RACING OFFICIALS. 67 



In this 'department of weights,' Mr. Manning of New- 

 market IS facile pri7iceps ; he is of course a Jockey Club official, 

 though like the judge and starter he acts at many other meet- 

 ings. Of this be sure, wherever you find him, you will find a 

 weighing-room as business-like and orderly as a bank parlour. 



THE HANDICAPPER. 



Except for overnight handicaps, the work of the Handi- 

 capper is finished before that of the above-mentioned officials 

 begins ; nevertheless it is of a most arduous nature, and his is 

 perhaps the most thankless office of all ; for who yet was ever 

 known to avow himself thoroughly content with the way his 

 horse has been treated in this re5;pect ? If he is top weight 

 with a stone in hand, there he is top weight, and that of 

 itself is sufficient cause for grumbling ; if he has 6 st. and 

 21 lbs. in hand, 'the top weight could always give him another 

 stone,' 'no boy can ride him,' *a flattering handicap,' &c. &:c. 

 To all this the handicapper must listen with a sympathetic 

 countenance, and a partially deaf ear — we say partially, be- 

 cause in the nature of things he must often make mistakes, 

 and from the outpourings of the torrent of obloquy he may 

 perchance catch a cupful of common sense. Sometimes, too, 

 from the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh. Who does 

 not remember the touching incident of the defeated owner at 

 Croydon, who cried aloud in his despair, ' Pulled him six times, 

 and now when we slip him at last to get beaten ; it's too bad, 

 too bad ! ! ' after which he suffered himself to be led gently to 

 the refreshm.ent bar. All such incidents should the handi- 

 capper mark, not too ostentatiously, and inwardly digest ; and 

 for this purpose he must be a constant attendant on race- 

 courses, and during the progress of each race note towards the 

 finish, not so much the doings of the first three horses — for of 

 these the newspapers will give him sufficiently accurate infor- 

 mation — but what the other runners are about (what could have 

 been close up, what never took any part at all, &c. &c.) ; and he 

 must draw his own conclusions, and having formed his opinion 



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