FOR PEACE AND WAR. tS 



" flyers," that, although they may transmit their pace to 

 posterity, are not calculated to impart any of those essential 

 points and desirable characteristics that we want as the 

 foundation for our military and general horses. 



Can we wonder, then, that a well-known sporting writer, 

 when descanting on the handicap entries the other day, 

 should naively write regarding the paucity of competitors 

 for the longer courses, that, " long races are not so popular 

 as they used to be, oiving to the difficulty of getting horses 

 to stay the distance." Alas ! verily, the means cannot justify, 

 though they have accomplished the end. It is surely a bad 

 day for the encouragement to breed sound and stout, and 

 for those that look beneath the surface and into the future, 

 when they contemplate the unpromising position that 

 £1,000 is added to a short cut handicap in the month of 

 March, and that young blood ones are tried before Christ- 

 mas. In other words, when, possibly, only ten months 

 old, or less ; and certainly not more than eleven months 

 and some days old. 



Another phase in this consideration is the multitude of 

 minor race meetings that have sprung up all over the 

 country, affording an inferior class of race-horse, known, 

 technically, as " platers," sustenance and encouragement. 

 It is well-known what a staunch patron of the turf in its 

 integrity the late Earl Derby was, and how eminently 

 capable of enunciating utilitarian maxims, and propounding 

 sound and fjxr-sighted views concerning any subject he 

 devoted the exercise of his truly great and highly culti- 

 vated intelligence to. In the last letter that has been 

 published, and which his Lordship gave the Avovld, on the 

 subject of racing, he says, in forcible and monitory language, 

 " I know that some persons consider the multiplication of 

 races and starters as a sign of the turfs success. I look on 

 them as the very opposite, and I should hail with satis- 



