66 England's horses, 



induction is, that if the intensity of the operations was severe, 

 the integrity of the original object of the turf was main- 

 tained. That object being the propagation and culture of 

 the sound and stout. But all that were bred and trained 

 were not of this calibre, and consequently useless for racing 

 under the then existing system. This state of things kept 

 the ownership of race horses in the hands of noblemen and 

 gentlemen of mark and merit in the land. They did not 

 regard the sport and the sustainment of their studs in a com- 

 mercial or grovelling pecuniary spirit. They raced because 

 men in their position raced, and because they felt in sup- 

 porting the turf they were abetting one of our greatest 

 national bulwarks. Under this system there were no 

 complaints of want of bone, weight-carrying power, and 

 stamina, in the thoroughbred stallions who, after their turf 

 career, began to exercise the offices of sires through country 

 districts for the begetting of general and military horses. 

 Those of their fellows that were too slow for racing, being 

 fine-grown strong horses, were subjected to emasculation 

 and drafted to some of the purposes of saddle or harness 

 work ; so that, an operation which now the weedy and 

 weakly off-casts of the turf are not thought worth, in former 

 days and with a more useful class of animal reduced the 

 number of thoroughbred stallions down to a narrower and 

 more select compass than in our day. 



The creation of handicaj)ping was a fell blow, at any rate, 

 to that object for which the government, or monarch, had sub- 

 scribed Royal Plates — inducement to breed horses the best 

 calculated to carry weight and stay over courses of e:3^cep- 

 tional severity. Handicapping in its object, was, perhaps, as 

 perfect a means of negativing this intention as ingenuity and 

 experience could devise. It may be desirable to explain that 

 by the term " handicapjoing " is meant a system of estima- 

 ting and penalizing the capacity of race horses according to 



