THE TURF 181 



A good favourite is the horse wanting, and 

 there are many ways to prevent his winning 

 this among the rest. 



There is one point more that we must 

 touch on, 



' Disce, puer, virtutem ex me, verumque laborem, 

 Fortunam ex aliis, ' 



says ^Eneas to his son, when he advises 

 him not to trust to her wanton smiles for 

 achievement and success. It is quite certain 

 that luck has very little to do with racing, 

 and the man who trusts to it will find he 

 is leaning on a broken staff. To the owner 

 of a racing stud, who means to act uprightly, 

 nothing but good management can insure 

 success, and even with this he has fearful 

 odds against him, so many striving for the 

 same prize. His horses must be well-bred, 

 well-reared, well-engaged, well-trained, well- 

 weighted, and well-ridden nothing else will 

 succeed in the long run. Still less has luck 

 to do with betting. The speculator on other 

 people's horses can only succeed by the 

 help of one or the other of these expedients 

 namely, great knowledge of horseflesh and 

 astute observation of public running, deep 



