M«i{inRneNnHPMMR!Pin«« L ^^' r'M^ ''Mx^' !'J ■ 'i- V ^-^ ^■,:^»< • "^.^- \ ♦<^Af'> ,il^ ^^'; • -A *i THE RACEHORSE IN TRAINING THE RACEHORSE IN TRAINING pints on; Jlarhrc); anb §lantt0 Jleforms By WILLIAM DAY i^oitbon CHAPMAN AND HALL, Limited, 193, Piccadilly All risihts reserved LONDON : R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, BREAD STREET HILL, E.C. PREFACE. In bringing before the public a work that has for its specific subject the training of the racehorse, and incident- ally offers some observations on turf matters generally, the author feels the need of its indulgence. The experience gathered as the result of thirty years un- wearied labour in the management of a large racing-stud, is, he feels, the best apology he can put forward for the attempt to write comprehensively on matters never before so treated by a trainer. In order to inform, to please, and to encourage the student, a thorough knowledge of the subject must be supplemented by facts clearly stated, and by arguments based on experiences that have stood the test of time. It is perhaps too common to represent technical or professional matters as full of mystery to the unlearned. Such a pre- tence would be out of place here. Our subject is one easy of comprehension, and it is the intention and desire of the writer to apply to it the simple treatment of which it is susceptible ; to set forth practical knowledge and important and ascertained truths deduced from daily observation in a manner intelligible to the ordinary reader. vi PREFACE. This is the work that the author has undertaken to do. He feels there is something of presumption in the attempt to write on a topic of so wide an interest and of so national an importance, whilst so many of his professional contem- poraries, pre-eminently fitted for the task, are silent. It is a task which only a trainer can hope to complete with any degree of satisfaction to himself or benefit to others. No one seeking information would read a book on Patho- logy written by any one but a fully qualified physician, or on Political Economy, unless its author were thoroughly versed through experience and study in the features and neces- sities of his country. It is, therefore, not assuming too much to conclude that the fittest person to write on training, and on matters more immediately connected with the turf, must be a trainer. He has knowledge and practical expe- rience which are denied others moving in a different sphere, how^ever exalted, except at second-hand. Information, how- ever good, if transmitted by a process of delegation, cannot fail to lose in its course something of its value. For these reasons the author has ventured to record his own expe- riences of the training of the racehorse and of other matters connected with the turf; and has supplemented the opinions deduced therefrom with those of able and practical men. The design of the book is to treat, in the first place, as exhaustively as the writer's ability and experience will per- mit, the process of perfecting the horse for the course; then briefly to review and compare racing as it was and as it is, and to draw such inferences as the study of the subject PREFACE. vii suggests ; and, lastly, to offer a few suggestions for reform of turf proceedings, which, in his humble opinion, would be of considerable benefit to this chief of our national sports. To treat the subject comprehensively is his desire. It will be found, therefore, that his suggestions are not confined to the technical and ordinary affairs of the every-day routine of a training-stable. He has endeavoured to the best of his ability to examine other matters which are certainly not inferior in interest. Thus, he attempts to show under what circumstances some horses vanquish or are vanquished in their public engagements. He has added, so far as memory serves him, many memorable sayings, and the accounts of notable doings of the most successful men and conspicuous characters on the turf; as well as of others who have left it for their long home, who, whilst here, were known for their parsimony or their extravagance, as makers or as spenders of fortunes, with other anecdotes which have occurred to him as having some public interest. This then, being the scope of the work, the author ventures to launch it before the world, leaving it as it stands with all its shortcomings and inadvertencies to the lenient con- sideration which may be asked for a book that has no other pretence than to advance the results of practical knowledge, and to supply what may be a possible need. That all should have been said that may be said on the various matters discussed, is impossible. The writer must be content in the knowledge of having done the best in his power to lay before the public the results of the experience viii PREFACE. of many years in a concise and intelligible form. He should perhaps add, in conclusion, that in the rare instances in which recent events show his facts or suggestions in a new or altered light, it has been thought better not to attempt to remodel that which has been already written, but to draw attention to any apparent discrepancies by the use of footnotes. WooDYATES, February, 1 880. CONTENTS. I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII VIII IX X. XI. XII, XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. -THE TRAINING STABLES -VENTILATION AND LIGHT . -STABLE MANAGEMENT . -STABLE MANAGEMENT {continued) — SICKNESS AND CASUALTIES . —CONDITION .... . — CONDITION (continued) . . THE TRAINING GROUND .—BREAKING .... — PREPARATION — PREPARATION {continued) — PREPARATION {rpncludcd) . — HINTS ON PURCHASING — THE PURCHASE OF YEARLINGS -TRIALS {continued) 9 IS 21 29 41 51 59 65 75 91 104 "3 123 140 149 CONTENTS. CHAP. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. XXV. XXVI. XXVII XXVIII -JOCKEY.S . . . . . -JOCKEYS {contimicd) -THE RACE AND ITS RESPONSIBILITIES — WEIGHTS AND DISTANCES — rROFESSIONAL HARDSHIPS — THE RACEHORSE AS HE WAS AND IS — RACING, PAST AND PRESENT . — BETTING AS IT IS . JETTING AS IT MIGHT BE -PRACTICABLE REFORMS — MINOR EVILS OF THE RACECOURSE -ATTACKS ON THE TURF, AND CONCLUSION PAGE 1 60 168 173 193 209 225 234 245 256 269 280 292 Index 307 THE RACEHORSE IN TRAINING THE RACEHORSE IN TRAINING. CHAPTER I. THE TRAINING STABLES. Introduction — Scope and design of the work — The training stables — The buildings described — Tile roof recommended — The loose-boxes, stalls, and partitions — Corn and hay stores ; screening the corn — Windows and airholes — Boxes and stalls both necessary, and why — Disposal of the manure — Supply of water — The pavement ; its material and slope — Drains condemned — The yard. Before proceeding to give the results of my experience for the last thirty years as a trainer and for many years previously as a jockey, it will possibly be some convenience to the reader to sketch shortly the plan followed in the different chapters. First, in precedence, and deservedly so — as on the hygienic principles upon which they are built and conducted so much of success or failure depends — v/ill be treated the Stables, and their interior economy, with a glance at some of the casualties arising from neglect of salutary rules in this important department. Next will come remarks upon that very interesting subject, Condition. It is one that deserves a separate notice, for on none is there more divergence of opinion and, it may be added, general misconception. In their proper order will follow observations on the Training-ground, and on the vital and arduous work of B 2 T\li: IRAININr; STAJiLES. preparation, matters which cannot be dismissed without an atteirii>t, at least, to handle tliem exhaustively. As horses have to be bouf,dit as well as trained, a few hints on purchasing' will here fitly find a place. 'J'rials will ajjjjropriately come next, and will occupy a good deal of our attention. The .subject i.s a technical one little understood, and will warrant, it is hoped, the space flevoted to it. 'ihen with sfjine notice of the jockeys of to-day, old and youn^^ lieavy and light, and the anxious moments they frerjuently occasion to the trainer, we shall come to the duties imposed u[;on owner and trainer alike when the racehorse is brouf^ht to the jjost fit to run. In connection with this ]jortif>n of the subject some observations will be offered (jn the weir.,dits for old and youn^ horses and the different courses. The difficulties, it may be almost said hardships, which at every step beset the trainer cannot be omitted, however personal the matter ma)' appear, from a work that attempts to be com[)rehensive. I""ew can imar^ine liow great and varied these difficulties are, or the imjjortant bearing they liave u])on racing results. A short review of the turf of to-day and of past times, and a few suggestions obviously arising in the treatment of our suljject, will, as has been said, form what it is hoped may be found an appropriate conclusion. This design will, it is believed, give scope for the iiitro- ducticMi of many matters of genuine interest to the lover of the racehorse. Under their respective headings, the following subjects will find a ])lace : C.asualties and sickness cliiefiy tracf.'aljlc io deficient stable arrange- ments ; their causes, sym[)loins, and remedies. The breakings of the yearling ; its training and trials. The SCOI'l': AND DKSK^N OV THK WORK. 3 treatment of older horses whilst in training. A minute comparison between horses of the present day and those of past years, with the object of ascertaining their rela- tive merits. Suggestions to clerks of courses, lessees, and other functionaries ; and hints for a different manner and time of entries for many of the large stakes and other matters relating to them. 'J1ie formation of an outer i-ing, on all race-courses, for the convenience and pro- tection of the small bettor, as well as his more opulent opponent. The interest owners have in their horses, and how far they may be called private or public I)roperty, Commission agents and their emissaries. Notes on trainers and jockeys. The purchase of yearlings, show- ing the fallibility of the best judges in giving high prices f(jr useless animals ; and how the high and low priced horses, ranging from lo to i,ooo guineas, have turned out; with hints which to reject and which to choose. The con- sideration of engagements ; a serious item for the economist and needy sportsman. Low and high staiidards of weights and long and short courses. Our foreign competitors and their studs. The subversion of the old and the introduction of the new .system of training. TJie abolition of sweating, and the circumstances under which it was brought about. The superabundant clothing once in u.se, and the paucity that succeeded it. All these, and many other interesting matters which cannot well be enumerated here, will be found em- bodied in the work ; exhibited as fully and intelligibly as the author's best efforts and aiixious desire to do justice to his subject will permit. In ruRSUANCKof the plan sketched out, the training stables take precedence of the description of other matters. They B 2 4 THE TRAIxNING STABLES. demand our first attention, for unless they are properly built, and their internal arrangements perfect, their inmates will fall into a state of chronic disease, rather than enjoy robust health, and will be more in need of the veterinary surgeon than the trainer. The stables I intend describing (which though not a model of perfection, have probably fewer faults than most others) are those I built here some twenty-eight years ago. They have met the approbation of competent judges, and in a sanitary point of view have stood the test of time. They are built of brick and faced flint in the proportion of two of the former to four of the latter without the least attempt at ornamentation, square shaped with lofts above ; the roof being composed of tile, which is better than slate, being cooler in summer and warmer in winter — both desirable objects of attainment. The nineteen boxes and thirty-one stalls are intermixed for the more equal diffusion of heat ; for a uniform temperature throughout is very desirable. Each set of four stalls is divided from the others by sliding par- titions of deal, fastened with iron latches. The boxes are opened and shut by a screen running on rollers at the top. This plan is safer than to have the rollers at the bottom, for in the latter case, horses may, by kicking or other violence, force the partitions open and get together. With the rollers at the top, this is simply impossible, unless something should break, a thing I never knew to occur. In size they are elevcn-and-a-half feet by twelve, which leaves a clear space of six feet behind the horses, giving sufficient room to pass from stable to stable, and to keep the animals from the draught of tlie windows and air-holes; for without this safeguard a sudden fall in the temperature during the night may be the cause of colds, if of nothing worse. THE LOOSE BOXES AND THE STALLS. 5 The stalls are of the following dimensions ; width, six feet two inches in the clear ; height at head, seven feet six inches tapering to five feet one inch at the tail — both ends being un- usually high for the safety and well-being of the horses ; two paramount objects. This height may appear extreme, and has the effect of dwarfing the occupants in appearance. But for racing purposes there is no object in adding to their stature, and the advantages of the plan are obvious. For one thing, the additional height prevents horses from seeing each other and so becoming restless and kicking over the lower end, and injuring themselves, which in ordinary stalls they may do. Behind the stalls there is a space of nine feet ; ample room for removing the dung every morning and for traversing the stable with pleasure and safety. The length of the stall from manger to lower stall-post is ten feet five inches. Thia prevents the inmates kicking each other, which in shorter stalls may very easily be done. The height from floor to ceiling is ten feet. The partitions consist of a two inch planking of beech or oak, joined in three places to prevent the possibility of separation through kicking or other violence. Over three sides of the square are spacious lofts for the storage of hay,' corn, and straw in separate compartments. The ends are partitioned off and ceiled, forming sleeping- rooms for the boys ; the head lad having a room to himself, or sleeping at home if married. In one angle are two saddle- rooms ; the one for keeping the saddlery when clean, the other for cleaning it. In an adjoining room the clothes are dried, and a copper in a small room next to it supplies hot water. The corn is conducted from the stores to the feeding bins by means of a tube, before entering which it has to pass 6 THE TRAINING STABLES. over a broad wire screen, which mechanically separates the dust and small seeds from the corn. Thus a saving of labour is effected ; for, though all the corn is again thoroughly sifted, or should be, it is less trouble to do so after than before, and it is done more effectually. The hay is kept in lofts, and suffi- cient only for each day's consumption is removed to the closed bins below; by this means it is kept from the tainted smell of the stables and when given is fresh and sweet. The lofts are approached by a side entrance so that no fodder passes through the yard in transit to them. The stables are lighted through thirty-nine windows in iron frames, each four feet square. This is most desirable, as giving the needful amount of light in which most stables are deficient. The ventilation is effected through air-holes at the top and bottom about a foot square each, behind and over the heads of the horses in proportion of about two to each horse ; which is ample. For entering and leaving the stables there are thirteen doors, eight feet nine inches high, opening inside flush with the wall, and four feet broad. Something may be said about the relative merits of boxes and stalls, which respectively have their advocates. The fact is, both are necessary in every stable. If a horse is a weaver put him into a box, for in it he is more contented and often forgets his tricks. On the other hand, some horses, that in a box would walk themselves to a standstill (being as restless as a caged hyena) in a stall will rest comfortably and consequently do better. The manure is carted away to a distance every morning. In town, where space cannot be had for money, it is necessarily economised, a dung pit being made in the centre of the yard, where the manure is deposited and left, THE PAVEMENT AND ITS SLOPE. 7 too often only to generate deleterious gases by fermentation ; the cause of much sickness. To lessen this, the pit should be cleared of all manure twice a week and rinsed with a solution of disinfecting fluid or sprinkled with chloride of lime ; offensive drains too should be treated in the same way if there be any in or out of the stable. The whole of the water from the roofs is conveyed from the shooting by iron pipes to two large tanks, placed at opposite sides of the yard, capable of holding about 400 hogsheads. This supply is sufficient for all purposes, as I have never known them to be dry longer than a few days together, barely sufficient for occasionally cleaning them out. The pavement of the stalls is flint, which offers an uneven^ yet not an uncomfortable surface. It is preferable to bricks, which are liable to become slippery and may cause injury to the horse on rising. It has a fall of about four inches from head to tail. A greater fall would be bad, for it would cause the back sinews to be always in a state of tension. In dealers' stables you may see the animals standing across the stalls to avoid this. The great rise in such places is obviously to make the horses look of more importance, to engage the attention of the purchasers. But this would be an evil in the racing stable ; nor do I think any horses would remain comfortable long in so unnatural a position. The flooring behind the stalls is of brick, but I think ground clinkers are better, for they are not so slippery, and certainly are more durable, and look nicer. Drains are bad. They cause dampness, and often produce the unpleasant smells they are designed to prevent. When undrained stables are kept scrupulously clean by frequently removing the dung, no suck smells will be generated, and 8 THE TRAINING STABLES. less dampness will be found than in those that have drains. Having described all the necessary internal parts and arrangements with, it is hoped, sufficient accuracy, I need only say that a turret clock on the north side of the building, with the cardinal points, is surmounted by a horse {Joe Mi/lej') as a weather vane. In the centre of the yard is a grass plot encircled by an evergreen hedge. A gravel path runs between it and the doors, before which a space of a few yards is pitched with pebbles. The whole is shaded in summer by a choice specimen of the horse-chestnut COOL STABLES RECOMMENDED. CHAPTER II. VENTILATION AND LIGHT. Light and air e.-sentials — Cool stables the best — Stifling condition of certain stables ; its effects and attractiveness to those preferring looks to health — Mr. Burns and Dr. Soutliwood on the value of pure air and principles of ventilation — Another excellent authority and his arguments — Simple experi- ments in proof of my theory^Temptations to an opposite course and direful results — Extra clothing preferred to exclusion of air — Light equally necessary — A worn-ont theory, " the tinsel of glossy coats." Light and fi-esh air are essentials to the health of all domestic animals. Nevertheless, in olden times, when knowledge u^as limited, owners of horses used to, and in some instances, even in the present day (be it said to their folly) do, shut up the animals in ill-built stables, low and narrow, in fact, insufficient in every dimension ; air-holes too small, too kw and im- properly placed, with small windows, made as though never meant to be opened. I have seen trainers in their zeal for the welfare of the animal, or his appearance, have the very keyhole stopped with a small wisp of hay or straw, and the outside of the doors barricaded, as if to resist an on- slaught of soine terrible enemy — half embedded in dung suffered to remain till it has become in a high state of fer- mentation, disengaging deleterious gases — for the sole purpose of producing excessive heat, poisoning the circumam.bicnt air that beneficent nature has pro\ided. lo VENTILATION AND LIGHT. From the exterior of such premises you may judge of the state of the interior, which on entering will be found to be filled with unpleasant odours, the thermometer standing at seventy in the depth of winter, whilst on all sides not only the olfactory nerves but the eyes are assailed by the effects of ammoniacal gas produced by the imprisoned ordure and urine. The sensation is one to make the visitor only anxious to escape into the open air once more. If we are to judge, then, by the result produced upon the human being by contact for a few minutes only with the contaminated air that pervades the whole place ; what must be the feeling of the wretched horse that has to live in it, or rather to die by inches, or become blind from such pernicious treatment ? To a superficial observer, and even at times to owners, this state of things has a fascinating attraction. The horses appear with coats like satin, full of flabby fat (engen- dered by heat) often mistaken for muscle. Such people never think of the w^eakness, the languor, the loss of appetite, from which the poor horses are suffering, as the result of continually inhaling and re-breathing the same poisoned atmosphere ; every day, and day by day intensifying its more deadly effects on animal existence. Pearl-like drops are seen in countless numbers standing on most projections, even on the hairs of the rugs, on the side walls, the ceiling ; in fact, every particle of the furniture of the stables is wet and clammy with the same impurely heated air. My own views on the question of ventilation are embodied in a book on this subject, which I remember to have read some twenty years ago. It is entitled Practical Ventilation, by R. S. Burns, and I cannot do better than here submit an extract from it : — PRINCIPLES OF VENTILATION. ii "The proper supply," the author says, "of fresh air is as necessary to the health of the inferior animals as it undoubtedly is to man. Baneful as is the influence of impure air on the constitution of human beings exposed to its influence, it is no less so to the valuable animals, the horse and the cow. Many are the diseases which affect our domestic animals that are brought on by exposure to foul air, and many a valuable animal is sacrificed to a close and ill-ventilated stable." In the same work Dr. Southwood Smith is quoted : — " Nor is there one," says the Doctor, " among the many questions thus forced upon the attention of every civilised community, which is itself so important, or the correct solution of which is so indispensable to the preservation of health, as the investigation and subject-means for providing in every space occupied by human beings a gradual but constant change of air." These quotations testify to the absolute necessity for both man and the low^er animals of air in sufficient quantities, and to the evils of withholding it. The suggestions they contain cannot be too highly commended to the study of all who have anything to do with the care and management of horses. Nor are these my sole authorities. I can refer for con- firmation of my conclusions — for I can hardly call that theory, which has been demonstrated by practice — to a work on stable management and ventilation which I think one of great merit : — "The principle of ventilation," says the writer, "has been till lately but ill understood. If we thoroughly venti- late, we run the risk of increasing the cold atmosphere of the stable below the requisite heat. Not that heat should 12 VENTILATION AND LIGHT. be so great as to starve the animal when he is turned out, for though it is said to economise corn and lay on flesh to have the animals kept warm, still it may be carried to an improper excess. There is not generally sufficient discrimi- nation exercised in the distinction between hot air and pure air. Hot air is not always impure, nor is cold innocuous. The fact is, other things being equal, a cubic yard of hot air is certainly less nourishing than an equal quantity of cold air ; because being more rarefied the former will of necessity have less of the vivifying principle— the oxygen. Pure atmospheric air ought to contain in one hundred measures, seventy-three of nitrogen and twenty-seven of oxygen, nearly. There is usually more or less carbonic acid gas mixed with it, seldom, however, as much as one per cent. Now the warmer the air in any confined place, the thinner it becomes —it will be rarefied. Hence a stable filled with hot air, will contain less oxygen than one maintained in cold, though neither the one nor the other may be absolutely impure. The operation of breathing destroys the oxygen and leaves in its place a poisonous atmosphere, carbonic acid gas. Now this is a heavy gas. It will remain at the bottom of the stable unless forced upwards ; whereas the vapour and hot air will always tend upwards whether there is an aperture or not. So long therefore as the air in the stable and that of the atmosphere are the same warmth, there will be little ventilation. It is this interchange from hot to cold, which causes the principle to be set in motion to its fullest extent ; and the most perfect ventilation of air is when the cold and pure air is admitted at the bottom of the building and the hot air allowed to escape at the top. It is a mistake also to imagine that the foul air from a stable can possibly escape unless fresh and pure air is allowed free access." On such excellent and clearly defined principles comment is needless. Having in a measure traced the cause, I will pass to discuss the cfi'ect of inattention to these essential rules. The effect, indeed, may be readily discovered in a A SIMPLE EXPERIMExNT IN PROOF 13 very simple fashion. Remove a horse from a cold place to one much warmer, and, invariably, the result will be he will cough ; a sufficient proof of the injury he receives. Reverse the process; take him from a warm to a cool stable and it is not so. The result of this easy experiment may seem paradoxical ; at variance vvith reason, if you will. Nevertheless it is true ; and, it may be admitted, is well worthy the consideration of every owner or manager of a stable. Yet for one object — looks — the simple lesson it teaches is wholly disregarded. Servants will willingly stake their own reputation, and their employer's interest, on what is here shown to be a fallacy. The temptation to do so, is comprehensible enough. The beautiful effect produced by a hot stable on the coats of its inmates, ensures unbounded admiration and lavish praise. But few, very few, know the many diseases of which it is the lamentable cause. In such a state, it may fairly be said, the horse is constantly shedding his coat, and as a necessary result becomes weak and enervated ; in fact in a state of disease rather than of health. There is reason in all things. No one should, to escape one extreme, blindly rush into another, and in order to avoid a stable too hot, have one too cold. But when the temperature is chilly, and your horses uncomfortably cold, supply additional clothing rather than close windows and air-holes. The latter expedient may improve their looks, but it is a poor object gained at the cost of appetite, condition, nay, more, not unoften the very animals themselves. What must men of science, our veterinary surgeons, for example, and other reasonable persons, think on entering the stables of those adhering with such pertinacity to an exploded theory, the effete doctrine of a worn-out age .'' Yet \\hatever 14 VENTILATION AND LIGHT. they may say, or we think, the practice is carried on to an alarming extent, and even desired by some employers. "Men willingly believe what they wish to be true;" and warmth, like darkness, has a tendency to fatten. These facts were thoroughly well understood by the ancients, if we may judge from their low, ill-built, ill-ventilated, and worse lighted stables — for light is as vital an essential of health as is fresh air. They preferred round barrels and glossy coats to the health of their horses ; and, now-a-days, men who think more of appearances than intrinsic usefulness, foster the same prac- tices. It will probably always be so to a greater or less extent, for — " The tinsel glitter and the specious mien Delude the most ; few look behind the scene." But my subject is running away with my pen. I shall have occasion to recur to it in the chapter on " Condition." HOURS OF WORK AND PRELIMINARY PROCESS 15 CHAPTER III. STABLE MANAGEMENT, Hours of work and preliminary process — The winter treatment ; times of feeding and exercise — Hand-rubbing preferable to bandages — No deviation permitted — Removal of offal food— The summer treatment ; times of feeding and exercise— Clothing must be dry — Prevention of griping — Temperature should be even — Necessity of cleanliness — Practical results of my system — Mr. T. Parr's plan and my objections to it — Hours of feeding and quantities of food. Having described the stable, and the necessary requirements to insure the health of its inmates — ventilation and light — it is now the place to treat of the interior routine and economy. The process is not the same in all stables ; though probably its chief features are not often very dissimilar. I must be content to sketch my own system for the reader's information. The stables are opened at five o'clock A.M. in winter ; and earlier in the summer. At both seasons the horses are first tied to the rack chains, the dung removed and both boxes and stalls cleanly swept out. When this is done, the horses are brushed over and fed, the afternoon horses being watered and done up with hay. The dung is then carted to the manure pit, at a distance from the stable, and the stable- yard thoroughly swept. The boys are then allowed time for breakfast. i6 STABLE MANAGEMENT. In the winter, the horses are exercised at about eight o'clock A.M. for a couple of hours. The limit varies a little ; some taking as much as three hours exercise, whilst the young and delicate go in earlier. They are then thoroughly well cleaned, during which operation a little hay may be given to prevent griping when watered, which is always done before having their corn; and the latter is given as soon as they are well- dressed and their feet washed clean, tarred, and greased, and their bed put straight for them to lie upon. This usually is about half-past eleven o'clock. They are fed again about twelve o'clock, and done up with hay at one. The afternoon horses are brushed over and fed between the feeding times of the others and are taken for exercise after the boys have dined, until half-past three or four. The same amount of dressing is given them in every respect as that given to the morning horses before described ; and in like manner after being watered they are fed. At five P.M. the morning horses are again watered and thoroughly well cleaned, by brushing and wisping them well over. When the legs are cold they should be well hand- rubbed till a healthy glow is produced on all the extremities, hand friction being infinitely preferable to the bandage. By six o'clock, as a rule, the horses are finished, when they are fed, and again at seven. At eight o'clock both morning and evening horses (exercised at their respective times) have hay given them, after the cleanliness of the stable has been attended to and the litter put straight. Their heads are then let loose for the night that they may lie down. The boys have their supper between seven and eight, and usually go to bed at nine. This is the general routine. It should admit of no variation except in cases of illness, or in wet or foggy weather, when SUMMER TREATMENT. 17 the horses do not leave the stable, unless there be a race near at hand, when of course exercise is a necessity. On Sundays the process is pretty much the same as on week-days ; except that there is no exercising, and labour is in other ways mini- mised as far as practicable. (On exercise in wet or foggy weather, and on the undesirability of Sunday work, I shall have something to say in treating of " Preparation.") After every feeding, all the corn that is not eaten should be removed and the manger thoroughly cleaned. The offal hay should be treated in the same wa}'. It should be removed, and may be given to the hacks or to the cows. By adopting this method, horses will sometimes be tempted to eat : whilst nothing v;ill induce them to look at, much less to touch, food that has once been blown upon. If horses do not eat they cannot be expected to work ; and it is certain they cannot, in such circumstances, do sufficient work to enable them to compete against others thoroughly exercised. In summer, the horses undergo a different treatment, which runs pretty much as follows : — The stable hour is 4 a.m., when they are fed, and after the preliminary matters are duly attended to, the morning horses are exercised from five until seven or half-past, as they may require respectively less or more work. On the return they are done up as has been described in the account of the winter management. The breakfast hour for the boys is 8.30 a.m. ; and at nine o'clock the other horses are taken out to exercise, returning about eleven. The cleaning is finished by noon, when they are watered and fed. At this time the other horses are again cleaned, watered and fed, and all are done up with hay. They will rest until 4 p.m., when the morning horses are again exercised for an hour ; some are cantered once or twice, whilst others are only walked for that or a shorter time. (By C j8 stable management. this arrangement it will be seen that the horses that are exercised in the morning rest during the work of those exercised in the afternoon, and vice versa. (After these have been well dressed, as described before, the horses are watered, and fed at six and again at seven ; and at eight, as in winter, finished for the night and fed with hay. The winter clothing is of course of a heavier description than that used in the summer. Both sets should be thoroughly- well dried before using, as damp clothing is most productive of colds : for the prevention of which no stabling should be without a drying-room. The water that is given the horses to drink should have the chill taken off to prevent griping, when it can be safely given ad libitum twice or three times a day. The stable should in all cases be kept as near one tempera- ture as possible, about 45 degrees Fahr. in winter ; and in summer as cool as can be. All the soiled straw should be removed as soon as seen, and the stalls and boxes swept clean every day, and allowed to be bare whilst the horses are out at exercise; the doors, windows, and air-holes, should then be kept open, whilst the walls and partitions are freed from dust and cobwebs. A plentiful supply of clean straw should be given twice a week — either of wheat or rye : both are very good but wheat is generally used on account of the scarcity of the other. Sir Wm. Burnett's disinfecting fluid I have used for years, and I think no stable should be without it, in health or in sickness. As a preventive against disease, a little may be sprinkled behind the stalls and boxes daily. Its use and efficacy in sickness I shall advert to elsewhere. My object in this chapter is to show the treatment of the horse in health, and the hours generally assigned for his exercise. His gallops and trials will be spoken of later, in PRACTICAL RESULTS OF MY SYSTEM. 19 their proper place. I believe the system above given agrees in substance with that to which most horses are subjected whilst in training, as the art is practised in the present day. It is at all events a system that I have adopted and pursued for many years with almost unqualified success, and therefore I can recommend it with confidence to others as being on the whole the best. It, like all other rules, has its exceptions ; and one of these exceptions it will not be out of place to give, although it must not be understood that in doing so I agree with the principles enunciated. Mr. T. Parr, who is undoubtedly an authority and his opinion entitled to all respect, informs me that he uses no artificial lights in his stables even in the depth of winter ; and that both in summer and winter he gives large quantities of hay, of which he thinks horses cannot have too much, whilst on the other hand oats may in his opinion be supplied too plentifully, and consequently he uses them sparingly. One consequence of this is that, at certain seasons, the horses in his stable can neither be dressed, watered, nor fed, from about 3 p.m. to 8 a.m. or a little earlier the next morn- ing ; and must in the meantime be not only in a most uncom- fortable state of dirt, but breathing a foetid air that renders them liable to bronchial affections and disease of the lungs, which leave so many roarers ; and to ophthalmia and other disorders of the eye. The times of feeding must be diminished as well as the quantity of the corn given (the most nutritious part of the diet), unless served in very large feeds, which would tend rather to prevent the animals from eating than induce them to eat. The hay too, if given in like unseemly pro- portions, must have a similar nauseating effect on the horses, preventing their touching what they would, if given in smaller feeds, often eat and enjoy. It is clear the animals under his C 2 20 STABLE MANAGEMENT. care could be fed but twice, or at the most three times, a day ; a principle which seems to me bad in theory, and one I can no more approve of than his system of daily giving each horse a ball. Yet he succeeded ; and " success is genius." In sum, I may say that horses should be fed five times a day, with as many good old oats and hay chaff as they can eat. These I think they require and should have, and nothing more : though in some cases, light or delicate feeders may have a few old white peas or split beans added to each feed. In isolated cases this addition may be of service, though I find most horses do well and even better without it. Hay may be given, like corn, without limitation ; for as long as they have plenty of both they will eat of neither sufficient to hurt them- selves. On the qualities of food and water, a matter the importance of which cannot be overrated, I shall have something to say in the next chapter. A GOOD HEAD LAD INDISPENSABLE. CHAPTER IV. STABLE MANAGEMENT {continued). Value of regularity — A good head lad indispensable — Occupations of the trainer — Duties of the head lad — Food and its qualities — English oats preferred, and reasons — Hay mu-t come from good land — Good food the only food — Mr. Clark on feeding and on soiling, and criticism of his remarks — Feeding in past times and to-day — Water and its qualities — Mr. Clark thereon — Rain- water in tanks the best, and reasons — Need of frequent examination of feet and legs ; use of bandages condemned — Evils of inattention to this — Value of neatness and regularity. Punctuality in the hours and attention to stable manage- ment are all-important, for on them rests the ultimate condition of the race-horse when brought out to run. All the manage- ment in the world out of doors will not compensate for, nor rectify, mistakes made within ; so where both are not done thoroughly, evil results must follow. It is therefore indis- pensable that the trainer should have a man who is capable of managing the indoor department as well as of attending the horses at exercise in the absence of the principal. If it is absolutely requisite, to be successful, that horses must be und«jp the charge of a skilful and attentive trainer, one who knows how much or little work is required to be done by each and every horse and the best time to give it, (and the proposi- tion will hardly be controverted), it is equally necessary that he should have a good man at the head of the stable depart- 22 STABLE MANAGEMEiNT. ment. To him must fall the management of the boys, and, with other duties of less importance, the special one of attend- ing to the wants of the horses ; for nothing requires greater attention or more practical ability than feeding. The services of a good kennel-huntsman are known and appreciated by every master of hounds ; whilst to the hunts- man he is invaluable. Of exactly the same use a head lad should be to the trainer ; for it is quite impossible the latter should feed the horses, before exercising, at 5 a.m., and be constantly in the stables (meal-times excepted) till 8 p.m. : for a portion of his time must be given to other matters that cannot be deputed. For example, the trainer has his correspondence with his employers on the subject of entries and scratching. For this purpose he must necessarily study the Racing Calendar. It is needless to add that there are many other business calls which consume his time, quite apart from the absences from home to attend the different race meetings, which take up no insignificant portion of it during the summer months. And without an able man at the head of affairs during these absences all would be anarchy with the boys and ruin to the horses. Such a man is a necessity. He should not only have experience but be absolutely trustworthy, and trustworthy in a special sense. He should be one to be depended upon to carry out the instructions for out-door exercise. In this matter, he should implicitly obey, and no more, the positive orders for the work each horse has to do during the absence of the principal. In the stable, on the other hand, he should know exactly what is best to do, yet only at the instigation of the trainer himself should any alteration be made in the appointed times for feeding and watering; FOOD AND ITS QUALITIES. 23 hay, too, should be given at the regulated hours and at no other. In the important matter of food, he should be supplied with the very best of oats ; old, certainly, till after March, and later if they can be found sweet, and of English growth. Winter at 42 lbs. per bushel, and black tartarian at 40, are in -my opinion the best, far better than the thick-skinned Scotch white oats at 46 lbs. per bushel or even heavier, though the latter look to some people preferable to those I have described, or indeed to any other. I do not object to a few good white oats ; but they must be of home growth of about 42 lbs. per bushel for mixing with an equal quantity of black, such as I have named. But whatever the descrip- tion given, they should be the very best of the sort or sorts, for it is false economy of the very worst description to buy inferior corn, however low the price. In fact, good cannot be too dear ; whilst middling would be wretchedly so as a gift. To supply the latter shows an utter want of knowledge of his business on the part of any trainer. My antipathy to foreign corn is so great, that I could never be induced to buy a bushel, or any larger quantity, in my life, knowingly. But I have too much reason to believe I was once imposed on, in the year 1847, in having supplied to me a load of heavy oats, said to be English, which the price warranted, but which turned out to be Scotch delicately kiln-dried ; a process I failed to detect in their appearance, taste, or smell. The result was, they gave the horses diabetes, from which weakening disease it took them weeks to recover : a plain practical proof of their inferiority, and a good reason that none but English should be used. Buy of the farmer in preference to the dealer, and you know you get the genuine article. To 24 STABLE MANAGEMENT. good oats I think little need be added in the shape of provender besides hay ; though for a spare feeder a few old split beans may be added to each feed, or, what is thought by many better, white peas : but as I have said, I have little faith in the good effects of either and seldom use them. The quality of the hay depends more on the land that produces it than on anything else ; a fact which should in no case be overlooked. Hay grown on rich alluvial soil or well-drained clay is the best; and that raised on hungry gravel or poor chalk is the worst. And though hay well made from the latter land, retaining all its most attrac- tive qualities, such as colour and smell, may be had cheap, it should on no account be used : as it contains no nourish- ment, and is really to the animal very little better than poison. But that grown on good land usually let at 3/. or 4/. per acre, is by far cheaper, at 61. or 7/. per ton, than the other would be as a gift. For this reason, and this alone, I have always had my hay grown on the land in the Vale of Blackmoor : land I suppose as good as any in the kingdom, and although draught carriage of about sixteen miles is an expensive item, I prefer it to any and all others, and use nothing else, nor have I for the last thirty years. I may supplement the above advice with a note from Mr. Clark, who says : " New hay should not be given to horses in strong work ; it should not be less than eight or ten m.onths old." He condemns clover, and prefers rye-grass to meadow, saying : " It is less liable to imbibe moisture, and being hard, and firmer than natural hay, it obliges a horse to break it down more minutely before he can swallow it, and is easier of digestion." Now as to ON SOILING AND ITS ADVANTAGES. 25 the age of the hay, I coincide with these remarks ; but I cannot agree with his choice, and much prefer the meadow hay such as I have described, when equally well made, to any and all others for horses in strong work. On soiling, in which I thoroughly believe, for a change in the spring he says : — " Clover, trefolium, vetches, or lucern may be used, and carrots in winter. Grass in the spring is not only food but medicine, and expeditiously cures disease. It carries off worms and promotes all the secretions, and removes as it were the whole mass of fluids in the body, which it restores to the highest state of perfection of which it is capable." " Sailors," he goes on to say, " from eating dry and salt food are subject to scurvy, and are cured by fresh greens and ripe fruit ; " and adds, " it is the same with horses who are fed on dry food ; they are likewise subject to the scurvy, which in them is called the farcy." Having said I agree with the system of occasionally giving green food in small quantities as an alterative in summer and carrots in winter, without discussing the simili- tude existing between the scurvy in the human subject and farcy in the quadruped, I pass on to notice his further remarks on change of diet. " Malt mixed with the food," he says, "should occasionally be given as agreeable and wholesome. Barley is too purga- tive, but when boiled is easy of digestion and is given to horses when they are sick or to prevent costiveness." "Oats," he continues, "are generally given to horses in Britain ; but they are apt to make them too costive ; to prevent which a bran-mash is given once a week, or as often as circumstances may require." Beans he recom- mends, and wheat and barley for a change, but, "new corn like new hay, should not be given." 26 STABLE MANAGEMENT. From the above remarks, it appears horses were fed in olden times pretty much as they are fed now. Indeed with the exception of wheat, barley, and malt, which should only be given in illness, his recommendations leave little to be desired with regard to the food. The manner and times of feeding and the food itself having been described, it should not be forgotten that equal attention should be paid to watering at stated periods. And here something may aptly be said on the quality of water best suited to the horse. Rain-water is preferable to all others, and where this cannot always be procured and kept fresh in tanks, well or pond-water, softened if hard with a little wheat flour or chalk, may supply its place. From the use of either so treated I have seen no ill effects. Mr. Clark in his treatise on the horse, thinks water of so much importance to the well-being of the animal, that he has devoted a whole chapter of fifteen pages to its consideration, the salient points of which I think well to give : "Disease may originate," he says, "from the use of un- wholesome water, and physicians are of the same opinion as regards the human subject ; for where the water is bad, disease prevails most. Horses do not thrive well on pit or well-v/ater, as the water is very hard, and causes the coat to stare and stand on end. If taken immediately after it is newly pumped, spring water is likely to partake of all the metallic or mineral strata through which it passes, and is salutary or noxious according to the nature of those substances. River-water is much the same, but it is softer than water that runs underground and better for use. Well- or pit-water is worse than spring ; being harder ; and the deeper the well the worse the water. Pond-water, under which head may be included all stagnant waters generally RAIN-WATER IN TANKS THE BEST. 27 produced by rain, when it lies on a clean or clay bottom, and is fresh, answers very well for cattle of all kinds ; but in hot warm weather it is apt to corrupt and ferment, which renders it unwholesome and the most disagreeable of any." As he makes no mention of tank-water, I suppose it was not known, or but little used in his day, or he would not only have named it, but most likely have recommended its use above all others. For in substance he says pond-water (which is rain-water), when fresh, answers well : but does not say so much for any other. And when the rain-water is collected from the roofs of houses and preserved in tanks or reservoirs in large quantities, it keeps better than when exposed to the fermentative influence of the sun. More- over it is unmixed with the many impure particles that help to contaminate pond-water, and consequently is better ; and indeed to be recommended above any other sort. I myself have used it for thirty years with satisfaction, and I know it is used in other large establishments with the same result. I could, were it necessary, quote the opinions of many experienced men to this effect. So much said concerning the food and drink of the race- horse, my remarks on the internal economy of the train- ing stable may fitly conclude with a reference to one very important matter — the frequent examination of the feet and legs, and the use of bandages. Too much care cannot be taken in this respect. The legs in particular should be constantly inspected ; for un- less these be constantly looked to, a horse, to all appearance the soundest of animals, may have received an accidental injury. The injury may be of itself trivial, and if timely attended to may easily be set to rights ; whereas, should it 28 STABLE MANAGEMENT. be neglected even for a day, tlie animal may be irretrievably ruined. It is now much the practice to sew cloth round horses' legs, with the view, I should suppose, of giving support. But whatever advantage may thus accrue is in my opinion nullified by the fact that the custom hmders the ready examination of the parts covered ; for a rupture or strain of the tendon may exist unsuspected. The injury may not be sufficient to cause lameness until galloped, but then assuredly it will betray itself; often too late. The harm done will probably be irretrievable. The feet also require frequent attendance ; for neglect of them will be followed by serious consequences. The results of such inattention, however, will be more legitimately treated in the next chapter. Let me add that a trite saying, " A place for everything and everything in its place," is a motto that should strictly be followed. Its observance economises labour, and gives the show and reality of neatness to a place. The broom, fork, and shovel, should have a place assigned them as near the stable as possible, where they may be kept when not in use. The dung-barrow may be placed at the back of the stable, or in some other spot sheltered from observation ; as may the tar and grease cans, stopping-box, and the sand-box. The saddles and bridles may be kept with the other furniture in use neatly folded up, in the drying or saddle-room, after being properly cleaned and dried. The buckets may be arranged in a row outside the stable walls, and in dry and hot weather should be kept full. And even so small a matter as the tightness or looseness of the head-collar is an object of moment. For indifference to this, as I shall presently show, may be the cause of the ruin of a valuable animal. SORE BACKS, THEIR PREVENTION AND TREATMENT. 29 CHAPTER V. SICKNESS AND CASUALTIES. Sore backs; their prevention and treatment — Tlie feet; attention necessary — Thrush and its cure — The legs ; signs of disease ; treatment — Bandages not recommended — Cracked heels and cure — Treatment of warbles — Quittors, sand-crack, and cutaneous diseases are signs of neglect; their treatment — Coughing and strangles — Treatment of the latter— Cleanliness and air neces- sary — Colds and their prevention — Sore shins ; curious instances — Mr. Cop- perthwaiteon sore shins, and my objections — Swollen joints and ruptures, and their results — Rmgbone, splint, and spavin — Treatment of ringworm — Crib- biting, &c. , are tricks — Lameness ; how frequently caused ; attention to the head-collar and stirrup-irons — Roaring ; in>tances of cure. I HAVE no intention to attempt to write at length upon the diseases of the horse. The subject has often been ably handled by veterinary surgeons and other persons duly quaHfied for the task. There are, however, certain ailments the result often of improper or careless stable supervision, which come prominently before the principal of a large racing stable ; and a word on the causes, often preventible, the symptoms, and some simple remedies, may not be thought out of place. Sore backs, for one thing, are frequently the source of infinite trouble. These are oftener caused by pressure of an over-tight roller than by the saddle. With the latter, if the saddle-cloth be properly adjusted, they will not occur. But 30 ^ SICKNESS AND CASUALTIES. with the roller, the breast-girth passing over the points of the shoulders causes it to tighten, and thus the withers are pinched. With ordinary supervision this should be avoided : and it may safely be said that a sore back is suggestive, if not a proof, of inattention. But from whatever cause arising, the treatment is simple. A fomentation with a little astringent lotion should be applied to the injured part. This is the best, and, with proper care, an effective remedy. But it is necessary to see that, when at exercise, the saddle does not increase the mischief by pressing on the place. The roller should be dis- carded in every case of soreness ; and a rug alone used, fastened under the fore-rib and before the shoulders to keep it from shifting. It is very necessary, as I have remarked, to attend to the feet. Neglect breeds thrush. But though this sometimes lames the horse, it is neither a dangerous nor a malignant disease, and readily succumbs to proper treatment. It will be found that a little tow dipped in tar and applied three or four times a week is the most simple and efficacious remedy. The foot when hot may be so from disease, or from defective shoeing in some way, and in either case ought at once to be looked to ; for in a state of health the feet are cold. The legs, on the contrary, should be comfortably warm. When they are not so, weak circulation may be suspected. On the other hand, unnatural warmth is a sure indication of local injury, the precise seat of which may generally be deter- mined by the exhibition of tenderness on pressure. In such cases, bathing with cold water may be used two or three times a day for an hour or more at a time, with cold flannel bandages ; but if the suspensory ligament has given way, then consider the first loss the least, and the sooner the THE "WARBLES" AND THEIR CURE. 31 patient is disposed of the better ; for scarcely one in a thousand ever stands a preparation after. Bandages, as I have said, I never use except in illness, when dry flannels are the best. In health I prefer hand-rubbing to anything else, to assist circulation. The benefit derived from bandages I consider more imaginary than real. Still, like other fanciful matters, they have their purpose of ornamentation if not of use. The wavy appearance given to the hair on the legs could probably not be so effectively produced in any other way. Cracked heels are seldom heard of now, whilst formerly almost every horse sufifered more or less from this trouble- some complaint, which in very bad cases affected their condition considerably. The primary, if not the sole cause, I believe, used to be sweating, for the evil has simultaneously disappeared with its abandonment. But if the heels are left wet after washing out the feet (which is too often the case), it will produce soreness ; therefore care should be taken to wipe them perfectly dry. However, should any horse be so affected, the best remedy is fomentation after the water has been steeped in bran, and strained through a sieve or a wire strainer, and a little of the following ointment applied twice a day : Mix a little red precipitate powder with hog's lard, simmer over a slow fire, and stir till cold.^ Just before becoming, or when actually fit, horses are very frequently attacked with " warbles," an irritating and very troublesome complaint, though not dangerous. It usually appears on the back and sides, and is no sooner cured in one place than it returns in another. They are very seldom seen in any horses except those in strong work, and in other respects in the best of health. A little cooling medicine may be given, and an astringent lotion applied twice a day to the parts affected. * Hog's lard, i^ lb.; powdered camphor, 3 oz.; red precipitate, powdered, J oz. 32 SICKNESS AND CASUALTIES. Quitters, sand-cracks, and poll-evil, mange and other cutaneous diseases, I never saw in my stables, and therefore cannot pretend to prescribe for them ; but I am convinced they should not exist where proper arrangements are in force. Their appearance, like that of sore backs or crib-biting, is, in my opinion, a sure sign of neglect. When cases do occur, there is but one remedy — to hand them over to a veterinary surgeon ; for, if unskilfully treated, the quittors and poll-evil may assume an obstinate form, ending in death ; while most skin diseases are contagious, and spread rapidly. Yearlings when taken up to break, as a rule cough, (probably from the stable being hotter than the one pre- viously occupied) ; have sore throats and influenza, the latter often the cause of strangles. This disease, many people say, horses never escape, in some form or other (like distemper in dogs) ; but my experience teaches me to believe just the reverse. Numbers pass from the side of their dam to the grave, after years of racing, and do not have it, or any other disease. They die from accident or old age, but not from sickness. Strangles are however very common amongst young horses, and may easily be detected by a cough, enlarged or sore throat, and discharge of thick mucus, sometimes fetid, from one or both nostrils, often attended with loss of appetite and ex- treme debility. To blister the throat under the jaw with " Day's " spavin liniment or some other vesicant, is as a rule sufficient to arrest the complaint ; if not, the application should be extended down to the chest, when there is no suppuration under the jaw. This will localize the disease and prevent its reaching the lungs. After suppuration takes place, little may be feared if the orifice be kept open, and a little digestive ointment on a pledget of tow be applied after being washed clean with warm water three times a day. WARM CLOTHING A NECESSITY. 33 Warm clothing, two rugs if necessary, and even a hood and flannel bandages, should be used. The latter should be re- moved twice a day, and, before being replaced, the animal's legs should be well hand-rubbed all round. The stable should be kept cool, and the patient fed on nourishing diet ; on bran, corn, and linseed mashes, hay, carrots, and above all, grass, if it is to be obtained, though only a little. Malt mashes and barley steeped in boiling water, both form very good changes, and should be given in small quantities. On returning strength, dry food may again be used, though the mashes should not be entirely discontinued until the recovery is complete. A little exercise may be given in fine weather if only for ten minutes a day, increasing the time with the strength of the patient; a matter seldom attended to sufficiently early. The state of the bowels should be rather relaxed than constipated. The opportunity should be taken whilst the animal is out to open all air-holes and windows, and have the stable thoroughly cleansed and fumigated. I have before commended Sir William Burnett's Disinfecting Fluid as a preventive. In sickness it should be used more liberally : even wetting the sides of the stalls and boxes, and suspend- ing pieces of cloth saturated with it — both often extremely beneficial. The old horses are not so liable to illness as the younger ones. Still, if after galloping in cold easterly winds they are not soon after cantered or trotted to keep them warm and comfortable, they will cough ; and a cold once caught is, like disease in any other form, not easily got rid of; and if at- tended with much fever would be infectious, and go through the whole of the stable with greater or less severity. It should therefore be guarded against ; prevention being better than D 34 SICKNESS AND CASUALTIES. cure. But in case of an attack, the sufferer should be immediately isolated, or the whole stable may quickly be affected, from its epidemic character. Change of air is an excellent remedy if only for a short distance, and a little time, with careful nursing and liberal diet, will generally be found efficacious. Most horses suffer from sore shins. There is no guarding against this complaint. It no doubt comes from work, but unfortunately comes suddenly without the slightest warning of its approach. It generally makes its appearance after a few weeks' work, and sometimes before the young ones are broke : some get it at two years old, when about three parts fit to run ; some not till after being tried ; others still later get it from running. But the cause and effect are the same in all, as is the remedy. Dressing the shins with some vesicant should be resorted to, and a week's rest given and a dose of physic ; after which the horses may be set to do steady work again, and alternately worked and rested till the complaint passes off altogether ; fortunately it seldom returns. A cure may be effected by the first application, or it may want repeating many times at inter- vals of about a fortnight : during which period only walking exercise should be given. The action of some is so much affected by this complaint that they can scarcely stride over a straw, whilst others go as free and well as the horses that have no signs of it, and its existence in such cases can only be known by the touch. A remarkable instance of this complaint occurred in Starter, whose shins, when a yearling, were very bad, the soreness never leaving him until after he ran for the Goodwood Stakes at three years old. He never went short during the whole of his work ; still the shins were very sore and flinched at the TREATMENT OF SORE SHINS. 35 least touch. Fugitive, when six years old, after running in deep ground at Egham, returned home with his shins very- sore, having lost his action ; indeed it may fairly be said he could not move. He was given up for a few weeks and treated as before recommended, which soon had the desired effect of removing the soreness and restoring his action. This is the only instance I ever remember of one so old being so affected by it in the fore-legs. I never re- member an old horse suffering behind from it, although it is not uncommon for young horses to have all four shins sore at the same time. We have seen there are instances of horses having sore shins from running in deep ground, yet it is generally caused by galloping on hard ground, over which, when thus affected, some animals can seldom if ever move. But no danger need be apprehended from the most obstinate cases. They may leave a protuberance when the soreness is departed, which becomes ossified, but in no way interferes with the action or general usefulness, presenting only an eyesore. This fact leads me to comment on Mr. Copperthwaite's expressed opinion in his work entitled " The Turf and Stud Farm," in which he says " he has known horses while in training and racing to be shin- sore, and their owners and trainers did not dream of it, and has known yearlings to be rendered totally useless and never to recover their action through this complaint ; and little wonder it was so, for the parties who had charge of them (some of them their owners) could have expected nothing else, taking into consideration that they were, in the month of July, on the hard ground for hours (and cantering about) carrying big men, their legs being Httle more than gristle." For my part I certainly have known some thousands of horses of all ages, and never saw one permanently hurt from D 2 36 SICKNESS AND CASUALTIES. sore shins as Mr. Copperthwaite asserts ; nor indeed did I ever hear of such an occurrence as he relates before, nor do I now believe in the phenomenon. Can one suppose, for a moment, that the trainer, or in his absence the head-lad, would not see if a horse went short in his exercise, and would not seek for the cause by a careful examination of his feet and legs ? Moreover, the legs are felt by the trainer, in the ordinary way, twice a day, and rubbed oftener by the boy. Could all this be done, it may be asked, and the excruciating soreness escape detection, and the " trainer never dream " of the cause of the total ruin of his best horses ; watching them, thus deteriorate before his eyes, with supreme indifference } I venture to think not ; but rather, that Mr. Copperthwaite has been mistaken in his opinion, as I shall have on a later occasion to show how greatly he has erred in other matters connected with this and kindred subjects treated in the same work. But it is a work more on breeding than on training, and little is said in it on condition, and that little too much, either for the sake of the writer's reputation, or his readers' patience, so far as I am able to judge. Two other injuries which a horse is liable to, arise from work — swollen joints, which sometimes are of no consequence ; and rupture of the middle and main tendons, often attended with fatal results. Rest and blistering are the two remedies, although I confess that, as a rule, I have little faith in either. When joints are swollen on the outside they become callous and do not hurt ; but enlargement on the inside of either fore-leg is generally fatal. Ringbone requires firing, splints seldom hurt, and yield to the application of biniodide of mercury or puncturing, and curbs to bhstering : or in bad cases to the actual cautery. The bog-spavin mercurial ointment will usually cure, and the bone-spavin yields to RINGWORM. CRIB-BITING. 37 firing ; but the thorough-pin nothing will permanently eradicate. Ringworm, that troublesome and very contagious disease, is cured with a preparation of mercury, by rubbing the affected part with a small portion once or twice a day for three or four days. Acetic acid once applied will, in most cases, have a good effect ; if not, it may in a few days be again resorted to. The same remedy is a good one to prevent horses from rubbing the hair off the tail, making it sore, and spoiling their looks. It is only necessary to add that in all cases of illness a plentiful supply of warm clothing should be used, in order to keep the body at a proper temperature. This is infinitely better than the restriction of the supply of fresh air, so essential to the health of all animals. These are the ailments which commonly come before the trainer ; but there are besides injuries the result of tricks arising from careless management, on which I have something to say before concluding this chapter. On attention to small things, success in great ones chiefly depends. Horses when idle often contract bad habits — crib- biting, wind-sucking, kicking in the stable — by which they sometimes injure themselves. As a rule these things are preventible, and should be prevented. In treating of sore-backs, I remarked that crib-biting was as easily avoided as they are, by a little attention and proper management. When not feeding or .set at liberty, horses should be tied up by the rack-chains, and so kept from nibbling any projections, such as the manger or top-rail of the stall. When this is done, no crib-biters will be found. The trick grows from constantly licking and biting the manger. If it be not stopped, or the horse making the unpleasant 38 SICKNESS AND CASUALTIES. noise removed, in a few weeks the whole of the inmates of the stable will be equally bad. To my mind there is no surer test of neglectful supervision than the existence of a crib-biter, or of a sore-back, I have mentioned the care necessary in fastening the head- collar ; for if too tight it is unpleasant to the horse, if too slack, he may either get loose or his hind-foot become en- tangled in it. An accident of the kind has been the cause of many an animal's ruin. The collar-rein should pass over the roller or through the rings with freedom, and be long enough to reach the ground to enable the animal to lie at ease. But if too long, or the log to which the rein is attached be not heavy enough to keep it moderately tight, the horse will get his leg over it, and the result, not unfrequently, be lameness for weeks. When turned loose to rest in the boxes, the collars should in every case be removed, to prevent this entanglement. In the stalls, the bars should be put up between them, so that, in case any of the occupants get loose, they may be hindered kicking and savaging each other. There is another thing to be mentioned. Many a valuable horse has been ruined simply by getting the stirrup-iron in the mouth when the boy has left him for a few minutes. To prevent this, the irons should, the first thing on return to stable, be drawn up as near the top of the saddles as possible, and the stirrup-leathers drawn through them ; an effectual safeguard against such an accident. I do not know that roaring can fairly be set down either as sickness or accident ; but it is a complaint that cannot be passed without some notice, and perhaps will more fitly come as a conclusion to this chapter than elsewhere. Large horses arc, in my experience, more subject to this ROARING, AND INSTANCES. 39 disease than the small. It is not only often fatal to the racing capabilities of the animal, but unfortunately it is trans- mitted to the progeny when the horse is put to the stud. But I have known, in a few instances, horses badly affected with the malady to recover. There is regrettably neither admitted cause nor known cure for it, for the seat of the disease is quite uncertain. The late Lord G. Bentinck had a grey mare so afflicted killed, and employed Mr. Field, the eminent veterinary sur- geon, to trace the cause ; but he failed to do so, and said the respiratory organs were natural and healthy, and in fact that there was no malformation or disease, and nothing to be seen that could enable him to account for it in any shape or way. It comes on very suddenly, and is unmistakably defined in a day or two. Horses that have had inflamma- tion of the lungs, or a long illness from strangles, are more subject to it than others that have not been so affected ; but some hundreds recover from both these complaints without becoming roarers. Again, whilst some few horses are scarcely affected by it, others, as long as they have it, are perfectly useless for racing purposes ; whilst some, the rare exception it is true, recover, and are as good as they ever were, showing no ill-effects whatever. BrigantineyNz.'s, an extraordinary instance of this exceptional recovery. In the early part of her two-year-old career, she ran successfully and in perfect health. In June she was taken ill, but recovered sufficiently to fulfil her engagement at New- market in the July meeting, when, however, she ran badly, and on her return home was found to be an undoubted roarer. The winter passed, and with the spring preparation, as her work increased, the disease gradually diminished, and ulti- mately left her as sound as the day she was foaled ; in time, 40 SICKNESS AND CASUALTIES. indeed, to enable her to win the Oaks and the Ascot Cup in the same year. I remember that many years ago Mr. Osbaldeston had a horse called TJie-Devil-among-the-Tailors, which turned a rank roarer, but recovered, and was as good after as before the malady. Some horses, too, have run well as roarers. Longbow was a good horse over a short course ; whilst Shadow could stay any distance roaring like a bull. Dulcamara and Noisy both returned from Chester confirmed roarers ; but whilst there they both ran in perfect health, the latter winning the Dee Stakes easily, beating some of the best horses of his year ; but he could never afterwards beat ahack, although both tried and run in public several times. As to the cause, occult as it is, I feel sure that a sudden change in keep and management has something to do with it. That this is so may be seen with hunters. If they be turned out to grass after a winter's hard work, from hot stables, they not unfrequently become roarers. This is not only my own experience, but I have heard others say the same. This is probably a reason why, as a rule, racehorses are not now turned loose in a box and treated with less care during the winter than the summer months, as used to be the practice. We certainly have fewer roarers amongst our racehorses than formerly, and this I attribute chiefly to more attentive management. Situation, too, may I think have something to do with the malady. At the Cape of Good Hope, I am told, horses never roar ; and that the worst roarers if taken there become sound. This is partly confirmed by my own experi- ence. When I consider the number of horses I have had and the few cases of roaring amongst them, I cannot help thinking that the dry and airy situation of my place is either a preventive or an antidote, if so desirable a thing can be found. PREDILECTION FOR GLOSSY COATS, CHAPTER VI. CONDITION. Predilection for glossy coats — The natural coat of animals — Anomalies of this liking for sleek coats ; its evils ; the condition-ball and arsenic — Rough coats most often seen doing work-r-Horses fit when rough : Hermit, West Austra- lian — Docking — Public notion of condition; theory and experience — The trainer alone a judge — Deceptive appearances of horses in big and in light con- dition : Instances: Catch- em- Alive and Historian; La Pique — Sir Richard Sutton's treatment of the latter and its uselessness — Personal experiences ; St. Giles, One Act, The Coranna Colt: Inferences drawn therefrom — Condition for long distances. In treating of the subject of air and light, I have mentioned the predilection of certain owners for looks rather than healthy and the complacency of those that serve them in satisfying this disposition. As this fallacy leads to many others, I may well dispose of it before proceeding to touch upon the other points that bear upon that important and interesting part of our subject — Condition. Glossiness of coat and sleekness have, I have already ob- served, their especial attractions. The owner is satisfied, and the gazing eye of the w^ondering multitude pleased. The trainer, \v\\o indulges in the practice, is pleased to see his horse, if not "the glass of fashion and the mould of form,'' at least " the observed of all observers ; " whilst the stable 42 CONDITION. boy is half frantic with dehght to observe the cunningly devised work of his own unaided hands. Now I, for one, do not say for a moment that a horse is any the worse for trifling and tawdry embellishments, if legiti- mately achieved ; just as I would not admit that he would be any better were he burnished like gold, striped like a zebra, and his attendant fancifully dressed like a zany. But there is too much inclination in this direction. Some, perhaps, would wish to plait or shave the tail and crimp or hog the mane to complete the picture. I protest against the practice, because I aver looks are no test of condition. Bounteous nature has provided for the comfort and well-being of the animal kingdom warm cover- ings of various sorts. To the horse has been given long hair, suitable to his nature, for protection against the inclemency of winter. We all know that wild animals have a warmer covering in winter than in summer. It scarcely requires a naturalist to confirm what every observant person must be familiar with. Amongst birds we see that they moult in autumn, that the feathers may be well grown, thick and long, against the ap- proaching winter. Buffon, in his natural history, from which I take a few extracts bearing on the point, in speaking of the beaver, remarks, " It is in winter they are chiefly sought, because their fur is not perfectly sound in any other season." Again alluding to the sable, he says> "and yet this (winter) is the best season for hunting them, because their fur is better and more beautiful than in summer." The same principle applies, almost in its entirety, to the horse. His coat, like theirs, is naturally longest in winter ; although it can hardly be said to be then more beautiful, nor is it desirable that it should be so. Deprive him of this be- fore summer, and you do him an incalculable, an irreparable. EVILS ARISING FROM THE PRACTICE. 43 harm. Yet, for a fanciful purpose, he is subjected to all kinds of anomalies : kept improperly warm in the stables ; made to take a daily condition-ball — and all for the removal of his greatest possible comfort, and the substitution for it of his summer coat in the depth of winter ! Who shall say how many horses are annually lost in this way .-' And yet, with many, nothing but time and bitter experience will alter the practice. One thing may be safely predicated of it, a fact indeed that has not escaped even superficial observers — the horse with the most glossy coat is least seen in public ; that with the roughest, the most often. But when once the love of popularity, in whatever form, takes hold of the senses, folly is apt to oust reason. It is difficult to say to what lengths this may not be carried to secure the object of the ambition of the hour, or, it may be lifetime. When its idol is the appearance of the horses, the stable becomes a hot-house, its inmates, sudatory creatures, whose stomachs are made the receptacle of the contents of a chemist's shop. This is hardly an exaggeration ; for it is not possible to tell the ingredients of the condition-ball, or their possibly deadly effect. We know full well that many a man who has charge of his master's hack or carriage-horse, has been detected administering the harmful balls, or even arsenic in a crude form, to give the coat the desirable glossy appearance in winter as well as summer ; with the one inevitable result — the death of the unfortunate animal and the punishment of the man ; the latter richly deserved, it must be admitted. Gentlemen are too willing to judge the condition of their horses from the appearance of the coat. Were they to ask the desired information from the trainer, whose pleasure, duty, and interest it is to supply it, it would be more satisfactory to both. And though the result might not agree with the 44 CONDITION. preconceived views of owners, they should still be content in the knowledge : first, that no one is so qualified to advise in such a matter as the trainer ; secondly, that no one has so sterling a motive to advise rightly. If this were the general practice, we should see horses looking better in summer, as they would be healthier, as well as in winter. It will be appropriate here to instance, by way of illustra- tion, a few rough-looking animals which have been brought to the post in absolutely perfect condition — fit, it may be said, to run for a man's life — but which, in appearance, were exactly the reverse, and did not escape the public denunciation. I will hereafter speak of La Pique, a mare of my own, and a case in point. But let us take Hermit or Virago as examples. What, it may be asked, did he look like the day he w^on the Derby .-' or she, when, with consummate ease in one and the same day she carried off both the City and Suburban and Metropolitan Stakes .-^ Or again, how did West Australian look when he won the St. Leger at the back end of the year } Why, like a bag of bones covered with hair as rough as a badger's, on which seemingly a brush had never been laid. A hundred similar instances I could name were it necessary. But as with the smooth coat so with the rough — it may be well or ill obtained. In these cases no amount, either of ability or diligence, had been spared to bring the animals to perfect condition. Consummate success was obtained, and yet the eye was not satisfied — they lacked the unnatural and debilitating sleekness at a time when Nature herself withheld it. Surely the trainers did wisely to study the health of the horses before their outward appearance. Yet the capricious multitude and self-confident sportsmen bewailed the lack of superficial gloss, and were, as usual, egregiously mistaken. There was no lack of courage in thus braving, as it were. SIGNS OF FITNESS. . 45 public opinion ; nor was it, in the result, unrewarded. From their employers, the trainers received well-earned and freely- given thanks ; from the public, an ovation such as a victorious General might be proud of The public had erred, and had to confess it ; being forced to admit that as horses run in all shapes and forms, so they do in every conceivable state of condition, so far as the eye can judge. To insist at all hazards on a glossy coat is, in my opinion, only on a par with the barbarous custom of forty years ago or more, to shorten the docks of all horses young or old. Usually they were subjected to this treatment during the first or second week after their arrival at the training quarters : the operation being performed by the severance of a few inches of the vertebra of the tail, staunching the hemorrhage by the application of powdered resin and the actual cautery. Happily for the tortured animal, the practice has long since ceased to exist, as has nicking and nerving, that old and useless veterinary practice ; " more honoured in the breach than the observance." All men now prefer to see the noble animal as formed by nature, rather than in a mutilated shape, disfigured at the hands of capricious humanity. We have learned something of the essentials, in feeding and stable management, of good condition ; and it will now be well to describe the signs that enable a person to judge correctly of the fitness of a horse to do what may be required of him. Every one who has seen or takes an interest in a racehorse, talks eloquently, in conventional terms and set phrases, on his condition; a point in which one horse so resembles another, that existing differences often escape all but the experienced eyes. Horses that look pretty much alike are praised or condemned, rightly or wrongly, as fancy dictates. 46 . . CONDITION. Now theory, the only guide that persons not intimately conversant with the stable have, which runs so glibly and seems so simple, is found utterly untenable when brought to the touchstone of practice. To my mind, condition is one of the most difficult problems ; one that, however great the genius of persons differently employed, can only be solved by the experienced trainer. There are many gentlemen, owners of horses, most excellent judges of shape, make, and breed, equal in this respect to any trainer ; I may go further and say better than many, but on condition, " they are at sea," and their opinion not of much value. Nor indeed can anything else be expected. They have not the opportunity afforded them of forming a correct idea, and cannot give one : whereas the trainer sees the horses under his charge daily, and knows the work each does, and how he does it ; whether progress- ing towards or receding from the desired object, which should ultimately culminate in fitness to run. But the owner can know nothing of his horse's every-day performance at exercise, or whether he eats little or much. The utmost extent of his information is limited to seeing a gallop or two, or may-be a trial — the latter sometimes is a test of condition, but not always ; for many are tried thoroughly unfit, and the result is misleading, rather than a clue to the animal's real merits. It is patent, therefore, that they can know little, if anything, about the material points, and that on such insufficient tests a trustworthy decision cannot reasonably be expected. And if owners of racehorses, with such advantages as they do possess, are often so lamentably mistaken, what must be the value of the dogmatic and oracular opinion of the uninformed public ? I think the general verdict must be mine — nothing. If this be allowed, it will not be out of place to give one or two illustrations of the difference in outward appearance of EXAMPLES OF "BIG" AND "LIGHT" CONDITION. 47 various horses, all of which have been in the highest condition. When a horse is stout, or, as many would have it, full of muscle, looks well in his coat, and has good action, then many assert he is fit to run. Most fallacious and untrustworthy idea; for often the appearance of the horse that is fit is just the reverse — in a condition, indeed, as I have said, fit to run for a man's life, yet no one would be bold enough to say so who feared the laughter of the wiseacres. On the other hand there are few who would not hazard an opinion, and pronounce to a man, the horse that is sleek and fat, the fittest. The fact is, no one but the trainer, who has charge of the animals so different in appearance, can give an opinion worth having ; the public, on the other hand, would, I venture to afiirm, be wrong in nine cases out of ten. I will give two examples of the comparatively exceptional instances of horses being fit when big. Catch- em- A live, when he got out of the van at Newmarket, was condemned as too big by touts and turf critics, who cynically remarked he would not have so many looking at him after his race (the Cam- bridgeshire Stakes) on Tuesday ; yet he won, and from sheer gameness — a never-failing test of condition. Historian, on his first appearance in public for the Lavant Stakes at Good- wood, was fit and round as an apple, looking to the cognoscenti quite fat, and all said he would see a better day — but he never did, winning easily, and in the same state won many races after. Now let us contrast his seeming fat state with that of a light bad-conditioned mare afterwards called La Pique, who looked little better than a bag of bones encased in the roughest of hair. At the appearance of such a wretch a general out- burst of indignation was indulged in, and on all sides she was 48 CONDITION. voted not good enough for the kennel, which certainly, they added, was a more fitting place for her than the racecourse. The fact is, she looked rough in her coat, and was, like many others, a light-fleshed animal, just the reverse in appearance to Historian and others. Yet she was well, and proved her fitness by winning her race, beating a good field of horses in a Selling Plate, enabling her owners and the stable to win a nice stake at long odds, for I believe no one else backed her for a shilling. There were, \{ possible, more absurd remarks made upon her condition after than before the race. One was for giving her a little rest ; another would add to that, sumptuous feeding ; whilst the fortunate Baronet, the lucky purchaser, knew she was in want of a host of things to make her fit, and which she should have. The opinion of the rabble was expected ; but hardly this confident declaration on the part of a gentleman of his experience. The late Sir Richard Sutton placed her in the hands of an eminent trainer to carry out his positive instructions intended to improve her neglected condition. This was done, but to no effect ; in fact, he failed to make her capable of winning anything. The lamented Baronet then tried his own hand at metamorphosing her ; and I can readily believe that she was indulged in every sort of luxurious feeding, with retit without limit ; but to no good end. Finding himself a victim to his own credulity, he sold her, as utterly useless, never having won a race with her. Now here are animals which, to look at, seemed as diverse as it is possible to find in nature — both two-year-olds, one looking really big, perhaps too big, whilst the other was de- cidedly light, and indeed far too light in the eyes of the public. The public, indeed (who, having no horses of their own, are always professing such superior knowledge of the condition ^x AIY OWN EXPERIENCE, AND INFERENCES. 49 of those belonging to others) stoutly declared in these cases that neither were fit, though their running then and subse- quently sufficiently proved the folly of such an opinion and the penalty incurred in uttering it. Even trainers may be, and no doubt some of us at times are, deceived. As a proof that the public are not always alone in this respect, I confess to having been grievously deceived on two or three occasions. One Act misled me, and so did a colt by Coranna out oi Eyebright. As a three-year-old, I thought St. Giles fit and tried him, but he was little more than half fit to run a distance of ground, and was dis- gracefully beaten in his trial ten days before Northampton. Knowing that, as a two-year-old, he had stayed well, I con- cluded he must require more work than he had had, to make him stay as a three-year-old, I therefore galloped him every day two miles till the Saturday previous to the race, and then tried him, with the same tackle and the same weight, over the same course, when he won just as far as before he had been defeated. He went to Northampton and won the stakes with ease, beating perhaps the best horse in England {^Skirmisher) according to his subsequent running. The case of One Act is very similar ; the mare having, as I thought, done sufficiently good work for months previously, I tried her, when she w^as beaten very easily. This I attributed to her condition, or rather the want of it, and set about im- proving it in the same method — galloping her every day, two and a quarter miles till just before her race at York. I sent her for this as I had done St. Giles, and with the same fortunate result. She won the two great handicaps at York, and fol- lowed up these successes by winning the Chester Cup in the following week, " looking like a rail." These facts, it maybe readily conceived, remain indelibly engraven in my memory. E 50 CONDITION. Again, the Coranna Colt, just before his intended trial, being, as I thought, fit to run and if anything rather too hght, broke his thigh, and was at once destroyed. To my astonishment when he was opened, he was found to be a mass of fat ; clear evidence that he was not more than half prepared. Yet, as I have said, his outward appearance betokened that he was thoroughly trained, and if anything, rather overdone. The natural and immediate inference to my mind was that when beaten in their respective trials, St. Giles and One Act may have been in the same condition ; and I concluded that had the Cot'anna Colt been tried he would as assuredly have been defeated. These results plainly indicate how absolutely neces- sary time and work are in preparing a horse to run a long distance. The practical part of training, the knowledge gained by experience, enables the trainer to give an opinion on the condition of the horses under his charge before any one else ; yet, from the many anomalies attending the process, some of which have been explained, even he may be deceived. One horse may look fit, when in reality he is big and short of work ; another that is absolutely fit, looks just the reverse, or as some would style it, overtrained. These difficulties staring him in the face, it behoves the trainer to be ever on the alert ; to watch the condition of each horse from the first canter to the last gallop ; and how exact and continuous this watchfulness must be will be explained when we come to treat of Preparation. OWNERS' IDEAS OF CONDITION. CHAPTER VII. CONDITION {continued). Opinions of owners on condition ; Mr. Dixon — Coughs and their various effects — Lameness and its results — Diverse opinion of two owners — The trainer knows his own horses — Curious belief in different treatment for handicap, and weight-for-age races ; the fallacy shown — jfoe Miller, Voltigeur, Brigantine — The public and condition — Typical instance of big and light conditions ; Tame Deer and Fisherman — Condition of pedestrians — Fat men — Horses oftener fit when light than big — Mr. Clark on equine fatness, I HAVE, in the last chapter, given my own opinion of con- dition. It will not be amiss in the present to supplement it with the opinions of other people, of owners and others. The space devoted to this will hardly be regretted, because success depends so much upon the condition in which horses are brought out to run. I will commence by giving a short account of Mr. Dixon's experiences. He was the owner of Blarney and other good horses, at the time placed under my care. One of the latter, Philippa, he had purchased as a two-year-old for ;^ 300, after she had been raced two or three times and easily beaten on each occasion. In the first race I ran her for, which was shortly afterwards, she beat Borneo, ysiho had been purchased for 1,500 guineas, on whom odds of seven to one were laid. I mention this to show the quality of the mare when fit to run. The year following she was tried just before Bath Races, when she was coughing and easily beaten as one would expect. E 2 52 CONDITION. Notwithstanding this warning, Mr. Dixon would run her, and did, and being beaten took her out of training, though she was the soundest mare ahve and had many good engagements that year, and by the next might have had many more. He put her to the stud, where she turned out a complete failure — indeed she did not live many years. Now a cough may be innocuous, or it may be fatal. Horses often cough on leaving the stable, and in it, and after galloping' whilst in good health. At the commencement of exercise horses will often cough, but if, after it, they blow their nostrils no ill-effect need be apprehended. From following others in their gallops a horse will get dirt in his mouth and so a cough ; but it quickly passes off. Again, horses will cough after being watered in the stable ; but it does not hurt them. But on the contrary, if horses cough badly in the stable before watering and feeding, or at exercise shortly before galloping, it is a certain warning, not only that they are not well, but that it is not possible to guess the extent of their illness. Something similar, it may be remarked, can be said of lameness. Swollen legs may prove to be of trifling importance, or end in the total uselessness of the horse so afflicted. I have re- marked on this point in an earlier chapter, and also shown the variety of causes which create lameness, sometimes of little and sometimes of the greatest consequence. But as a matter of fact it should be added that nearly all horses trained for long-distance races, trot lame and yet are practically sound. It is well to note these things ; for they serve to show how little owners really know of condition, the possible result of lameness, or effect of a cough ; and how greatly to their advantage it would be, if they would listen to the advice of those whose occupation provides them with this information. But there are owners and owners, and a DIVERSE JUDGMENT OF TWO OWNERS. 53 chapter would not suffice to describe their respective idio- syncrasies. In regard to this point, I will briefly give the opinions on contrition expressed by two different owners on the same animals within the space of a few days. Whilst strolling round the stables one of them said in great astonishment, " Why, William," addressing himself to me, " what on earth have you been doing with so and so, or rather I should say what have you not been doing ? Why, he and the others that have to run next week are like so many bacon hogs," I begged to differ in the opinion he expressed, and said that as far as I knew they were well and fit. This was far from satisfying him ; whilst his colleague, who happened to come a few days after by himself, gave it as his opinion that " the horses were thoroughly unfit." They looked bad in their coats, were too light and as " dry as a chip," wanting at least a month's rest and yet had to run the next week. He added inquiringly " Can they be well ? " I replied as before by saying I thought so. In the result the truth of my view was amply verified by their running ; though I fear little to the benefit of their joint-owners, who both came to the same conclusion as to their unfitness, but, as has been shown, from diametrically opposite bases. Such cases are too frequent, and disappointment as assuredly follows. All opinions cannot be right, and of three that differ two must be wrong. How is a trainer to please owners of horses holding these extreme views ? To this one of his many difficulties, I shall have to recur at the proper place. It is not from ostentation that I say so much ; but because, if I am to benefit the reader, I must speak plainly. My experience tells me that if a horse blows too much after galloping, his work must be increased without 54 CONDITION. regard to his looks — essentially a very minor consideration. So, too, if he feed badly, his work should be reduced ; whilst it should at all times be apportioned to suit individual constitutions and the state of the legs of the different animals. These things properly attended to, then, the trainer who knows the daily progress of his horses, can give an opinion worth having on their condition — but no one else can. I may therefore be emboldened to ask, with all the respect that is due to them, what can owners know of these things } They are little better than casual observers, and can only form their judgment on that most fallacious of all tests — the eye; and by no parity of reasoning can be said to know when, and when only, a horse is fit to run. It is so even with ourselves out of our own stable. I should assuredly find myself lamentably self-deceived, were I to hazard an opinion on the condition of a horse prepared by any one else. It would be the same with the most experienced trainer or the astutest judge of horseflesh, were the one or the other to pronounce on the condition of any animal they had not seen before or for a length of time. Just as in sickness, the qualified profes- sional, the veterinary surgeon, will not trust his own senses entirely, but will consult the attendant before prescribing ; or the physician will inquire his patient's state of the nurse, so should the owner seek his information of the trainer. But I can give instances of even more extravagant notions on the part of owners than those already cited. On one occasion a nobleman told me (and I have not the slightest doubt said that which he thought strictly true), as the reason he sent his high-priced yearlings to John Scott and the cheap ones to me : " He thought no trainer could train CURIOUS BELIEF IN TWO STATES OF CONDITION. 55 a horse for a weight-for-age race like him," and added, " but I prefer you to all others for a handicap." I argued the point exhaustively with his lordship, but my logic failed to convince him to the contrary. And he believed in his preconceived idea, that when a horse is fit to run for a weight-for-age race there is something lacking in his preparation for a handi- cap and vice versa. Surely when a horse is fit to run a given distance (no matter what) for a handicap, he must be so for a weight-for-age race over the same course ! More, it may be said that many races of the latter kind become and virtually are handicaps, from the extra weights imposed on some and allowances made to other horses by the conditions of these races. I can adduce many proofs, were they needed, that my reasoning is sound ; but two must suffice. Let me ask, then, can any one suppose for a moment that Joe Miller was less fit to run when he won the Emperor's Vase at Ascot (a genuine weight-for-age race without penalties or allowances), beating Voltigeur and most of the best horses of the day, than when he won the Chester Cup, a handicap } Or can any one be simple enough to believe that when Brigan tine won the Ascot Cup or the Oaks, she was wanting the condition that assisted her to win the handicaps at Newmarket 'i I need say no more to show the fallacy of his lordship's argument. But now a word must be said of that irrepressible body the British Public, the first to utter all sorts of illogical assertions, yet limiting inquiries as to the real merits and condition of racehorses to finding fault with those who have the care of them. Owners and trainers alike fall in for their share of the rancour of these prescient sages, who oracle-like condemn "at one fell swoop" and in true stereo- typed form, all light horses as starved or galloped to death. $6 CONDITION. Yet it must be patent from what has been said in the last chapter, and it is to all conversant with the habits and treat- ment of the racehorse, that the current categorical con- demnation of the condition of all beaten horses, is but an evidence of profound ignorance. As for myself, I have shown reason enough, I hope, for my conviction that no trainer would be found guilty of an act so suicidal as not properly to prepare his horse. His reputation is at stake, his very existence, it may be said, involved in the well being of his horses. And if these be ill-fed or neglected, how can they work .-' And if they cannot work, how can they compete with those that do .■' No, these base- less charges carry their own refutation. No man would set himself to defeat his own ends ; to successfully accomplish that which each one of us is so strenuously seeking to avoid — his own degradation and shame. It is sheer nonsense. Horses have run light and will do so to the end ; it is one of the grand essentials of condition, and few are really fit in any other state. But after all, condition is but a relative term, as it may be viewed by different people. This horse is as w'idely praised as that is widely condemned, equally without reason ; for do all we can, nothing will prevent horses in condition being light in appearance — in some instances to the extent of seeming neglect — and yet these horses, oftener than not, beat the big and fat ones. We need go no farther for an example than the race at Lincoln between Tame Deer and FisJiennan ; the former looking like a donkey and the latter with a coat like satin, his ribs covered (as it was said at the time) with muscle. At slbs. difference Tavic Deer won, proving himself on that day«and in their respective condition the better horse at even weights — yet it was subsequently proved and remains an CONDITION OF PEDESTRIANS. 57 ' authenticated fact that Fisherman was two stone and a half the better horse. I may add I never saw the tables turned ; a fat horse beating a thin one so vastly his superior ; nor do I think any one else ever did.^ I think I may fairly assume enough has been said to convince even the sceptical that horses must and do run light from other causes than overwork or mismanagement But I am prepared to do more : to assert that as a matter of fact there are more horses insufficiently trained and looking too big than there are overdone with work. I mean of course for long distance races, not short ones ; for which, as less work will suffice, horses may be run bigger. I am strenuous on this point ; but I may remind the reader that I am not descanting on the merits or usages of this or the other trainer ; but am contending for a principle in the superiority of which I myself ^ Turning from the horse to the human being, the condition of pedestrians may be taken as an instance to point my observations. A pedestrian when fit to walk a long or short distance looks." starved, more like a skeleton than a man in robust health living upon the most nutritious food without stint. At the time " Corkey" accomplished his surprising six days' walk at the Agricultural Hall he weighed but eight stone : a proof that he was neither fat nor in what is ordinarily supposed to be good condition. Fattest men are not as a rule the greatest eaters, nor do they confine themselves to a diet more nutritious than that of the spare and meagre. The late Mr. Banting could not check his obesity by abstinence in the matter of food. The nobility and gentry live well, yet as a rule they are spare men. In the workhouse or the cottage, on the other band, we find those who fatten on the poorest of food, and in many cases an insufficiency of that. In my own experience I remember Mr. F. H then living at Exeter, a very thin man, to all appearance but half fed, who once at the instigation of Mr. S (on whose authority I give the anecdote) undertook to eat a roasting pig for supper— and did it ; a feat that probably would have bothered the renowned Dan Lambert, Yet until the day of his death he remained as cadaverous and as thin as ever, in spite of his appetite. A correspondent of the Lancet lately sent particulars to that paper of the case of Mr. W. Campbell, landlord of "the Duke of Welling- ton," Newcastle on Tyne, who "stands 6 feet 4 inches, and weighs over 50 stone," yet, "his appetite is not more than an average one, and although not an abstainer, he is moderate in his drinking." 58 CONDITION. implicitly believe ; whose success I have compared with that of other systems, as have other trainers before me. This assurance renders me insistent in recommending it to those who have not had the same opportunities to test it. As a fitting conclusion of our subject, Condition, I will venture to give an extract from an admirable work on the horse by Mr. Clark (from which I have already quoted at p. 24 on food) : — " But the greatest caution," he remarks, " is necessary to be observed with horses that are very fat. They require a long course of moderate and regular exercise before they can be put to that which is the least violent with safety. Their fat, which they acquire by excessive heat, is melted by violent exercise as it were into oil, and carried into the blood and causes what is called an oily plethora, which produces a most violent and sudden inflammation of the lungs, &c. " The viscidity of the oily matter obstructing the vessels and preventing the other fluids passing through them, frequently occasions sudden death ; many instances of which I have known particularly in those horses which have been fed with a great quantity of boiled meat in order to fatten them for sale. To attain this desirable end and keep him in robust health in an artificial state we must bear in mind what he was when wild and imitate it as far as possible. " Count de Bufifon says that very warm climates, it would appear, are destructive to horses, and that when they are transported from a mild climate to a very warm one the species degenerates. " It therefore may be granted that horses like a medium climate bordering on cold rather than heat, for we find the same author (vol. 3 page 38) states that in Iceland, where the cold is extreme, horses though small are extremely vigorous. THE TRAINING GROUND DESCRIBED. 59 CHAPTER VIII. THE^TRAINING GROUND. A training ground and its essentials described — Its-surface — Extent and shape — Downhill exercise condemned — Distinct courses necessary for summer and winter — The trial ground — Methods of restoring the surface — Newmarket and other sites — Appreciation of situation — A quiet spot recommended and reasons — Effect of publicity on owners — An instance to the point at Woodjates. Having learned something of the horse in sickness, and of what is and what is not condition, we may, before proceeding to the consideration of the preparation of the horse in health, give a description of the training ground as it ought to be. There is nothing more essentially necessary to a training establishment than a good training ground. The extent, the nature of the surface, and subsoil, are all matters of the greatest importance and deserve a strict inspection, when selecting a spot. The soil should be neither clay nor sand ; for though the latter may in wet weather afford pretty good going, in dry it becomes very hard and unfit for galloping. Unmixed clay is still worse; for in wet weather it is too deep, and in dry, bakes like a brick, and is very seldom in a state fit to gallop on and then only for a short time. The surface soil should be one of a light friable loam resting on a chalky subsoil, sufiiciently retentive of moisture to keep it moderately soft in dry weather, and porous enough 6o THE TRAINING GROUND. to prevent its being heavy in wet : such for example are many of the South Downs in Sussex and those about Sahsbury Plain. The extent should in a great measure depend on the number of horses likely to be trained on it, and should always be too big rather than circumscribed ; for when it is the latter, continual galloping on the same track spoils it, and the horses are more likely to become lame. Moreover a change of ground is in other ways beneficial for them. Plenty of scope you must have or you cannot train for a long course ; besides, the walking ground should be distinct from the galloping ground. It is necessary to have two or three pieces of half and three quarters of a mile in extent, and in addition, space for gallops of a mile, a mile and three quarters, or two miles, or even longer, straight, is requisite for prepara- tion for long courses. If you have not this your horses will suffer, as you cannot have them gallop round a circle as in an amphitheatre. We are told that pedestrians when in training are made to do most of their fast work uphill — a clear proof that it is considered far preferable to running down. It is a system that cannot be too closely followed with the race-horse. Horses might be trained by galloping uphill only ; but if only permitted to gallop downhill would never be got fit. There is no objection to an occasional steady gallop over undulating ground ; but the fast work should be done up hill or on level ground. It is necessary too, that the galloping ground should be nearly straight, not angular, or the pace cannot be kept up all the way ; a matter often necessary, and especially in trials. In the preparation for spring engagements, the horses cut up the ground and spoil it for summer use ; it is necessary therefore to have entirely distinct courses, which should be kept RESTORATION OF THE SURFACE. 6i respectively for winter and summer work ; or in other words, for wet and diy weather. As soon as the March winds set in, exercise may be started on the summer ground ; but rather than spoil it, in the event of a wet spring follov/ing, return to that set apart for winter. In this matter it is the weather rather than the season that must in all cases regulate the choice of ground ; and if one have to be overworked, let that one be the winter ground. For trial ground, the best should be selected and strictly appropriated to the one use; although there are occasions, when the ground is dry and little impression made by galloping, when it may be used if needful for ordinary work. When much galloping has rendered the surface of the ground uneven, most trainers have it bush harrowed and then rolled with a heavy roller to fill up the cavities and reduce the uneven surfaces. I cannot say that it is a plan I am enamoured of. Repeated rolling improves the appearance of the ground by levelling it, but unfortunately makes it hard, which is the one thing to be avoided ; whereas my method, removing the turf by manual labour, levelling, and lightly treading in the turf when replaced, is infinitely better. In old times the boys in the stable used to do this, but now nothing would induce them to attempt it : so a few labourers in the spring, or as often as is necessary, may be engaged for the purpose ; and as a rule they do their work in a satisfactory way. Newmarket as a training ground is not inferior to any that I know of, and better than most. It has scope and other advantages to recommend it. Its worst feature is hard- ness in a dry summer ; but in both spring and autumn it has no superior. And if, taking all things into consideration, there are other places equal to it, by far the greater number are inferior ; places on which scores and sometimes hundreds of 62 THE TRAINING GROUND. horses are trained, in which the nature of the ground precludes the possibihty of doing them justice. What is the result of such training ? The horses go lame ; and those that remain sound must be run about half fit, of necessity courting defeat by horses that are fit — a remark specially applicable to long distance races. Therefore as horses cannot be trained elsewhere, it is of paramount importance to have a good training ground. The selection of it should be made in dry weather. Then it is in its worst state, and its nature can be thoroughly judged. Bad or indifferent stables may be altered or even rebuilt ; but the nature of the ground no process can appreciably improve. As you find it, so it remains ; and on it such as it is, you must either work your horses or neglect their condition. By many the situation is considered the chief object. To make it so, is all very well if the owner race for love of sport regardless of expense. Gentlemen of this mind, prefer having their stables and downs in their own neighbourliood, or failing this, near London, so as to be easy of access during " the season." But those who are bent upon making their horses pay their way, who race with a view of recouping the heavy outlay on the purchase of a stud and its attendant expenses should choose a quiet spot and good ground wher- ever they may be found ; but in reason, the farther from a large town the better. My preference would be for a place thus situ- ated within two or three hours of the metropolis, giving owners ample time to see their horses at exercise and in the stable and return to town for dinner. In such a place there would be per- fect freedom of action : no telegraph set in motion to announce your whereabouts on arrival or departure, nor touts to annoy you. Plans could be arranged in peace and the result waited in hopeful expectancy, which would often be well repaid. A QUIET SPOT RECOMMENDED. 63 As a matter of fact, there are merchant princes, both of the city and provinces, who dare not see their own horses except on the race-course or on Sunday for fear of being recognised ; a disabihty that debars many others from joining in the sport. The late Mr. Graham, the noted distiller, who raced in princely style, was driven from the turf, thus losing the only pleasure of his life in the way of sport, by the annoyance of the attention of would-be friends and the intrusion of touts. As for the latter merciless and wretched spies, many suffer persecution at their hands ; for when they assemble in large numbers it is not easy either to control or avoid them. But if your ground be in such a spot as I have recommended, you may and can prevent the appearance of these unvv-elcome visitors ; a fact, if generally known, that might not only prevent secessions from the turf, but induce many gentlemen to keep racehorses who never owned one before. It is not as though this immunity from espionage were restricted to one or two places. Hundreds of spots, equally undisturbed, could be found, which at a small outlay might be adapted for training grounds equal to any in the kingdom. There is no need to rush into the enemy's camp. As it is, owners more frequently go to the tout than the tout to them. Indeed the rendezvous of this gentry are well known. There- fore avoid them and train in a place "exempt from public haunt," where by yourself, or with invited guests you may have the pleasure of watching your horses gallop, when and as often as you please, without dread of the incursion of the arch-enemy of all racing. I will give an instance of what was once accomplished here at Woodyates, which I venture to say could not have been achieved at any resort of the tout, although I do not doubt that others who train in quiet spots could record similar doings. 6| THE TRAINING GROUND. About a week before the Chester meeting, Starter and Our Mary Ann, the property of the same owner, were tried for the cup, and the latter found to be by far the better of the two. The result was telegraphed in cipher to the owner, then at Newmarket. He at once went into the ring and did as follows : On asking the price of Staj'ter he was offered 700 to 100, supplemented with an offer to take 800 to lOO- The owner laid the odds, and being asked to do so again, laid them again, when the taker a book-maker, obligingly offered to lay 1000 to 10 against Oiir Mary Ann. These odds the owner took, and other bets followed until he had in all 2500/. to 27/. \os. laid against the mare — the two animals ultimately standing in the betting. Our Mary Attn 1000 to 15, Starter 8 to I. Now mark what would have taken place had the horses been at a public place and the immense difference in results to the owner. Immediately after the trial, there would have been a race to the telegraph office, and the lynx-eyed fraternity would have telegraphed the result to thousands of people within a few hours. When the owner would back his mare, he would have been offered 700 to 100 and been told it was a good price; and should he not like it, the book- makers would have offered to take 800 to 100 themselves and have finished by offering 1000 to 10 against Starter. The frequent occurrence of disappointments similar to that which was in this case prevented, will, I think, clinch my arguments in favour of quiet training quarters for all that race cither for profit or, it may be said, their own pleasure. BREAKING THE YEARLING. 65 CHAPTER IX. BREAKING. Gentleness essential — The tackle described — Other methods, and objections to them — The bit and bridle — The colt ridden loose — Age at which horses should be broke : opinions of Buffon and Cuvier — Best season for breaking — Should be broke as a yearling — Different practices and objections to them — Reasons for breaking early — Examples from foreign horses — Instances in proof of my system ; Antagonist and the Nottingham Colt — Confirmed by the French practice — Big and little yearlings compared — Lord George Bentinck's usage of them — Sir Tatton Sykes's treatment of yearlings described and commended. Having some idea of the ground to be selected, we may now proceed to describe the breaking of the yearHng. " Those that do teach young babes, Do it with gentle means and easy tasks." The couplet is one worthy to be borne in mind by all who would undertake to train horses. The yearling, when he comes from the breeder's hands to those of the trainer, is (as Mr. Clark observes) often fat. In such cases he requires time, and should only have gentle exercise at first — walking and trotting for several hours daily — and then a dose of physic. After this he may be lounged, and in a few days the breaking tackle may be put on him. The tackle consists of pad, with side reins fastened to it, bridle, crupper, and kicking straps. When he is familiar with these and lounges quietly both ways (to right and left) a saddle may be added ; over which the pad is placed — the F 66 BREAKING. crupper and straps remaining still attached. A linen rubber may also then be tied on either side of the saddle. When this ceases to attract the attention of the colt, and he is in other respects quiet, he may be ridden ; the boy being first placed across him a few times in the stable, when by coaxing and gentle handhng the colt will soon become used to it, and the boy may sit erect. So much gained, and it requires but patience to achieve it, the colt should be lounged after being led at a walking pace for a short time, and when sufficiently quiet, which will be in the course of a few days, may be turned loose. Different methods are preferred by different trainers. Some would mount him in the open air for the first time. In this case, great care should be taken not to frighten him. He should be held by a short rein, which gives greater command over him when he plunges, that he may be stopped at once ; for if he gets his head in front of you, nothing will control him, and in breaking loose the shock to the nervous system would be so great that he probably would not recover for weeks. Gentleness and time are two most essential ad- juncts in breaking the colt ; for if departed from, and he be hurried in his work or abused in irritable hands, immediately the progress you are seeking to make becomes a retrograde course. I have seen a plan of breaking yearlings, which to my mind cannot be too strongly condemned. It is to drive them before you ; for what purpose I am at a loss to conceive, and not being curious enough to ask, remain in ignorance. It requires no conjurer to tell us, that, if half a dozen men cannot hold a horse that is bent on escape when close to him, if his head is straight before them, no one man can, at the length of the cavesson-rein, prevent his getting loose OTHER METHODS AND OBJECTIONS. 67 whenever he pleases ; and this evil is sufificient to outweigh any advantages the system may seem to have. A man leading a yearling should never, until the animal is to a certain extent quiet, leave his head, but have his right hand on the cavesson-rein, holding it within a few inches of the point of the cavesson. If this be done, then if the colt starts from any cause he can be stopped at once. But if, on the contrary, the man be a (qw yards from him, should he jump forward and kick, which frequently happens, the advantage is entirely his. As well pull at a house with the hope of pulling it down, as think to stop a horse by the same means. The result will be but one : the colt gets loose, the cavesson-rein dangling at his heels to add to the fright already occasioned by the other trappings, and he will likely go for miles before he is secured. I have seen this happen, and necessarily to the great injury if not absolute ruin of the horse. It is clear therefore that a valuable (or for that matter any other) yearling should not be permitted this chance of freeing himself. There are unfortunately too many occasions when ruin may result from uncontrollable circumstances, ivithout adding this gratuitous one. The bit that as a rule is worn first, is a large snaffle with a few pieces of steel or iron in the middle, and is called a "player bit." The middle part should always be kept in the centre of the mouth : it should not be allowed to remain on one side or the other. The bridle should not be too long in the head, or the colt will get his tongue over the bit, which should in no case be permitted ; nor too short to prevent it passing with freedom when moved on either side, or it will cause hardness of the mouth. When the colt has become perfectly tractable he may be ridden loose, having an old horse to lead him. He should be F 2 68 BREAKING. made to walk and trot, turning right and left at the will of the rider, and cantered straight ; and when so much is accom- plished, the colt may be considered sufficiently advanced to commence training — before which the tackling should be removed and a smaller bridle substituted. With regard to the age at which horses should be broke and ridden, it should be said at the outset that various and conflicting opinions are held on the subject. But though the question is often mooted, I think it is seldom discussed to a practical conclusion. On th:s point the naturalist Bufifon says, in speaking of the horse, " When two, or two and a half years old, they are mounted, never having before that period been either saddled or bridled." He is here evidently speaking of the Arab, for he goes on to say, " Every day from morning till night all the Arabian horses stand saddled at the tent doors." Again he says, " At the age of three, or three and a half, we should begin to dress the colts to render them tractable." And after giving special instructions for their care and culture, the author proceeds to say, " They may then be mounted and dismounted without making them walk till they are four years old ; for before that period a horse has not strength enough to walk with a rider on his back ; but at four years old they may be walked or trotted at intervals." If the natural strength of the horse has been here faithfully depicted, how weak they must have been in the last century as compared with the horses of the present day ! His description is corroborated in a very striking manner by Cuvier some fifty years later. In his "Animal Kingdom" he says, speaking of colts: "At three they are fit to be handled and accustomed to some management." How totally altered is the practice of to-day ! For we know that they THE BEST SEASON FOR BREAKING. 69 can not only be ridden without hurt before three years old, but at two, and even as yearlings, when they are trained. There were in fact a few years ago yearling races, a practice happily proscribed. Schism ran at Shrewsbury, and others at this age, and as far as I know received no hurt from it. As to the season at which horses should be broke, a very important subject, our authorities are silent. But common sense supplies the omission, and tells us, that when the ground is soft, then it is fit for this severe preparation. This period may, and most likely will, be in different years at different times between July and September, and even as late as October. But if the ground be soft enough, in July or soon after would be the best time to ride yearlings loose ; or even (if thought desirable) those that are fit enough may be tried before the winter sets in. But in respect to trials the majority would be of necessity in a backward condition, and the following spring would be soon enough — ^just before the March races, should the colts be wanted so soon. On the other hand, the trials of those having engagements late, may be deferred until nearer the time of running, when a more satisfactory result may be obtained than by trying early as yearlings. Yearlings are broke, I know, as early as June, whilst the ground is hard as adamant — a practice I cannot but think hazardous and one that should not be followed ; for they must feel the ill-effects of galloping and plunging in trying to free themselves from the tackling, on the hard ground without shoes or the least protection to their feet. As to the age when horses should be broke, there is, as I have said, a diversity of opinions ; but most thoroughbred horses are broke as yearlings, which I think the best age : whilst some few agree with the practice as given by Buffon 70 BREAKING. and Cuvier. The late Lord Jersey used to have the most of his horses broke at two-years old, and run them at three, and he succeeded with a small stud. Whilst Mr. Wreford, and many others who were equally fortunate, broke their horses as yearlings (which is the general practice), though some were not raced until they were three-years old. As for myself, I am clear on the point. Whatever the age at which the horse has to run, he should be broke and ridden as a yearling. One good and sufficient reason for this practice is, that he is then more tractable, and reduced to submission with less restraint than when older. If, too, the breaking be left late, vicious habits may have been contracted which no training will eradicate. The late Mr. J. J. Farquhar- son, of hunting celebrity, used to keep his horses till four and even five years old running loose in large paddocks, before sending them to be broke. But I never knew him possessed of a good one so treated. A winner he may have had, which is all that may fairly be said in favour of the produce of his stud. A more savage lot of horses in the stable I never saw, or on the turf a greater set of rogues. This experience should, I think, deter any one from following a plan that in my opinion has so signally failed, and which may be said to be the only one tried to such an extent without a redeeming point. Those who favour the system of late breaking say : " Our horses are ruined and prematurely brought to the stud through unsoundness and the want of stamina caused by early breaking and running so often." Such an allegation may be easily refuted. For do we not see horses running till ten or twelve years old, broke at such an age ? Historian, Lilian, Reindeer, and a host of others, may be mentioned to prove the absurdity of such a proposition ; for these and many FOREIGN HORSES ARE BROKE EARLY. 71 Others on retiring from the turf were sound as on the day of their birth. Now these horses had run over a hundred races each, besides probably an equal number of trials, and it may be surmised could, if required, have done as much more. Their retirement was simply because they were required for the stud or to go abroad : and if evidence were needed of their absolute soundness, it is found in the latter fact ; for foreigners seldom make the mistake of buying any but sound horses — a compliment we can hardly pay ourselves. In judging of this matter it must also be borne in mind that a horse that formerly ran one race a year, would in the present day run forty or more — doing, in fact, more in one year, than of old was done in a lifetime. We can judge too from horses imported from nearly every quarter of the globe, which we are told were not broke early, nor raced till late in life. Yet these, after receiving careful treatment in skilful hands, are, in comparison to our own early broke ones, deficient both in speed and stamina. The French horses, it is true, are equal to ours ; but why ? because they are broke and run early, as ours are. Whilst the instances of the American mare Prioress and a few other winners, are only the exceptions to prove my assertion. The Americans have achieved victories, not very many, with other horses, but in two-year-old races only ; and it is a notable fact that after a year's racing in this country, their horses changed their pristine youthful vigour for premature old age — Umpire to wit, who did nothing after that age, and there are other examples. At all events, we have seen nothing in any way to prove the advantage of late breaking ; and I think the two cases I am about to adduce, if honestly compared with our system should conclusively instruct us to adhere to it. They are the following : The Arabs we have seen do not 72 BREAKING. break their horses until the third or fourth year ; yet they are always inferior to our own, even in their own country and at any distance. One remarkable example of this was shown by a little mare, Antagonist, by Venison, the property of the late Mr. Death. She won a few races for him, and was in 1850 sold for i^300and exported to Egypt as a three-year-old. There, it appears, she was matched against the very best Arab for a twenty-mile race, and beat him in the commonest canter under the most adverse circumstances ; for not only had she no preparation for so severe a course, but she had not recovered from the effects of the voyage. The English mare, half-trained and unwell, beat the Arab over a course specially suited to his staying qualities and totally different to anything she had been accustomed to ; and it seems to me, gave the best proof of the advantage of the system of early breaking. The second instance, equally conclusive in its favour, is that of a little two-year-old colt by NottingJiajn scarcely selling plate form, that I sold for £60 for exportation to Calcutta. On his arrival out he was matched for two miles (quite beyond his distance) against the best mare there, and was beat by a head. But the next day, at a mile and a half, the running was reversed, the colt winning easily, and being there and then sold for 1,100 guineas. This statement I give on the authority of the gentleman who bought the animal from me, Mr. William Smith, who himself raced and sold the colt, as related. Little more, I am persuaded, need be said in favour of our system, as regards the age at which we break our horses, to prove it is the most suitable — superior, in fact, to that of any country or era. But I may remark, as confirma- tion of my theory, that our only formidable rivals are the French, (of whom the greatest is Count Lagrange, a most BIG AND LITTLE YEARLINGS CONTRASTED. 73 honourable and unflinching sportsman, deservedly esteemed) and as their horses race as two-year-olds, they must follow our plan and break them not only as yearlings, but, I imagine, about the same time of the year as we do, if not earlier. So much said, a few additional facts occur to me, as perhaps of interest to show the proper treatment of the yearling in the paddock, as also to establish the fact of the precocity of some horses and the length of time others will take to reach maturity. In the paddock small yearlings generally show to the best advantage, for the larger ones will seldom exert them- selves. But this is a poor criterion of real merit. Lord George Bentinck gave much attention to this subject (as he did to most turf matters), and paid dearly for his credulity. He used, as some men do now, to let several yearlings loose together side by side at the extreme end of the paddock ; and the one that was first across it, he generally took for the best, and heavily engaged him. Foozool, a compact little horse, was, from this circumstance, thought to be good, and engaged accordingly ; but he turned out moderately, and many he could beat in the paddock, in after life could beat him, and very easily. Pyrrhus the First, to look at in the paddock, was the slowest of the slow, and all that were with him then were apparently better ; yet not one was worth a guinea, whilst he won the Derby. These opposite instances show the little reliance to be placed on the galloping of yearlings in the paddock, in which, it may be said, there is nothing to rouse the indolent ; the big ones being, as a rule, content to yield the palm to their light-hearted and ambitious httle companions. But at exercise the real merits may be gauged with some degree of accuracy. 74 BREAKING. I may aptly conclude this chapter by describing the treat- ment of the yearlings in the paddock adopted by the late Sir Tatton Sykes. Not a few amongst my readers will have pleasing recollections of strolls with the lamented owner round the Sledmere paddocks. There, were to be seen in each capacious and well-divided inclosure, some twenty or thirty yearlings disporting themselves in the best of pastures many acres in extent; the colts and fillies judiciously and timely separated, whilst the foals with their dams evidenced by their gambols their absolute freedom. Here, it may be said literally, the yearlings knew no restraint from the day they were foaled until taken to the place of sale. The best of corn grown on the estate, and hay from the surrounding pastures, given in the man- gers running the whole length of the sheds, was the chief, if not the only forage supplied to the yearlings. These sheds are the sole protection against the weather, except in severe frost, when exercise would be dangerous. On no other occasions are they kept in the stables, I believe, a single day, except for a short time before the day of sale, to accustom them to a little restraint before being led out. There can be no method equal to this, to my mind, in which to rear thoroughbred stock ; some of the results of it, in my own experience as a buyer, will be given when I treat of the purchase of yearlings. PREPARATION PAST AND PRESENT. 75 CHAPTER X. PREPARATION. Past and present methods of preparation contrasted — Sweating in old days ; no longer necessary — My disuse of it — Its evils — Other practices happily abandoned — Other contrasts — Mr. Lawrence on preparation — Alteration in bridles— Sir Charles Bunbury's method — Best season for preparation — Early preparation advocated — The preparation of the two-year-old described — The proper hours for exercise — Alternate rest and labour essential — The pre- paration of older horses — Danger of excessive work when unfit — Training for long and for short courses — The preparation of the yearling — My own and other methods — Clothing — Exercise in frost — Essential principles to be followed with horses of all ages — Should be commenced in time — Deceptive condition — Appetite — The legs and feet — Final gallops — Precautions against cold — Exercise in wet weather ; and in fog — Curiously fatal result of exercising during fog — Sunday labour not necessary — Pleas for Sunday rest ; anecdote of the late Lord Ribblesdale — Tendency to accept new theories ; the Turkish bath. We have seen how the yearling is broken in. It may perhaps lead to a clearer understanding of his subsequent preparation, and that of the older horse, if, as a preliminary, a brief com- parison be made of the salient features of the system in vogue to-day and that of some years ago. For one thing the old practice of sweating — the steady gallop of four miles under the excessive weight of two heavy rugs, a woollen breast-sweater and two hoods — is little heard of nowadays. Indeed the result is so weakening that the principle should have been abandoned long before it really was, especially as it is certain that the evil of it was 76 PREPARATION. proclaimed by Mr. Lawrence as far back as the year 1809. His protest, unfortunately, was useless, for subsequently the evil increased, and was carried to so great an extent that no horse was thought fit that had not been thus galloped a number of times.^ I may take the credit, I believe, of being the first to discon- tinue the practice some twenty-eight or twenty-nine years ago. And I have never reverted to it, for in addition to other evils patently resulting from it, there is one in itself irresistible — the great danger of the horse breaking down. I made this unpleasant discovery for myself by laming two, past recovery, that before were sound as a bell. Finding no good accrued from it, I not only abandoned the practice, but denounced it as fraught with numerous unlooked-for and non-preventable dangers. The work done when I was a boy, some thirty-five or forty years ago, of which I have a vivid recollection, was markedly severer than that of to-day. The sweating, for example, was not restricted to matured horses, but the two-year olds had to go through the same trying ordeal once a-week. And this extreme work was only an addition to that done every day of the week, Sunday itself not being an exception ; although on that day the work was minimised, insomuch that a short and slow gallop took the place of the long and fast one. It was in those days customary, before sweating, to gallop the horses the course, whatever it might be, they had to run, certainly up to two miles, whilst the two-year-olds had a half-speed gallop of about a mile ; and though they only galloped once a day, the old ones would gallop twice — first about half speed, a mile and a half or two miles, as the ^ Mr. Chifney also thought the work done in his day too severe. A book on pedestrianism, too, I find considered it very trying, and the severest form of work. OTHER PRACTICES HAPPILY ABANDONED. -j-j case might be, and after walking half an hour, the same distance as well as they could go. Mr. Chifney, in his " Genius Genuine," speaks of horses sweating six miles twice a week. For my part, I have never seen it practised more than once a week, nor the distance to exceed four miles : and this is surely enough work for the veriest glutton, considering what was to follow. For on the hottest day, when there was not a breath of air, the sweat streaming continuously for half an hour, the horse would be scraped, wiped dry, and again started to exercise. It should be said, in fairness, that the horses under this severe preparation were as fit to run as any horses can be, or are made in the present day, and looked as well. Yet, in these lenient days, few would like to revert to so extreme a practice, whilst the danger of laming the animals would deter the boldest trainer from its adoption, even though he should think it might be beneficial in some respects. It was the invariable custom in summer to water the horses whilst out from a trough near a pond or well, and canter them afterwards ; a custom plainly at variance with common sense, and one I unhesitatingly condemn. The night before the horse was to run, he was kept muzzled to prevent his eating the litter. This is seldom done or needed now. There were other usages — minor matters, it is true — in which the past system differed from the present. I m.ay name one. At the end of the Houghton Meeting (then the recognised con- clusion of the racing season) the horses were, in many cases, turned into a loose box, without exercise, cleaning, or clothing, being only well fed, and left in that state till the following January, when they were physicked and gently put to work — a plan now wisely abandoned ; for the sudden transition from heat to cold, and vice versa, and from galloping one day re- lapsing into a state, of lethargy the next, has caused many to 78 PREPARATION. be roarers, and been the fatal forerunner of other diseases. This practice was the undoubted cause of Elcho s death whilst under the skilful treatment of the late Prof Spooner, of the Royal Veterinary College, for an enlarged hock. I have already referred to Mr, John Lawrence's book, " The History of the Horse," published in 1809, ^'^d may submit from it certain extracts showing the preparation at that time thought requisite to get a horse fit to run. He confirms what I have said of its severity, the six-mile sweats twice a week, which now, where not happily abolished altogether, are reduced to four miles, and once a week. " The horse," Mr. Lawrence remarks, for one thing, "was purged too much, and shut up from the light of the sun as if it would endanger his eyesight, and kept in the atmosphere of a hot-house as if in training for the climate of Africa, or a hotter place." We happily, to-day, give more, both of light and air, but perhaps few of us to the required extent ; though the difference must be very marked, even as it is. Even in bridles there is a great change now to those in vogue some forty years ago. The majority of boys had then to assist them in managing horses, otherwise uncontrollable, martingale-drawing-reins and saddle- drawing reins. Now such things are scarcely known even by name, and never used. Again, curb-bridles, once con- stantly used at exercise, and in which horses often ran, are seldom seen in our days either in the one place or the other ; though I prefer their use to martingales, so much in request just now. Sir Charles Bunbury's method of training, we are told, consisted in gentle usage and little work. No one that knows anything of training, I think, would disagree with the former, or approve of the latter system. Nor do I agree in thinking, as some do, that by walking many hours a day a horse may be THE BEST SEASON FOR PREPARATION. 79 made fit to run a long course without the aid of galloping the distance, or, indeed, by steadily doing a shorter one. The eccentric and facetious Mr. T. Oliver, senior, used to say he could get a steeple-chaser fit to run two miles, without a gallop, by walking and trotting exercise only ; and it is the opinion of a celebrated trainer of the present day, that a horse has only to gallop a mile and a quarter to make him fit to run for a four-mile race. After what I have stated, I need scarcely say this is not my opinion ; nor have I seen anything in the running of the horses so trained to induce me to alter my ideas on the subject in the slightest degree. These are some of the contrasts of methods which years have brought about, and are sufficient, it is hoped, for the purpose of illustration ; and we may therefore proceed to consider the process of preparation, as it is carried on in the present day with horses of different ages. As regards the season of the year best fitted for preparation — all horses should, if possible, be prepared in the spring, with- out regard to age or sex, as the ground is then soft, and they can be got fit at less risk of injury to the legs than when it is hard. The following is a summary outline of the work to be done in the spring and succeeding months, until winter brings once more the time of rest, putting a stop to all exercise but on the straw bed. Commence, as I have said, as soon as the state of the ground will permit, minimising the work when it is dry, at which times the horses not immediately wanted to run maybe rested, with gentle exercise only. If the drought be of long continuance, a dose of physic may be given before going into active work again. This will keep them from getting too big, and has been the means of bringing many an animal to the post fairly prepared, when so much could not have been 8o PREPARATION. accomplished in any other way. (It is the custom, I should here observe, to keep horses in the stable the day after the physic has operated ; but if time be of consequence and the weather fine, I should not object to their being gently exercised for an hour on that day). On the other hand, with horses that have to run shortly, the work must be continuous at all risks. The necessary amount for each horse varies with the age and constitution of the animal. A gross feeder would naturally require more than a delicate one, of either sex ; and bad feeders especially should not be overdone with work. In open weather, if the two-year-olds (for to them I shall for a short time direct my remarks), after walking a few minutes feel chilly from a bracing atmosphere, they should be trotted to assist circula- tion. When thus made comfortable they miay, after walking some time, be cantered, and this may be repeated at shoit intervals ; and afterwards they may be galloped about half or three quarters of a mile, gradually increasing the speed as they approach the finish of their preparation. Occasionally they may be set off side by side with an old horse, and made to go the whole course, as well as they can all the way; but they must not be abused, or even frightened by the sight of whip or stick. More should be done with the handling of the reins and the use of the heels than by any other mode of urging them to their utmost speed ; whilst just before the finish the young ones should be allowed to pass the old ones, if they could not do so earlier. The commencement of the gallop teaches them the way to set off quickly ; an important part of the tuition of all two-year- olds ; and the finish, by passing the old ones, inspires them with confidence attainable only in this way. This is most desirable ; for if, becoming faint-hearted, they once lose THE PROPER HOURS FOR EXERCISE. 8i their natural courage, by racing with those they know to be their superiors, it is seldom regained, and they thus often become rogues, and worse than useless. With regard to sweating, whatever may have been the plea for its practice with older horses, it should never have been used, I am convinced, with the two-year-old. The hour at which exercise should be taken is important. In winter the weather may regulate it ; and almost any time of the day will do, so long as the horses get sufficient — an hour and a half or two hours. But in the summer it is very different ; for in hot and dry weather exercise should not be commenced later than 5 a.m., and after an hour and a half or two hours the horses may be taken in, and in the afternoon be again brought out at 4 o'clock for three quarters of an hour or an hour. The advantages of early exercise are obvious. The ground, in the first place, is much better in the morning. It has been rendered more elastic by the night's dew, and so is condu- cive to the growth of the feet ; and the atmosphere being cooler, horses do their work with less fatigue, and escape the immoderate sweating which, under the broiling heat of a midsummer's sun, with ground as hard as a turnpike road, would be likely to break some down and enervate others, if it did not cause prostration only to be overcome by a long rest, I feel it needful to dwell on this point ; to impress indelibly upon the mind of the reader the absolute necessity of adherence to this rule in fine weather. The little extra trouble it may entail should be reckoned as nothing when regard is had to the compensating advantages ; one of which, not previously named, is the alternate and more equal division of time allotted to rest and labour. Now the time of dressing and feeding is included in that G 82 PREPARATION. of rest. Thus if you exercise at 5 A.M. the horses rest from 8 until 4 P.M. and from 5 P.M. until 4 A.M., the latter a space of eleven hours. Whereas if your horses exercise at 8 A.M., they are brought in at ii A.M. and rest until 5 A.M. the next morning, a spell of eighteen hours, being an additional rest of seven hours, or more than the fourth part of a day — a division between rest and labour in my opinion excessive. Moreover by the former practice the stables are opened to receive the fresh and pure air twice a day instead of once ; whilst your horses are enjoying themselves inhaling the same on the breezy downs, an additional incentive to the better enjoy- ment of their evening repast, when "good digestion waits on appetite, and health on both." To this point my observations have had special reference to two-year-olds. The older horses will now claim our attention. Their work is of necessity similar in most respects, but there are a few variations which should not be lost sight of In the first place, it will be well to remind the reader that after a long winter old horses get very fat, as indeed do most others, even fatter than appearance would denote ; and in this state great care is requisite in commencing their spring preparation. The ground then is heavy, and in anything but a fit state for galloping ; yet the horses are fresh, and the boys falling off in all directions. From a long-continued frost the time is getting on for active work ; and with such incitement the trainers are often tempted to work the horses in an unfit state, commencing too suddenly and imposing tasks too hard, resulting in injury. This temptation is un- doubtedly the primary cause of many a breakdown; but whether from accumulation of fatty matter inside, or the want of faster exercise than can be given in the DANGER OF EXCESSIVE WORK WHEN UNFIT. 83 circumscribed limits of a straw bed, I know not : probably both have their influence. The result, however, is a fact there is no denying ; for unfortunately there have been too many proofs, one of which should be sufficient to rout a thousand speculative theories to the contrary. On the first day on which the horses leave the straw bed for the downs, they should have an hour's exercise in the former before leaving for their canter. This quiets the horses, and helps to keep the boys on their backs ; for if taken from the stable direct to the exercise downs, many would get loose, and probably hurt themselves by galloping too far, or by some accident. Sometimes after a week's gentle work the legs will fill. In this case they should have a dose of physic, and indeed any that are very big should have some before doing more work. When trained for short courses, the amount of work is very much the same as that recommended for two-year-olds j but for longer courses more time and longer gallops would be required to complete the preparation. After the usual amount of walking and trotting exercise, as previously described, they must first gallop a mile, gradually increasing the distance to the required length, whether it be two, three, or four miles. It would be the excess of folly to say how often they should do this, or how fast, as this would entirely depend on the individual horse's condition at the commence- ment of training, and his constitution. Nor should the state of the ground be totally ignored. All these things can only be ascertained by experience and personal inspection, and unremitting observation of the progress made from day to day. On broad principles only we can say the animal should be made to go steadily a short course for a week or two, till his condition enables him with ease to go faster ; then the G 2 84 PREPARATION. whole length of the course may be galloped at better speed, and on alternate days at half speed, until he is as fit and as well as he can be. The signs of this fitness I shall endeavour to describe in a following chapter. As a rule, the training of the yearling is commenced by steadily cantering two or three times daily short distances up to half a mile. At this age they should not be allowed in exercise to exceed nor in trial to go less than this distance. I am aware that both Mr. Scott and Mr. Forth were of opinion that a distance of three furlongs is sufiicient. But as against their authority there are many that think with me, not least of them my father. He never, that I know of, tried a less distance ; and certainly no one tried with greater accuracy or more complete success. It may appear strange, but it is nevertheless true, that some horses as yearlings stay well three furlongs, but never get beyond that distance ; just as we see horses which, as two-year-olds, stay the half mile, but never get beyond it when older. But this part of our subject may be more thoroughly investigated in its proper place. It is well perhaps to say here that the yearling wears no clothing in the stable until January, when he also wears it at exercise. In frosty weather the yearlings are exercised with the old horses on the straw bed, and when the weather breaks up they should go on the downs. Reverting to the subject of preparation in general, I should not forget to reiterate that unceasing watchfulness is absolutely necessary. From the first canter to the last gallop the condition of the animal must be carefully noted from day to day. Nor does our care cease here ; for even in trials, at the eleventh hour some defect may be seen which if speedily rectified may bring the desired success. Appearances are deceitful, and those who trust in them alone will assuredly be GEi\"ERy\L PRIXCIPLES TO BE FOLLOWED. 85 disappointed. It is the knowledge of the work that horses have done and of what remains for them to do, and the time left in which to do it to complete their preparation, that is essential ; never forgetting that it is safer to stop horses in their work from prematureness, than to force two days work into one in order to make them fit. But although a dangerous practice, yet in extreme cases, and under uncon- trollable circumstances, I would rather have recourse to this than knowingly run a horse unfit. No horse should be worked off his appetite, nor indeed should he be without one, for this only tends to weaken in- stead of strengthening him. Rest is here the only remedy ; not a total cessation of work, but a diminution of it till the return of appetite, and then the requisite work may be given, whatever that may be. The legs and feet of each animal should be carefully looked to every day, as named under stable management. If any- thing is amiss with them, practically your horse may as well be dead for the time being. Those with sound feet and legs, and in other respects well, can scarcely do too much work in these lenient days of training; for if horses are not thoroughly and often extended in their gallops, you may rest assured they will be so in their races ; and in the latter when near home and apparently winning they may be often beaten by worse animals than themselves for the want of sufficient v/ork in this respect. A great deal of course depends upon the last week or two. At this time they should not be spared in their exercise, but vigorously galloped. Sometimes, even the last few gallops do wonders ; so much so, that by their fulfilment or neglect you complete or leave unfinished a preparation, by the result of which you gain or lose a reputation. I must not omit to mention that great care should be taken 86 PREPARATION. to keep the horses warm whilst at exercise during the cold and windy month of March, by additional clothing, or walk- ing them at a brisk pace ; or if this be not sufficient a canter may be judiciously given at short intervals, and after the gallop another steady canter. Otherwise they arc apt, if not certain, to take cold and be laid up the greater and best part of the summer. These remarks apply with equal force to wet weather. If horses arc not allowed to dawdle about, but kept moving whilst out almost to perspiring heat, and brought in comfortably warm, they will seldom catch cold from being kept out in such weather, or indeed take any other illness. On the other hand, as sure as they are allowed to mope about, or, worse by far, allowed to stand still, shivering, with their coats reversed, under the supposed friendly shelter of a hedge or plantation during the continuance of the storm, so sure are they to cough and have other ailments; brought about, I need not say, by mismanagement, aiming more at the comfort of the boys than the benefit of the horses. This practice should not be permitted under any pretence whatever. A striking proof of the harmlessness of exercising in wet weather may be given in the case of Joe Miller. For three consecutive weeks it rained incessantly, during which time he never missed a gallop, nor felt the worse for the deluge, as was shown by the ridiculous case with which he won the Ascot Cup, when a part of the lower side of the course was submerged. His victory, indeed, as was abundantly proved both before and after, Avas less due to his own capacity than to the lack of exercise on the part of some of his opponents. But if no stress of weather, fog perhaps excepted, would prevent my galloping daily a horse near his race, ordinarily, in cold, wet and foggy weather, I let the bulk of the horses remain in the stables, but for not more than a couple of days SUNDAY LABUUR NOT NECESSARY. 87 at a time. Fog, as I have hinted, I do not Hke, because, if very thick, there is danger. I can relate a most remarkable instance which happened during a trial at Newmarket on a Good Friday, and which comes to me from the highest authority. On a beautiful spring morning, after the "dolls and chains " had been removed to allow the horses room to pass through, in galloping " across the flat," just before starting The Two Middle Miles, or immediately afterwards, a most dense fog very quickly came down ; the jockeys went out of the course and all fell over the chains and dolls that were left standing, with such terrible effect that some of the horses and jockeys were killed, and others so dreadfully shaken that they never got over it, the surviving horses being rendered useless. I daresay there are trainers and others living who remember this occurrence and may have known both the jockeys and the names of the horses. And this story brings one to the question of Sunday work. As with sweating so with this practice, I have not taken a horse to exercise on a Sunday this last quarter of a century. Ovid says, "Alternate rest and labour, long endure;" and my dislike to Sunday labour is not my only reason for abolish- ing it ; I think to do so benefits my horses. Since 1850, up to which time it was on the increase, sweating has gone out of fashion, and so, too, I am happy to say of late years, has Sunday labour. I may adduce here a few reasons for Sunday rest. First, then, I believe it is essentially necessary that horses in strong work should have absolute rest periodically allowed to them to recruit their wasted strength. Why should the racehorse be the only animal in captivity doomed to perpetual slavery, knowing no rest .'' lie is worked till he becomes as stale as 88 PREPARATION. some unfortunate hack whose only release from the burden of perpetual toil is death. Agricultural horses, carriage and other horses, and even the poor and illiterate costermongers' donkeys, are exempt from work on Sunday ; and by such a benevolent action their owners show themselves greatly in ad- vance of those who gallop their horses on that day against the dictates of reason and the usages of modern civilized society. And what after all is the incentive ? It is the fashion, that is all. One does it, and another must follow in his footsteps, or be thought singular or affected by his neighbours. But stronger reasons than this should be given for its continuance, or the objectionable practice should be at once and for ever abolished. It may furthermore be remarked that the cab horse, working but six days a week, is capable of doing, and does, more work than the horse working the whole seven. This, which I have from a very good source, and thoroughly believe, should be sufficient proof in favour of Sunday rest, even if nothing else could be said for it, to induce owners to keep their horses in the stable one day a week. In wet weather they are kept in sometimes for days together ; a sufficient guarantee that the one day's rest would do no injury. As one instance of marked consideration in this respect I may mention that the late Lord Ribblesdale came all the way from the Falls of Niagara to see his horses tried. He arrived here (Woodyates) late on Saturday night, with the intention of seeing them tried the following day. But though he had only that day at his disposal, having to leave early on Monday morning to return to his ship, which had merely called at Southampton for forty-eight hours, he re- frained from doing so, and saw them in the stable only. I tried the horses on the Monday and sent him the result. THE TURKISH BATH. 89 Whilst here his lordship had requested me to put his horses in the Grand Prix of Paris. He had said he saw no harm in running them on Sunday. But this was not my view, as his lordship knew, and consequently he countermanded the entries in a letter in which he said that he concluded on mature consideration, " What might be right for the French people to do in their own country^ was not quite the thing for Englishmen to do out of or in theirs." Personally, I do not work my horses either on Christmas- day or Good Friday ; a matter of prejudice some will say. Still I do not like to do so ; and although, of course, I do not mean to assert that such a thing as the fearful accident I have described as happening at Newmarket on the latter day might not have happened on any other day, it would not at all events have happened when it did, had the horses been in the stable, and probably would not have occurred on a subsequent day. As a matter of fact I have never heard of any other accident so appalling during a trial. I hope I have said sufficient to influence those who practise Sunday labour to abandon it. Cardinal Wolsey is made to say, " And nature does require her times of preservation, which perforce I, her frail son amongst my brethren mortal, must give my tendence to." The lesson should not be thrown away. One other usage in stables, a modern innovation, fortu- nately shortlived, and now completely abandoned, I will just glance at in conclusion. We are not altogether free from the weaknesses of our Transatlantic brethren, who, great in ideas, indulge in theories that momently allure only to make the culminating disappointment the greater. Rather than be content with the numerous practical facts at hand for our guidance, to avoid one extreme we rush headlong into another. Sweating being condemned as too severe, we must 90 PREPARATION. perforce abandon the practice for one more trying — the Turkish bath. The Turkish bath, in many instances beyond the endurance of the human race, many having succumbed to its enervating influence, has proved to horses httle short of annihilation. This tendency is, as I have said, a national faihng. We have Mr. Darwin's theory, arising out of Lord Monboddo's idea. His lordship said over a century ago, " that in some countries the human species have tails like other beasts," and traces monkeys up to men. The wonderful rope trick was known many years ago, though introduced as something new by the Davenport Brothers, and ascribed to spiritualism. The great horse-tamer Mr. Rarey, again, introduced as the greatest novelty and successfully palmed off on us a trick long before both known and forgotten. These, on their introduction, had their believers ; and the Turkish bath, like other wild and utterly chimerical schemes, found its followers who, only when too late, saw the folly ot their credulity. In various parts stables were turned into horse-baths, or places were built for the purpose of carrying out the sweating process with all its adjuncts. There was, however, a strong feeling adverse to such an experiment, and comparatively speaking few subjected their horses to the ordeal. As no benefit followed its use it was speedily given up ; not however until several horses had died and others had suffered severely from the process. POPULAR NOTIONS OF FITNESS. 91 CHAPTER XL PREPARATION {continued). The public and their estimate of fitness — The duty imposed on the trainer — Evils of running unprepared — Running "big" and "light" — How Mr. John Scott beguiled the public ; instances : The Era, Michael Scotl — My father's system and instances — Inferences drawn from the training of the pedestrian — Prejudice of owners for " big " condition — Example in my own experience of "big" and "light" preparation — Severe preparation not necessarily harmful — Evils of "big" condition — Work done in old times — Instances in support of my theory : Fugitive, Historian, Oxonian — Successes with my stable in past times ; list of the stakes won, and of the winners ; horses pre- pared by me and subsequently sold, and prices ; their subsequent perform- ances — Abuse of severe preparation ; horses run too often —Comparison of two- and three-year-old running : Weatherbound and Dulcibella — Reasons for my insistence on " light " preparation — Any general rule necessarily imperfect — Farming and training compared. No trainer, even the most sanguine, can ever hope to bring his horse to the post in a condition to please all parties. His employers are satisfied seldom, and other people never. Before every race they are too big, like a bullock, or too poor, or galloped or starved to death. But the winner in whatever condition is unreservedly praised. There are two things we as trainers have to guard against : the first is, the displeasure of our employers : the second, the running of our horses unfit — both unwelcome things ; but of the two, rather than do the latter knowingly, I would submit as cheerfully as I could to the former. If you run half fit, 92 PREPARATION. you please every one before the race ; and if from superiority you win, the victory is attributed to condition, which is highly praised though in reality non-existent. But if you are beaten for lack of condition, the horse will not unlikely pass to another, who, training him regardless of popular preju- dice, will make a marked improvement in the animal, and you not only lose your horse and your employer, but above both, and what is most dear to you, your reputation. On the other hand, if you train your horse and suffer defeat, pleasing no one but the owner, some wiseacre buys him with the inten- tion of making Imn better. He makes him look better ; but when it comes to racing it is decisively shown there is no improvement ; that in fact he runs worse — a result that helps to make your reputation as a judicious and fearless trainer. I ask, would any sane man run his horse light, when he by any known process could be made to run as well big } Most certainly he would not be so silly. Some may and do, in spite of public opinion, run their horses light for the best of all possible reasons — they know they run so best. There are others that knowingly do the reverse. The great " Wizard of the North," as he was facetiously called by " Argus " and other sporting chroniclers of the day, knew horses could not run when fat. Yet he tickled the popular taste, in short, hoodwinked the public, and made it believe horses run best in that condition, although nothing could be more fallacious than the conclusion thus arrived at. In reality the horses he used to run big, were those that were bad, or were supposed to be so. His good horses he took care to run light as other experienced trainers did. Of two-year- olds, the lightest I probably ever saw run was Dervish at Epsom, and of three-year-olds West Australian at Doncas- tcr ; and yet, in spite of their ragged appearance, they both MR. JOHN SCOTT'S PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE. 93 won easily. The great trainer may have had occasionally his own motives which fatness assisted ; but I conceive the chief one was to please the public — a predilection which in some cases forced him to part with good horses simply because run out of condition. Two or three cases may be named to show either that he was not quite proof against public opinion or that he mistook the merits of his own horses. Adamas was lost in this way whilst running in a Selling Plate to be sold for £\o. In the following year he won the City and Suburban and was second for the Derby. TJie Era was also claimed out of a Selling Plate and afterwards won the Goodwood Cup ; whilst MicJiacl Scotfs running was positively wretched both as a two- and three-year-old. At the latter age he ran seven races and in many carried the lightest weight — mostly in bad com- pany; yet he was unable to win one, or even get placed whilst in the hands of Mr, Scott. This worst of all brutes then passes into other hands, and within a month commences his successful career by winning the Great North Riding Handi- cap at Northallerton, and adding six more races consecutively to his list of winnings that year. He therefore loses seven races while at Malton and wins seven after leaving it. He was afterwards sold for a large sum to go abroad. What would be said if such an occurrence took place with any one that professed to train his horses light .-' My father always trained his horses light, saying, " Show me a better plan, and I will gladly follow it." But as none was forth- coming, he continued in the same way with the greatest suc- cess. In no single case but that of Toothillwz.s any horse made better after leaving his stable ; and this exception was clearly traceable to the ground, as it afterwards appeared that TootJiill could not move on hard turf in such a state as 94 PREPARATION. the ground was whilst the horse was with my father. For he won directly afterwards, and whilst in the same condition as on leaving Danebury, for it rained heavily in the short interval before the improvement was shown. On the other hand, the benefit of his system was exhibited in the improve- ment oi Airy, Pounce, and many other horses. In no single instance, however, can I call to mind that any horse was made better in the hands of the great Whitewall trainer, who always professed he adopted the same method of preparation. And if he could not show the superiority of big condition over light, I may ask who can } For no one ever had more chances. I have no faith in a fat racehorse or a burly pedestrian, and nothing will, without proof, lead me to think otherwise than that both are gigantic mistakes.^ I know my theory and ^ Man, as a pedestrian, has to undergo great stretches of endurance, his treat- ment being analogous in many respects to that of the horse, as I have described it. Briefly epitomised, it is thus given by the author of "Aberdeen : " — "After taking physic twice he commences his training; walks and runs about twenty miles a day. He rises at 5 a.m., runs half a mile at the top of his speed, uphill, walks six miles at a moderate pace, and at 7 breakfast ; walks six miles after at a moderate pace, and at 12 lies in bed for half an hour. Then he walks four miles and returns to dinner, immediately after which he runs half a mile at the top of his speed, winding up with another six miles walking exercise before returning home. Thus prepared for three or four weeks he takes a four-mile sweat, running in flannel at the top of his speed the first thing in the morning, proceeding with his usual work after. Added to which he amuses himself by playing at cricket and similar games." If the violent exercise taken after a heavy meal and the excessive speed of his sweats be excepted, the method of his preparation to render him fit to run is pretty much the same as that of the horse, and where it differs I cannot agree witli it. The book further says : — " It is as difficult to run a mile at the top of one's speed as to walk a hundred : and he is fit, if he can do the first well, to accomplish the latter." Moreover, it says: "It takes some months to complete. Crib weighed 16 st. at the com- mencement of his preparation, and lost, in five weeks, two stone, being further reduced to 13 st. 5 lbs., having had three sweats in the last month, and walked and run thirty miles a day, besides exercising himself in other ways." Poor Crib, I think, from such severe work, could have been little more thnn a PREJUDICE OF OWNERS FOR BIG CONDITION. 95 system have been always condemned : not by thinking men, but by those only "who think true what they wish to be so " — the fitness to run of a fat horse. As do men look in the circumstances of Crib, given at foot, so do horses in the eyes of their owners when first they see them fit to run ; having, be it understood, never set eyes upon them since the day when, enveloped in fat, they left their own stables for those of the trainer. At this sudden and great change employers often express not only surprise but dissatisfaction ; forgetting or not knowing how necessary the change is — as I hope has been proved by what I have said. From Mr. Copperthwaite I may glean an amusing anecdote to the point. He tells us that a friend of his did not know his own horse after a month's training, and said to the trainer, "Why, sir, this is not the half of him !" and added, " I had better secure the remaining half whilst I can ! " And did so, removing the horse there and then. It is not often that gentlemen volunteer to instruct the trainer in his business ; yet I have been requested to train my horses big — requests which I may say virtually amounted to positive orders, and as such were faithfully obeyed. " The late Mr. Scott made a practice of training his horses big, and why could you not do so .'' " was a remark once made to me. " Simply because I know they run better light," was my reply. On one of these occasions a trial was made. The horses arrived, as many living noblemen and others can testify, in the most splendid condition, full of vigour, as round as apples, and coats shining like stars. At Ascot an shadow of his once great self, yet, from what follows in the narrative (which it is not necessary to repeat here), he appears to have never been better, as success attended his eff nts. 96 PREPARATION. opportunity was given to them of showing their supposed improved form and of displaying their luxurious appearance in the (supposed) very pink of condition, leaving, as was said, nothing to be desired to insure the most splendid success, but a good start and no accident. All seven that ran were disgracefully beaten, one only obtaining even a third place. I should mention that I had another horse with me about whose training there was no order, who won the Queen's Vase, and it is almost needless to add that before the race his condition was as much abused as that of the others was lavishly praised. Now all this was not business. It was simply a useless and costly repetition of an experiment which had signally failed over and over again to my own knowledge, and had been tried with the same fatal results by my ancestors. In order to prevent another fiasco I was requested to run the same horses as I liked at Goodwood seven weeks afterwards. On arriving there their condition was thought much too light ; but the result of their respective races will give the most convincing proof that they were not— and show the superiority of light or (as I think) well-trained horses over those that are only thought fit to run when big. One of them won, beating a large field carrying 8 st. 4 lb., or 6 lb. more than he carried at Ascot. Another carried off the Molecombe after a severe race with a mare hitherto considered invincible, and also won again afterwards. Whilst the third beat a large field for another race, and followed up her success by winning again. The other two were placed, being only just beaten. Now to do bare justice to this most important part of the subject, and to proceed still further and show not only (as I have done) that horses are better for racing purposes for the time being when light, but also that they arc not the worse EVILS OF "BIG" CONDITION. 97 for it after, and retain their form not merely for weeks or months but years, I will give one instance, which I think should be sufficient to establish the truth of my argument. Three of the horses that ran at Goodwood ran afterwards at Ayr in six races, winning five. Other stakes were likewise sub- sequently won by the others that ran there. Mr. H, Robinson used to say, " I like my horses to run big with plenty of work." So do I, and I should like to know who does not ; but the thing is not possible. What do we work our horses for, but to try and remove the fatty matter ? Unless this be done you may as well keep them in the stable, for a " fat," or if the term be preferred, a " big " horse must tire. It is not in the nature of things that he should do otherwise. He is not only a little big to all intents and purposes, which is clearly seen ; but he is internally burdened with a weight of fatty incumbrance, his breathing is obstructed by adipose matter which rightlv can only be removed by work. Without going so far as to say that after a certain period of preparation is reached before completion, every pound lighter the animal is by that amount he is so much the better, yet it is clearly an approximation to the truth of the principle I advocate ; for what does not assist progression retards it. A severe pre- paration, some will say, is the cause of breaking down many horses that would otherwise stand and run for many races. This is a proposition I am not exactly prepared to admit or deny. Historian ran under a severe preparation till ten years old ; while others we see are continually breaking down when young under a more lenient system. But, for argument's sake — only admit as a fact that some horses do so break down, yet surely in doubtful cases it is far better for them to break down at home before you have backed them, than in the race, with the mortification of a double disappointment, losing the race and n 98 PREPARATION. your money, besides the unpleasantness of hearing in various quarters the invidious remarks made as to your horse's condi- tion, and the questionable purposes for which he was started. But that something beyond my bare assertion may evi- dence that horses under, as it is called, a severe system, can run many races in one year and for many consecutive years, I shall proceed to lay before the reader a few indubitable facts in support of it. In enumerating a few of the races won by horses thus trained, it must be borne in mind that racing twenty or thirty years ago was very different to what it is now. Then, a ^loo plate was thought no mean prize, pr20 at head quarters brought a field to the post ; and ^^50 or ^100 added was considered a munificent donation — one to be keenly contested for. Now we have ^^500 given to many of our races, and even ^1,000 ; prizes which help to swell the aggregate winnings of owners (although to a certain extent the money comes out of their own pockets first, in the shape of three and five guinea entrances to the fund). To win a race in those days, when heats were allowed and stakes were only of a few hundred pounds value, would be something like winning three or four races now, and as many thousands in money. I mention this that a fair estimate of their relative value may be made ; because it was in those early days that many of my victories were achieved. My first racehorse, Fugitive^ commenced by winning all the three races that he started for at Plymouth and Tavistock, and the total stakes won did not, I think, amount to ;^200 together. Historian ran till he was ten years old, and Schism till after she was aged, notwithstanding the early age at which she made her appearance in public. Oxonian ran till twelve years old, and is still running ; whilst Vex, and a host of others SUCCESSES WITH MY STABLE IN PAST TIMES. 99 too numerous to mention, ran many years successfully, and left ofif as sound as they were the day they were foaled. They ran various courses, from three furlongs to three miles and five furlongs, two-year-olds winning courses of three miles. In these they won stakes numbering considerably over 400 (besides others of less significance), amounting in the aggregate to the value, exclusive of the minor races, of over i^ 1 00,000 sterling. Heats, as I have before mentioned, and long courses, in those days added greatly to the enormous amount of work horses had to do to accomplish such feats ; yet, as far as I know, no more were broken down than usually succumb to a more lenient treatment in the present day. That some estimate of the merits of the animals they had to meet may be formed, I summarize at foot a few of the races they won.^ As to the performers, I could give a lengthy list ; but I must be content to cite a few, and give a brief survey of their performances whilst with me ; and I may add that after leaving me, their names were not again included in the list of winners on the flat. They were disposed of in a variety of Avays ; some by public auction, others by private contract, while some few were claimed out of selling races, or bought 1 Handicaps. — Chester Cup, Cambridgeshire, Royal Hunt Cup, and Somerset- shire Stakes, three times each ; the Metropolitan, Steward's Cup at Goodwood, Great Eastern Handicap, Goodwood Stakes, and Northampton^^hire Stakes, twice each ; the Portland Plate, the Csesarewitch, the Chesterfield Cup, the Steward's Cup at Chester, the Doncaster and the Lincoln Handicaps, and the Newmarket, Lincoln, Goodwood, Doncaster, and Stockbridge Nurseries, the Shrewsbury Handicap, besides most of the lesser Handicaps. Among two-year-old victories may be mentioned the New Stakes at Apcot, and Molecombe and Lavant Stakes, and Mottisfont twice each ; the Findon and Ham Stakes, and Criterion, as well as the following weight-for-age races at three years old and upwards : the Oaks, Good- wood Derby (twice), Queen's Vaf^e at Ascot (twice). Emperor's Vase, Ascot and Goodwood Cups, the Two Thousand Guineas (twice), Royal Stake.s, and other races of less importance, including the Yearling Stakes at Shrewsbury. II 2 loo PREPARATION. at auction after winning them. Thus be it remembered, they were not sold as old horses worn out : but as two-year-olds, such as La Pique and Fortune Teller filly, who, like many others with me, were never beaten ; the rest as three-year-olds and at other ages, sound and in the prime of life, having won a great number of races of most descriptions, including the Somersetshire Stakes, the Goodwood Derby, Cup, and Stakes, Metropolitan Stakes, Royal Hunt Cups, Royal Stakes, and the Two Thousand Guineas. I append the names of a few.^ Surely out of this list some of them would have improved and done wonders after leaving my hands, if they had been treated on a wrong principle whilst in them ? At all events, if they had subsequently theoretically a better -^training, not one of them retained his or her form. I am aware that in mentioning this I lay myself open to the charge of that self-praise wdiich is truly no recommendation. But I trust the reader will not so misconceive what is simply a narrative of events, having for its object intelligibility and not ostentation. But it must not be understood from my strenuous advocacy of severe training, that horses in my opinion cannot be over- done. I know to the contrary. I have myself trained horses that when fit have been tried so often to ascertain their own form and that of others, that they have been as stale as the proverbial post-horse and as slow as his rider. Yet this proves nothing against the system ; they are but the occasional exceptional cases which go to prove the rule. It is not the training itself, but the abuse of it, in running them so often 1 Casth- Hill, Benefactress, Foitime rdlcr filly, PJiilippa, Jcco, Sir Charles, Con- fidence, Valuer, Jied^c, Starter, La Piijue, Miss Williams, Benefactor, Cedrie, Conductor, Cedrie the Saxon, Pitchfork, Allie Slade, Btigler, Promised Land, Plunkett colt, Leah colt, Albanus, Cavtelia, and many otliers. TWO AND THREE-YEAR-OLD RUNNING CONTRASTED. loi when trained and trying them so continually, that deserves censure, and should be abandoned: Johnny Armstrong dind Sultan, the only old horses that I remember ever giving a high price for, did not suffer from the change of treatment if they had been previously leniently trained. The former beat most of the horses of his day at Newmarket ; whilst Snltan won the Cambridgeshire as a three-year-old very easily, carrying 7 stone 6 lbs. Facts are more telling than arguments. I may therefore refer to the horses once under my care, and afterwards sold, and trained by the most eminent trainers, which never won a solitary race for their new owners. Of these the names and the prices paid for them will be found at foot.^ It will be to the point to compare, here, the running of Weatherbound and Diilcibella as two- and three-year-olds. Weatherbound as a two-year-old was a selling-plater, and as such won two httle races. Having been previously beaten seven times, her selling price was only £\o. As a three-year- old she suffered defeat no less than twelve times, only winning two little races. When she came to me the same year, she ran four times, and among her victories maybe mentioned the Cambridgeshire Stakes, and division of the Sefton Handicap, running well for two other races ; and she continued her successful career the following year. Didcibellds form as a two-year-old was simply wretched. She was placed last in a field of six at Newmarket, and in the same hands ran little better in the early part of the following year — Cape Fljaivay, a very moderate horse, giving her 171b. and no one knows what beating, whilst in other and worse 1 Promised Land, £2,2,^0; Cedric, ;^i,lOo; Sutherland, ,^l,coo; Tradiicer, ;^i,50o; Conductor, ^1,000; Cedric the Saxon, £1,000 ; Albanus, £^00 ; Schism, ^1,500. All these and many others shared the same fate as Benefactor, never winning a race after leavinrj me. I02 PREPARATION. company she ran equally badly. Yet this worst of all per- formers comes to me, and a few months after these wretched performances, wins the Ccesarewitch in a common canter by ten lengths, giving weight to both the second and third horses — conceding to the latter, a four-year-old, 1 1 lbs. If we con- sider the way in which this race was won, it may safely be assumed to be the shortest time race on record, being given in BeW s Life as 4 minutes i second. The reader may think that in this long chapter I have dwelt too much on the advantage of training horses light, especially as the matter has already been dealt with at p. 47 et seq. in the chapter on "Condition." There, however, it was intended to show^ the difference between horses " big " and *' light " ; here, how to prepare them " light," and the results of the preparation. But my faith in my system, trebly tried as it has been by practical results, will, I trust, warrant my insistence on this one point. I can hardly believe that an unprejudiced mind would refuse to believe, after the experiences here set forth, that a horse will run better light than big. There are cases, I admit, of horses running well when big, and of improving year by year when so treated ; but they are too few and far between to recommend such a system for general adoption. I do not say, in spite of all I have adduced, that the system of training I recommend is perfection ; on the other hand, I do not admit that any other is. But I venture to submit that it is clearly the best, and if so, it ought to be fol- lowed. In truth no one can attain perfection, and for venial faults excessive blame should not be awarded ; for trainers, however fortunate they may be in individual cases, arc fallible like all human beings. We see an analogy to this in hus- bandry. The agriculturist who mismanages one field of TRAINING AND FARMING COMPARED. 103 many, or treats injudiciously this or the other one of his hve stock, is not to be unreservedly censured ; because to a certain extent such cases are unavoidable. But he who from inability or unpardonable neglect, such as want of cleanliness or mismanagement, suffers his fields to become sterile and his herds to be decimated by preventible disease, cannot offer as an excuse that a field here or there is flourishing, or that this or the other animal is in blooming health. And if in farming, concerning which hundreds of works have been written by scientific men, and for the instruc- tion of whose followers colleges have been built, so many acknowledged difficulties present themselves ; what must be the difficulties that beset the trainer ! In our profes- sion we have no learned treatises ; no lectures on condi- tion; no teachers of the subtle art. It is a sealed subject, never discussed ; one on which nothing beyond a mere passing word has been written. Under such circumstances, to lay down clear rules is a task neither easy nor safe ; and infallibility cannot be looked for. Amongst trainers, then, the one who makes the fewest mistakes is most to be commended. No judge or general, no layman or divine, is perfect in knowledge. Knowledge is in fact progressive and progressing. The man who at a given time knows more than at the same time in the previous year, is in a fair way of attaining the knowledge he not only covets but deserves, be his merit or his station ever so humble or so exalted. " Reason," we read, " is progressive ; instinct is complete. Swift instinct leaps; slow reason feebly climbs." I04 PREPARATION. CHAPTER XII. PREPARATION {concluded) Horses differ in constitution — Treatment must be varied as necessary — Horses should not be run in public too often ; evils of the process — Fitness ; its i-igns indicated ; only to be achieved by perFeverance ; anecdote of the late Mr. R. Stephenson — In-and-out running considered, and examples — ^es^er &nd Char for a box of cigars. If we come to compare racing as it is and as it used to be, we shall fmd how vastly it has improved as a science and increased as a national pastime. In 1750, or thirty years before the first Derby was run, we find the races so numerically small that in order to make a volume recording the races of a respectable size, it was found necessary to add " Cooking " and a list of battles fought. The account of the first race given in this curious and interest- ing little volume I give verbatim. " Upon the 15th day of March (1749) the annual Sixteen Guineas Prize was run for RACING IN 1750. 235 at Kippling Coats (Yorkshire), as usual, for any weight 10 stone one heat, which prize was won by Mr. Holles's black g., Cliimney Sxvceper beating Mr, Osbaldestone's bay h., Mr. Watson's bay h., and Mr. Read's bay h." It was then the usual custom, it appears, to race from March till October and, as in the present day, there was a close time ; at all events, there was no racing in the other months, possibly because such a proceeding would have been against the prevailing taste or fashion. One race a day must surely have been scarcely worth the trouble of witnessing J yet they seldom had more. Beverley had four days racing made up of one race each day ; and Bury (Suffolk) held a three days' meeting with the like number, viz., one race daily, and Newmarket was content with about the same meagre sport — these races being mostly run in heats from one to four miles. This sort of sport, if it can be dignified by the name, must have been of a very dull and unappreciable character; for though the distance may have had to be traversed four or more times, and each heat been well contested before the race was finally won, it may sometimes have been decided by the first, followed by a walk over the course for the second. In the year 1750 I find it recorded, in the same work, that 450 horses ran, having 240 owners, a little less than two each; Lord Poltimore having the largest stud, consisting of 12, which secured him eight victories of the collective value of ;^588 \os., none of his horses having run more than twice, and only two so often. The 150 races run in that year ranged in value from 10 to 135 guineas, or an average of about £?>o 236 RACING, PAST AND PRESENT. each, bringing the sum total to about ;^i 2,000 for the whole racing season — about half the value of one stake run for nowadays. The whole amount run for in one recent year (1878) reached the enormous sum of £2i9^>'^49 4^- 0*=/. exclu- sive of matches, as given below in a tabulated form taken from the " Racing Circular." ^ In this respect racing seems to have made greater strides than in almost anything else ; for on comparing this sum with the i^ 12,000 that was run for in 1750, we shall find it to be more than thirty times as much as was run for in that year. It is perhaps needless to say that the rapid and gigantic strides which the national sport has made in recent years, would teach us falsely should they lead us to suppose that ^ Table showing the amount of money added to races of different distances in Great Britain and Ireland, in 1878, and the amount won in stal^es, including added money : — Added Money. ^ s. d. I s. d. Half a mile and under ^9)799 o o Ditto, selling races 12,540 o o • 32,339 o o Five furlongs, and under six 42,613 o o Ditto, selling races 25,877 o o 68,490 o o Six furlongs, and under a mile 26,766 o o Ditto, selling races 8,483 o o 35,249 o o A mile, and under a mile and a half . 47,735 10 o Ditto, selling races 5,355 o o 53,090 10 o A mile and a half, and under two ... 20,125 o o Ditto, selling races 1 50 o o 20,275 o o Two miles and upwards 15, 95° o o Ditto, selling races 100 o o 16,050 o o Total ^^225,493 10 o Of this sum ;^63,246 \\as given to two-year-old races, ;^I4,37I of which was for selling races, and ^11 5, 879 \os. was given to handicaps. Ireland contributed ^^9,01 5 of the total amount, and Scotland ;^7, 192. 'Ihe total value of stakes won, calculated according to Rule XI. (iii.) cxchisive of niatche.-;, was ^"39 1,049 ¥• CHANGES IN THIS CENTURY. 237 man's interest in his noble servant and friend, the horse, is any new thing. The horse has from time immemorial been thought much of, and, it may be, has been in ages long past more truly appreciated than he is in our day. We read that as far back as A.D. 930, the German Emperor, Hugh the Great, sent a present to King Athelstan of " running horses ; " from which we may conclude that they were highly prized and jorobably scarce and costly. At a little later date, we find the Saxon King giving orders that no horses should be sent abroad for sale or other purposes, except as royal pre- sents. So the date of the Germans keeping horses may be coeval with that of the Saxons, if not earlier. In D'Israeli's " Curiosities of Literature," I find racing alluded to when Mr, Fitz Stephen, in his account of London, describes Smithfield as a " field where every Friday there is a celebrated rendez- vous of fine horses brought hither to be sold." The writer continues by giving an account of a horse race there, remark- able as being one of the earliest on record in this country ; from which it would appear that racing was engaged in by the inhabitants of London before, as far as it is known, it exifted at Newmarket. But however interesting these ancient records may be, the comparison of the turf as it is and as it was, is most to the purpose when made between the practice of a generation or two since and that of our own. In the days of yore, the Royal Plates were, after the Derby, Oaks and St. Leger, the most attractive and coveted prizes ; and so great was the rejoicing on winning one of them that the whole amount was often spent in commemorating the event in true Bacchanalian style. The start for a Race Meet- ing some 100 miles distant was commenced eight or ten days before, and the busmess usually took about three weeks in 238 RACING, PAST AND PRESENT. performance, including the return journey. To-day, double the distance may be done in as many days, thus economizing money and time. The late Mr. Scott used to send his horses to Leatherhead where they were located for several weeks for Epsom races. Probably after travelling so far on foot, this halt could scarcely have been well dispensed with. His horses, too, were usually sent from Whitewall to Pigburn before the Doncaster Meeting. This change probably was dictated from the superior nature of the one ground to the other. At both Leatherhead and Pigburn they used to take one sweat, as well as several gallops, before running their respective races at Epsom and Doncaster : now, through the instrumentality of the railroad, they are brought within a couple of days of one, and the other may easily be reached the same day ; and yet for aught I see, horses were as well trained in those days as now, and the worst horses made as much of. Mr. John Lawrence, in his work from which I have already had occasion to quote, gives some particulars of racing as it was in his time. " The Duke of Oueensberry," he says, " raced for over half a century and with unparalleled success in his matchmaking and betting accounts. His carriage match at Newmarket, the fame of which spread all over Europe, and his success- ful half and quarter mile matches with the Rocket gelding, gave him the reputation of an original in the projects of the turf. The success of his short races was supposed to depend materially on the presence of mind, keenness of eye and activity of Hell-fire Dick." This I have heard my f;ither say was the sobriquet of Mr. R. Goodson, the celebrated jockey of that day. Mr. Lawrence next sets out to describe extremely short races not exceeding a quarter of a mile, and then gives an account of one, in 1772, just PERFORMANCES OF MODERN HORSES. 239 the opposite ; Flying Childers beating Chanter, 10 stone each, 6 miles. I have seen matches run at Newmarket over the yearling course, 2 furlongs and 52 yards. Now we seldom run over t\v^o miles, or less than five furlongs, with horses older than two years old ; anything under that distance being proscribed by the rules of the Jockey Club. Races in those days were run for in heats, a custom long since abandoned ; and nowadays, as has been said, shorter courses are substituted for those of four miles, except in a very few instances. Fortunately a morbid desire no longer exists to witness such cruel feats of endurance as the one which took place over the old course at Stockbridge between Cavterton, Shoe String, Office Dyke, and Scoi'pion, when the last named died on the course, Shoe String ran herself blind, and the other two were never afterwards good for anything. There is a great contrast, too, in the number of times that a horse will run in the present day, as compared with the past. To-day a horse will be raced ten times as often as in the old times ; for we find that in 1750, only one horse in ten was raced a second time. What would Lord Portman and his contemporaries of that year, who were content to run each horse but once, or at the utmost twice a year, think of the performances of Fisherman and other horses of recent times ! Fisherman ran in one year, thirty-five times, and secured twenty-one victories, amongst them the Ascot Cup, two miles and a half, and immediately afterwards on the same day, the Queen's Plate about three miles ; and it does not appear that these or his other numerous races did him the shghtest harm. This feat, it should be remembered, was much more trying than to run heats in which the same horses only are met again and again. Isoline accomplished a similar task at Goodwood. These were good horses, if not like .if* 240 RACING, PAST AND PRESENT. Eclipse or Hig/ifljer, who were never beaten. Yet we must bear in mind that our system has shown us Crucifix and Bay Middleton who in their day knew no superior : and in our own times, Galopin and many others, who after years of racing retired from the turf without equals — names as much entitled to be enrolled in the "blazing scroll of fame " as those of the never-to-be forgotten worthies of old. Formerly gentlemen raced mostly for the pleasure of the sport, and not so much for gain ; as the total value in stakes to the most fortunate could barely be enough to repay their expenses. There are now thousands of men who con- stitute themselves racing authorities, that probably never owned a horse except a hack. Yet these men will bet their hundreds and hundreds on other people's horses : and if not right in their Utopian idea, soundly abuse everyone connected with such animals, to the great detriment of the turf. They forget that if two bet, one must lose : and no one can expect to hold all trump cards in every honest hand. If a betting man, from over speculation, bad luck, or dishonesty, fails to meet his engagements, he is, as he deserves to be, tabooed as a poltroon, and no more heard of But let a gentleman do the same and the turf is blamed for his accounts, and the matter is never forgotten nor forgiven by the enemies of racing. The turf is at present composed of all grades, from royalty to the humblest subject. There are rich commoners and poor noblemen ; the first racing for position, the others for wealth, which either or both may miss or attain, and be eulogised or condemned for the manner in which they do it. The safe keeping of the best interests of the turf is wisely entrusted to the rich and noble ; for the poor, though equally honest in all their dealings with it, are often the cause of CAREER OF THE MARQUESS OF HASTINGS. 241 much scandal from the misapprehension of facts connected with the deeds of others. Racing requires capital, and if this be supplied by usurers it is not difficult to foretell the destiny of those who engage in it. Yet it is not racing which, though it has to bear the blame, deserves it ; rather should the obloquy cast by the ruin of needy clients fall on the extortioner. One case amongst a few in which the patrons of the turf have escaped this destructive snare may be cited, I allude to that of the Marquess of Hastings. His difficulties com- menced, it can hardly be doubted, at that period so fatal to many of our aristocracy — whilst at college. With youth and inexperience as their only guides, young men are at that time, often fleeced by more insatiable sharks than they will ever meet on the turf; and from the clutches of these foes some never escape, subsisting on borrowed money, and as a last resource taking to racing. I do not wish to be under- stood to say that the nobleman in question was driven to these extremities ; but that he had suffered in this way to some extent, there can be no doubt, for he was never considered rich. His lordship commenced racing early in life, his horses being originally trained and run in the name of a friend. Subsequently he removed them to Danebury, and raced in his own name, quickly becoming the " lion " of the turf. At this period no one hesitated to pronounce him a lost man. " He was in the hands of usurers and beset with harpies of every description," it was said ; either the one or the other being enough to effect his speedy ruin, it will be allowed. But the most that could fairly be said against him was, that he may have borrowed money at extravagant rates of interest, and as truthfully it should be added, that he repaid it. His R 242 RACING, PAST AND PRESENT. horses were always run on strictly honest principles, and those in his name were all his own, until his health gave way and put an end to his short and extraordinary career. It may fear- lessly be averred that during this brief time, he revelled in his favourite amusement, spending enormous sums yearly, only to have them repaid with a good amount over, by way of in- terest. His gigantic expenses were all met and discharged, with most praiseworthy and business-like promptitude ; and his liberality was unbounded. And yet all this was done without the aid of a princely fortune ; for as I have before said, his means were limited and he started with a borrowed purse. And I am told by one of his lordship's most intimate friends (in whose arms he died) that he was richer when retiring from the turf than when he commenced racing. I shall now, by way of comparison, say a few words on the racing career of the late Earl of Derby ; a fearless and upright sportsman, as well as a justly celebrated statesman and orator. Two noblemen so thoroughly dissimilar as were these two in all that concerns racing, except in their unflinching in- tegrity, can scarcely be found. The Marquess hardly ever bred a horse, but bought his yearlings and old horses, of which he had not a few. The Earl bred, and never bought any young or old, keeping only a small stud. Moreover, he seldom ran them except at Goodwood, Doncaster, Epsom, and a few other places, and backed only his own, and then only for small sums. The Marquess did just the opposite. He backed his own often, and other people's, for very large stakes; and no place was too distant, nor race too small, for him to run a horse in it. Again, whilst the Earl was a millionaire, and the Marquess comparatively speaking poor, both raced with success. I can vouch for the fact, on the authority of a noble- man well known to the late Earl, that his stud never cost him EVILS OF USURY. 243 a guinea, but each and every year paid its own expenses, leaving a balance in his lordship's favour. And I suspect if other people kept as strict an account, we should hear of more winners and fewer losers on the turf, and discover that, after all, racing, like other amusements, may be indulged in in a less expensive form than is generally supposed — possibly at half the cost of hunting. Large and small studs I have shown can be made self-subsisting ; and what has before been done, may be done again. But it is not so with any other amusements. They are all more or less costly, and do not offer the remotest chance of returning to those who participate in them a guinea either of capital or expenditure. But racing, if regulated and kept within prescribed limits, has the advan- tage over all other field sports, that besides the pleasure derived from it, it is possible with a limited income to gain a fortune by it, if not in the first, then in subsequent years. The gist of the matter is, that betting rather than racing ruins the majority of gentlemen on the turf. This is the real cause of all great disasters ; and yet without it, it must be admitted racing could not be carried on. You wage an unequal war with the bookmakers who subsist by betting. They back all, you back but one ; and, besides other advan- tages, they never lay too long odds, whilst you never obtain fair odds. Yet on occasion a good bet may, and should be made, when you have a good horse of your own. On the other hand, it should be a rigid principle never to back other people's horses ; for of their merits you can know but little, and of their condition less. But, bad as is the result of indiscriminate betting, that of borrowing money from usurers is worse. Against such a revelation as that given at foot, who can stand ? Or what practices on the turf can compare with such extortion and R 2 244 RACING, PAST AND PRESENT. robbery ? ^ But the subject of betting generally will occupy our attention in the next chapter. ^ The following appeared in the Evening Standard, of Friday, March the 30th, 1877 : — " In the list of bankrupts figured a nobleman, heir to large estates, who had given bills for large amounts ; amongst other items stood conspicuously one of ^2,000, given to Mr. S D , vv^ho of course owed his friend, a Mr. K , money, and handed him the acceptance. The valuable con- sideration that was to be given for the bill was to consist of cigars ; but on exam- ination it turned out that only a box of the value of ^^5 was supplied to his lordship." SERVICES OF THE GENUINE BOOKMAKER. 245 CHAPTER XXIV. BETTING AS IT IS. Hints on betting — Value of the genuine bookmaker — His counterfeit and the amateur backer — Worthlessness of " tips " — The only safe grounds for backing a horse — Proneness to wagering ; the De Goncourt fraud — Making a backing- book — A race-course incident : fidelity of Inspector R ; changed career of two boon companions — The commissioner : evils of employing him ; how commissions are worked ; his dishonesty, plausibility, and easy gains ; authentic personal experiences in illustration ; F/iarsalus and the Metropolitan, Promised- Land and the Two Thousand, disappointment in the Goodwood Stakes ; the result examined. I HAVE shown, I think conclusively, that racing properly carried out, is very far from the ruinous business it is popularly supposed to be. I have also pointed out that to bet in reason, and on the proper occasions, is a legitimate and, as a rule, advantageous course on the part of the owner of racehorses. In this chapter I propose to give a few hints on betting to amateur backers generally, which may prove of service ; if not to teach them how to find the best horses to back, at least to know with whom they may safely bet. Bookmakers pursue a legitimate and lucrative trade by laying against all horses as they appear in the market at a certain price, and are indeed an important part of the turf, second only to owners of horses, and could as ill be spared. And of these, there are many men of standing and good 246 BETTING AS IT IS. position with whom the amateur may bet and be sure of receiving his money if he is fortunate enough to back the winner. But with the men who take the money before the race, and with others outside the recognised ring, he should have no deahngs under any pretence. These men only receive the money with the intention of decamping with it, should they lose. Another great point is never to rely for information on a tipster or a tout. These gentry know more of men than horses, and are always in search of flats and generally find them. They never make the fortune for themselves that they are ahvays professing to have made and to be still making for others. As Butler has it in Hudibras, they, " Make fools believe in their far-seeing, Of things before they are in being ; To swallow gudgeon ere they're catch'd, And count their chickens ere they're hatch'd." Rather rely on your own knowledge and judge from what you see than from what others may say, unless you take the advice of a friend that may happen to know or be the owner of any horse about to run. By this means you may win, though you will have to take a shorter price than the owner, after the commission is executed ; but you have the satis- faction of knowing that you have backed a horse that may have a fair chance of winning and will be content whatever be the result ; for you will have the assurance you have been honestly dealt by and have had in turf phraseology " a run for your money." Says Lord Byron — " Most men, till by losing rendered sager, Will back their own opinion by a wager.'' This is so, it may be concluded ; for it is the dictum of a great student of mankind, and will probably be found true THE DE GONCOURT FRAUD. 247 of all ages : therefore although betting, as I have before said, has ruined ten times the number of men that ever the keep- ing of racehorses has done, it is perhaps useless to advise people not to bet as a rule, but rather to recommend them to keep a few horses and back them, and them only, on fitting occasions. Gentlemen would thus combine pleasure with genuine sport, in witnessing the running of their own horses, and would be in the end richer men. No better example could be given of the methods in which the tipster and his unscrupulous colleagues gull their friends (}) the public than that of the notorious case of Madame de Goncourt,^ and it may be added that thousands of similar scandalous robberies, most of them on a smaller scale no doubt, take place. This instance is one lesson salutary enough to cause on the part of all sensible men, avoidance of the tipsters ; for it is very clear that men who for years had done their duty as officers of the police, fell when brought into contact with their contaminating influence. I should not omit to mention certain bettors who, as a ^ In this case William Kurr, F. Kurr, and Benson, contrived to defraud a French lady (then living in France) of ^10, 000 in an incredibly short space of time. The extent to which they may have robbed other people does not appear, but ^100,000 is possibly not too high an estimate of the total. Madame de Goncourt M'as fortunate enough to have the greater portion of her money restored, as it was traced to the men and given up to the authorities. In this case the swindlers' avariciousness defeated their own ends. The ;^io,ooo might have been secured, had they not endeavoured to obtain a further sum of no less than ;i^30,ooo, which it was shown the confiding lady was willing to send them, but, fortunately for herself, she had to apply to her bankers or solicitors before doing so, and thus in- quiry was made and suspicion aroused. The trial exposed the wide ramifications of the evil ; for Mr. Froggatt, a solicitor, and others high in authority in the police force were found to be implicated as accessories, and were subsequently, on the evidence of the thieves them elves fully corroborated in the chief points, convicted, and sent to hard labour. 248 BETTING AS IT IS. class, are more harmful in their operations to owners of horses than all the rest of the forestallers put together — those who make backing-books. They back, with few exceptions, all the horses at the first appearance of the weights or shortly afterwards. In most cases they commence by backing ten or twelve horses, from i,ooo to lo, 20, or 30 as the case may be, and then wait the result of the acceptance. The horses are then quoted as backed. The public see and follow, believing that the money is put on for the owners. The horse becomes a favourite and the backing-book-maker hedges and stands to win a certain sum, the best he can make of it, to nothing ; whilst some time later the owner, obliged to look on with intense disgust, strikes his horse out. Of course the backer has in this case to run the chance of acceptance ; for should the owner not accept, he can have no chance to hedge. After the acceptance he again backs a few of those that appear to have the best chance and then waits till the day of running and again backs the most danger- ous-looking ones. In this way the winnings of such men are seldom much, and at times their losses are heavy. The same thing is done for the weight for age races. Long odds are taken about well-bred horses, and those recommended directly or indirectly by the tipster and tout. Indeed but for these men, few would be bold enough to attempt to make a backing-book ; a process which almost surely ends in ruin. I may fitly, here, mention a circumstance rather amusing in its result if alarming in the outset, which befell me as a boy, as showing an extraordinary combination of fidelity and hard living in one and the same person, Mr. R an inspector of police. I went to Abingdon Races to ride for Mr. Sadler, and whilst doing so, asked Mr. Montgomery Dilly to take care of FIDELITY OF INSPECTOR R . 249 my pocket-book and purse ; which he kindly did. On my return he informed me that he had been robbed, and with mine had also lost his own purse, containing ;^I50 besides vouchers and other things still more valuable. Mr. R , a great friend of Mr. William Sadler's, was applied to in hopes of recovering the lost property, and he promised to do all he could to get it restored ; but said he was afraid that everything except the notes would be destroyed before coming into his hands. He appointed the same evening at ten o'clock to meet us at the Lamb Hotel to give the result of his inquiries. At the time named he appeared and told us " that it was not in the possession of any of his men." We then suggested that he might know others who might have it, and expressed a hope that he would use his influence for its recovery. He promised to do so, and carried out his promise ; for on the next night he came again bringing the missing books with the treasure absolutely intact. When asked how much we were indebted to him for its restoration he replied, " Nothing ; " and only when pressed would accept two sovereigns to give to the men to drink our healths. But neither for himself nor his associates through whose instru- mentality the money had been obtained, would he accept a farthing. R 's end was unfortunately one his many friends in the sporting world had to deplore.^ ^ Many people living will doubtless remember Mr. R , or, as he was commonly called, " Jack," as one of the genial spirits " wont to keep the table in a roar." He and his boon companion, the eccentric Mr. F C (the owner of Deception and other horses) who would never admit of a prefix to Jiis name, used nightly to meet and indulge in singing comic and otherwise. But " a change came o'er the scene." I only once met poor R afterwards. He had then left the force, and had turned teetotaller and Methodist preacher. Strangely, about the same time, Mr. F C left the turf and took to a strictly religious life, A strange coincidence in the career of two roysterers, possibly illustrating the adage, " our indiscretion sometimes serves us well," 250 BETTING AS IT IS. The commission agent, or commissioner, is an important factor in the present system of betting, and now deserves a word, for with him most racing men have unfortunately too much to do for their own benefit. As a rule, few owners of racehorses keep them purely for the pleasure of seeing them run. Some are content to rest their hopes of profit on winning the stakes alone, but the majority prefer to back their horses. It is to the latter, and to the latter only, that the following remarks chiefly apply. Gentlemen of princely fortune can afibrd to keep studs, and large ones too, without the uncertain aid of success. These require no agents. They consult only their own pleasure when and where and how often they shall run their own horses. But it is a very different matter with those whose means are limited and who race for gain as well as for love of the sport. Such gentlemen hope, and very properly so, to turn to profitable account the knowledge they possess of the merits of their own horses ; and a well-digested plan often brings the coveted success without the aid of the commissioner. But the purchase and keep of racehorses and the atten- dant expenses are so very- heavy, that racing for stakes alone is not a sufficient inducement to attract the many ; it is only a very few that can indulge in a sport so costly. Hence it is that betting is so popular with owners, and that the commissioner is unfortunately so often called in to do what the owner could do so much better for himself The very first thing a gentle- man does after finding a good horse, is indirectly to impart the fact to his commission agent, with a request that he will back the animal for him for ;^i,ooo or ^2,ooo as the case may be. This is generally done badly, and the trainer or jockey (who may have ridden in the trial) blamed for THE COiVIMISSIONER AND HIS DOINGS. 251 insincerity, whilst the commissioner or his satelHtes alone are culpable for the mismanagement or imposition. A commission given in this way often defeats its own ends. Long before it is half executed, the horse is injudiciously rushed in the market and becomes first favourite, and the shortest possible price has afterwards to be taken, or much of the commission left undone. Thus the average price becomes a bad one, a result which many have too much reason to regret from bitter experience. It is only natural that fault is found all round, the commissioner, who is in fact the delinquent, alone escaping. The trainer, the jockey, nay, even the poor stable-boy, are mercilessly condemned. The commissioner expatiates on his own merits and those of his colleagues. " Had it not been for strategic movements," he cries, " and for well-timed diplomacy on my part, the result would have been a total failure, instead of obtaining, as I have done, a very fair average price for nearly the whole of the money. I saw, as who did not .-* that the field was a weak one. The book- makers would not bet, for our horse's excellent chance was patent to every one. If I had not smartly taken the price, others would have snapped it up and things would have been very much worse." This charming language, this unbounded candour and persuasive argument, carry the day. The owner concurs in censure of the one, and eulogy of the other, section of those he employs. And so the farce is repeated again and again, unfortunately with the same disastrous result. I willingly admit that there are commissioners who do not serve their employers thus dishonestly, enriching themselves at their patron's expense ; but I have no hesitation in saying that there are too many who thus " arrive at fortune on their first lord's neck." 252 BETTING AS IT IS. It is my last wish to make sweeping assertions without advancing facts in their support. I will therefore give a few instances to show the modus operandi of those who thus modestly feather their nests. In 1855, when the Metropolitan was a race on which there was much betting, long odds being as a rule freely obtain- able, I asked a very noted commissioner of the day to back Pharsalus for the race for i^SOO in my behalf immediately after the weights came out, the horse figuring in the betting at all sorts of prices from 50 to i to 7 to i. He returned me 8 to i —^4,000 to ;!^500. Now without his aid, I could have obtained this ^^4,000 to ^100, or at the utmost ;!^I50, showing a clear loss of ^350, simply through putting the commission in his hands. In this case there was no hedging for any one but the takers of long odds, in which category the owner and his friends did not figure ; although it is perhaps needless to say the trusty commis- sioner did, having them in fact pretty well to himself It is in this fashion that owners are made " to stand to be shot at." The faithful commissioner has all the long odds, and lays his patron the short ones ; and thus, as he proceeds, hedges all his own money, and on all occasions stands, without a chance of loss, to win a large stake on the success of the horse he has backed for the owner and himself. In another instance in 1859, some time before the Two Thousand, I asked my commissioner to back Promised Land for me. But he declared this could not be done. " No one will lay," he averred, " except at a very short and unfair price." "Very well," I replied, "I shall not run him." It is almost absurd to add that this had the desired effect. " How much do you want to back him for, and what price will you take } " came the rejoinder in the shape of a question. I OUR COMMISSION ON THE GOODWOOD STAKES. 253 named the amount and my price, and in the course of the same day was informed by my worthy commissioner, " Rather than you shall not be on, Mr. Day, I will lay you the money myself." A similar thing occurred with the same horse and the same person for the Goodwood Cup. The horse was first favourite before a shilling of my commission was executed. But I changed the face of things by informing this worthy on the night before the race : " I shall not run the horse here in this case ; I shall keep him for the St. Leger." And again it was found my money could be speedily put on for me at my own price. Now, in both these cases, it cannot be for a moment doubted that the money had been actually put on the horse, but the particulars had not been handed in to the principal ; and so long as the horse kept well it was never intended that they should be. On the other hand, had the animal been taken ill and died, the account, circumstantially stating how every shilling had been laid out, would as assuredly have been sent in to me. In sum, had it not been for my firmness, I should have seen the horse win both races without a guinea on him in either of them. Nor would the pecuniary loss have been all ; my friends would have blamed me for selfishly keeping all the money to myself, and no statement to the contrary, though true in every particular, would have been accepted. As it turned out, people thought that in both cases I had received double the odds I had given them. One other more recent instance in respect to the Goodwood Stakes must suffice. Our commissioner at the time was re- quested to back a horse for that race for ^1,000 immediately after the publication of the weights. Between this period and the declaration of minor forfeits there was a great deal of betting, our horse standing at 50 to i. On the latter 254 BETTING AS IT IS. declaration, he rose to 33 to i, at which price he stood some time, and then advanced to 20 to i, when the commissioner said that most of the money was on. But when asked for his account, he replied that the returns from the country had not yet been received, and that he would send it in so soon as these came to hand. But the so-called returns were, as might have been expected, delayed, and before their arrival the horse had reached the short price of 7 to i. Then he en- closed the account, saying : " With great regret I have to inform you that my country agent has spoiled the whole thing. He has missed the long shots and has been compelled to take the shortest price, which only has since been obtain- able ; and the unfortunate result is a considerable reduction of the average which now stands at 12 to i." This is not an unfair example of how commissions are worked ; and it might be added that the excuses are often less plausible than the one given in this instance. But let us sift this matter a little and see who won and who lost money by this transaction. Basing my opinion on the amount of betting on this race, I have little doubt that 30 to I would have been nearer a fair price than the one returned ; indeed, I may say that 25 to i was the very least that the account should have averaged. The horse won, and what was the result ? Instead of receiving the ;^25,ooo which we were fairly entitled to, we received only ^12,000, or a little less than half Startling as is this statement, it is approximately correct if it be not true to the letter. An act of suspicion could not pass unchallenged ; but the agent had his reply cut and dried. "The commission as worked," he said, "was a failure deeply to be deplored. I have myself been deceived ; but it has been an error of judgment on the part of the RESULT OF BETTING BY COMMISSION. 255 country agent I trusted. In fact, it has been an unfortunate combination of untoward events over which I have had no control." He finished up the whole with the following per- oration : — " I hope the explanation given will be accepted, and that things will work better in the future." It may, at this point, be urged that whilst it is easy to declaim against the evil, is it not possible to point out some safeguard for the future .-' Such a comment would be very appropriate ; and as we have now reached that stage in our examination of turf matters, at which I have proposed to offer a few suggestions on practicable reforms, it will be convenient in the next chapter to venture to point out remedies, that, with a fair prospect of success, might be adopted in regard to current evils in betting. 256 BETTING AS IT MIGHT BE. CHAPTER XXV. BETTING AS IT MIGHT BE. Suggested remedies : to legalize betting — Restrictions on commissioners — Gentle- men recommended three courses : to do their own commissions ; to employ their equals ; or to name and adhere to a price— Suggested alteration in system of nomination and entry : a different time of entry ; a new mode of acceptance ; the proposed method sketched, and the result, betting on the nomination — Benefits of the proposal illustrated from the Waterloo Cup ; the tipster and tout done away with — Bookmakers and their procedure ; a rever- sion to the old tactics recommended— Betting on the Waterloo "draw" examined ; the one disappointment, Coornassie forestalled, and its warning — The criticism of able writers commended and desired. One of the most effective remedies applied to betting would be to legalize it. This would not only influence commis- sions, but would extend to cases calling for the law's restraint — to welshers, and to those who, often winning thousands, decamp on the first reverse of fortune. If transactions on the Stock Exchange are legal, why should it be otherwise with those on the turf? Honest men of every grade desire they should be ; only dishonest men require provision of such a nature as to permit non-fulfilment of their engagements to the great injury of those that complete them. Now, just as the solicitor who wilfully neglects a case that he undertakes to conduct, or from incapacity destroys rather than assists it, is amenable for such shortcomings ; so it should be with a commission agent, who, from any cause save a just BACKERS SHOULD DO THEIR OWN COMMISSIONS. 257 one, takes less than the fair market odds, or refuses to give his employer what he, or others for him, may have taken, he should, in Hke manner, be held responsible for such acts. Moreover, he should be held accountable for bets taken, if those he has had reason to suspect might not meet their en- gagements, should fail to pay up. Again, it should be made a sine qua non that all bets be given in daily as they are made until the commission is executed. Were betting legalised, we should strike a deadly blow at the root of this evil. But till this is done, the commission agent, who acts in a suspicious way,should be called before the committee at Tattersall's, when the charge preferred should be rigorously investigated ; and if substantial proof of dishonesty be ad- duced, let restitution be made to the last farthing, or proclaim such a one a defaulter, and no longer allow him to associate with his honest confreres. The fortunes that these men make without a guinea in the world, or the no2is to make one except as racing commis- sioners, may well make one wonder. But I think an explana- tion will be found in what has been said. This gentry, starting with a book and pencil as thi. .• whole stock-in-trade, suddenly emerge from obscurity as the possessors of thou- sands — and how } Simply by betraying the confidence reposed in them by their patrons, whom they soon outvie in everything, save manners, honesty, and honour. There is an easy remedy. Gentlemen should make their own bets, or find some one of their own class to do so for them. But if they do neither of these, then let them, as a saving clause, declare at the outset the price they will take, and be satisfied with nothing less. By this simple method, the owner of a horse may get what he is entitled to and may reasonably expect. It is but the application of 258 BETTING AS IT MIGHT BE. an old and simple rule — show that you know what is right and that you intend to accept nothing short of it, and you have gone a long way towards its accomplishment. Were this the custom, commissioners would perforce have to act honestly. They would see that such conduct is a necessity in a matter of trust, and that by serving their employers well they would be best serving themselves. They should not be permitted to make a bet for themselves until the com- mission entrusted to them was fully executed ; not an un- reasonable condition, for they can, and as a matter of fact always do, stand in for any reasonable sum in it. Some such plan must necessarily be adopted by owners who wish to remain long on the turf, and who do not choose to work their own commissions and totally ignore the agent ; for then they would, if nothing else, have the satisfaction of knowing they have taken the market-price from a responsible man. Another effective blow might be dealt to the evils of the current practice of betting, by an alteration in the system of nominations and entries for the big handicaps, which, if tried and found successful, might easily be applied to other races. In cases when the stakes close some time before the day of the race, I should suggest that instead of the entries being made as now, the following plan should be adopted — taking the Caisarewitch Stakes as an example. I would have it run pretty much as follows : — " The Ccesarewitch Stakes, a free Jiandicap of 2^ sovs. each, lo forfeit, 3 sovs. entrance. The names of the ozvners and horses to be pnt doivn at Messrs. WeatJierbys on the \st of Angnst, the 7veights to be declared on the \st of September, and accept an ee to be signified three 7i'cehs before the day of the race." SUGGESTED REFORM IN NOMINATIONS. 259 The names of the owners and the names and ages of the horses would be arranged as follows : — Name of Owner. Name of Horse. Duke of Redhill JoJin Barleycorn, 4 yrs. Lord Southdown Bay Windham, 3 yrs. Mr. Jones Iron Master, aged. In due course the weights would be allotted thus : — S'. 11)S. Jolin Barleycorn, 4 yrs. old 107 Iron Master, aged ... ....100 Bay Windham, 3 yrs. old 7 o Three weeks before the race the acceptance would be signified and the nomination be made, thus, let us say : — yrs. St. lbs. Lord Southdown nominates /^///^ i?^r/£;;'r(3;7/ . 4 10 7 Mr. Jones nominates Bay Windham ... 3 70 TJiG Dnke of Redhill did not accept, and Iron Master is struck out. In all races for horses of the same age, the entries could be made by subscribers' names only, and a week or two before the race the names of their horses (and their ages if a weight-for-age race) should be sent in by the nominators. The betting in all cases would be on the nominations and not on the individual horses. Of course every nominator would be at liberty to name and run ' his own horse, or any other that was duly qualified, provided the owner or nominator were not a defaulter, or otherwise incapacitated from doing so by the rules of racing. I must guard myself from being understood to propose that nominators should run their horses in each other's names as s 2 26o BETTING AS IT MIGHT BE. a rule ; what I propose is that it should be thoroughly- known that they have the power to do so should they choose. The plan if adopted would give owners a fair chance of being able to back their nominations, because it would check forestallers who would probably wait until the day of nomination rather than invest their cash in the dark. It would admirably meet the spirit of one pertinent remark of the late Admiral Rous, who said, " He would be insane to sacrifice the interest of the horse- owner for the benefit of men with a monomania for gam- bling." And it would do away with the heartburning and the grumbling of the fraternity who insinuate favouritism in the adjustment of the weights ; for the handicapper would not know which horse would represent Lord Southdown's nomination or indeed any other ; and knowledge of owner- ship would be profitless to him. By this method, too, every one that made an entry would be sure to get his horse fairly weighted, as no possible mo- tive could be assigned for his being otherwise treated : and this may help the entries and increase the number of starters. I do not mean to imply for a moment that the weights now are improperly or unfairly adjusted ; in most cases handicaps are most admirably done, although, as is inevitable, discrepancies will now and then appear. But the plan will deprive the grumblers who find fault where none exists of the last peg on which to hang a complaint. I shall be told, I daresay, that the system if adopted will restrict betting and so spoil sport. In answer, I can point to the large sums betted months and months before the "draw" for the Waterloo Cup takes place, and ask, If the principle is found to answer so well with greyhounds, what is to prevent its being carried out on a more extensive BETTING ON THE WATERLOO CUP. 261 scale in racing ? A glance at the list given below taken from the sporting intelligence of the " Evening Standard " of February iith, 1879/ will suffice to dispel any apprehension of a dearth of speculation on the introduction of such a system of wagering, seeing how the betting on the Altcar- blue riband has superseded that on the Derby itself, as well as on all the spring handicaps — one only of the latter being mentioned, and that one patronised very mildly. This list is, I think, conclusive of one thing. There is more betting in the month of February on a few grey- 1 THIS DAY'S SPORTING. LONDON BETTING. — THREE P.M. WATERLOO CUP. ICO to 9 agst. Lord Fermoy's nomination (taken and offered). 16 to I — Mr. Salter's nomination (taken). 20 to I — Mr, Douglas's nomination (taken and offered). 25 to I — Mr. Harrie's nomination (taken and offered). 33 to 1 — Mr. Stone's nomination (taken freely). 33 to I — Duke of Hamilton's nomination (offered ; 40 to i wanted). 33 to I — Mr. Deighton's nomination (offered ; 40 to i wanted). 33 to I — Mr. Codling's nomination (offered ; 40 to i taken and wanted). 40 to I — Mr. Evans's nomination (taken and wanted). 40 to I — Mr. Jardine's nomination (taken and wanted). 40 to I — Mr. Allison's nomination (taken). 40 to I — Mr. Trevor's nomination (offered). 50 to I — Mr. Nicholson's nomination (taken). 50 to I — Mr. Haywood's nomination (taken and offered). 50 to I — Lord St. Vincent's nomination (offered ; 66 to i wanted). 50 to I — Earl of Stair's nomination (offered ; 66 to i wanted). 100 to I — Mr. Abbot's nomination (taken and offered). I003 to 8 — Mr. Briscoe's nomination (taken and wanted). 300 to 250 agst. Mr. Salter's nomination v. Mr. Douglas's nomination (taken and wanted). LINCOLN HANDICAP. 33 to I agst. Morier (taken). 33 to I — Ridotto (taken and wanted). 262 BETTING AS IT MI(;HT BE. liounds through this system of nominations when no one knows the individual animal he may be backing, than there is on all the horses put together that may be engaged in hundreds of races at the same time. There must be a cause for this, and I think without much seeking a reason- able one may be assigned. It is this : there is no sufficient inducement to tempt the public to precede owners in the market to any extent, and the latter are thus enabled to back their nominations at a fair price, and the public follow. It will be noticed that more than half the quotations in this list are at or above forty to one, whilst in two instances the odds are lOO and 125 to i respectively. But w^erc the greyhounds backed by name, and the tipster and tout on the qui vive to send their patrons the results of trials that never took place, and reports of greyhounds that are well as being ill, and of others that are as fit as fiddles as being broken down (as is the current practice of those who do this kind office for the patrons of the turf^), it may safely be affirmed that not a moiety of these odds would be obtainable. The system as pursued with coursing puts the public on a fair footing ; for it (the public) has discrimination enough to see that no one besides those immediately connected with the greyhounds can know which or what dog would represent a certain nomination ; and will not be cajoled and induced to act on the doubtful reports of paid agents : who must say something or they will fail to impress a sense of their importance on their employers. After the draw, any and all may legitimately bet to their heart's content ; whilst ^ We see in print horses represented as being well and worth baclinj; that actually have been dead some time. This may be sheer ignorance in most cases, but the result is the same : to enrich the bookmakers at the expense of the public. ADVANTAGES OF BACKING NOMINATIONS. 263 throughout, no secret need be kept as to the merits of the gre}hounds. You may have the best in the world, and all the world may know it, and also that he is well : but it availeth the public nothing; they can't back him.. They may back the owner's nomination, and he, from prudential motives, may run his dog in another and a worse, or in • his own nomination. And if in racing, in the same way the betting should be on the nomination instead of on the horse, then and there would be an end to the career of the tipster and the tout, and the horses at Newmarket, Epsom, and elsewhere, might gallop, walk, or be kept in the stable without reports of trials that never took place, or of horses doing wonderfully well that are perhaps dead, or if not dc facto defunct, are so to all intents and purposes so far as their chances of winning are concerned. As for owners, they would scarcely be able to realise at first the immense advantages accruing to them from the change. They would be able to see their horses with- out any one knowing that they even took an interest in such an animal as a thoroughbred. And there would be one other great change. Stable-boys would no longer have inducements to betray their employer's secrets, or in other ways be tempted from their allegiance ; for no information would be needed, and promises would no longer be made before the race of rich rewards afterwards, that were never meant to be or never are kept. But I should observe that of recent years betting has undergone a complete revolution. At present, the bookmakers may in a restricted sense be styled backers ; for few now- adays make a genuine book, but rather keep some particular horses to represent their interest as well as " the field." The limited state of the money-market, and the precedence 264 BETTING AS IT MIGHT BE. taken of owners by the public, together leave little for the stable commission, which generally has to go unexecuted, and the horse be struck out : to the injury of the owner, who thus loses the chance of winning the stake (which may be a large one) ; to the detriment of the backer, who loses his money ; and to that of those of the bookmakers that have not laid against him. I think if bookmakers would fall back on the old system and make a genuine book and bet to it, and it alone, they would oftener get " round " than they do now ; and though perhaps their profits might not at times be so large, they would be less problematical, and the result better for themselves and for backers of their own horses. But whilst they continue as now to employ questionable characters in every direction to tell them what this, that, or the other horse is doing, so long will they act on erroneous information. They will refuse to bet against many bad horscs that are thought to be good ; and they will back others which are said to be good that are hopeless as though they were already struck out : whilst they will refrain from betting against other horses because they learn from the same doubtful authorities that "they are sure to reach a short price "—rwhich they never do. Thus what might have been a good book is now turned into a losing account, and it is no wonder that we hear complaints of the badness of the profession. These suggestions however are only offered for what they may be worth. I do not profess to teach bookmakers their business, being myself but a novice at it. But the system seems feasible, and for the reasons given, it would be better for those that backed horses of their own and for the bookmak cr themselves. Recurring to the proposed system of nominations. I append BETTING ON THE WATERLOO "DRAW." 26s a list ^ of quotations taken from the " Evening Standard " of February 19^ 1879, to exhibit the state of the odds "after the draw," for the Waterloo Cup, for comparison with their state before it as given in the previous extract. From this hst it will be seen that on the substitution of names for nominations, no fewer than tliirty-four dogs were backed, whilst the extreme odds of 200 to i were obtainable, 1000 to 4 agst. Banner Blue (t.) 1000 to 15 — Star of Oaken (o.) 1000 to 10 — Vivari (o.) 45 to I — Blackbeard (o. ) icoo to 6 — Ariosto (t.) 1000 to 15 — Plunger (t. ) 1000 to 10 — Shepherdess (t.) 1000 to 70 — Doon (t.) 1000 to 40 — Market Day (t.) 1000 to 9 — Skipworth (t.) 1000 to 8 — Silver Hill (t.) 1000 to 20 — Iphigenia (t.) 1000 to 5 — Nellie Miller (o.) 1000 to 20 — Waterwitch (o.) No betting agst. Marquis of Lome. 1000 to 8d agst. Dear Erin (t. f.) No betting agst. Hark Forward, II to I agst. Lady Lizzie (t. & w.) 1000 to 8 — Barabbas (t. & o.) ICOO to 6 — Misterton (t, & o.) No betting agst. Witzenia. 33 to I agst. Sutler (o,) 1000 to 8 1000 to 7 1000 to 30 1000 to 15 1000 to 9 1000 to 15 1000 to 40 1000 to 8 1000 to 12 1000 to 18 Blackheath (o.) Boy o' Boys (t. & o. ) Whoa Emma. Spinet (t. & w.) Musical Box (t.) Wood Nymph (o). Whistling Dick (t. ) Pretty Polly (o.) Civility (t. & o. ) Shasta (t.) 1000 to 25 — Hilda (t. & w.) 40 to I — High Seal (o. ) 1000 to 10 — Hamlet (o.) No betting against The Runner. 1000 to 14 agst. Commerce (t.) 1000 to 20 — Sir James (o. ) 1000 to 15 — Patella (t. & o.) 1000 to 10 — Hake (t.) 1000 to 8 — Comus (t.) rooo to 7 — Boyne (o.) No betting agst. Rinald. 1000 to 4 agst. Fancy Dress (t. & o.) 1000 to 20 — Honey Bee (o.) 1000 to 8 — Alice Conroy (o.) 1000 to 12 — Dolly Mayflower (t.) 1000 to 10 — Queen Sybil (t. f.) 1000 to 10 — Standard (o.) 1000 to 10 — Athlete (t. & o.) 1000 to 15 — Lady Stanley (t.) 1000 to 5 — Debdon Belle (o.) No betting agst. Master Owen. 1000 to 3 agst. Ben Cruachan (o.) 1000 to 10 — Barquest (o.) 1000 to 10 — Potentilla (o.) 1000 to 15 — Wood Reeve (t.) 1 000 to 20 — Self Taught (o.) No betting agst. Hark Back. 1000 to 5 agst. Regal Court (t.) 1000 to 8 — Barefoot (t) 1000 to 20 — Hagar (o.) 900 to 100 — Zazel (t. f.) 40 to I — Don't be Headstrong (t. ) 266 BETTING AS IT MIGHT BE. and in the case of the winner as much as i66 to i was taken and offered. Wliere is any such h'st of quotations to be seen in which half the number of the horses entered in any large handi- cap are backed at one time .-* Here are sixty-four dogs, against sixty of which liberal odds are offered ; the bookmakers only refusing to lay against four out of the wliole (this I take to be the meaning of the term " no betting," placed against certain names) whilst in most of the other instances the offers are very liberal, and many of the animals heavily backed. I have ventured to give the list /;/ extenso to confirm my theory that as much speculation as, if not more than,' now exists might be expected if the system were adopted in racing. The extraordinarily long odds laid against so many nomi- nations for months before "the draw," must be a boon to all owners ; the prices laid subsequently cannot be otherwise than agreeable to the public ; and in both cases the result must be satisfactory to the bookmakers, or they would not be so unusually liberal in their offers. Owners of racehorses do not, as a body, object to other people backing their horses. What they do dislike and resent, is being forestalled in the market, which is, and always has been, a never-failing source of unpleasantness and worse. Though a lover of the " leash," I am but a novice at the sport, scarcely initiated in what appears to me a difficult science ; but from information derived through the medium of the press, all the betting is on the nomination up to and before the "draw:" this being the case with the Waterloo Cup also, so far as I can sec, with but one exception. This one exception was Coomassie, the winner in the previous year, and one is almost tempted to add " of course she was an absentee." I know nothing of those concerned with the COOMASSIE FORESTALLED, A WARNING. 267 animal and offer no op'nion on the matter. But it is an ad- mirable instance to bring forward to show how coursing would degenerate, if the wagering on it were brought down to the practice in racing : and inversel}% as evidence how racing might be improved, were its custom of betting assimi- lated to that of the other. Look what insinuations the ab- sence of such a dog gives rise to .'' If the public will throw their hundreds and their thousands before owners, they must expect that some will condescendingly stoop to pick them up. It is the system of betting on races introduced into cours- ing and with immediate fearful consequences. Owners are subjected to severe animadversion, and all concerned must hear remarks couched in no flattering terms from the unbiased chroniclers of sport. Coomassic, it was stated in some papers, was lame before ; in others, behind ; and again, had broken a leg ; wdiilst others averred she had received an injury in her stifle. Now these contradictions cannot be spread abroad without fruit, and that fruit is often suspicion. For myself, I think with Falstaff that though " reasons were as plentiful as blackberries none should be given ; no, not even on compulsion ; " but if a reason were volunteered, it should at least have been the right one. I have referred at length to this case for the point it gives to my argument. A man's conduct concerning his own, demands no vindication ; he does with it, as he has a right to do, just what he wills. But we see thatavhen, in coursing, the system of nominations is abandoned, the old "bone of contention" in the racing world immediately crops up. Coomassic, when backed by name, was, like the racehorse is, thought to have become public property, and was by the public backed. She did not run, and the vials of the public wrath were opened upon those who had the management of her. 268 BETTING AS IT MIGHT BE. In all that I have said in this long chapter on the subject of racing tipsters, I must strictly guard myself from the imputation of desiring to restrict fair criticism in any shape or way. Many of our sporting writers are known to be gentlemen, unbiased and far above suspicion of any kind. No class would more heartily rejoice than they would to see the sport shorn of its abuses ; whilst their influence for good upon the turf can hardly be overrated. They not only graphically describe turf doings to a daily increasing circle of readers amongst the race-loving public, but they point out and help to rectify abuses ; and certainly supply the information that may most confidently be followed by those of their admirers who will back horses, but have not the special sources of information which, as I have shown, are peculiar to the owner and trainer. THE STABLE-BOY AND HIS TEMPTER. 269 CHAPTER XXVI. PRACTICABLE REFORMS. The stable-boy and his tempter, the tout — A method to frustrate espionage ; its working and advantages explained — The light-weight jockeys and their riding ; numerous accidents through incapacity of boys ; necessity and advantage of having men in the saddle — A protest by able jockeys suggested — Doubtful result of Education Act — A growing evil, " galloping for a start," and its remedy — Sales with engagements considered in reference to reform of present hardships — Four days a week racing commended and advantages shown — Judicious enactments of the Jockey Club. Of all remedies in turf matters, not any would be more desirable than one that should defeat the wretched system of espionage ; and I therefore venture to suggest a simple method by which the tout may be in a great measure rendered harmless, if he be not totally checkmated. Contrary to the generally received notion, it is not on the downs, but in the stable, that the tout works so much harm. On the former he is seldom in the right place at the proper time ; but from boys in the stable he derives information as to all that is going on inside — for as matters are now conducted, nothing escapes detection. The boys, be they big or little, good or bad, know every horse, and whether he be ill or well, lame or sound ; and more — whether the lameness be of a trivial or fatal character, or the illness likely to be of long or short duration. Once in possession of these facts, they communicate them nightly, as far as 270 PRACTICABLE REFORMS. they know to the touts ; these immediately transmit the information to their employers, who, more inexcusable than themselves, use this dishonest means for their own emoluments. This is a practice that all who care for the turf must wish should be stopped. For, I emphatically repeat that it is in the stables that the mischief is done. The boys, who can hardly be said to know right from wrong, become the tools of designing knaves. By these men they are entrapped to act dishonestly towards their employers by the bait of a trifling money reward, or luxuries and pleasure--- the latter frequently of an immoral kind. The result is, ruin to the lads, and to yourself (unless you can counteract the machinations of their tempters) the subversion of all your plans. To put an end to such a state of things is obviously no easy matter ; but yet I think something may be done towards inserting the thin end of the wedge, which time may be trusted to drive home, to the benefit of the boys and the extinction of the tout. My plan is: in the first place, to have all stalls and boxes numbered, and to call their inmates by the number of the stall or box each occupies. As a matter of fact, it is easier tO' say "No. i," or "No. lo," than "colt out of Camera Obscura," or " Old Gipsy Boy." This simple plan properly worked is thoroughly effective. For if the boys are ignorant of the age and pedigree of the horses, they cannot know for what races they are entered, or whether this or the other horse is doing well or ill ; and of course they cannot transmit to others information they do not themselves possess. When your employers with their friends pay a visit to see the horses, you hand to each of the party a card with the following pr.'nted on it : — You are requested to ask no THE WORKING AND BENEFIT OF MY PLAN. 271 questions as to the age, name, or pedigree of the horses, as this information zuill be found in detail set forth on this card against the number coinrsponding zvith the number of the stall or box in ivhich the animal referred to stands. Questions, of course, may be inadvertently asked, but may safely and simply be answered by referring the inquirer to the number on the card, where he will find all he wants to know. Before the company separates, the cards are given up, and kept in a place of safety until again needed. Of course, from time to time the cards require to be replaced by fresh ones, or alterations made in them by omissions or additions. By this method your visitors can with as equal facility com- ment upon or ask questions concerning the horses by number, as they could by name. " I like No. i ; " " No, 10 is too big : " or " No. 20 is too light," are remarks as easily made as " I like Tom Thumb ;" " TJie Giant is too big ; " or " The Divarf is too little." And whilst conversation would be just as pleasant as it is under the present system, the boys would learn nothing, or at least nothing worth transmission. They might tell the touts that No. i was in physic. No. 10 was lame, or No. 20 vv^as well ; but as neither they nor their tempters would have the slightest idea as to whether No. i was The Giant, The Dzvarf or Tom Thumb, their lips might as well be sealed ; there would be no cash forthcoming for information so useless, and the tout's occupation would be gone. Of course I admit that this plan would not be practicable with old horses (though it would' be an undoubted success with yearlings and two-year-olds, or indeed with horses of any age that had not run) for they of course would be known, and secrecy would not be possible. But look at the immense advantage of having the first run of the market your- self, if only for a single race — the Middle Park Plate, Derby, 272 PRACTICABLE REFORMS. or St. Leger, it may be— until the eve of running. For by means of a clo.sely kept arcanum you may win one of these and secure a well deserved fortune. I have myself used the cards and found them to answer the end intended admirably. This, and this only to my mind, is the way secrets can be kept. In large stables, where thirty or forty yearlings are annually added to the "string" — what an inestimable boon it would be to owners and trainers to have the knowledge of the merits of their horses to them- selves ; defying the touts at exercise, and the boys in the stable ! So much then for stable secrets. It may now be well to turn our attention to the other mere boys whose employ- ment as jockeys has been shown to be so hurtful, and to examine the reforms that may be beneficially introduced in their case. It requires no philosopher to tell us that a boy of 7 stone must be preferable in the saddle to one of half the weight ; for he possesses as much knowledge and infinitely more strength than the little urchin who, after ruining his em- ployers and all connected with him, retires from the scene, to be replaced by others as useless and audacious as himself, if they do not succeed in surpassing their predecessor in these qualities. These self-styled jockeys, who are physically debarred from riding properly (I will not say, with skill, for the term is absurd when applied to children) start as masters of the art without a rudimentary knowledge of it. Often they are unable to sit on their horses, whilst they are seldom able to guide, and never to assist, them. Many frightful accidents prove this ; the fearful one in the Metropolitan Stakes at Epsom when a boy not only lost his own life, but endangered the lives DISASTROUS RESULTS OF BOYS RIDING. 273 of many others, being only one example out of numbers. This danger is in itself a proof of the necessity of doing away with these pigmies as jockeys. If clerks of courses and handicappers will continue to adhere to the present ridiculously low scale, and the Jockey Club do not take the matter into its own all-powerful hands ; then, it may be ex- pected that the legislature will interfere, and by fixing a minimum weight of seven-stone, confer a benefit on the racing community, and put a stop to a reckless and useless waste of life and limb. Action was taken, not very long ago, with respect to performances on the trapeze and other things, in which the sacrifice of life had been trivial compared to that which is caused on the race-course. In fact, it is almost a common occurrence to hear that this or the other jockey has been killed on the course or maimed for life ; the result of the sensational exhibition of tiny lads, who would be in the proper place out of harm's way in a dame's school, instead of endangering not only their own but the lives of all jockeys unfortunate enough to be riding with them, besides risking injury to spectators who are frequently knocked down and ridden over. It is a wonder to me that the old jockeys do not in a body respectfully solicit their employers not to ask them to ride in such company, or indeed with any one under seven stone. Should a deputation selected from our able riders ask per- mission to wait on the Jockey Club, or one of the stewards, to represent the real state of the case, I think that very likely the request would be granted, and the grievance com- plained of, be redressed. The evil unfortunately is on the increase ; and nothing will in my opinion, as I have said before, stop it, but the raising of the weights to a seven- stone minimum. T 274 PRACTICABLE REFORMS. I know the theory set forth is, that unless boys learn to and do ride at three stone or thereabouts, they will never be able to do so at heavier weights. A more fallacious idea I think I never heard uttered, or one more likely wholly to stop the progress the theory professedly seeks to advance. Admit for argument's sake that it is necessary for boys to commence their tuition at an age so very early ; then, let them ride at two stone, or any other weight, until practice has given them something beyond the rudiments of a business they are supposed to be thoroughly well acquainted with, if not perfect in. It is not the learning at an early age that I complain of in these boys, but the assumption of duties they are utterly incapable of performing, and the coming forward to ride in public, much as John Gilpin did, as regards the amusement afforded to onlookers ; although unfortunately it is the reverse of diversion to the luckless owner and backers of the horse. Everything I see connected with the light weights, con- vinces me more and more of the absolute necessity of em- ploying men instead of boys ; and whilst on this important subject I cannot refrain from expressing my views copiously, even at the risk of being thought tedious. Can any one seriously believe that, of two boys weighing three stone apiece and in other respects equal, the one after a year's tuition as a jockey, shall, in after life, be better than the other who has received four or five years extra tuition in his art before appearing in public .'' Yet this is what some people would have. By the same parity of reasoning they might assert of two students equally gifted, that the one leaving college after a year's tuition, will be equal in learning to the other who has continued his course of study with unremitting labour for four or five years longer. If this be the logic brought forward in support of retaining the services of mere A GROWING EVIL AND ITS REMEDY. 275 boys, I think no more need be said to prove on my part that the sooner the scale of weights is raised the better. I must confess that I am not a great admirer of the Education Act in its appHcation to the youths intended for the racing business. It prevents them being taught anything but their school lessons until they are too old to be taught riding as children ; and the probability is, that when they come forward to ride in public, they will year by year know less and less of the rudiments of the art. This, in itself, is an additional reason, were one needed, for having boys of a certain weight, or men, as jockeys, I fear, too, that the in- fluence of the Act in the stable will be still further to elevate the ideas of both men and boys already too prone to think themselves above their work. Before finally leaving the subject, it may be well to point out a most pernicious practice that has lately sprung up in connection with the light-weight system. I refer to the galloping from the saddling paddock, harum-scarum, like so many wild Indians, uphill and down dale, over uneven ground wet or dry, to obtain a supposed preference in the choice of the side from which to start. As a consequence, older jockeys, who, properly consulting their employer's interests, go steadily to the post, are, at the instance of these boys, made on their arrival to take what place they can find — a practice unfair, and which cannot be too strongly deprecated. Owners, unable to restrain these impetuous youths, suffer by having their horses broken down. But the stewards, if in- formed of the practice, which is a nuisance both intolerable and dangerous, might put an effective stop to it by fining every jockey who should be first at the post more than once on the same day, and by suspending him for a repetition of the offence. T 2 276 PRACTICABLE REFORMS. The sale of racehorses with their engagements is another matter on which some observations may be offered. When sold as yearlings, the rule is clearly defined and well understood, both by vendors and purchasers. A list of the engagements is given in the printed catalogue of the day ; and these are taken over by the purchaser. If no engage- ments are specified, it would be taken for granted the animals had none ; and if it .should turn out otherwise, the seller would not be able to compel the purchaser to take them over afterwards, if he refused to do so. But older horses are often sold with or without their engagements, and sometimes under what are termed Lord Exeter's conditions, which are not always well understood, though really so simple as to need little explanation ; the fact being that horses, bought under such conditions, are virtually bought without their engagements — for the purchaser need neither run them, nor pay their forfeits. On the other hand, should the buyer prefer running, no one can prevent him doing so, so long as the nominator is alive, and the new owner pays one half the stake and gives the original vendor one third of the results if the horse wins. These very excellent conditions were made by the late Lord Exeter, and no purchaser can wish to buy under better. But in selling horses in the ordinary way, with their engagements, one objectionable re- sult is that the seller passes the right to scratch from his own to other hands. It may then happen that the minor forfeits, a mere bagatelle when duly declared, are neglected and swell to a serious item, which it is compulsory on the vendor to pay in default of the purchaser doing so ; the remedy of the former being to place the hitter's name on the forfeit list until he refunds the amount. Now there is evidently some need of redress here in justice SALES WITH ENGAGEMENTS CONSIDERED. %-]■] to the seller. A man of straw may buy a horse heavily engaged, and from neglect or design refuse to declare the minor or any other forfeits, and put the vendor to an extra, unjust, and vexatious expense, A case came under my own observation which I will briefly relate, to show how unfairly the practice operates against the seller : a person who bought a yearling with his engage- ments died, and his executors sold the horse again, on the same conditions, by public auction. The animal was bought by a man who neither struck him out nor run him ; and as no one else had the power to do so, the forfeits were augmented to a serious sum. The executors refusing to pay this, the vendor (the nominator) was bound to do so by the rules of racing. Thus the vendor was deprived of every sort of remedy for the recovery of this unlooked-for outlay. It was equally useless to place on the forfeit list the name of a defunct person, or the names of others who refused to pay or had not the means to do so. Now to enable the vendor at the sale to have what he expects and what he is most justly entitled to, it would be well, I venture to think, if the aggre- gate amount of the smaller forfeits were stated in the con- ditions of sale, and the sum deposited by the buyer in the hands of Messrs. Weatherby before the horse was given up. And in default of payment of these minor forfeits, the horse should be at once put up and resold, the defaulter paying the expenses of the resale and any loss accruing to the original vendor. Such a rule as this would, I think, meet the exigencies of the case. Or it might be made that before the larger forfeit became due — if it were not duly paid, the vendor should have the power of striking the horse out, notwithstanding any conditions to the contrary in the catalogue of sale. There is another ground for very general discontent in the 278 PRACTICABLE REFORMS. rule that disqualifies a horse on the death of the nominator ; and I think a judicious revision of the rule might be made. The purchaser of any horse with his engagements, should, if so notified to Messrs. Weatherby within a given time, be able to have him transferred from the nominator to himself, and should alone be answerable for the horse's stakes and forfeits, and should be looked upon in every respect as the original nominator. Of course if any one, to evade his re- sponsibilities, sold a heavily engaged horse that was good for nothing, and gave as the purchaser a man of straw, or even one not known, or who could not satisfy the Jockey Club of his power to pay the forfeits or stakes as they became due, the horse should then still remain the property of the vendor as far as his stakes and forfeits were concerned, unless the amount were paid into Messrs. Weatherby 's hands to cover them. This would simplify matters and operate justly to all. The comfort of all true lovers of the turf, would, I feel sure, be increased, and the condition of those connected with it improved, by restricting racing to a certain number of days in each week. Lgrd George Manners exercised his influence with the Jockey Club beneficially, by restricting all meetings at Newmarket, the Houghton meeting excepted, to five days ; an example that might be worthily followed by the officials elsewhere. But the restriction might be carried further with increased advantage. I would have the racing at all meetings confined to four days in the week; leaving the Monday for the settling at Tattersall's, and the Saturday for yearling sales — for men can only be in one place at a time. If it should happen that all the races set down could not be run off within the four days, some of the minor stakes might be amalgamated to reduce the number and increase the individual value of them with advantage ; or should such a RACING SHOULD BE RESTRICTED TO FOUR DAYS. 279 plan be thought inadvisable, then an extra day, or two days if needed, might be given in the following week — the latter, a provision that his lordship made, which it may be remarked, was the cause of the re-introduction of the Second Spring Meeting at Newmarket, after its discontinuance for so many years. Even at head-quarters, four days a week should satisfy the most ardent sportsman. If the time did not permit all the races to be run off, it would be better to have eight annual meetings instead of seven, concluding the racing season at head-quarters as now with the Houghton meeting. Apart from the increased comfort to racing men, there is an incentive for the change in the benefit accruing to those pro- fessionally engaged in training. Five days racing means an augmentation of the Sunday labour which, in almost every other direction, it is endeavoured to limit as much as possible. Racehorses must travel to and from the scene of action, and men must take them. Workmen must be employed in the construction of booths and temporary stands, and horses and men in the transport of the material. Sunday must be largely devoted, too, to the cooking of provisions, and the conveyance of drinkables from place to place. The present custom was commenced, and is continued, for the benefit of the few; it finds no sympathy with the bulk of the people, or with the generahty of racing men.^ I should add that certain recent enactments of the Jockey Club have, with excellent judgment, in a certain measure helped in the diminution of Sunday labour. I refer to rule 54. By it, all entries previously made on a Sunday, are in the future to be made on the Monday, or for races falling on Monday on the Saturday previously. 1 Since this was written Saturday racing has been (in April 1879) abolished at Newmarket. 28o MINOR EVILS OF THE RACE-COURSE. CHAPTER XXVII. MINOR EVILS OF THE RACE-COURSE. Evils of suburban meetings ; first-past-the-post betting — The suburban meeting and its frequenters ; practicable restrictions on the behaviour of the masses — The extermination of the welsher possible through institution of outer ring for protection of small bettor — Restraint in use of language ; example of the influence of order in Inspector Tanner ; responsibility of the clerks of the course — Removal of the ballad-monger — Beneficial result of reforming the customs of the course — Dramatic restrictions, a lesson in point — Necessity to restrict sale of drink and dancing — The race-course as it was (1817) — Admiral Rous on the powers of stewards and others — Apology for introducing the topic. The suburban meetings, as they are called, are those which cast the greatest blot on the reputation of the turf. It is only a natural result that in the neighbourhood of large towns, more especially of the metropolis, races should attract a con- course of people amongst whom manners and morality are only conspicuous by their absence. The racing, too, is popr. Even for large stakes, good horses seldom compete at such places ; and indeed few run at them, for the races are mostly plates. The disgraceful exhibitions often seen at such meetings were recently made more objectionable by the introduction of " first-past-the-post " betting, which was simply this : the horse that is first past the post, and is so placed By the judge, wins the race so far as his backers are concerned, for they are paid. It does not matter what the horse may be, or his age. LAWLESS CONDUCT OF THE MASSES. 281 or the weight he carries, or the course he runs ; or that imme- diately afterwards he is disqualified, and the race given to the second horse : he has won to all intents and purposes. For- tunately the practice was stopped in its infancy through the vigilance of the Jockey Club ; and I only refer to it here as showing the lengths to which the promoters of these meetings would go if they were permitted. Such meetings have no attraction for gentlemen ; and in the absence of the restraining example and influence of the upper classes, the crowd, wild with excitement, is prone to excess in every conceivable form. I well remember the Hippodrome races at Bayswater^ and those at Harrow, now most happily done to death by their own inherent viciousness. The scenes witnessed at Harrow would beggar description. The few policemen, utterly powerless to preserve order, con- sulted their own safety in flight. Life itself was endangered ; whilst any one having property was ruthlessly despoiled of it, with little risk on the part of the thieves, of detection, and none of punishment when detected. One visit was my first and last appearance on the scene. The Hippodrome was no better, the difficulty of preserving order, there, being admittedly increased by the number of footpaths across the inclosure. The company was chiefly composed of welshers, prize fighters, and the disreputable beings that always follow in their wake, and the downfall of a meeting reliant on such elements was as certain as it was speedy ; the press of the time^ pointing out that a mob " displaying such brutal coarseness and immorality" must drive away "the stay and props of all race-meetings — the respectable portion of the community." I am not so optimist as to suppose that the objectionable frequenters of the race-course can be as summarily removed 1 Sunday Times. 282 MINOR EVILS OF THE RACE-COURSE. from it, as an intruder is ejected from your own house. "In every crowd there is a thief" is an old proverb that holds good with the athletic sports or the cricket match ; the ball or the rout, or with an assemblage of any kind. The frequenter of the race-course cannot, therefore, look for a special immunity from this plague. And I am far from wishing to deprive any class, even the great unwashed, of its right to witness the national sport, although its numbers be often so great as to hinder rather than help the diversion. But there is a duty imposed upon the crowd, as there is on the individual. It must behave itself, and assert a right to its own freedom of action by respecting that of others. But when, with horse-play and coarse brutality, it rides rough-shod over every one, the panic-stricken public fly, and the result is the place is left to the mob and the meeting discredited for all future time. It must be admitted that the turf would benefit largely were means taken to prevent the recurrence of such scenes ; or, failing this, to obliterate all such meetings from the calendar. I think something might be done to get rid of the wretched " welsher," or to minimise the evil he does, by apportioning a piece of ground on each race-course close to the grand stand, or on the nearest eligible site, for the so-called ready-money bettors. It should be inclosed with iron railings, with gates for ingress and egress ; and into it all these men should be forced to go, and no betting be allowed elsewhere except, of course, in the ring proper. This would effectually checkmate those who now take money before the race and decamp with it. A small fee should be charged for admittance, which the frequenters, whether professional or the public, wishing to bet, could well afford to pay. In this ring, no money should be allowed to be taken before the race, in open transgression and SUGGESTED PROTECTION FOR THE SMALL BETTOR. 283 in defiance of the law ; nor should any betting-man be allowed to leave until he had paid after every race, nor any one else till all just claims on him had been settled. A small distinctive badge might be worn on the arm to denote that the wearer was a bookmaker, with his name legibly written on it ; and there should be persons appointed to hear any complaints, and the offender should be at once expelled and proclaimed a defaulter, and not allowed again to enter until he had satis- fied all just demands upon him. The fantastic garments now often worn for the sake of attracting the attention of investors should be forbidden. Such a provision would put an effectual stop to ready- money betting, which, although proscribed by the law, is still practised to an alarming extent, and winked at by the authorities. A few policemen at each gate, and a small reserve force at command to take into custody offenders against this salutary rule, would soon enforce it. The transgressors, like those of the other ring, should be taken at once before the magistrate and relegated to the police-station until the charge of taking money for bets before the race could conveniently be preferred. A few convictions would soon convince the delinquents that though they might not admire the law, they must, like other people, obey it. The same sharp measure would put an end to the other illegal prac- tices, such as the exhibition of lists, of any structure, an umbrella, stool, or bag to mark a fixed spot ; and the result would be, one and all would be compelled to resort to the appointed spot prepared for their reception and for the protection of others. That pest of the turf, the welsher, would be done away with, and the poor man would be able, as he is entitled to be, to bet his shilling or two with the same amount of protection as the larger bettor who lays 284 MINOR EVILS OF THE RACE-COURSE, his thousands, and can appeal for redress, when injured, to the Committee of Tattersall's. Of other objectionable features of the race-course not any is more vicious or repugnant to good sense than the unre- strained licence given to the tongue, which chiefly characterizes what I should term the outer ring, in close vicinity to the more refined and delicate portion of the company. It is but fair to say that the reputable bookmakers are decorous in their language, and detest the use of vile expressions on the part of other members of the ring as much as any one does, and would hail with as much delight its effectual sup- pression. But the evil exists ; and it only remains to inquire if there may not be found some practical remedy. It occurs to me that what is wanted might be brought about by the employment of a few extra policemen, including some detectives ; whilst the extra expense incurred would be amply covered by the additional receipts from members, who, as matters now stand, are debarred from frequenting a place in which such language is allowed — or, if need be, by raising the charge. It is certainly incumbent on clerks of the course and lessees to do all in their power to put down the evil, either by per- suasion or by force. So long as ladies and gentlemen pay the sum demanded for admission to the stand and its inclosures, so long have they a right to demand to be protected from insult ; that decent order be kept ; and that all offenders, in this respect, should be immediately expelled. At a theatre, if the comfort of a visitor who has taken a ticket for the stalls, or any other part of the house, be interfered with by a maudlin fool or talkative person, the latter is immediately removed by the attendant without solicitation or charge. So it should be on the race-course with those whose language is THE BALLAD-MONGER AND OTHER PESTS. 285 an annoyance to others. In the days of the late Inspector Tanner, his simple presence had an immediate salutary effect on all indecorous people, although he was engaged to look after the pockets and not the social behaviour of the visitors. His wide influence extended beneficially over the fraternity of welshers. It is clear, therefore, if the power of one man high in authority was so effective, that a system once set in motion by men of equal position, would require httle addition to the ordinary staff to render it efficient in the future. I submit, therefore, that such a system is worthy of a trial, and if it succeeded, clerks of the course and lessees would gain the gratitude of their chief supporters, and undoubtedly make their own position easier and stronger. Their influence, aided by the strong arm of the law, could make itself felt in the alleviation or removal of evils which extend beyond the grand stand and its enclosures. These evils may be best pointed out in the fewest words. Chief amongst them are the ballad singers, not only the dirty, half- clothed creatures who sing offensive doggerel, but the well- dressed men, women and children who troll forth songs hardly less coarse, and often more harmful in their signifi- cance. It is hardly possible to imagine a worse evil. No visitor, whether in carriage or in drag, on horseback, or on foot, can, as matters now are carried on, enjoy immunity from the pest ; and it is not possible to say that even the most innocent escape contamination from the repetition of words and sentiments of the grossest suggestiveness. If one party of these tormentors be bribed to go away, its place is quickly filled by another ; in the result levying a continuous black- mail on any one who is desirous to free his party, often consisting of his own family, from such surroundings. I suspect the law, if set in motion, would quickly put an 286 MINOR EVILS OF THE RACE-COURSE. end to the career of these disreputable beings. Money obtained under such circumstances would probably be ruled to have been obtained under false pretences, and the im- postors would be sent to prison as rogues and vagabonds. But here, too, I think the simpler remedy of having a few extra policemen would be found effective, whilst the expense would be met by an additional charge of a shilling, or so, on carriages making use of the reserved inclosure. But I do not think such a charge would be found necessary ; my impression being that the course, once freed from obnoxious elements, would receive a sudden access of visitors who now avoid it. Clergymen of many denominations are deterred from attending races, not because they disapprove the sport in itself, but because of the Saturnalia into which, unchecked by any authority, the scene is turned. There is no reason why a race-meeting should not be as charming and inoffensive as any concourse of the people. The English delight in outdoor recreation. Melody adds to such diversion a pleasure of its own ; songs that would delight and not offend the senses, would be an acquisition to such a scene, whilst instrumental music would help to beguile that period which, in the intervals of racing, might become» by comparison, wearisome : and those who should contribute such accessories, deserve both encouragement and reward. The former pests of the race-course and its approaches — the thimble-riggers and card-sharpers, astrologers and sooth- sayers — have long since become a thing of the past. It would not, therefore, be impossible to sweep away the offen- sive ballad-mongers, and with them the wretched objects, who, to excite charity, exhibit monistrous deformities, often painfully shocking the sensibilities of the fair visitors. The latter is a sight that is needless ; for we know these objects THE PLEASURES OF A RACE-MEETING. 287 of compassion are well provided for by public institutions, and would not be permitted thus to exhibit themselves in any towai or country village. Freed from these blemishes, the amusements offered by the race-course would be both enjoyable and innocent, affording to old and young that recreation which prepares them to encounter with fresh vigour the duties of to-morrow. The drive to and from the course, with all its pleasant surroundings, is a scene which has often been graphically depicted by our sporting writers, and is one, allowably, that can find no equal elsewhere, in which all is good fellowship and innocent merriment and fun. When a building is licensed as a theatre, the Lord Cham- berlain satisfies himself that it is so constructed and arranged as to insure the well-being, comfort, and safety of its fre- quenters. But he does not limit himself to these precautions. He proscribes any piece that has an immoral tendency, per- mitting only such to be put upon the stage as cannot offend the most innocent. It is a practice that might be worthily followed by clerks of the course, who should use the powers they possess in the same discreet way. The sale of intoxicating drinks on the race-course is another matter to which some restraint should be applied. The legislature has wisely curtailed the hours in which Hquor may be sold in public-houses, and some such prohibition should be extended to the sale of it in the booths on race- courses. The sale might, I think, be safely permitted for a certain period of the day, commencing an hour or two before the first race is run, and extending until two hours after the last race is over, on each day of the meeting. As things are at present, it is the custom for the lower classes to rush off at the conclusion of the day's sport, to the booths, often accom- 288 MINOR EVILS OF THE RACE-COURSE. panied by their wives, daughters, or other female friends, who may be under their care. Drinking is then carried to excess, followed by dancing in semi-darkness ; and it is needless to say how baneful such a form of dissipation must be to men and women who are, it may be said, in a measure entrapped into it. Sobriety and modesty often become things of the past only. The restrictions I have named would do much towards stopping this lamentable practice, and would turn into a real day's pleasure for the poor man, what is now too 'often an outing he can only look back upon with regret. If to do so much be beyond the authorities, then the magistrates should interfere ; and if they, too, are powerless, then surely some true lover of racing holding a seat in Parliament would bring forward a bill for the purpose, if only the matter were agitated. My observations on these matters are not intended for a moment to attach blame to clerks of the course and others for evils which in many cases were pre-existing. Indeed, these officials as a body deserve a large meed of praise for strenuous efforts, often successful, towards reform. Nor would I have it supposed that the race-course of to-day is worse than the race-course in times gone by. Indeed, if we examine the subject, we shall probably find that we have much less to complain of in this respect than our forefathers had. In the beginning of the present century, Newmarket not only abounded in touts of all kinds, but in other degraded characters, who stood on no trifles in the commission of actual crime. These miscreants were tutored to villainy by men who because of their superior education and talent were worse than their tools. So widely spread was the mischief, that the turf showed signs of decline if not of absolute THE RACE-COURSE AS IT WAS IN 1819. 289 collapse. A sporting authority (the Morning Herald), writing in 1 8 19, says, that the races at Epsom had fallen into such low repute, owing to the ill condition of the course and the scanty accommodation afforded, that it was thought they would be given up on the death of the then Lord Derby. " How changed," exclaims the writer, " from the days of O'Kelly and Eclipse!" Defaulters, too, seem to have been very plentiful at that time, collecting every guinea they could obtain from their honest associates, and levanting with the sum so received, whether big or little, ;^ 10,000 or £10, without paying a farthing of their losses. These and other discreditable acts, which are substantially the same as found in the newspaper referred to, had brought racing to a very low ebb. Here is what is said on some other points : — " These were not the only unfortunate circumstances at- tending the races held at Epsom that year, for we are further informed that they were greatly attended by ' thieves,' and other bad characters. The Races this year had the honour of being particularly patronised by the ' borough gang,' who committed unheard-of depredations : one day Mr. Bolton w^as attacked by upwards of thirty men, near the course, and, as a matter of course, they relieved him of his watch ; " After describing how others were robbed, it is added, that a gentleman who was looking at the races had his pockets turned inside out, and a constable, who, seeing the act, seized the rogue, was surrounded by about 200 thieves, who knocked him down and kicked and beat him with sticks. The bare recital of these barbarisms is sufficient to show the improvement made in our day in the proceedings on the course, and that it is not without reason I affirm that the racing authorities deserve praise for successfully carrying out many difficult reforms, U 290 MINOR EVILS OF THE RACE-COURSE. It may be pertinent to our topic to inquire briefly what is the extent of the power vested in racing authorities. The general routine and management of the race-meeting devolve upon the clerks of the course and the lessees under the acknowledged, but seldom obtruded, guidance of the stewards of the respective meetings ; and it will be appro- priate if I submit a few extracts from the late Admiral Rous's book on horse-racing, in which he gives his opinion on the subject : " It will be well," says the Admiral, " for a gentleman who undertakes the duties of a steward at a country race-meeting, to be informed of the habilities he takes upon himself in accepting that office, and of the rights and privileges conferred upon him by virtue of it. In law a steward is hable in respect of all things done or ordered in his name, by his authority, either expressly or impliedly given." A little further on we read : "As a general rule it may be taken that during the day of racing, the race-course and enclosures are in the legal possession of the stewards, and that they have for all pur- poses connected with the races, the authority of the owner of the ground to order off every person whose removal they deem desirable." The removal of the objectionable persons here alluded to is no doubt that of defaulters in respect of stakes or bets lost on horse-racing, and those who misconduct themselves in other ways ; and others who having been proved guilty of any malpractices on the turf, had been warned not to attend under penalty of expulsion. But it is clear that authority, and authority brief in its action and potent in its con- sequences, is vested in racing officials, and it therefore seems feasible that similar excellent enactments might be put in APOLOGY FOR INTRODUCING THE TOPIC. 291 force to repress what we have here discusssed as " the minor evils of the race-course." That I, as a trainer writing on training, have ventured to devote a chapter to these matters may be thought to demand some apology. The fact will not, I trust, be viewed as an attempt to set myself up as a moralist. But writing on the racehorse, and incidentally and necessarily on certain turf matters, I hope it may not be deemed an excess of zeal to point out those blots, which to a certain extent exist only because their existence is not known, or its grave conse- quences are not fully appreciated. The removal of the anomalies I have here glanced at, is all that is wanted to complete that improvement in the customs of the race-course which I have shown has been progressive if slow ; an im- provement that it may be confidently hoped will be carried out by the competent authorities, if only the general desire for such a reform be pressed upon their notice. V 2 292 ATTACKS ON THE TURF. CHAPTER XXVIII. ATTACKS ON THE TURF ; AND CONCLUSION. Frequency of attacks on the turf — Contrasts in its favour %\ith other occupations — Professor Low's attack specially considered : errors of his statements and their deductions shown ; the alleged cruelty to the horse refuted by contrast with his actual treatment ; wasting not injurious ; his indiscriminate charges against trainers and jockeys shown to be groundless ; instance of Chifney — Absurdity of his allegations against owners laying against their horses dis- played, and the real origin of public favourites shown — Conclusion. It is SO common an expression that the practices on the turf are corrupt, and its frequenters actuated by sinister motives, that I feel I ought, in bringing my work to a conclusion, to say something to exhibit the fallacy of this notion. To defend or excuse those of my own calling, and the others more or less directly connected with it, is no part of my intention ; for defence or excuse would imply an admission that the attacks on the turf have some solid basis, which is not the case. My object is merely to show, by contrast with other occupations, how utterly erroneous is the popular estimate of my own in this respect. Amongst trainers and jockeys there may be those who are guilty of malpractices, as there are offenders in all sections of the community ; but I think it is not too much to say, that the worst practices on the turf are outdone daily in other occupations. We have dishonest bankers, THE TURF AND TRADE CONTRASTED. 293 stockbrokers, solicitors, and tradesmen, whose culpability will outvie any charge ever whispered against the owaier of a racehorse, or his trainer or jockey. Without giving cases in number, I may shortly refer to the Glasgow Bank as an example of what men of commercial position will descend to do for their own ends ; and to the frequent cases of adulterations on the part of the retail trader : and ask, if the annals of the turf can show anything to equal these frauds in systematic dishonesty,^ The abuses of the turf, and the errors of the trainer and jockey may well be left, the one to the vigilance of the ^ The Evening Standard of 22ik1 October, 1S78, in speaking of the Glasgow Bank, says : — " The report relates a tissue of dishonesty, fraud, concealment, and malversation wholly without parallel. Advances of enormous extent have been made to prop up rotten houses : bad debts have been made to an amount many times exceeding the whole capital of the bank ; false balance sheets have been drawn up to deceive the shareholders and the public ; lying returns have been made of the amount of gold in the coffers of the bank ; and an immense over-issue of notes has been sent out ; large dividends have been declared when the bank was in a hopeless state of bankruptcy : and in fact it is difficult to mention a single description of monetary fraud that has not been perpetrated at the bank." With respect to food adulteration, the same authority says: — "According to Dr. Harper, and other chemists and analysts, tea is adulterated with no less than seventeen different substances, milk with eight, sugar with four, the staff of life is tampered with to an enormous extent with four spurious ingredients, butter with three, cuiTy powder with ten, pickles with five amongst which figure sulphuric acid and corrosive sublimate, besides other things." It further goes on to relate how spurious are the drinks we must consume, if we do not confine ourselves to water. " Beer," it says, " is adulterated in several different ways, and it may be startling to the reader to hear some of the effective ingredients, such as strychnine, and sulphate of iron, and wormwood. Soda water, commonly so called, in nine cases out of ten, contains no soda at all, but is simply water into which carbonic acid gas has been pumped. Brandy is mixed with nine different substances, and sherry, champagne, and port are more or less shamefully adulterated." The frauds of Sir John Dean Paul, of Redpath, and others, and recently of the solicitor Froggatt, show that no profession can claim immunity fi-om scoundrelism, whilst one of the most harmful of all offenders, the purveyor of diseased meat, often escapes the just punishment of his gross misdeeds on payment of a nominal fine. 294 ATTACKS ON THE TURF. recognised authorities, the other to that of employers, to the restraints imposed by law, and to the penalties which invariably follow unfair or careless performance of duties ; whilst reformers would find ample scope for the practice of their designs, in the many abuses which affect the welfare of the world at large. But from this general view of the subject it will be well to turn to consider special attacks on the turf Professor Low, in his work entitled " Domestic Animals of Great Britain," is perhaps fortunately too partial and too consistently pessimist in his views, to cause his authority on racing matters to rank high with lovers of fair play. After telling us something of notable persons connected with the sport from the time of James I. to that of Oliver Cromwell, he speaks of the sport itself; of which he, at least, says, and in so far we may agree with him, that it is not productive of more gambling than other things, nor so harmful as cards or dice ; nor is there, he allows, more gambling with us than in other countries in which horse-racing is unknown. But when he comes to discuss the professional aspect of the topic, it will be conceded, I think, that his conclusions have no trust- worthy foundation, either of experience or logical argument. " The humblest class," he says, " connected with the business of the turf are the boys of the stable ; to each of whom is assigned the care of one horse with the duties of riding it at exercise." (He here starts with a palpable mistake, as each boy does two horses.) He proceeds to state on the authority of Holcraft, " that the boy rises at half-past two in the summer." Speaking of wasting jockeys, the Professor says that, under the system which he has been describing, " a man may reduce his weight a pound or more in the day without injury to his general health or temporary impairment of his natural vigour." Of the young horse itself, he states, "he is cruelly PROFESSOR LOW'S ERRORS DISPLAYED. 295 misused ; to fit him for his future task, he must be deprived of hberty, and subjecteci to artificial feeding and training, almost from the time he quits the side of his dam. No time is allowed him for that exercise in the field which his instinct points out as the most suitable and natural, nor for partaking of that food in the open air, which is best of all others to preserve health, and answer the demand of the sanguiferous system in the young animal. He must be trained, bled, physicked, sweated, and subjected to restraint in his natural motion, at the time when the animal functions should have their natural play." These assertions are positive enough. Yet I think it is easy to prove that the Professor is wTong in every point. The cruel treatment and restraint to which the foal is subjected from the time it leaves the side of its dam, of which he speaks, may be summed up in the following brief description. The colt is, when weaned, confined in a stable with a companion or two, until he has forgotten his dam. Then he is with the others set at liberty, depasturing in well sheltered paddocks and comfortably housed at night ; when he has the best of corn and natural and artificial grasses of all kinds, and has in every other w^ay all that he desires for his comfort. It wall be seen that he does not lose his liberty, as the Professor would have us believe, at the time of his quitting the side of his dam, or indeed until some twelve or fourteen months after, when eighteen or twenty months old. Up to this time he enjoys the most perfect freedom of action. He daily exercises himself according to his natural propen- sities, either galloping or idly taking his rest. What is this but natural exercise .'' and where is the restraint so much objected to .■' I am free to confess I cannot see it ; and more, I am bold enough to say it does not exist. But the time 296 ATTACKS ON THE TURF. has arrived, as it does to all horses, when the colt must be accustomed to restraint ; and even then a proportionate allowance of exercise allotted to suit his tender age is given — and he is not overworked, whilst he is well cared for. Again, as to his being trained, bled, phj^sicked, and sweated, I can vouch for it that his training is little more than gentle exercise until he is old enough to bear work ; and that in a state of health, he is not subjected to bleeding, and that a mild dose of physic is only administered occa- sionally as a preventive of disease, or in illness. Having shown, I think, beyond all doubt, that the Professor is wrong in his remarks on the horse, I shall next essay to demonstrate that he is not more happy in his strictures on the manners and customs of those that have to do with him. In his statements as to the early hour at which the boys rise, and as to one boy being kept for each horse, it must suffice to say that he is in error, as he is in a general sense in other ways. For as to wasting one pound a day, I have my- self wasted for years, and often reduced myself six pounds in a day, and day after day several pounds. I reduced myself to ride Belissama, at Bath, from lo stone to the required weight, 7 St. 13 lbs. which included the saddle. I have never injured myself by the process, and I do not doubt others have wasted even more with a similarly Innocuous result. But the Professor still further commits himself to untenable statements, and does so in a much more reprehensible fashion, when he categorically attacks trainers and jockeys and would brand them with infamy ; as indeed he is inclined to attack all and any who happen to differ with him in opinion. But it is only fair to submit his own words, even though the quota- tion be somewhat lengthy ; for by this method, points will not be brought forward that specially assist my theory. ATTACK ON TRAINERS AND JOCKEYS. 297 nor on the other hand, others suppressed to the injur}' of his arguments. "The betting," he says, "of jockeys and trainers, to a vast amount, has now become a system extensive, open, and avowed. It is no longer the restricted and temperate betting which prevailed in former times, on horses in which the master and employer of these people had an interest, but they must have their books as regular as the boldest gambler of the course. Now, here is a system which strikes at the very root of all confidence in the affairs of the turf. What ! the horses of sportsmen to be entrusted to a set of avowed gamblers, who may have a direct interest in causing their defeat ! What confidence can be placed in a jockey on whose success in a match with another horse he or his confederates may have thousands depending ? Will he win in opposition to an interest so great .'' Those who believe so, must have a higher confidence in the virtues of Newmarket than our knowledge of human nature elsewhere justifies. The first admission on record of a jockey betting on the horse opposed to that which he himself rode, is the elder Chifney, He lost the race, but he justifies himself by saying, that he knew the horse he rode was unfit to win. The argument of the jockey is not worth the tassel of his velvet cap ; and the principle contended for needs only a little extension to justify every kind of roguery. This very jockey lived to acquire a splendid stud, to build houses, to sport his equipage, and to experience the revolution of fortune's wheel, by dying a beggar. But the training grooms, more trusted still — what can be said of their concern with the gambling speculations, by which their interest and their duty have been placed at variance ? What need of their master-key to guard their troughs from the introduction of the arsenic or the sublimate ; or of the live fishes, to show that the water is as pure as their own thoughts ? A few orders of the head groom on the training-ground, a few doses out of time of Barbadoes aloes, a gentle opiate from the apothecary's shop, all for the health of the horse, will 298 ATTACKS ON THE TURF. answer every end. Or should these disgraces not be perpe- trated, how many are the means by which races may be lost or won ! A simple breach of confidence may answer the end, information may be conveyed sufficient to neutralize the hopes of the confiding employer, and the one book be made square, although the other may become a memorandum of ruin." We may pause for a moment in our quotation to examine the relevancy of what he has said to this point. If such things were done, there would be some ground for such an argument. But he bases his thesis on an utter hypothesis. No jockey or trainer bets in the way he describes, and there- fore does not fall under the temptation. And it is on hypo- thesis only that he ventures to condemn a class. He says, "The elder Chifney was the first to -back a horse in a race other than the one he rode, and he lost owing to the horse's unfit condition." This was the rider's opinion, soundly based no doubt and justified by the result, though he might have been mistaken in his opinion, and might have had to pay dearly for it. I confess I cannot conceive the dishonesty that is attached to such conduct. It cannot be the mere fact of the jockey's betting, or of his being the first that did so, and nothing of an improper nature is proved against him. All he did was to ride one horse and back another in the same race. But why should he not have done so .-' What reason can be given to show, that if a jockey rode a carthorse of his em- ployer's, he should be required, if he betted at all, to back him against an Eclipse ; or if you will, against one of his own horses of which he thought well and had confidence in his brother professional in the saddle ? For racing has its glorious uncertainties. One horse may fall down, or go the wrong course, and from various reasons others may be disqualified and the carthorse may be the winner, and his jockey having CHIFNEY AND OTHER JOCKEYS DEFENDED. 299 backed another horse, may lose and would pay. But there would have been no dishonesty if the horse had been beaten. The fact is, horses are beaten from other causes than the roguery of owner, trainer, or jockey. It is possible to cite numerous instances in which the jockey, by consummate art has, at the critical moment, turned what would have been an easy defeat into a splendid victory, and not unoften at his own cost. At Goodwood on one occasion this was so palpably done at the cost of some thousands of pounds to the jockey, that the prefix of "honest" was ever after attached to the rider's name. The contest for the blue riband of the turf itself can contribute a case, a parallel to which it will not be easy for the Professor himself to find off the race-course. In this instance a jockey rode the winner for his employers when his own horse ran second. In one minute he could have made a splendid fortune and would never have been called to account. But the temptation, great it must be confessed, had no charm for him. He preferred honour to riches. Fortunately these facts are known and appreciated by the chief supporters of racing, and therefore the jockeys as a body can afford to treat with contempt attacks upon their honesty. For myself, I find it difficult to believe that the writer really supposes the occult practices he condemns have existence. According to him, trainers and jockeys, by com- bining to deceive their employers, make their own fortunes, and the unhallowed process is kept an undivulged secret from all save the nefarious accomplices. According to the pro- fessor, the evil is by no means fleeting, it is chronic. Annually similar frauds occur, and fresh owners take the place of their ruined predecessors, to be dealt by with the same unrelenting dishonesty. But such a theory carries its own refutation : were it so, no owner, even a millionaire, would be able to 300 ATTACKS ON THE TURF. withstand these terrible losses, coming as they would with each revolving year; whilst we should see trainers and jockeys the possessors of the ancestral estates of their victims. It is difficult to say which of the two results is the more im- probable. As a matter of fact, there are on the turf, owners who make money and owners who lose it ; and a similar experience awaits the adventurous jockey or the speculative trainer. It is a game of hazard to a certain extent, and has its lucky and unlucky followers. If we turn once more to the book, we shall find that the professor has little good to say even of the unfortunate (as he would make him) owner. " It is seen," he says, " that the owner of a horse may, by betting against his own horse, gain by his losing the race : and by having his own horse largely backed, and then running to lose, pocket enormous sums." The merest tyro will be here inclined to remind our critic of the sound advice of Mrs. Glasse : "Before cooking, first catch your hare." First then, let it be shown who are the people who will back the horse, that the owner may win enormous sums by betting against him, and the matter may be worth discussion. As things are — and this is all that need trouble us, we do not wish to start from hypothesis : as things are, then, owners of other horses will not back our hypothetical owner's horse, nor will the bookmakers whose business it is to lay ; whilst the little staked by the public, naturally limited if the owner do not essay to lead the way, when sifted by the commissioner, will leave but a meagre nucleus for the "enormous sums for the owner's pocket." The fallacy of the argument requires no demonstration. But let us hear the writer further on betting. " One of the practices pursued," he goes on to say, " is to get ABSURDITY OP^ HIS CHARGES AGAINST OWNERS. 301 up favourites for the great stakes. This is done by means of lies, false trials, deceptive bets, high prices paid for horses, so as to enhance the public opinion of their value, and by devices of all sorts. Large sums are staked on the favourite horse by the public. But is it intended that he shall win ? No, it is settled he shall lose. A little management of the jockey will save appearances, and thousands are to be duped that the owner and his confederates may pocket the spoil. Enor- mous sums, as 3,000 guineas or more, have been paid for a colt ; we will suppose, to start for the Derby. What is the meaning of this } Is the owner to back this colt against a hundred horses he has never seen, twenty or thirty of which (many of them, for anything he knows, better than his own) are to start ? No : the purpose is not to win the Derby. The owner and his confederates are to gain by the loss of the race, and the dupes are to back the favourite." Now as only owners could do this wretched business, if such a thing were done, on them alone must fall the blame. But a brief examination will show the crudeness of the notion. No one would put any faith in reported trials of living wonders, unless the stable backed the report with money. Then who is to get up false trials, circulate lies and make sham bets for nothing ? or to give thousands for a horse not worth a copper with the vain hope of persons more shrewd than himself backing him ? Who would thus part with a certainty for a doubtful expectancy, and give up the substance for the shadow > A shallow trick of the sort would be un- worthy of the merest novice, and would certainly recoil on the head of its inventor. Owners are like other people, I am pretty certain ; and as such, consult their own interests in preference to that of strangers, friends or enemies, and would scorn the idea of acting in a way at once mad and disre- putable. The truth is, favourites are not made by those con- nected with them, " by lying and other devices." Their chief 302 ATTACKS ON THE TURF. supporters are the public, led on by touts and tipsters. Those who back and those who advise, continue to sing the praises of the animals in hopes that a shorter price will enable them to hedge, and so stand to win a good stake but lose nothing : whilst the unfortunate owner, wishful to back his own horse at a fair price (knowing its real chances) has often to look on and ultimately in self-defence to withdraw him from the race — as I have before explained. It is therefore clear that the owner has no motive for dishonesty. But for argument's sake, we will assume that owners, trainers, and jockeys conspire to defraud the public of their money by the vilest deception. No one, not even the Professor, can believe that the public will be hoodwinked by the most ingeniously concocted scheme. At least, the success of such a thing has not come within my experience, nor I venture to say within the experience of any careful observer of the turf and its patrons. On paper, nothing looks easier than to lay thousands against a horse and thus ruin credulous dupes and make your own fortune. But in practice it is very different. Then, experience shows that there is considerable difficulty in hedging one's stake, though only for a small sum, and even that this cannot always be done. But when anything beyond it is attempted, the bookmakers and the public are on the alert, and the facts (or what they surmise to be the facts) are telegraphed to thousands of people in a few hours, and your horse is driven from favouritism to an obscure place in the betting ; perhaps reported lame, and certainly predicted to be an absentee on the day of the race. I think I have said enough to show that it is not possible to win enormous sums by laying against horses in our day. And I hope I have succeeded in making clear that Professor CONCLUSION. 303 Low in his attacks on the turf writes on the slenderest infor- mation, and that more often incorrect than not. But if one more instance be required to show the emptiness of the charge so gravely made, it may be found in the following question, as simply put as it is profoundly answered. " Is the owner to back this colt," he asks in reference to an animal for which it is supposed a large sum has been given, " against a hundred horses : twenty or thirty of which (and of these many, for anything he knows, better than his own) are to start ? " " No. " The fact is, owners not only back their horses against a hundred they have never seen before, but against double that number or more, any one of which may be better than their own. I may add in conclusion, that the Professor is not singular in his aspersions of the doings of owners, trainers, and jockeys. Other writers glibly attribute motives which have no existence ; amongst them Mr. Lawrence, from whom I have on more than one occasion quoted. But an answer to one, is an answer to all ; and it is only necessary that that answer should be a direct and complete refutation, in language unmistakable, fearless, and frank. I HAVE now said all I have to say strictly bearing on the subject which in the commencement of this work I proposed to treat. I have resisted throughout the temptation to intro- duce anecdote, even when relevant, lest in so doing the essen- tial purport of the treatise, which is to be directly serviceable to the individual rather than amusing to the multitude, should be frustrated by the introduction of extraneous matter. The nature of this temptation may be illustrated here by a few examples, not uninstructive in themselves. It would have been easy to relate how on one occasion a 304 CONCLUSION. match was made to be run at Newmarket, when the one horse died and the other was unfit to run, and stratagem was used on either side. When in the end the match was declared off, a Httle pleasantry was indulged in, the one sportsman declaring his horse was scarcely able to walk out of the stable, whilst the other retorted that his was dead and buried in it. On another occasion, a jockey was bribed not to win, and telling his employer, was recommended to take the bribe, which he did ; and the owner himself rode the horse and won. Again, a gentleman who shall be nameless, matched his horse for ;^200 a side against that of a baronet, now deceased. The baronet had, as it afterwards appeared, no intention of running, and merely sent his horse, in order to frighten his oppo- nent. But the latter, whose horse in reality was too ill to leave the stable, substituted another for it, and sent the impostor to the spot (Newmarket), with strict injunctions to his trainer to give all inquirers an evasive answer. The baronet, by the aid of his trusty touts, learned of the arrival of the false horse, and believing it, on the same trustworthy evidence, to be the real Simon Pure, paid forfeit. This was no doubt sailing rather near the wind ; yet the baronet had tried to frighten his opponent with " false fire," and clever tactician though he was, was perhaps deservedly outwitted by one more wily than himself There is a savour of "Munchausen" in these stories, it may be thought ; yet they have a substratum of truth which few of the marvellous conceptions that appear in books on racing matters can boast. And they must suffice. In my treatment of the various subjects it has been my desire to introduce only those things that are relevant to it ; although perforce some matters will appear of more interest and greater importance than others to racing men. The CONCLUSION. 305 breaking of the colt and his following preparation, his subsequent performances in trials and in public, are subjects demanding the ample treatment which has been given to them ; and the method followed will hardly be charged with redundancy, which, at the worst, would be less censurable than incompleteness. The chapters on betting, on the scandals of the race-course, and the present one on attacks on the turf, are open possibly to the charge of being the least cognate to the subject. As such they are, I am free to confess, the least satisfactory to myself; but, on the other hand, they are not absolutely foreign to our examination, and, indeed, it is hoped may in some fashion serve to round it off. I may add that the suggestions for reform which fill Chapter XXVI., as well as the earlier comments on the light-weight jockeys, have, I am fully convinced, every warrant for their amplification in any work on the racehorse. If any doubt that the conduct of the young jockeys is an evil loudly crying for redress, let him attend the room next the weighing-room after one of the large handicaps, and he will find that if their faults have not here been extenuated, at least nought has been set down in malice. If nothing more is required to be said specially on other points, I may yet venture to submit that the whole, as an original work, has had to contend with many difficulties in the endeavour to eliminate golden truths from popular errors, and to avoid plagiarism. It has been my studied object throughout not to weary the reader by giving a detailed account where it was unnecessary or punctiliously to define matters and things when the bare, name was sufficient. For instance, when physic is recom- mended, I merely mention it. I have not said what it should be composed of, or the quantity sufficient for the dose, or the X 3o6 CONCLUSION. treatment of the animals whilst under its influence ; simply because I assume all people connected with racing stables would understand a part of their management which admits of little or no variation. I trust I have succeeded in being, without tediousness, ex- plicit in describing racing matters to the comprehension of the uninitiated as well as of the cognoscenti. I have endeavoured to the best of my ability to refute the baseless and virulent attacks on my profession, and to forward the cause of morality in it, by exposing its errors, condemning its faults, whilst giving to honour and honesty their meed of praise. The result of my experience is recorded impartially, and I trust intelligibly, and without the aid of rhetorical embellishment. That the work has its blemishes I cannot doubt ; but I trust the weight of information may be thought to outbalance them, and, if I have achieved little, that the reader will generously accept that little as the best I can give. The words of the great moralist may, in this sense, perhaps fittingly bring my labour to a conclusion, and serve at once as the best apology for the attempt I have made and a plea for its indulgent reception. " He that in the latter part of his life," says Dr. Johnson, " too strictly inquires what he has done, can very seldom receive from his own heart such an account as will give him satisfac- tion. We do not indeed so often disappoint others as ourselves. But he has no reason to repine though his abilities are small and his opportunities few. He that has improved the virtue or advanced the happiness of one fellow-creature ; he that ascertained a single moral proposition, or added one useful experiment to natural knowledge, may be content with his own performance ; and with respect to mortals like himself may demand, like Augustus, to be dismissed at his departure with applause," INDEX. Acceptance : a new method of sug- gested, 259 ; the method sketched and advantages shown, 25864 Accidents, (i'lf^ Sickness and Casual- ties) Aged horses. {See Remarks on the Four- year-old) Air. (See Ventilation) Air-holes and windows, 6 Alep's defeat by Avowal, a proof of improvement of thoroughbred, 230- 1 Alington, Lord, My purchase of reason- ably priced yearlings for, and results, 128 Alternate rest and labour essential, 82 Amateur Backer, The : hints to, 246-7 ; the counterfeit bookmaker and the " tipster," 246 American system, The : breaking. Umpire an instance, 71 ; system of training, IIO-12 ; contrast of distance and pace, lio-ll; extra clothing, III; rarity of victories, a proof of its inferiority, ib.; Prioress at New- market, lb.; Mr. Ten Broeck's and Mr. Sanford's studs, ib.; condition of Preakness at Epsom, 112 Ancient estimation of the horse, 237 Anecdotes of racing. Reason for restraint in using, 303 Anglesey's, Marquess of, dictum on pur- chasing, 138 Anonymous letters : evil of, 190-2 ; proper treatment of, 192 ; instance of harm done at Whitewall, 191 Antagonist' s victory a proof of benefit of early breaking, 72 Appetite and condition, 85 Arsenic, evil of use of, 43 Ascot and Epsom courses contrasted, and inferences, 175-6 Assheton-Smith, Mr., as a heavy- weight rider, 194 Athelstan's, King, "running horses," 237 Attacks on the turf : 292-303 ; frequency of, 292 ; the turf and trade con- trasted, 293 ; Professor Low's attack specially considered, 294-303, errors of his statements and deductions shown, ib., alleged cruelty to the horse and jockey refuted, 295-6, groundlessness of charges against jockeys and trainers shown, 297, absurdity of his charges against owners laying against their own horses shown, 300-3' Auctions, Absurdity of prices paid at, for blood-stock, 127 ; and contra'-ts of success of reasonably priced animals, 127-8 Audacity of boy-jockeys, 162 Avowal's defeat of Alep, a proof of improvement of thoroughbred, 230-1 Backing book-maker. The, his proce- dure and harmfulness, 248 Ballad-mongers should be removed from the race-course, 285 Bandages condemned, 28, 31 ; hand- rubbing preferred to, 16 Banditto's defeat of Etiropa, an in- stance of the trustworthiness of trials, 153 Bay Middleton : an example that horses run in all shapes, 136; taken as a criterion of a generation since, and contrasted with Blue Gown and other modern horses, 226-7 Bentinck, Lord George : his custom of selecting yearlings in the paddock, X 2 3o8 INDEX. 73 ; his opinion of Defender's thorough-pin, Ii6; Lady Grosvenor and Crucifix, 1 19; his repute as a judge of blood-stock, and failure in the case of Mendicant, 1 25-6; unex- plained removal of his horses from Danebury, 219-20 Betting and Bettors : 245-268 ; instance of value of seclusion in, at Wood- yates, 64 ; modern increase of, 240, 246 ; a chief cause of turf losses, 243. Betting as it is : hints to the amateur, 246-7, services of the book-maker, 245, his counterfeit and the amateur backer, 246, untrust- worthiness of tipster and tout, il>., only sound reasons for backing a horse, ib., better to keep a few horses than bet, 247, the De Goncourt fraud, il>., harmfulness of the back- ing book-maker, 248, the commis- sioner : evils of employing him, 250-5; how commissions are worked, 251-2, authentic personal experi- ences in illu- tration with the Metro- politan, Two Thousand, and Good- wood Stakes, 252-4 ; necessity with many to bet, 250. Betting as it might be, 256-68, suggested reme- dies, to"^ legalize betting, 256, and to restrict commissions, 257, three courses recommended to owners, 257-8, suggested alteration in system of nomination and entry, 258-60, the proposed method sketched, 258-9, its result, betting on the nomination and other benefits illustrated from the betting on the \yaterloo Cup and " draw," 260-6 : the one disappointment, Cooniassie forestalled, and its warning, 266-7, the "tipster" and "tout" done away with, 263. Book-makers and their procedure, 263, reversion to old tactics recommended, 264. Sug- gested institution of an outer ring for protecting small l^ettors, and extermi- nation of "the welsher," 282-3; "first past the post" betting, 280-1 ; jockeys' betting, 2979, case of Chifney, 297-8, brilliant example of honesty at G jodwood, 299 ; ab- surdity of charges agamst owners laying against their own horses shown, 300-3 ; real origin of "favourites," 302 " Big " condition : examples of horses fit when "big," and contrasts, 47 ; typical instance of "big" and "light" condition, Tafne Deer z.\\A Fisherman, 56 ; horses oftener fit "light" than "big," 57; how Mr. Scott beguiled the public, and in- stances of his failures, 92-3 ; pre- judice of owners for, and instance of compliance with it, 95-7 ;•' evils of "big" condition, 97 ; slow progress of fat yearlings, 129-31 ; prevalence of sore shins in, 13 1 Bird on the Wing, her illness and re- covery, an instance of public opinion on scratching, 183-4 Bit and bridle for breaking, 67 Blue Goiun contrasted as a modern horse with Bay Middleton, 227 Blue Rock, an instance of success of a low-priced yearling, 125 Book-maker, The : value of his services, 245 ; his counterfeit and the amateur backer, 246 ; the harmfulness of the backing book-maker, 248 ; book- makers and their procedure : a rever- sion to old tactics recommended, 263-4 B jxes. The Loose, described, 4 ; the partitions, 5 ; both boxes and stalls necessary, and why, 6 Boys as jockeys. {See Jockeys) Boys, the Stable : their rooms, 5 ; the stable-boy and his tempter, 269-70 ; how the tout works, 269 ; a plan to frustrate espionage, its method ex- plained and advantages shown, 270-2 Breaking: 65-74; gentleness essential, 65 ; physic to be given, ib.; tackle described ib.; preliminary process, 66, other methods, and objections to them, 66-7 ; bit and bridle, 68 ; the colt ridden loose, ib. ; the best age, Buffon and Cuvier thereon, ib., argu- ments for breaking as yearlings, and instances, 69 ; the best season, ib. ; different practices, and objections to them, 69-70; instances of endurance of horses broke en.rly, 70- 1 ; custom in other countries, 71 ; the American system, ib.; instances in support of my system, 72, confirmed by the French practice, 73 Bridle and bit for breaking, 67 ; altera- tions in, in present day, 78 Briganline, as a roarer, 39 ; an instance of a successful low-priced yearling, 125 Buccaneer, an example of foreign pur- chases of our best stock, 229 INDEX, 309, Buffoii, on the natural coat of animals, 42 ; on the a;^e to bi'eak the horse, 68 Bunbury's, Sir Charles, system of preparation, 78 " Burnett's " fluid, Use of, 18 ; in sickness, 33 Burns, Mr., on ventilation, 11 Camerine, an example of a good small horse, 117 Caractacus, an example of the value of produce of old mares, 129 Casualties. {See Sickness and Casual- ties) Catch-'' em- alive, a horse fit when " big," 47 Chaiidos, an instance of the thorough- bred carrying weight, 195 Changeability of owners, how caused, and its prejudice to trainers, 21 0-6 Charon's in-and-out running examined and explained, 109 Chester Cup, Instance of betting on Starter and Our Mary Ann for, 64 Chifney : last days of, "why jockeys are poor," 224; his betting defended, 29S Clark, Mr., on feeding and soiling, and remarks, 24-5 ; on water and its qualities, 26-7 ; on equine fatness, 58 Cleanliness in the stable, iS ; its need in sickness, 33 Clerks of the Course : their responsi- bilities in preserving order, 284 ; dramatic restrictions, a lesson in point, 287 ; value of their services, 288 ; Admiral Rous on the powers of stewards and others, 290 Climate, Effect of, on the breed of horses, 58 Clothing : preferred to exclusion of air, 13; mu>t be dry, 18; ■\\ inter and summer clothing, ib.; warm clothing necessary in sickness, 37 ; for the yearling, 84 Coats Rough and Glossy : stifling stables and their attractiveness, 10-13, dii"^- ful results, 13-14; predilection for glossy coats, 41, protest against, 42 ; natural coat of animals, ib., Buffon thereon, ib., removal of coat, its evils, the condition-ball and arsenic, 42-3 ; rough coats oftenest seen, 43 ; examples of horses fit when rough. Colds and Coughs ; the danger of, 33 ; their prevention ib., diverse effects of coughs on condition, 52 ; precau- tions against, during preparation, 86 Collitigzvood and The Cur, Disobedience of declaration to win with, 170 Commissioner, The : 250-5 ; evils of employing him, ib. ; how commissions are worked, 25 1 -2; his dishonesty, plausibility, and easy goings, ib.; authentic personal -.experiences in illustration : Pharsalus and The Metropolitan, 252, Promised Land and the Two Thousand, 252-3, our commission on the Goodwood Stakes, 253-4, the result examined, 254 ; suggested restrictions on, 257 ; owners recommended one of three courses with, 257-8 Condition-ball, The, and its evils, 43 Condition : predilection for glossy coats, 41, protest against, 42 ; the natural coat of animals, ib., Buffon thereon, ib.; evils of removal of coat, ib.; the condition-ball and arsenic, 43 ; rough coats oftenest seen, ib. ; in- stances of horses fit when rough, 44. Popular opinion of condition, theory and experience, 45-7 ; its eiTor shown, 56 ; the trainer the only judge of, 47, 54 ; instances of horses fit when " big " and when " light," 47, 56 ; the trainer sometimes deceived, personal experiences and inferences, 49-50 ; necessity of time and work, 50. Con- dition for long courses, 49-50 ; owner's ideas of condition, and examples, 50-1 ; various effects of coughs discriminated, 52 ; lameness and its different results, ib.; instance of diverse opinion of two owners, 53 > ^i.^ns of condition, 54 ; curious belief in two states of condition and fallacy shown, 54-5 ; oftener fit "light" than "big," 57. Condition of pedestrians {foot note), 57, 94 ; fat men, ib.; Mr. Clark on equine fatness, 58 ; effects of climate, ib. ; danger of excessive work when unfit, 82 ; evils of running when unfit, 92 ; running "big" and "light," ib. ; instances of " light " horses fit, ib.; prejudice of owners for "big " con- dition and remarkable instances in disproof of its value, 95-7; evils of "big" condition, 97; reason for insistence on "light" preparation 3IO liNDEX. and analogic';, 102-3 ; signs of exact fitness specially described, 106 ; only- achieved by perseverance, ib.; Preak- ness at Epsom, 112; progress of fat and light yearlings contrasted, 1 29-13 1 ; sore shins prove frequent with fat horses, 131 Constitution, Horses differ in, and require different treatment, 104-5 Coomassie forestalled for the Waterloo Cup, the one disappointment, and the lesson it teaches, 266-7 Copperthwaite, Mr.: on sore shins and my objections, 35-6 ; his method in trials, 147 ; on the Derby course, his errors shown, 174-5 Coratma colt, the, Deceptive appearance of, 50 Corn : the lofts described, 5 ; screening the com, 6 ; English oats preferred, 23 Cosmopolitan state of the turf, 240 Cossack, an instance of the ultimate triumph of trials over public form, 154 Coughs, [^See Colds) Course, The. {See The Race-course ; Weights and Distances ; Long Courses ; Short Courses ; Welter Races) Cracked heels and their cure, 31 Cracovienne, an instance of sudden failure of sound legs, 115 Crib-biting is a trick, its danger and prevention, 37-8 Criticism of able writers commended and desired, 268 Crucifix : an example of a large horse, good both as a yearling and later, 119 ; Lady Grosvenor's objection to her name, id.; an instance of value of produce of old mares, 129, that horses run in all shapes, 136 ; her trial with Iris, 147 ; trial as a yearling, 150; an instance of the ex- cellence of the modern thoroughbred, 240 Cur, TAi;la.nd Collingwood, Disobedience of declaration to win with, 170 Curbs and their result, 115-16 Cutaneous diseases, the result of neglect, 32 ; their treatment, ib. Cuvier on the age to break the horse, 68 Dancing, Necessity to restrict licence of, on the course, 287-8 Day, Mr. John : his system of pre- paring the yearling, 84 ; his prefer- ence for running "light," 93; dif- ference of opinion with Lord George Bentinck on Mendicant as a yearling, 125-6 ; his work as a jockey, 167 ; un- explained removal of Lord George Bentinck's horses from Danebury, 219-20 Declarations to win : 169-72 ; instances of disobedience of jockeys, and ruin- ous results: at Shrewsbury, 170, The Cur and Collitig7vood, and Mr. Rolt's retirement, ih., Mr. Starkey's disappointment with Viridis and Land Tax, ib., Duke of Hamilton's better fortune, 171 ; copy of my letter to " The Sporting Gazette," with suggestions, 17 1 -2 Deep ground. Effects of running in, and instances, 1 77 ; the thoroughbred across country, ib. Defender, incident in connection with his thorough-pin, 116 Deformed, The, an instance of doubt- ful legs standing preparation, II 5 De Goncourt fi^aud. The {footnote), Derby, Lord : his objections to Lord Redesdale's bill examined and fallacy shown, 199 ; his racing career con- trasted with that of the Marquess of Hastings, and satisfactory inference, 242-3 Dervish, an instance of fitness when "light," 92 Design and scope of the work, 1-4 Disobedience of jockeys in "Declara- tions to win," 169-72 Distances. (See Weights and Dis- tances) Dixon's, Mr., opinion of condition, 51 Docking, 45 Doncaster, yearling sales at. Attendance at, recommended, 124 Downhill exercise condemned, 60 Drains, in stables, condemned, 8 Dramatic restrictions, a useful hint for race-course authorities, 287 Drink, Necessity to restrict sale of, on the course, 287-8 Dry ground. Effects of running on, 176-8 Dulcamara, Diverse running of with a man and with a boy up, 168 Dulcibellj, her running contrasted at two and three years old, loi Durability of legs. Uncertain ; special and contradictory instances, 1 14-16 INDEX. 3" Earl, Thf, an instance of improvement with age in large horses, 119 Earne.--t race on record, The, 237; first yearling race, 69, 119 Eccentric owners and their doings, 214- 15 Edges, Mr., as a heavy-weight rider, 194 Elcho, My purchase of, an example of value of low-priced yearling-, 128 Emblem and Emhlenixtic, instances of the success of the racehorse acro.-s country, 177 Engagements ; hints and arginnents on the engagement of yeailings, 136-9, current errors, 137, early trials re- commended, and reasons, 138. Sales w ith engagements considered in refer- ence to present hardships, 276-8, and suggested reform, 278 Entry and nomination. New system of, suggested, 258 ; the method sketched and advantages shown, 25S-67 Epsom and Ascot courses contrasted, and inferences, 175-6 ; Mr. Copper- thvvaite on the Derby course, and his errors, 175 Etiropa's defeat by Banditto, a proof of correctness of his trial in contrast with public form, 153 Exercise. [See Work) Extravagance, 111 effects of, on boy- jockeys, 163 Extremes of heat and cold unadvisable, 13 Farming and training compared, 102-3 Farquharson, Mr., as a heavy-weight rider, 194 Fashion, Influence of, on purchasers, 128 Fat men, Instances of {footnote), 57 Fatness, Mr. Clark, on equine, 58 Favourites : " How favourites are made," 302 Feeding : hours of, in winter, 16 ; in summer, 17-18 ; value of regularity, 21 ; system of feeding past and present, 29 Feet, The : frequent examination of, necessary, 28, 30 ; thrush and its cure, 30 ; cracked-heels, 31 ; careful watch of, during preparation, 85 ; points to be noticed in purchasing — size and signs of speed, 117 Final gallops, Value of the, 85 Fisherman: typical instance of "big" and " light " condition in contrast with Tame Deer, 56 ; exceptional ex- ample of a good large horse, 119; his defeats accounted for, 155 ; an instance of ability of thoroughbred to carry weight, 195 ; his perform- ances, an example of the excellence of the modern racehoi-se, 239 Fitness. [See Condition) Flyers and stayers of our day enume- rated, 226 Fog, danger of exercise in, 86 ; curi- ously fatal occurrence in, 87 Food : hours of feeding and quantities of food, 20, its qualities, 23, English oats preferred, ib., hay must be from good land, 24, good food the only food, ib.; Mr. Clark on feeding and soiling, ib. ; system of feeding past and present, 26 Foreign competition : inci'ease of, 229 ; instances of purchases from us, and their produce, 229-30 Foi'estalling : the reason of absenteeism at the post, 185 ; its evil done away with by a suggested new method of entry and nomination, 258-65 ; Coo- massie forestalled, the lesson to be learned, 266-7 Form : horses run in all forms and shapes, and instances, 136 ; popular reliance on public form, 152 ; its un- certainty, and instances, 153; trials ultimately proving the more trust- worthy, and instances, 154 ; defeats accounted for, 155 ; celebrated cases examined, Lady Elizabeth and others, 156-9 Forth, Mr., his system of preparing the yearling, 84 ; his work as a jockey, 167 Four days a week racing suggested, and its advantages shown, 278-9 Four-year-old, The : preparation de- scribed, 82-4 ; danger of overwork when unfit, 82 ; training for long and short courses, 83 ; hints on buying, {see Purchasing) ; often show best if large horses, and instances, 119; best method of trial, and instances, 152 Friiulein, Diverse running of, with a man and with a boy up, 168 French system, its successes favour early breaking, 73 Friends : their influence with owners, 186 ; how secrets are divulged, and fatal results, ib.; prejudice to the 312 INDEX. trainer of their officious interference, instances from my own experience, 211-14 Frost, Exercise in, 84 Fugitive, curious instance of sore shins with, 35 ; an instance of fitness when "light," 98 "Galloping for a Start," a grow- ing evil, and its remedy, 275 Galopin, an instance of the excellence of the modern thoroughbred, 240 Gamos, extraordinary defeats and suc- cesses of, compared with the case of Lady Elizabeth, 159 General Hesse, illustrative trial of, with an Arab, 146 Gentleness essential in breaking, 65 Gifts to boy-jockeys condemned, 163 Glenlivat, a high-priced failure, 126 Glossy coats. {See Coats, Rough AND Glossy) Goodwood Stakes, The: our commission on, 253-4 ; the result examined, 254 Grafton's, The Duke of, gift to his jockey a contrast with our times, 165 Green Sleeves : a case analogous to that oi Lady Elizabeth, 158 Greville's, Mr. C. C., career as a tactician, 1S8-9 ; cause of its partial success, 189 ; anecdote of Perkins, ib. Griping, Prevention of, 18 Grosvenor's, Lady, objection to . the name " Crucifix," 119 Hamilton's, Duke of, good fortune in a " declaration to win," 171 Handicaps : curious belief in special condition for, 54-5 ; at Newmarket and Goodwood, tabulated to show preponderance of boy-riders, 203-4 Hand-rubbing preferred to bandages, 16 Hardships of the trainer. {See Pro- fessional Hardships) Harrow, Scenes at, in times gone by, 281 Hastings, Marquess of: career of, 241- 2, its assumed disastrous result re- futed, 242 ; contrasted with that of the Earl of Derby, and satisfactory inference, 242-3 Hay : the lofts, 5 ; must be grown on good land, 24 Head -collar, The, attention to, neces- sary, 38 Head-lad, The : a good head-lad neces- sary, 21-2 ; multifarious occupations of the trainer, 22 ; duties of the head-lad, 22-3 Heats in the old times, 239 Heavy-weight jockeys. {See Jockeys) " Hellfire Dick" and the Duke of Queensberry, 238 Hermit : fit when rough, 44 ; trust- worthiness of trials proved in his case, 1 54 ; his reported accident and the public, 185 Hero, The, his lameness and subse- quent recovery, an instance of popu- lar fallacy in respect to "scratching," 182-3 Heroine, an instance of two-year-old running as a small horse, 1 19; wins the first yearling race, ib. Hippodrome, The, Scenes at, in times gone by, 281 Historian, was fit when "big," 47: an instance of endurance, though broken early, 70, also, that severe preparation is not necessarily harm- ful, 97 ; supports the argument for "light" preparation, 98 Hocks. {See Legs) Hours of stable work, 15 Hunter, The : performances of, under heavy weights — Mr. Edges, Mr. Asshe- ton^Smith, Mr. Farquharson, 194 ; improvement in, 232 In-and-out running: running of horses as two- and as three-year-olds contrast- ed, and instances, loi, the subject ex- amined, certain i-emarkable instances, 107-10, the discrepancy explained, 109-10, the lesson to be learned, ib.; variations in health, 107 Increase in number of horses in train- ing, 228-9 Iris, illustrative trial of with Crucifix, 147 Jester, in-and-out ninning of, examined and explained, 108 ; an instance of an unfashionably-bred winner, 135 Jockey Club, The : reforms instituted by, in weights and distances, 201, their further powers, ib.; petition to, from able jockeys suggested, 206 ; INDEX. 313 judicious enactments of, 279 ; coin- cidence of their recent enactments meeting my suggestions in part {foot- note), 279 Jockeys : 160-72 ; their mistakes alter public running, 155 ; difficulties of obtaining a good jockey, 160 ; want of heavy jockeys, 162 ; evils of boys in the saddle in short and long courses, 161-2, 169, 200-2, 272; their audacity, 162, and temptations, 162-5, lavish gifts to children, and results of extravagance, 163, advan- tage of having men in the saddle, 273-4 ; reform of light-weight scale urgently necessary, 161, 272-5 ; a protest by able jockeys suggested, 273 ; the remedy, to pay a fair wage, 164 ; a jockey's services not inordinate, ib. ; remuneration in the past, instances, my own and others, 165-6 ; work as it was and is, 166 ; wasting in old days, ib.; luxury v. deprivation, instances, 167; instances of diverse running of the same horses ridden by men and by boys, 168-9 ; recalcitrant jockeys and declarations to win, instances of injury done, 169-72 ; duties of the owner to, 19 1-2, 221-4, power of the Jockey Club, 201 ; table showing preponderance of boy-riders in handi- caps at Goodwood and Newmarket, 203-4 ; no dearth of able jockeys if wanted, and injustice of the system to them, 204-5 ; examination of boys suggested, 205 ; petition to the Jockey Club recommended, 206 ; neces- sity to learn riding early, 274 ; doubtful results of the Education Act, 275; a growing evil, "galloping for a start," and its remedy, ib.; wast- ing not injurious, 296 ; Professor Low's charges against refuted, 297-9; jockeys betting, 297-9, Chifney's case, 297-8, singular instance of self- denial at Goodwood, 299 yoco, a failure as a hunter, 177 yoe Milter : an instance of exercise in wet weather, 86 ; an instance of the durability of small horses, 118; chronic lameness of, when in strong work, 121 ; rejected for want of size as a yearling, 126 ; an instance that horses run in all shapes, 136 ; his performances in deep ground, 176 Joints, Swollen, their cause and effects, 36, 116 Judge, an instance of a good "light" yearling, 130 Judges of blood-stock, their reputation and fallibility, instance, 125-6 Kisbcr, a specimen of foreign produce of our own stallions, 230 Lady Elizabeth : her celebrated de- feat and her detractors, the mystery accounted for, 156-9; analogous cases, Green Sleeves, Gamos, and others, 1 58-9 Lameness : frequent causes of, 38, at- tention to head-collar, ib.; its appa- rent effects, 52 ; swollen joints and their effects, hints on purchasing, 36, 116 ; chronic lameness of horses in strong work, and instance, 121-2 ; rarity of with Sir Tatton Sykes's stock, 131 Land Tax and Viridis, Mr. Starkey's disappointment with in declaration to win, 170 Language, Restraint in use of, desirable on the course, 284-5 j good influence of Inspector Tanner, 285 La Pique, an instance of fitness when raggedly "light," 47; abortive treat- ment of, by Sir Richard Sutton, 48 Large horses : more liable to roaring, 38, 120; moderately-sized preferred, 117; performances of large and small horses contrasted, 117-18, exceptional instances of good large horses, 119 ; are generally better with age, and in- stances, ib.; should be tried a long course before parted with, 120 Lawrence, Mr., on preparation, 78 Legs, The : necessary frequent exami- nation of, 27 ; signs of disease in, and treatment, 30 ; bandages not re- commended, 16, 28, 31, Sore shins and their treatment, curious instances ; Mr. Copperthwaite on, 34-6 ; swol- len joints and ruptured tendons, their cause and rcbults, 36, 116; ring-bone, splint, and spavin, ib. ; careful watch of during preparation, 85 ; points in legs and hocks when pur- chasing, 1 14-16, uncertain durability of, and contradictory instances, ib. Letters, Exposure of, should be avoided, 187 ; evils of anonymous letters, 190-2 Liberality, Instances of, on the part of owners, 218-19 ; my own experiences, 219 314 L\DEX. Light : 9-14, as necessary in the stable as ventilation, 14; "the tinsel of glossy coats," ib. " Light " condition : instances of horses fit when "light," and contrasts, 48 ; useless treatment of La Pique by Sir R. Sutton, ib.; typical instance of "big" and "light " condition, 56 ; horses oftener fit "light" than "big," 57; instances of "light" horses West Australian and Dervish, 92 ; Mr. John Day's system, 93 ; infer- ences from pedestrianism, 94 ; in- stance of the same horses running "light" and "big," and failure of the latter, at Ascot and Goodwood, 95-7 ; instances in support of my theory, 98 ; successes of my stable in past times, 98-101 ; reasons for insistence on "light" preparation, and analogies, 102-3 ; progress of fat and light yearlings contrasted, 129- 31, my preference for the latter, and instances, 130 Light-weight jockeys. {See Jockeys) Light-weight scale, The : necessity of its reform, 161, 272-5, its evils, 194 ; horses can carry heavy weights, in- stanced from racing and hunting, 194-5, Admiral Rous's opinion, 196 ; the trainer's view of it, 196-99 ; ad- vantages of a higher standard and opinions of the press, 200 ; riding of boys, and resulting accidents, 272 ; necessity and advantage of having men in the saddle, 273-4 " Like begets like," illustrated at Sled- mere, 133 Lilian, an example of an early-broke horse, 70 Lofts for corn and hay described, 5 ; screening the corn, 6 Longbow's running as a roarer, 40 Long courses, condition for, 49-50; training for, 83 Loose-boxes. {See Boxes) Low's, Professor, attacks on the turf. {See Attacks on the Turf) Macgre^or, his defeat analogous to that ol Lady Elizabeth, 158 Management of the stable. (.SV^ Stable- management) Manners, Lord George, judicious action in limiting racing, 278 Manure, Disposal of, 7 Maximilian, a high-priced yearling and a failure, 124, 135 Men as jockeys. {See Jockeys) Mendicant, her appearance as a year- ling and performances as a racehorse, an instance of divergence of opinion of judges of blood-stock (Lord George Bentinck and Mr. John Day), 126 Metropolitan and Pharsalus, The, Our commission on, 252-5 Morning, the best time for exercise, 81 Musjid, an instance of a yearling re- jected as under-sized, 126 Names. {See Registered Names) Natural coat of animals, The, 42 ; Buffon thereon, ib. Neatness and regularity, Value of, 27-8 Neglect, the cause of many diseases and accidents, 32 Newmarket as a training-ground, 61-2 Noisy: diverse running of, ridden by boys and men, 168 ; beaten for Chester Cup and City and Subur- ban for want of a man-jockey, 202 Nomination and entry. New system of, suggested, 258 ; the method sketched, and advantages shown, 258-67 Nottingham colt. The, his victory a proof of the benefit of early breaking, 72 Occupations of the trainer. Multifari- ous nature of the, 22 OfM food. Removal of, 17 Old mares, occasional value of their produce, and instances, 129 Oliver, Mr. T., on preparation, 79 One Act, Deceptive appearance of, 49 Osbaldeston's, Squire, race against time, a proof of the power of the thorough- bred to carry weight, 1 94- 5 Our Mary Ann, betting on her for the Chester Cup, an instance in favour of seclusion, 64 Overwork. {See Work) Owners : their opinion of condition, 50-1 ; Mr. Dixon and PhUippa, ib. ; diverse opinion of two ov\ners on condition, 53 ; advantages of seclu- sion to, 63 ; prejudice of for "big" condition, and remarkable instance in disproof, 95-7; their duties to the public, 178-90 ; the trainer, and the jockey, 191-2, 221-4; 'he right of "scratching " considered, 179-81, INDEX, 315 special cases of public error when horses have been reported ill, 181-5 ; forestalling the real cause of absen- teeism at the post, 185 ; owners and their friends, 186, secrecy and its value, ib., how secrets are divulged, and fatal results, ib., exposure of letters, 187 ; mistakes of eminent tacticians explained, and instances, 187-9 ; errors of self-confidence, 189 ; publicity of registered names and suggested remedy, 189-90; anony- mous letters, 190-2 ; changeability of, and its prejudice to the trainer,2io-i6 ; eccentricity of, and instances, 214-15 ; influence of servants, 215 ; deferred payment of accounts, and its injustice, 216-18, instances of liberality, 218-19 ; unexplained removal of horses and other groundless complaints and their unfairness to trainers and jockeys, 219-23; recommended one of three courses in betting, 257-8 ; fallacy of Professor Low's charges ' ' owners laying against their own horses," 300-3 Oxonian: was fit when "light," 98; curious instance of warranty with, 120 ; his performances in deep ground, 176 Pace : necessity to see before purchas- ing, 124 ; false pace, the cause of un- satisfactory trials, 142 ; value of dis- crimination of, in trials, 143 ; a good pace essential in trials, ib. ; disappointments in pace-made races accounted for, instances at Good- wood and Newmarket, 143-4 5 how pace should be made, 143 ; results of false pace, 147 ; pace in trials and in races, 148 Paddock, The : contrast of big and little yearlings, in, 73 ; Lord George Ben- tinck's custom, ib. ; Sir Tatton Sykes's excellent method in, 74 Palmerston's, Lord, removal of his stud from Danebury through influence of a servant, 215-16 Palmistry, Purchase of, at Sledmere, 133 Parole, an instance of small horses best as two-year-olds, 119; an example of trial as a yearling, 149 Parr's, Mr. T. , system of stable manage- ment, and my objections to it, 19 Partitions to boxes and stalls described, 5 Pavement of stalls, its material and slope, 7 Payment of training accounts : hardship of deferred payment, 216-19 ; diverse instances, 216-18 ; bills and renewals, 2l6 ; instances of liberality, 218-19 Pedestrians, Condition of (/^f/«^/c'), 57, 94 Perseverance necessary to achieve fit- ness, anecdote of the late Mr. R. Stephenson, 107 Pharsalus and the Metropolitan, Our commission on, 252-5 Philippa, Mr. Dixon's mistake with her condition, 50 Poll-evil, caused by neglect, 32 ; its treatment, ib. ■Popular notions. (See The Public) Portland, Duke of : an incident at Welbeck Abbey ; remuneration of jockeys in old times, 166 ; his objec- tion to short races, 206 Practicable reforms. {See Reforms) Preakness, " big " condition of, at Epsom, 112 Preparation :• 75-II2 ; past and present systems contrasted, 75-7 ; sweating no longer necessary, ib., my disuse of it, 76, its evils, 77 ; other practices happily abandoned, ib. ; other con- trasts, 77-9 ; Mr. Lawrence on pre- paration, 78 ; alteration in bridles, ib. ; Sir C. Bunbury's method, 78 ; Mr. T. Oliver's dictum 79 ; best season for, 79 ; early preparation advocated, ib. The process with the two-year-old, 79-82, discrimination of amount of exercise, 80, the proper hours, 81, morning preferred, ib., alternate rest and labour essential, 82. The process with older horses, 82-4, danger of overwork when unfit, 82, training for long and short courses, 83, the process with the yearling, 84, Mr. Scott, Mr. Forth, and Mr. John Day thereon, ib., my own and other methods, ib., clothing, ib., exercise in frost, ib. Essential principles to be followed with horses of all ages, 84-6, should be timely, 85, the final gallops to be watched, 84-5, appetite, 85, examination of legs and feet, 85, precautions against cold, 86, exercise in wet and fog, instance of its harmlessness, ii. Sunday labour not necessary, and why, 87-9 ; new theories, the Turkish bath, 89-90 ; impossibility to satisfy all, 3i6 INDEX. 91 ; popular estimates of fitness, ib. ; the trainer's duty, 92 ; evils of run- ning unprepared, ib. ; running " big " and "light," ib., how Mr. Scott be- guiled the public, 92-3, instances of "light" horses being fit, 92 ; Mr. John Day's system and instances, 93 ; in- ferences from pedestrianism, 94 (foot- note) ; owners' liking for "big" horses, and instance from my own experience of compliance with it, and contrast, 95-7 ; severe preparation not necessarily harmful, and instance, 97, work done in old times, 98, Instances in support of my theory, ib., successes of my stable in pa~t times, stakes won and lost, 99, list of winners, 100, horses sold, and • prices, and their subsequent perfor- mances, loi. Abuse of preparation, horses run too often, 100. Reasons to insist on " light " preparation, 102, no general rule, ib., farming and training compared, 103 ; treatment should be varied to suit different con- stitutions, 104-5 ; ^^''^^ of running too often in public, 105-6 ; the essential signs of fitness indicated, 106, only achieved by perseverance, ib., anec- dote of Mr. R. Stephenson, 107. In and out running examined, and in- stances, 107-10, variation in health, 107. The American system examined and contrasted with our own, 1 10-12, evidence of its inferiority. III. Un- certain durability of legs, and instances of doubtful cases standing severe work, and viceversA, 1 14-16. Alleged cruelty of preparation refuted by con trast with actual treatment, 295-6 Press, The : its advocacy of a higher standard of weights, 200 ; on Alcfs defeat by Avo'val, 230-1 ; criti- cism of aljle writers commended and desired, 268 Prices of blood stock past and present contrasted, 127 ; absurdity of prices paid at auction, and contrary examples, 127-8; results of paying such,' 135-6 Prioress's performances at Newmarket, III Private studs contrasted with public studs, and reasons of their success, 134 Professional hardships : changeability of owners, 210-16. How trainers are assumed incapable, 210, public slander, ib., interference of friends, ^11-14, resulting^ removal of horses and instances from personal ex- perience, 210-13. "Eccentricity of owners, and examples, 214-15 ; in- fluence of servants, and instance, 215-16. Deferred payment of ac- counts, and in-tances, 216-1S, bills and bill-discounters, 2 16 ; instancesof libe- rality, 218-19. Unexplained removal of horses, and its prejudice to the trainer, instances, 219-22, ground- less complaints illustrated in two instances, 221-24; ^^'^y trainers are poor, 224 Promised Land : an exceptional instance of success of a high-priced yearling, 125 ; an instance of running in all shapes, 136 ; in race with N'orth Lincoln, an instance of trustworthi- ness of trial, 153 ; our commission on, for the Two Thousand, 252-3 Public, The : popular notion of con- dition, thsory and practice, 45-7, its error shown, 56 ; their estimate of fitness, 91, and reliance on public form examined, 152. Erroneous view of the owner's duty to, 178-9, fallacy of popular view of scratching, 179-81, scratching examined and its reason shown, "forestalling," 179-85; con- flicting public judgment of horses, its fallibility shown in instances, 181-5 Public form. {See Form) Public studs contrasted with private studs and reasons of their failure, 134 Purchase of yearlings {See also Pur- chasing), 123139; differences of judgment and fallibility of good looks, 124 ; when and where to buy, ib. ; should try pace before purchasing, ib, ; roaring not always discoverable, ib. ; failures of high-priced stock and rarity of exception, 1 24-5, 127, 135 ; successes of low-priced yearlings, and instances, 125, an unfashionably- bred winner, 135, reputed judges of stock, special instance with Mendi- cant, 125-6 ; instances of good year- lings rejected as undersized, 126; prices past and present contrasted, absurdity of latter, out-turn of purchases at auction contrasted, and instances, 127-8, influence of fashion, 128; how yearlings are bred to be sold, and how they should be bought, 128-9 ; value of blood and produce of old mares, and instances, 129. Predilec- tion for fat yearlings and its disap- pointment, 129, my preference for INDEX. 317 light, and hints where such may be bought, 130, progress of fat and light yearUngs contrasted, and pre- valence, of sore shins with former, 130-1, excellent result of 'Sir Tatton Sykes's system, 131, rarity of disease with, ib., instances of its success,'i3I-2, "liice begets lii not injurious, 296 Water : supply of, to stable, 7 ; its qualities, 26-7 ; Mr. Clark thereon, ib. ; rain water in tanks preferred, and reasons, ib. ; prevention of griping, 18 Waterloo Cup and "Draw," Betting on the, and inferences for im- provement of turf, 260-6 ; the one disappointment — " Coomassie" fore- stalled, 267 lVcatherbo2ind's running as a two- and as a three-year-old, loi IViathergage, Admiral Rous's failure with, 188 INDEX. 323 Weight-for-age races, Curious belief in special preparation for, 54-5 Weights and Distances : 193-208 ; evils of light - weight scale, 193-4 ; power of the racehorse to carry weight shown from instances of hunters and racehorses, 194-S, Squire Osbaldeston's performance, ib., Admiral Kous's opinion and its contrariety, 196, the trainers' view, 197. Table of the light- and heavy- weight handicaps and the lesson it teaches, popularity of welter-races, 197-8 ; Lord Derby's objections to Lord Redesdale's bill, examined and fallacy shown, 199, Mr. Scott's advocacy of it, ib. ; advantages of higher standard and press opinions, 200 ; rarity of success of children as jockeys, and evils of the system, and instances, 200-2 ; action of the Jockey Club and its further powers, 201. Long and short courses : ad- vantages of the former, 202, evils of the latter, 203. Table of handicaps at Goodwood and Newmarket show- ing preponderance of boy-jockeys, . 203-4, no dearth of good jockeys shown, 204, injustice of the system to men, 204-5, petition to Jockey Club suggested, 206 ; popular liking for welter-races, 206, good example of the Prince of Wales 207. Official table for Queen's Plates, 207 ; sug- gested table for shorter races, 208 Welbeck Abbey, An incident at, 166 Welsher's, The, extermination possible through institution of outer ring, 282-3 W^elter-races and Weights : ability of the thoroughbred to carry a weight instanced from hunting and racing, 193-5 > popularity of welter-races, 198, reason for this, 206 ; trainer's advocacy of, 197, 199 ; advantages of a higher standard, 200-1 ; good example set by the Prince of Wales, 207. West Australian, fit when rough, 44 ; and when "light," 92 Wet ground, Effects of running on, 176-8 Wet weather. Exercise in, 86 ; instance of its harmlessness, ib. Wild Dayrell, an instance of a large horse improving with age, 119 Windows and air-holes to stables, 6 Winter : hours of feeding and exercise in, 16; clothing, 18; separate train- ing ground for, 61 Woody ates : value of seclusion shown at, in betting on Chester Cup, Starter and Oitr Mary Ann, 64 ; succe-;ses of my stable in past times, list of stakes won, 98-9, idem of winners, lOO, horses sold and prices, and their subsequent performances, lOI Work : hours of exercise in winter, 16, in summer, 1 7-8 ; the cause of swollen joints, etc., 36 ; a necessity of condi- tion, 50; discrimination of, necessary in preparation, 80 ; proper hours for, 81 ; alternate rest and work essential, 82 ; danger of excess when unfit, ib. ; exercise in frost, 84 ; exercise in wet and fog, 86 ; Sunday labour not necessary, 87-9 ; severe preparation not necessarily harmful, and instance, 97, work done in old times, 98 ; abuse of severe preparation, horses run too often, 100; cases of doubt- ful legs standing severe preparation, and vice versd, 114-6; chronic lame- ness of horses in strong work, and instance, 121 -2 Yard, The, described, 8 Yearling, The : horses run as yearlings, 69, 119, the best time to break, 69-71, examples of horses so broke lasting, 70-1 ; big and little yearlings in the paddock, their promise and performances contrasted, 73, Lord George Bentinck's custom with, ib., Sir Tatton Sykes's treatment of, described and commended, 74, his successes with, 131 -3. 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