TRAINING AND RIDING. 117 



As a general rule a trainer will talk more freely 

 about the doinsfs of other trainers' horses than he will 

 about his own. 



In addition to keenly watching the trial of his own 

 horses, the trainer will also keep anxious eyes on the 

 gallops of other trainers' horses. 



A comparison of the times made shows him which 

 is the fastest go of the morning, and he draws his own 

 deductions as to the merits of the gallop. 



Ruses are resorted to at times to deceive or out- 

 general the '^ docker '' on the look-out for a good 

 gallop. A well-known pair of horses will be cantered 

 and then suddenly break away from an unexpected 

 part of the track, and the wily watcher, not anticipating 

 this movement, misses the time. 



I have known trainers gallop their horses before it 

 was light, and even by moonlight, but I never knew 

 any good come of these trials. One Victorian trainer 

 was particularly fond of what the racing men call 

 '' sneaking a go," and he was up at all hours galloping 

 his horses. He never, to my knowledge, brought off 

 a coup. 



Five o'clock in the summer and half-past six in the 

 winter is early enough to gallop horses. 



E-andwick is a much better course for seeing the 

 training than Flemington, as at the Victorian head- 

 quarters horses are galloping on many different tracks 

 at a considerable distance from each other. 



