DEVELOP SPEED IN HORSES. 39 



CHAPTER XII. 



G-ENERAL VIEWS ABOUT WINNING IF YOU CAN. 



Some men are continually contriving to save a record. 

 I never saw one of thes-e men have a horse that could get 

 a record that would be fast enough to hurt him. You 

 never can win either, by staying behind, you have got to 

 get up in front to win. It is a very rare thing for any 

 horse to be fast longer than two seasons in succession, 

 There are some exceptions to this rule, however, as in- 

 stanced in the case of Goldsmith Maid, Dexter, Rarus, 

 and Driver, and that is about all I think of now. -■ So if 

 you have got the speed and staying qualities, you had 

 better make use of them ; you can not tell how long you 

 will have either. Horse flesh is a very_uncertain_com- 

 modity. 



A man having a horse in a race and driving him him- 

 self, has a great percentage in his favor over any outside 

 bettor. He can not help but know whether he can win 

 or not, and he will know if there is any ." fixing " going 

 on. Where a strange field of horses come together, 

 every body is at sea when contemplating the relative 

 chances of the starters. Occasionally there is a horse 

 that cannot win a race, but can brush and speed so fast 

 that if the driver is as astute as a number of men I could 

 mention, he will be approached by some backer of a 

 horse who desires to win the race, and an offer of a divide 

 will be made in advance of the start, which arrangement 

 is ordinarily effected. It is very amusing to observe the 

 tangle these fixers sometimes get themselves into, by 

 leaving out of the arrangement the itn-ong horse, or the 

 one that proves to be able to win the race in spite of all 

 the ingenuity of the opposition. The pacing race at 



