1835 A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW 253 



especially because it put a stop to the confusion caused 

 by a sudden change of age in the very middle of the 

 racing season ; but as regards the physiological ques- 

 tion, it is worthy of notice that so experienced a 

 breeder and trainer as Mr. John Porter of Kingsclere 

 has lately advocated a certain amount of retrogression 

 towards the old practice, and that in the year 1869 

 Lord George Manners (a member of the Jockey Club) 

 proposed to have the rule so far altered that two-year- 

 olds should be considered to take their age from 

 May 1. There is no doubt that January 1 is a very 

 inconvenient date for breeders in Australia (where 

 horses take their age from August 1) who wish to 

 compete for our great weight-for-age races, but 

 whether May 1 would suit them any better is very 

 questionable indeed. What is said about May as the 

 natural month for foaling may be all very true ; but 

 it has been urged on the other hand, not without 

 point, that the modern thoroughbred intended for 

 racing is a wholly, or almost wholly, artificial pro- 

 duct, and less adapted for natural than for artificial 

 processes and unseasonabilities. 



With the Kules of Horse-racing in General the 

 Jockey Club apparently did not trouble themselves at 

 all until, in 1797, all on a sudden, Mr. Weatherby 

 printed in his * Calendar ' the Kules ' taken (with some 

 few alterations) from " Pond's Eacing Calendar " for 

 the year 1751 ' (a literal copy of which will be found 

 in the Appendix). We gather from what Admiral 



