xiv Preface. 



morning papers quote the odds every Tuesday and 

 Friday. The sporting papers encourage gambling 

 in all its branches, advertisements from List 

 Houses, from touts, from prophets who never err 

 after the horses have passed the winning post, 

 form the principal staple of their trade ; without 

 these ingredients they could not exist. Men must 

 play their game according to their cards. If their 

 horses are jades, they will hold fast to short 

 courses; if they are slow and stout, they can 

 expatiate on the merits of the Beacon Course. 

 It is bad policy to restrict any person in his 

 amusements when they neither border on cruelty 

 or injustice, and unwise legislation to forbid short 

 races to be run at Newmarket, the policy of which 

 has tended to increase the number of short races 

 on the country race-courses, to the prejudice of 

 the interests of the racing metropolis ; the only 

 excusable interference on the part of the Jockey 

 Club was to forbid yearlings running for public 

 stakes under the penalty of future disqualification. 

 There was sound sense in this resolution ; but as 

 far as light weights and short courses are con- 

 cerned, the lighter the weight the less chance of 

 breaking down the horse, and the shorter the 

 course, the oftener you can run your horses with- 

 out detriment. As all the great prizes are restricted 



