THREE- YEAR-OLDS. 1 57 



ing him over a scope of ground, with the brilliant though un- 

 looked for result that he lost his speed, without learning to 

 stay, though, had they been contented to let well alone, and 

 to train Martini as he had hitherto been trained, his fine 

 unimpaired speed might have pulled him through one or two 

 long-distance races against slower antagonists. 



In the word constitution we must be understood to include 

 soundness of limb ; a gross horse, who in other respects requires 

 strong work, may have ' dickey' legs and be incapable of taking 

 it. If he is worth keeping in training, he must perforce be 

 content with such an amount of exercise as his limbs will stand, 

 and take his chance a poor one it will be in a race of any impor- 

 tance unless by some wonderful luck his opponents are equally 

 infirm. One second-class sound horse would be almost certain 

 to settle a field of first-class cripples. 



Supposing a three-year-old to have in all respects stood 

 his preparation to the satisfaction of a competent trainer, the 

 question that stands next for solution is how to try him. Most 

 owners bet more or less, even if they only invest sufficient money 

 to enable them to pay out of the pockets of the ring the huge 

 reward usually bestowed on the jockey who rides the winner of 

 a Derby. ' To race like Lord Falmouth ' has almost passed into 

 a proverb. It means not to bet at all, and in such cases there 

 is no necessity for a trial, unless the owner is specially inter- 

 ested in the welfare of his speculative friends ; for to run a horse 

 untried for a big race adds further excitement, and lessens by 

 one strong gallop the risk of a break-down. Not all men, how- 

 ever, indeed very few, have the self-control of this proverbial 

 peer, and, as aforesaid, the owner who does bet will probably 

 endeavour to have a peep into the unknown and so to gauge the 

 powers of his horse as to ascertain approximately to what extent 

 it may be worth while to take the short odds the ringmen will 

 offer the moment a stable commission appears in the market ; 

 for short odds they will always be, the specious promises and 

 vain hopes held out in the Boulogne and other wonderful and 

 imaginary price-lists notwithstanding. Sir Joseph Hawley, a 



