194 SOLDIER AND SPORTSMAN 



into consideration, the Turf is much more clean and 

 wholesome than anti-sportsmen would like to make 

 out. Caiptain Machell used to say that the only 

 finesse permissible was to run a horse out of his 

 distance. For instance, a five-furlong animal might 

 be run in races over a longer distance, and vice versa. 

 Even then a clever handicapper would not be hood- 

 winked by such methods. Captain Machell's theory 

 was that if a man was sfoinfj to back a horse he 

 should first satisfy himself that the animal had a 

 stone in hand ; a sound proposition, no doubt, but 

 in handicaps no such chances present themselves. 

 The great triumph of a handicapper must be to see 

 the top and bottom weight first and second, or better 

 still, a dead-heat. I believe the basis in making 

 a handicap is as follows. Assuming there are two 

 horses that will run a dead heat, at even weights 

 at different distances — 



Penalise one horse i lb. at 2| miles, he will lose by 2 lengths 



2 miles, ,, i| „ 



„ „ if miles, ,, I length 



j> >> ^2 miles, ,, -g- ,, 



„ ,, I mile, „ a head 



In later years the class of steeplechase horses has 

 certainly improved, and recently we had such horses 

 as Poethlyn, Waterbird and Pollen, all able to hold 

 their own on the flat. Of Poethlyn it is worth 

 recording that, as a foal, he was sold for ;^8, and 



