114 RACE RIDING. 



plish the far easier and more profitable task of acting 

 up to the spirit of broad general directions. As a rule, it 

 is much better to ride a race so as to suit the capabilities 

 of one's own horse (with which one ought to be fully 

 acquainted), than to devote one's entire attention to the 

 weak points of the supposed dangerous horse or horses, 

 which must naturally be problematical ; for this reason, 

 I would never hamper a jockey's judgment by laying 

 out the programme cut and dry, but v/ould simply tell 

 him my horse's peculiarities, and what kind of running 

 would most likely bring him home. For instance, wath a 

 fast horse in a one-and-a-half-mile race, instead of telling 

 an inexperienced rider to wait so many lengths behind, 

 I might say, " Get off well and keep a good bit in hand 

 for half the journey, gradually get up within a couple of 

 lengths of the horses which are going strongest in front 

 of you at the distance post, take a pull for a few strides 

 if you find your horse at all distressed, and make your 

 effort the moment you think you can get home." If the 

 animal then gets beaten, the probability is that the winner 

 was the better horse of the two at the weights and 

 distance run — a fact which owners of defeated horses 

 often overlook. 



Jf I remember rightly, it was Mr. F. Swindells, than 



