332 5 TEEPLE-CHAS1NG. 



Two or three well-applied strokes of the whip in the last 

 hundred yards or so, always supposing that the rider does not let 

 go of his horse's head for the purpose of administering them, with 

 perhaps a prick of the spurs a hand's breadth behind the girths, 

 means probably the gaining of a length. If the jockey of the 

 horse that is leading has his whip up this distance from home, 

 and the horse that is lying at his quarters has not been touched, 

 the chances are very greatly in favour of the man whose effort 

 has yet to be made. As long as the horse can keep his place, 

 or avoid losing it, without the whip, that dangerous implement 

 should on no account be raised. If it be anything of a race the 

 rider should not leave too much ground to make up at the end, 

 or the final rush may just fail. In case the rider have the good 

 fortune to be winning easily, he may be warned against making 

 too sure of victory. It is pretty, no doubt, to see a race won 

 easily by a short head with no unnecessary exertion on the 

 part of horse or man ; but it is, nevertheless, dangerous. The 

 best jockeys sometimes make mistakes of this sort, and a 

 vigorous struggle on the part of one of the competitors whom 

 the should-be victor has regarded as hopelessly beaten may 

 completely change has often, beyond doubt, completely 

 changed the result of a race. Here, as elsewhere in the con- 

 test, ' Chance nothing.' The man is in a very false position 

 who has had the race safely in hand and has permitted a 

 rival to snatch it from him. On wide courses it is particularly 

 difficult for the man who has not ridden many races to know 

 precisely where the winning-post is. The inexperienced rider 

 will often believe that he has reached the post when the judge 

 entertains a contrary opinion. 



