THE TURF 21 



superior to Newmarket heath as a race- 

 course. The nightly workings of the earth- 

 worms keep it in that state of elasticity 

 favourable to the action of the race-horse, 

 and it is never known to be hard, although 

 occasionally deep. But the great superiority 

 of this ground consists in the variety of its 

 courses eighteen in number adapted to 

 every variety in age, weight, or qualifications 

 of the horses, and hence of vast importance 

 in match-making. Almost every race-horse 

 has a marked peculiarity in his running. 

 A stout horse ends his race to advantage up 

 hill; a speedy jade down hill; another goes 

 best over a flat, whilst there are a few that 

 have no choice of ground and some whom 

 none will suit. The Newmarket judge's 

 box being on wheels, it is moved from one 

 winning-post to another, as the races are 

 fixed to end, which is the case nowhere but 

 at Newmarket. 1 



1 Great improvements have from time to time been 

 effected on Newmarket heath, but particularly within 

 the last twenty years, by the exertions of the Duk of 

 Portland and Lord Lowther. These have been chiefly 

 accomplished by manuring, sheep-folding, and paring 

 and burning, by which means a better sort of covering 

 to the surface has been procured; and likewise by 



