clerks of courses, to put
their patrons into possession of information every-
body is entitled to have. To say that it is not
wanted is absurd, for it partakes of that which is
of the ABC order in racing, besides which, unless
one knows what he is pleased to call the **ups and
downs," what chance is there of comparing a horse's
running elsewhere with what he is likely to do
when he comes to run on this particular ground?

There is really a serious question involved in this
matter of getting to Imow the various gradients of
courses. It is all very well for clerks of courses to
pooh-pooh it, and desire to take refuge in the fact
that so far the Jockey Club have not seen fit to
make it compulsory. They should remember^ tfow-

COURSEI^. 91

ever, the public are not so blind, anel so unintelli-
gent, as not to know tliat persons having the man-
agement of race meetings are naturally desirous of
providing spectacle, as obviously nothing pays like
spectacular effect. In a word, nobodj expects
them to be oblivious to the gleams of sunshine on
their prosperity and progress created by the pres-
ence of moneyed people, and so to speak the gather-
ing of the clans that money begets, for that would
not be human nature.

But, labor as much as they will in the cause of
outward show, even clerks of courses cannot afford
to allow the working of the great racing machine
to be left as a duty for humbler mortals to fulfil.
It is clearly their duty to make known, by giving
published details, of what their courses consist.
Let them set out fully and distinctly everything the
public have a right to know about the "ups and
downs." Every gradient in every course should be
shown, and the actual measurements so set out that
no difficulty would be experienced in ascertaining
Ihe level, and the distances at the level^ between
starting and winning posts.

Surface measurements, except on a strictly level
course, not being actual running distances, every
stated distance for which a race is to be run, it is
jinperative, should be given as measured at the
J^vel. I have said "imperative," because not only

92 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

are handicaps framed on the basis of a level course,
but amongst the hidden secrets of racing, in a largo
measure, there lies and underlies, it should always
be remembered, the question of "gradient."

Clerks of courses will be well advised never to
roll down long grass on their courses, as when it
happens that horses are made to race against the
edges of the grass rolled from the opposite direc-
tion, their chances of success are reduced to almost
nil. In cases where long grass must of necessity
be rolled late in the season, as on Newmarket
Heath, it must only be done so that the grass shall
lie in the direction the horses galloj), or the racing
will be altogether incorrect, if not positively unfair.

I have seen jockeys over and over again disre-
gard this, with the result, by the use of the watch,
there has been a difference in a horse's running,
over the same ground, amounting to as much as
three or four lengths, and I have known it, even in
a Avell-contested race, to amount to something like
twenty lengths, the speed being in the latter case
extremely bad.

It must not be taken that rolled grass is alone to
be met with on Newmarket Heath. I have seen it
at plenty of other places, but at none where the
work was so well done, or with anything approach-
ing the care, to ensure racing sliall not be interfered

COURSES.

93

with by it. The courses on NeAvmarket Heath are
iu every respect most admirably cared for, and I do
not think it would be iwssible to have them, under
all conditions, in better trim, I may say, at every
meeting held on the classic Heath throughout the
racing season.

CHAPTER XI.

TIME.

One of the most important stndies connected with
racing is that commonly called the "time test,"
but there are few, I am afraid, who know any-
thing about it. Some are to be found, it is true,
who have tried it, but their knowledge, so far as
I have seen, is only superficial, and they are gen-
erally hopelessly at sea on the subject. It is, in
all its aspects, a dithcult study, and I do not pre-
tend to have mastered it wholly in all its some-
what complex details. I can say this, however,
that I have given myself the chance of doing so,
for I have studied it for many years, and possess
the records of races I have timed on almost every
course in England, to number in the aggregate
something approaching 4,000.

In my time I liave seen a good deal of racing and
racing methods, not the least interesting of which

TIME. 95

has been the use of the watch whenever practica-
ble. That that little instrument is, under certain
coiulitious, a reliable tell-tale, there can be no man-
ner of question, the only wonder to me being that
it is not generally used. There is this, however,
to be said about it, that to acquire the art of timing
races is like acquiring the art of performing on a
musical instrument, and cannot be done without
practice, patience, and much observation.

When I speak of "observation," it is difficult to
say the extent to which, of necessity, it must go.
There must be no obstructive wind, nor, on the
other hand, blowing too freely with the horses,
when running, if great accuracy is required. The
state of the ground is all-important. If it should
not be firm, the speed will be unreliable; if it is
wet, and the foot of the horse sinks in, except as
a criterion of what horses can do under such con-
ditions, time has no further value in this instance.

In a wet season the case is very much altered,
for then you time under wet conditions, so to
speak, and certain horses will be found to be as
accurate in mud as other horses are alone accurate
when the ground is quite dry. Thus, in timing
races it is as necessary to have your list of horses
for ivet-ground racing as it is to have those care-
fully ticked off that are for dry-ground racing, the

90 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

latter of which, by the way, being of no good
whatever when it is not in that state. Then you
must carefully observe what is going on in the
course of the race.

Some horses you will see to be "racing," while
others are not, and the latter category you will
discover to amount to an average of about 05 per
cent, or thirteen out of every twenty, conoerning
the running of which no question of time need be
entertained. The "racing horses" are those to be
kept in view, and it is marvellous the accuracy
with which horses perform under conditions to
which I shall presently refer.

When you have parcelled off your "wet-ground"
and your "dry-ground" horses, you then have to
deal with those taken from these lists having
speed either for the level only or the incline only;
and now and again you will come across an ani-
mal having no speed whatever on either of these
kind of courses, no matter what the state of the
ground might be, but with terrific speed downhill,
stopping to nothing directly the end of it is
reached, though it lands him apparently on the
level.

The only conclusion to be drawn from the some-
what wonderful information derived from a
watch, when correctly used, is that in the physical
construction of horses, when at the gallop, there

TIME. 97

must be an angle at which the ground is struck by
the feet, at present unknown to us. It is quite
certain all horses do not strike the ground in anj^
degree to be relative, or speed would certainly be
more uniform. Speed, however, differs to the ex-
tent that on some gradients horses are fast, while
their relative speed on others is, for some un-
known reason, comparatively slow. Of course it
will be understood I refer to sound horses, those
that can be depended upon to give their natural
rate of speed, whatever it may be, on all gradients,
as also on the level.

As I have said before, horses are predisposed to
repeat their performance on the same ground with
little variation time after time, and, upsetting as
it will be to handicap notions, the weight they may
have on their backs is not, comparatively speak-
ing, of very material consequence. Persons have
seen dead-beats, when run off, again repeated, and
close shaves of short heads, and heads and neck^
in matches times out of number. Of these I have
seen many.

But more striking still is the fact that horses
will come after a longish interval of months, or it
may be a year or more, and over the same ground
there will scarcely be a pin to choose between the
performances. A direct illustration of this oc-

98 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

ciirred on the Manchester course several years ago,
which, I am bound to say, at the time greatly im-
pressed me. This was in the years 1891 and 1893,
in the Salford Borough Handicap, distance one
mile, when both these races were won by that ex-
ceedingly useful horse, Workington, the property
of that good all-round and popular sportsman, the
Right Hon. James Lowther, M. 1\

Manchester — or perhaps I should say New Barns
— Race-course is to all appearances perfectly flat.
I have seen it from the stand and enclosures many
times, but I have never been over it. I had the
temerity on one occasion to ask permission of the
executive to do so, and in my weakness, as a last
resource in my endeavor to accomplish that desired
end, I stated, in the interest of my readers, the pur-
pose I had, when my request was refused — and not
in very polite terms either, I thought.

However, I have seen some good horses run
there, and when the ground is drj'^ some good rac-
ing, but it very seldom is dry. It was dry, however,
when Workington beat good fields on both occa-
sions; but the most remarkable thing was tliat, not-
withstanding the long interval, and he was then
an aged horse, he ran the course in 1893 in pre-
cisely the same time he had done so two years
previously. The time was 1 minute 42 4-.5 seconds,
or, for purposes of comparison, 2 2-5 seconds slower

TIME. 99

than Georgic did the same distance in the Prince
Edward Handicap last September. In point of dis-
tance, this would be eight lengths as nearly as pes

sible.

Of course, upon this there is the question of
weights, to which race-goers in general attach so
very much importance. Workington carried on the
first occasion 7 st. 9 lb., and on the second 7 st. 12
lb., being a difference of 3 lb. only. Georgic car-
ried 7 St. 4 lb., or, say, 7 lb. in favor of the latter
mare. That this made any difference, or would
have made any difference, supposing Georgic had
carried 7 st. 12 lb., I cannot suggest as likely for a
moment.

It is an incontestable fact, strange as it may
seem, and contrary as it may be to the prevailing
idea, that, with few exceptions, all horses run their
fastest races, under the watch, when they carry the
heaviest weight. A notable instance of it was in
tlie case of Amphion, a splendid miler and a first-
class horse into the bargain, when in training some
few years ago. The fastest race he ran during his
career was when he had 10 st. 3 lb. on his back.

Best Man was another horse that ran under tlie
same conditions. Why he should have been set
down as of the ]Melton tribe I never could make out,
for every characteristic the horse possessed, from
his head to his heels, was that of Ormonde. Again,

100 FLAT-RAGING EXPLAINED.

to see him in full swing, the way he carried his head
and used those powerful propellers of his was un-
doubtedly Ormonde.

I know in thus writing I somewhat fly in the
face of "authoritative opinion," but in cases of
doubted parentage, if it is to be held one must
accept the offspring as due to the last service, then
the retention of the name of the sire first used is
little less than a farce. In these cases, however, of
doubt, and where there is a choice of sires, I prefer
to follow the evidence of one's eyes, and to be
guided in one's judgment by characteristics of sire
as unmistakable as they appeared in Best Man as
I saw him during his racing career.

In the matter of speed, on mile courses and on
gradients the same in character, Best Man followed
Ormonde very closely. On the level, however, the
former horse was by no means gifted with high
speed, nor, as a matter of fact, was Ormonde either.
Both w^ere race horses of bull-dog courage and reso-
lution, and could always be depended upon to fight
tlieir races out to the bitter end. Tlie peculiarity
of Best Man's running, as he increased in years,
was that he ran nearly all courses at the same rate
of speed, and when he won the Old Cambridgeshire
up the Criterion Hill, he went just as fast as he
was able to go on the flat.

TIME. 101

I have oftrii wondered, assiiiniii^ Kest Mnii and
Florizel II. — a sterling good horse on a level course,
and gifted, too, with a high rate of speed — co^uld
have been matched on perfectly even terms, what
course in the country could have been found that
would have been fair to both horses, in the sense
that each would have displayed his best qualities.
No two horses could have been more dissimilar in
every racing particular, yet on their own ground
both brilliant performers.

A good many people I am sure would say the
Rowley Mile, while others would jump to the con-
clusion that Across the Flat would satisfy all re-
quirements. Here are two courses, perhaps at the
respective distances not to be surpassed by any in
this country, or in any other if it comes to that, and
yet neither Best Man nor Florizel II. showed any-
thing like high-class racing merit on them, and in
the matter of speed, it never approached what both
horses shoAved over and over again elsewhere
where better suited.

I have not forgotten Best Man ran second to
Marco in the Cambridgeshire over this very ground,
but at its best it was only a poorish performance,
and in point of speed did not come up to what he did
two days later over a far more trying course, name-
Iv, the Old Cambridgeshire, to which I have re-

102 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

ferred, by, in point of distance, nearly a lengtli and
a half.

I have said horses do not strike the ground in any
degree to be relative, and I am hoping as time goes
on opportunity will be given for fuller investigation.
Best Man, it is true, ran all courses pretty much at
the same rate of speed, a circumstance or a peculi-
arity I have never found to have existed in any
other horse.

The general experience I have had of horses run-
ning is that, on a particular character of ground,
they have what is called a "set speed." I have,
however, always found that with a change in the
conformation of the ground there is always, or very
nearly always, a change in the rate of speed,
though the variation in the ground itself is scarcely
perceptible.

CHAPTER XII.

TIME {continued.)

I cannot, in the present work, enter upon the
subject of defining distance by time, when it comes
to a question of showing the relative running of
horses which have finished within measurable dis-
tance behind the actual winner. For instance, sup-
posing a horse to have run, say, second, third,
fourth, or even fifth, in a well contested race, it
nmst not be imagined that the time cannot be as
accurately taken as though he finished first. On
tlie contrary, there is no difficulty in this, and I
have found the time thus taken to be in every
respect as correct as though it referred to the win-
ner only. In stating, therefore, that Best Man's
performance in the Old Cambridgeshire, which he
won, was faster by a length and a half than when
he ran second, behind Marco, on the New Cam-

104 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

bridgeshire course, it is in accordance with tlie time
taken as I have just mentioned.

In view of this, and as a matter that may be of
interest to my readers, I deal with the running of
Georgic at Manchester, in the Cambridgeshire, and
also in the Old Cambridgeshire last autumn, for the
purpose of showing of what it consisted relatively,
and to enable a comparison to be made with the
running of Best Man in the two latter events to
which I have referred.

In the Prince Edward Handicap at Manchester,
Georgic carried 7 st. 4 lb., and covered the distance,
1 mile, in 1 minute 40 2-5 seconds, or the same time
as Clwyd, carrying 7 st. 12 lb., in 1895.

In the Cambridgeshire she carried 7 st. 8 lb., dis-
tance 1 mile 240 yards, in 1 minute and 55 2-5 sec-
onds. In the Old Cambridgeshire, in which she ran
second, she carried 7 st. 12 lb., and covered the dis-
tance in 2 minutes 2 1-5 seconds — that is to say, 2 1-5
seconds behind the winner. Best Man ran second
for the Cambridgeshire in 1 minute 58 3-5 seconds,
and won the Old Cambridgeshire in 1 minute 58
seconds.

By this it will be seen that, on the New Cam-
bridgeshire course, Georgic beat Best Man's time
by 4 seconds, while on the Old course things were
reversed to the etxent that Best Man beat Georgic's

TIME. 105

time by 4 secouds. Now, if the 4 soconds arc com-
puted to represent ten lengths in each case, there
is yet the question of the 4 lb, difference in weight
in favor of Best Man's time in the Okl Cambridge-
shire, and upon this hypothesis, assuming these
two animals were about to be handicapped for a
third race to be brought off at precisely the same
distance on a level course, I ask what possible
weights could be assigned to give each a fair
chance? At what conceivable weights, on the prin-
ciple of handicapping according to recognized rules,
could Best Man be made to beat Georgic on a level
course, and, vice versa, Georgic to beat Best Man
on a course having a steep incline?

Problematical as this may appear, it is worthy,
in the interest of racing, of the highest considera-
tion. Of course, it is understood I have introduced
the running of Best Man (the horse being a reliable
public performer) in order to show of what relative
form consists, on ground so well known as are the
two Cambridgeshire courses to every race-goer.

The puzzle, if there is a puzzle in it, is the run-
ning of Georgic in the Old Cambridgeshire. Rela-
tively gauged, as I have shown, there was a differ-
ence of 8 seconds between her form here and that
which took place in the Cambridgeshire two days
previously. Much less than 8 seconds would have

106 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

won the race, and easily, too. Without going mi-
nutely into distances, the speed of the mare is so
great, that on the other course it would have been,
if one may be permitted to imagine such a thing,
like Best Man, viewing her passing the winning
post from the Bushes Hill, not being able to get
nearer to her than that. In any case, it proves
Georgic to be an animal of great merit on a flat
course, but not to be of much account where there
is a stiff gradient.

If it were necessary, instances su<2h as I have
mentioned of horses running their fastest races
with the heaviest weight up could be given to a
very large extent; but there is perhaps just this to
be said — horses with welter-weights on their backs
are differently ridden, and opportunities less fre-
quently thrown away of getting to the winning post
as soon as possible when fairly on their way.
When this is done, there is of course better speed
made, though, generally speaking, the method of
riding in this country is not in furtherance of that
desirable end.

Take, as an example, the performance of Rodo-
mont, a horse still in training, but one nobody
would be willing to regard at any time during his
career as a high-class race horse. In his best days
he won, as the book tells, several good races, as

TIME. 107

many horses before him have done, without gaining
more than passing notice, and certainly without
the least semblance, in point of merit, of having
acquired fame. This is just Rodomont's fate; yet
if people are told that he established a name for
himself, in having run, perhaps, the fastest race on
record over the Cambridgeshire Course, few will
be disposed to look upon it as otherwise than in-
credible.

The race in question was the Newmarket Handi-
cap, run at the Second Spring Meeting, in May,
1895. Rodomont carried 8 st. 6 lb., and covered
the distance, 1 mile 240 yards, in 1 minute 55 sec-
onds, or 2-5 of a second faster than Georgic ran the
Cambridgeshire, over the same ground, last season.
The 2-5 of the second may fairly be put at 3-4 of a
length.

There was a great deal to be learned by the run-
ning of this horse, and also by the result of the
race. Nothing need be said of the riding, for the
horse set the pace himself, and came right througli,
overpowering the jockey from start to finish. I
did not see any second horse in it, and my surprise
was great when one was given as three lengths
away from the winner. From thence on I could
but keep in view the career of an animal that had
told as plainly as w^ords could express of what its
capabilities consisted, both in point of distance I

108 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

gradient. He ran several times during the re-
mainder of the season, and afterwards won on two
occasions; but the speed was poor, and it was clear
the horse was out of his distance, was badly placed
in point of gradient, and altogether unsuited to the
task he was set to perform.

The point, however, to be observed in Rodomont's
case is that which undoubtedly would be applicable
in the ease of a large number of horses. If it had
been possible to have run him half a dozen times
over the same ground, following the performance
in the Newmarket Handicap, he would not only
have repeated his time, probably, on each occasion,
but it would have been difficult to have found an
animal to beat him at racing weights.

To enumerate the horses that have repeated their
time over the same ground within my experience,
regardless of the difference in weights, were I to
enter upon the task, would fill a volume. A notable
instance, in point of repeating the time, was La
Fleche, in the Derby and the Oaks, the two worst
races, perhaps, the filly ran as a three-year-old.
The time in both these races was exactly the same,
though she only ran second in the former race.
The ground was then very hard, and the filly
looked dull and out of sorts.

La Fleche's finest performance, certainly that

TIME. 109

year, if not during her career, was in the Cam-
bridgeshire, following her St. Leger triumph, when,
with 8 St. 10 lb. on her three-year-old back, she won
with tlie greatest ease, in the marvellous time of
2 minutes 1 2-5 seconds. The race was run in the
deepest ground known at Newmarket in the month
of October for a generation, and I remember never
to have seen anything like it, certainly at New-
market. The manner La Fleclie squandered her
field I shall never forget, simply leaving her twen-
ty nine opponents sprawling in the mud.

CHAPTER XIII.

TIME {continued.)

As there are no two courses exactly alike any-
where in this country, I do not suggest that the
relative running of horses upon them can be demon-
strated with positive accuracy. It happens, how-
ever, that the running on the ground of the Rowley
Mile at Newmarket and at Kempton show results
somewhat similar.

A performance on both these well known and
popular battle grounds should be mentioned in St.
Frusquin, a most reliable runner, and perhaps as
game a horse as was ever saddled. I had St. Frus-
quin under the watch a good many times, with sat-
isfactory results, bar his race at Kempton, wlien
he was placed second to Teufel. How that came
about I am not prepared to say. I can only state
the facts, and at the same time add that I have
looked upon that result as the most disastrous of

TIME. Ill

any that has occurred during my acquaintance with
the turf.

8t. Frusquin had been over the same ground be-
fore, and I had his measure in a way that I could
not be deceived by the running or mistaken in point
of correctness of observation. I remember the race
quite w^ell. The state of the elements and the
ground were all that could be desired. In the mat-
ter of weight, although the colt had won three races
I'iglit off the reel, of the value collectively of G,000
pounds, he was only placed here at a disadvantage
of 5 lb., against such animals as Barn Dance and
Kalm of Gilead, while Teufel was in receipt of
12 lb.

The start was a good one. St. Frusquin, jump-
ing into his stride, was well away in the front rank.
All I through the race, however, the speed was
wretchedly slow, and there was nothing in point of
interest to redeem the event from that so often seen
described in print as a "common affair." With
this description I take the opportunity of saying I
do not agree, for to see horses — well-trained horses
— galloping, when racing or not racing, is at all
times a delightful spectacle, and I know in this
respect I have a large majority of my countrymen
— ay, and countrywomen too — on my side.

However, the race in question took a period of
1 minute and 10 seconds, on a perfectly flat course;

112 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

and therefore, in only getting second, half a length
behind Teufel, St. Frusquin ran the very worst race
of his life as a race horse. The extraordinary part
of the business was that when Teiifel passed the
winning-post a winner, St. Frusquin should have
been, on his merits, just twelve and a half lengths
in front, then to have eased up, and practically on
his way to weigh in.

My readers will remember that on that same day
in the following week St. Frusquin won the Middle
Park Plate at Newmarket, and what he should
have done, and more than done at Kempton, he
accomplished at the former place, thus proving to
demonstration there was no justification from any
point of view for what had happened at Kempton,
as I have said.

To have been deprived of a stake worth £4,000
was bad enough in all conscience for an owner
under the circumstances, but those having more
reason to complain, perhaps, were people asso-
ciated with the great army of racing investors,
whose admiration of a reputed good one never stops
short of the employment of pen and pencil, in the
cause which brings bookmakers and backers into
what is called "healthful contest." That Teufel
should have become the hope of the future, from
a speculative point of view, with a multitude of
people, in a sense, was not to be wondered at, for

TIME. 113

althoujrli the event to which I refer occurred iu
1895, }'et I do not think, down to the present, our
friends the sporting writers have ever failed to
extol the fame of Teufel consequent upon the
horse's supposed great achievement in lowering the
colors of St. Frusquin.

AVhat this will have cost the racing public
through these series of years, down to last autumn,
when Teufel was deemed by many as ''the good
thing'' for the Cambridgeshire, and backed with the
pertinacity racing enthusiasts are so much given to,
goodness only knows. For my part, I have dreaded
to see the name of Teufel in events again and again,
when speed above all was the desideratum, know-
ing full well that, so long as the horse remained in
training, the racing public would continue to regard
him as a sort of idol, and be guided by its super-
stition. Had they reflected, however, that as a
two-year-old in the month of October he was only
able to cover six furlongs in 1 minute 19 seconds
on a flat course, their enthusiasm should have
cooled down, when it made him out to be only a
bad horse.

Why sporting writers should, as a body, take no
heed of the time in which a race is run is very
singular. It matters not what may be the value of
the stake or the gigantic interests involved; they
either hold aloof altogether, or perhaps one amongst

114 FLAT-RAGING EXPLAINED.

their number, in a half-hearted sort of way, gives a
casual notice of the time in which a certain race is
run.

To my thinking this is very much to be regretted,
but I imagine it will not be long now before the
public will ask, if they do not insist, that all races
shall be olficially timed, and the results duly pub-
lished in "The Racing Calendar." It will be under-
stood that, in pointing this omission out, I do not
make any complaint against sporting writers, to
whom the public in general, and race-goers in par-
ticular, owe so much.

Tlie labors these gentlemen perform in the course
of their duties, it is well known, are prodigious,
while the amount of energy and ability they bring
into the task cannot be too widely recognized as de-
serving unanimous approbation.

By the aid of the Avatch, how many horses can be
roughed out of a race as having no place in one's
estimation for a particular event! Again, how
many horses have I not seen, and heard, backed for
large sums in all parts of the ring that, in the then
state of the ground and on the particular course on
Avhich the race was about to be run, had no chance
whatever, as the result proved! Then, again, how
many horses on these occasions get first past the

TIME. 115

post that otherwise would Dot be iu the first half
dozen, even if they got so near!

As every racing man knows, the secret of racing
deiDeuds to a large extent on his know^ledge and
judgment of relative form. Whatever opinion he
may entertain of a horse's particular merit, it cm
be of little use to him if, having l>rought iiilo the
reckoning the fact that there are no two courses
exactly alike, he is unable to adapt it to the circum-
stances that arise, wherever it may be.

As, with very few exceptions, horses differ iu
speed on every course they run, when not over tlie
same ground, so the result in all races must neces-
sarily be attended wifh uncertainty. The idea of
successful prognostication, except now and again
by an off chance, really makes it a matter for de-
rision by those taking the trouble to work cut the
subject for themselves. This, of course, refers more
especially to the "old time'' methods of racing, or
such as we have been only too long familiar with.

Since, however, the American system of "track
riding" has been introduced on our grass courses,
racing generally has not only improved hj the races
being run at a higher rate of speed, but by the
adoption of those aids to scientific attainment I
have made it the business of this work to bring to
the notice of my readers, we may hope in the near

116 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

future to witness our eherislied national sport
reach a higher standard of excellence than in all
branches we have enjoyed hitherto.

The system of "tracl^ riding" to which I have re-
ferred was, no doubt, designed for courses of a very
different character to those we have in this country.
Its special purpose was to accomplisli a high rate
of speed on a level course, and I thinly it is very
much open to question if the system itself was ever
intended for any other than a level course.

Originally it must have been a matter for very
serious consideration whether the "track riding"
system was adaptable to grass courses as we have
them. However, events have shown, and will con
tinue to show, that it is not only adaptable to every
kind of course we have, but that it really supplies
a much needed Improvement upon our own system
of race-riding.

CHAPTER XIV.

NAMING HORSES.

It is curious at the present day liorses should be
running in races, competing for stakes, made up of
what is called "public money," without a name or
anytliing to distinguish them one from another be-
yond a simple notification of their pedigi'ees. Why
horses should thus be permitted to run in races
under the rules of racing, and allowed to compete
for public stakes, I could never make out, certainly
on any grounds that were intelligible. The only
justification of it put forward with any show of
reason I have ever heard was that "persons were
entitled to do as they liked with their own."

To this view of the rights of individuals I should
not be disposed to offer the least objection. Still, in
the case of races in which public money is given or
subscribed, either by way of plate, or in specie, or of
both, and in which there is by common consent

118 FLAT-RACINO EXPLAINED.

certain public interests involved, no animal should
be eligible to run, nor should the entry of any ani-
mal be permitted to be officially accepted, not hav-
ing a name, in accordance witli the rules of racing.
If this salutary obligation were insisted upon, and
the rule extended to provide for it, it would do
much to further the interests of racing.

We have certainly moved on since the time when
the late Lord Glasgow, with all i)is comicalities and
whimsicalities in tlie matter of naming — or, rather,
not naming — his horses, was amongst us, justly
honored as one of the pillars of the turf. Although
only a youngster in those days, I well rememl>er
what a crop there was of '.Melbouiiies'' and '"Birds
on the Wing," and how he had sires and dams and
grauddams and grent granddams of sires and dams,
all pedigreed, to define as far as it was possible
generations upon generations of unnamed horses
in most delightful confusion.

Behind a dash of bluntness, and it may have been
perhaps of austerity, in his ordinary demeanor, there
was little doubt there lurked in Lord Glasgow's com-
position a rare fund of racy humor. By not naming
his horses, and thus in a way bringing the "jargon
of the ring," as he amusingly called it, into positive
collapse, there is little doubt he intended a huge
joke. For once, however, he named a ( olt (then no
beauty to look at) after his friend and boon compau-

NAMING HORSES. 119

ion General Peel, which partook of the same racy
turn, though it merged historically, by the happen-
ing of events, into another and perhaps more
pleasing vein. Happily, Lord Glasgow's pet idea in
the matter of nomenclature did not assume such
proportions as to become a prevailing fashion; thus
to a large extent we were spared the derision of our
neighbors in not only being a "nation of shopkeep-
ers," but that our intelligence did not enable us to
provide names for our race-horses.

There is nothing more easy than to find a pleas-
ing, and at the same time a suitable name for a
horse intended to be known to the public in the char-
acter of a race-horse. In making a selection, it
should not be overlooked that, apart from the mat-
ter of taste, there is something to be said on the
question of culture, and it will not be everybody who
will care to pose before a critical audience like the
British public as lacking in either of these. To be
a suitable name it should never go beyond, except
in very rare instances, ten letters in length, whether
the name itself is simple or compound — that is, one
word or more.

It would do much for the best interests of racing
if a higher standard were inculcated in the names
given to horses, and if in some way or other people
could be induced to get away from the practice of

120 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

alone looking for a name as suggested by the exist-
ing names of the sire and the dam. I believe this
method, providing as it does a sort of hard-and-fast
rule by vrhieh people are guided in the concoction of
names, has led to the numberless feeble results that
come under one's eye day by day. In naming a colt,
or it may be a Ally, on these lines, people do not like
to be outdone, or to have to take a sort of back-seat
to their neighbors, in the matter of smartness and
piquancy, though it may create any number of
breaches in both appropriateness and finish.

It might give offence and periiaps wound the sus-
ceptibilities of some of my most intimate friends
were I to particularize even some from the many
vain attempts at erudition, or where erudition had
floundered so visibly as to baffle even one's ordinary
understanding, so I give it up. But for all that, I
trust I may be permitted to say I do not relinquish
the desire to create a new era in turf nomenclature,
if it be possible, in the cause that uppermost should
guide one's actions in such a matter — viz., of the
turf itself.

By this I do not mean to infer we in this country
have no well-named horses. If such were suggested
it would obviously be extremely incorrect. Wo have
not only large numbers, the names of w hich are ap-
propriate and pleasing in every way, but certain

NAMING HORSES. 121

owners are remarkable for the skill and good taste
they exhibit in this respect.

While I believe the well-named horses counter-
balance the ill-named ones by a largish majority,
still there are plenty of the latter character one
would wish to see, if it were possible, so far as the
names themselves are concerned, erased from the
records, for the simple reason that, being inappro-
priate and ill-chosen, they offend rather than invoke
enthusiasm, and too frequently are as devoid of wit-
ticism as they are in one other respect — viz., of
polish.

In the paddock and on the course, how our pleas-
ure is marred when we see a beautiful horse with an
uncouth and ill-sounding name! And how little
there is to excite one's mirth when, floaiing on the
breeze, coming, it may be, from the direction of the
ring, one hears a babble of inarticulate sounds,
caused by persons vainly striving and struggling to
enunciate an unpronounceable and unintelligible
names!

Then, in the chapter of accidents, as it were, bow
few ill-named horses ever contribute by their deeds
anything to leave a mark on the pages of turf his-
tory, or, indeed, anything behind them to make the
fact of their existence a matter of record in the
Stud Book! In the face of things, therefore, there
is no encouragement to give a race-horse an ill-

122 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

chosen name, but, on the contrary, everything to dis-
courage it.

As I have said, there are plenty of names--the
supply is almost inexhaustible — which may readily
be chosen within the limit of fen fetters that will
do credit to any selection, and at the same time be-
come a pleasing, not to say complimenitary, episode
of both colonial and international recognition.

I suggest that the names of our race-horses — ani-
mals that are prized in some respects, without sense
of humiliationi, as highly as are the claims of some
members of the human species — should be named
after places, suitable in point of selection, in the
British colonies, in the Indian Empire, and in that
part of the Western world graced by the presence
of our American kinsmen.

Let those, therefore, in search of a name for their
horses honor themselves, as they will honor British
enterprise and the friends of Great Britain over the
seas, by the simple expedient of casting their eye
over the index of any good atlas, when they will
see before them, in those countries to which I have
referred, thousands of names, providing at once all
that need be desired to afford the happiest selection.

CHAPTER XV.

TIPSTERS.

I cannot be expected to say anything in favor of
the methods and practices of a class of individuals
known to tlie public as "tipsters." For my own part,
if I consulted my own wishes, I should prefer to be
silent, leaving it to those having a wider knowledge
of the subject than I possess to prescribe a remedy
for what undoubtedly is a most intolerable evil.

In dealing with such a question one can only be
guided by w^hat, under the circumstances, the best
interests of the turf as a recognized national institu-
tion demand. As it is the duty of every loyal citi-
zen to uphold and to stimulate, as far as it lies in
his power, the health-giving enjoyments of the peo-
ple, so it is equally his duty to ward off every at-
tempt by which at any time these may be assailed.

That the best interests of the turf are being as-

124 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

sailed by the doings of tipsters there is no doubt
whatever; and it not only continues, but goes on in-
creasing year by year.

The methods employed by them are so familiar to
most of us, that anything in the nature of detailed
particulars would seem to be quite unnecessary.

That there are tipsters and tipsters, in the sense
this phrase is understood, must be admitted. They
are all, however, more or less "tarred with the same
brush," inasmuch as the basis of operation, the idea
of their supposed business occupation, in the direc-
tion of being possessed of secret or stable informa-
tion concerning the chances of success horses may
have in races, to be of advantage to others in the
way of investments, though never availed of by
themselves, is founded in falsehood and misrep-
resentation.

On the presumption of carrying on a system of
business in its character bona fide and honest, the
tipster, by the aid of advertisements in the news-
papers, and by circulars and pamphlets, which are
distributed by thousands, and, through the postal
medium, are made to find a way to reach the hands
of every desired person in schools, in colleges, in
shops and factories, and in private homes, there is
no limit to the chances of wrong committed. That
a wrong is committed we know only too well. The

TIPSTERS. 125

character of the advertisements, the outrageous rep-
resentations contained in circulars and pamphlets,
and the inducements put forward, with unblushing
effrontery, intended to lead honest people into ruin-
ous speculations — all tell us this, without need to go
further.

Still, the work of destruction carried on by the
tipster class does not end at this. Not only do they
profit by the sale of their specious publications, pre-
suming to forecast results in racing, to an enor-
mous extent, but, as is well known, their work is in
alliance with confederates, who also profit or make
gains totalling up to colossal sums in the course of
each succeeding racing season. Of the victims of
this treachery the police court records from time to
time tell us pratically more than we care to be in-
formed of, w^hile at those places where destitution
finds a sort of "half-way house" those wishing to
know more have only to inquire within.

Why does the Legislature permit tipsters to pur-
sue their nefarious calling in our midst? Can it be
that what is fraud and false pretence in other walks
of life is not fraud and false pretence when com-
mitted, with the same intent by the tipster class?

We have seen bookmakers, men recognized every-
where for their uprightness of conduct and honesty
in their dealings, prosecuted before magistrates for

126 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED.

pursuing a legitimate calling in a legitimate way.
The authors, the real authors, of the evil of betting,
as the moralists put it, however, are the tipsters, a
class of persons against whom the moralists never
utter a word of condemnation, and, hat in hand, by
their silence invite to go on and prosper.

Why the righteous people who prosecuted Mr.
Dunn should righteously withhold prosecution from
"Mr. Tipster" has puzzled me very considerably. If
they could pride themselves in the former case on
being guided by reason, if not by wisdom, surely
they will have lapsed into supineness, if not some-
thing more to excite one's pity, should they not see
wisdom to guide them in the latter case.

In my view, it has always been absurd to endeav-
or to associate the bookmaker with all the evils re-
sulting from imprudent betting. Betting is not il-
legal. In principle, as far as I have been able to
discover, it in no sense differs from that which has
founded the institution of insurance, whether the
process be by underwriting, on land or on sea, or
by policies guarding our lives while we live, or our
property from consumption by burglars or fire. Be-
sides, our chances of accident, in the events of our
lives, are soothed by the reflection that the odds of
about 300 to 1 are laid against our being killed out-
right; while damage to person, in language we are

TIPSTERS. 12 r

ouly too well made familiar with, "stands in for a
shop."

It has been said if there were no boolimakers
there would be no bacliers, which, to my thinking,
is "taking hold of the wrong end of the stick," the
more correct way of putting it being that if tliere
were no backers there would be no bookmakers;
while, practically, if there were no tipsters there
would be no backers.

But then, it must not be overlooked that no evil
arises from the acts of legitimate backers, a class
of persons who have a perfect right, in the exercise
of their judgment, to do as tliey like with their
own. All the evil and wrongdoing comes from the
acts of Ulegitimate backers, a class of persons need-
ing to be protected against themselves. These are
the victims of the tipster.

In their ignorance of racing and of racing meth-
ods, and the numerous interests connected with the
sport, they are readily beguiled by the fulsome ex-
travagances of the tipster's asseverations, such as
their "wonderful powers of discernment," their
"knowledge of stable policy and stable secrets,"
their "intimacy on all hands with owners," the
"friends and boon companions of owners and train-
ers and jockeys," and of every trainer and jockey
whose name figures in turf records or in the lists

128 FLAT-RAGING EXPLAINED, 1

registered at Weatherby's. Then, the "staff of
watchers" they employ at every training place in
the country, and the "large sums" they pay for ex-
clusive information, derived from sources, accord-
ing to them, to be "truly astonishing." Their pa-
trons, of course, are among the "highest in the
land;" and when asked for their names, those most
honored on the turf and society are readily given,
with an assurance that baffles belief.

It is no use to warn the "Illegitimate bacl^er" of
his danger; if it be possible, the danger should" be
removed, rather, from him. There is no justifica-
tion for persons, however weak and foolish they
may be, being permitted to be led into evil by decep-
tion and trickery. If persons must needs bet, let
them do so by their own initiation. The law should
rigorously intervene to stop the promulgation of
inducement, whether put forward in a form to be
specious or otherwise; that avowedly intends to
urge, or even to recomme?id persons to risk money
by way of backing horses in races. Should the law
as it stands not be sufficient or wide enough in its
interpretation to make penal a class of offence such
as I have pointed out, as daily growing upon us,
and encroaching upon the best interests of the turf,
then it obviously becomes the duty of the Legisla-
ture to extend the law for that purpose by passing
a short act of Parliament, and that without delay.

Vvi::i.)s;.''^i' rBiT'-jj L'D''- r ;::^y 'v^'^^' ens

Cummings School of ; Medicine at

Tufls UriiV^roily

200 Westboro Road

North Grafton. MA 01536

p

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