TREATMENT OF YEARLINGS. 129 



great advantage possessed by yearlings who are bred privately to 

 race, against those coming from a stud which breeds to sell : the 

 private breeder can have no object but to send up his animals 

 hard and well, so as to know the worst or the best as soon as 

 possible ; the public breeder must, above all things, conform 

 to the wishes and tastes of his customers populus vult decipi, 

 decipiatur. People want smooth, fat, round yearlings they shall 

 be smooth, fat, and round as diet can make them ; there is 

 always a survival of the fittest ; some of the best-constitutioned 

 ones are sure to train on and race, and their reputation will 

 from year to year keep up the prices of their over- fed brothers 

 and sisters. On the other hand, the home-bred one is often 

 half-trained before he goes into the trainer's hands at all ; but 

 not the less is the trainer glad to have him early, so as to get 

 well on with his education before the fat ones begin to flow in 

 from the later sale rings. 



The yearling, therefore, which is destined to come out in 

 the Brocklesby or some other early engagement, should, above 

 all things, have the firm hard feel about his flesh which indi- 

 cates judicious feeding and plenty of exercise ; the soft flabby 

 ones being always backward animals, and slow to come to hand. 

 And, without quoting the usual stanzas from the Book of Job 

 or from Whyte Melville, we may here briefly recapitulate what 

 are the points requisite in the racer, old or young. 



Imprimis good, sound, well-formed feet and legs, a strong 

 short back, with good loins, and powerful quarters, shoulders 

 as oblique as possible, and an honest\\Qa.& and eye no first-class 

 racehorse ever yet had a bad eye : it should always be full and 

 prominent. A broad flat forehead is usually considered desirable, 

 yet the Messrs. Graham, the well-known proprietors of the 

 Yardley stud, have been heard to declare that purchasers would 

 do well to select yearlings with narrow foreheads, for unless a 

 horse is more or less a fool he will never race after two years 

 old ! 



Fortunatus nimium, be he purchaser or breeder, who has an 

 animal combining the above-named qualities the training of 



