46 THE MENDEL JOURNAL 



(3) There shall be two races per diem of a minimum 

 aggregate distance of 2j miles, differing at 

 least one furlong in distance. 



(4) At every meeting one half at least of the total 

 amount guaranteed for prizes must be 

 apportioned to races of a mile or over for 

 three year olds and upwards, and of this 

 not less than a moiety shall be for races of 

 Ij miles and upwards. 



It will be observed there is every inducement from 

 a monetary point of view to run a horse in a race of 

 IJ miles or upwards. The effect of the distance rule 

 is forcibly illustrated by comparing the present 

 distribution of races over the different distances with 

 the distribution prior to the introduction of the 

 above rules in 1899. To facilitate comparison, the 

 figures have been given in the form of percentages 

 in Table I. 



It will be observed that for some years prior to 

 1899 the opportunities of running a horse over a 

 greater distance than a mile were few. Selective 

 agencies did not favour the horse which could stay 

 1-^ miles or over. Indeed his opportunities were so 

 few that there is considerable difficulty in picking him 

 out from his fellows who were non-stayers. For 

 this reason the records for the decade prior to 1899 

 are of little value for our purpose, and excepting 

 in the case of the produce of a few notable stallions 

 they have not been taken into account. 



Yet another factor which seriously discounts the 

 value of the early data is found in the consideration 



