62 RACING. 



unheeded ; if anything goes wrong, he is roundly abused. Of 

 a truth his is no sinecure— no bed of roses— yet withal not an 

 unprofitable berth. He is paid by salary, by percentage on 

 profits, or on entries, or by a mixture of ail three. 



Mr. Bevill, Mr. Ford and son, the Messrs. Frail and I'Anson, 

 Mr. Lawley, the Messrs. Sheldon and Topham, Mr. Ridge, 

 Mr. Dorling, and Mr. Verrall are among the best known of the 

 clerks of the course who yet survive, and apparently thrive 

 under their onerous duties. 



THE STARTER. 



It is not easy to decide which of the two — judge or starter 

 — holds the more responsible position. On the absolute incor- 

 ruptibility of each large fortunes daily depend, yet must they 

 be possessed of other high qualities besides honesty. The 

 starter should be a cool, resolute man, with nerve equal to the 

 strain of moral responsibility and of actual physical danger ; 

 for when he drops his flag he is, or should be, in front of a 

 field of horses, all of them wild with excitement, some of them 

 steered by very puny riders ; and he stands a fair chance of 

 being knocked down by a runner-out or swerver in the first 

 mad rush of the jump off. He must be quick to see and to 

 seize his opportunity. He must be firm even to severity, yet 

 strictly just to the jockeys ; and when he orders them to 'turn 

 round and walk back,' he must see that eve?yone obeys the 

 word, and also when they wheel again to come up to him 

 that all heads are the right way. If the jockeys once lose their 

 confidence in, or their fear of, the starter, chaos quickly ensues. 

 He should also be a young and active man, as he may be 

 obliged to take much exercise in the course of a day's racing. 

 The late Mr. JVEcGeorge, perhaps the best starter the world had 

 ever seen, used when in the full vigour of his health to walk 

 to the starting-post for every race at Ascot, returning to the 

 weighing-room as soon as he had despatched his horses, if time 

 permitted. Lord Marcus Beresford, who succeeded him, was 

 the first gentleman who professionally wielded the flag in Eng- 



