116 ON AND orr the turf. 



" I made it forty-seven and a-half,^^ is the reply. 



'*' Then you're wrong. Here,, what do you make 

 it, Will ? " 



" Forty-seven and a tick.^' 



^^ Ah, that's more like it.'' 



Then the trainer of Chatham, who has won the 

 trial, comes up, watch in hand, to a pressman. 



" What did you make it ? '^ he asks. 



An answer is given, pretty fast time. 



*^ I don't think it was as good as that/' says the 

 trainer doubtfully. ^' Don't you thiak it was nearer ? '* 

 and he names a time. 



Trainers do not care for particularly fast times to 

 appear in the papers, but as a rule they are dealt 

 fairly by in this respect, and if there is a difference of 

 opinion the longer time is generally given. This is 

 far more satisfactory, both to trainers and the public, 

 for many men will back a horse on the strength of a 

 very fast gallop recorded in the paper. 



It will be seen that timeists, like other people, 

 occasionally differ, and arguments are often heated 

 over the correctness of a particular time. 



Good-natured chaff is carried on at these morning 

 gallops, and many of the men have nicknames, which 

 are freely used. 



Most of the trainers are genial men, and talk and 

 spin yarns, and chat about the merits of horses in the 

 most affable manner. 



