THE THOROUGH-BRED. 



433 



Four-year-olds. . . . . .182 



Five-year-olds. . . . . .213 



Six-year-olds . . . . .261 



Seven and upwards. . . . -551 



Total .... 1,207 



This table shows us that our best steeplechasers do 

 not mature at an early period, and we all know that they 

 last at their work much longer than race-horses, and far 

 fewer of them are " musical." Here the factor of castra- 

 tion comes into play ; but practically all the racing Arabs 

 in India (p. 428) are entire, and yet they retain their form 

 to a very late period. 



In 1802, races of two, three and four mile heats were 

 common, and the following table gives the number of horses 

 of different ages which ran during that season : 



Two-year-olds . . . . . -31 



Three-year-olds. . . . . • n? 



Four-year-olds . . . . . .108 



Five and upwards ..... 280 



Total . . . '536 



To conclude this subject, I give the following quotation 

 from Mr. John Porter's book : "I am convinced that 

 horses would last quite as long on the Turf, running races 

 from one up to two miles, as they do now continually 

 running five furlongs. The strain on them would not be 

 half as great as is the pillar-to-post driving to which they 

 are now subjected. Poor horses ! How sick they must 

 get of it ! One cannot wonder that so many run ' shifty,' 

 considering that they are kept in such a state of irritation 

 from the moment the jockeys are mounted until they 

 have passed the winning-post. And such races are 

 ruinous to the riding of the jockeys. Indeed, there is no 



riding, properly speaking, in it When a few 



years ago, I first gave expression to some of the foregoing 



28 



