JUDGING PACE. 381 



The rude awakening from their dream of self-satisfied 

 superiority which English jockeys have lately had, is as good 

 a proof of the fallacy of applying routine methods to a contest, 

 as the results of certain battles fought in South Africa. 

 Until Sloan made his presence felt, our jockeys as a rule 

 copied each other, instead of studying horses, and became 

 saturated with the idea that perfection in riding was to steady 

 their horses after starting, to come with a rush at the finish, 

 and win by a head on the post. Hence, inability to judge 

 pace was the weak spot which American jockeys found in the 

 armour of their English confreres, the vast majority of whom 

 obtained no instruction in judging pace, except when riding 

 races, in which case the casual lesson often comes too late. 

 Old-time heat races were an admirable means of teaching 

 jockeys this art ; for the manner in which a horse went in a 

 previous heat, would give his jockey valuable information as 

 to the rate of speed he should adopt in the succeeding one. In 

 training racehorses in England, the directions as to speed are 

 generally of the vaguest description, and usually consist of the 

 " steady canter " type, which might mean anything from a 

 riding school " tit-up," to a gallop of nearly full speed. The 

 fact that the distances of these gallops are seldom if ever 

 marked out, introduces an element of uncertainty which 

 renders an English training ground all but useless as a school 

 for instruction in pace. 



In India, where I trained many winners, training gallops are 

 almost always given on round courses which are as nearly as 

 possible level, and which have each quarter of a mile marked 

 out by posts that can be seen from a distance. The trainer 

 usually times each gallop, and, by means of a split centre 

 seconds watch, can tell the time for each quarter of a mile, 

 and can thus point out to his riding lads any faults they may 

 commit in judging the rate of speed, either for the whole 

 gallop or for its component parts. From practice of this 



