BETTING. 211 



at great expense which would be discarded as worth- 

 less or nearly so if there were no handicaps and no 

 betting, and these animals are afterwards bred from, 

 and perpetuate stock of a similar class. 



Many of the horses now running consume every 

 year food to twice the amount of their own value, 

 and the whole of this food and the labour in attend- 

 ing to them may be said to be utterly wasted as far 

 as the community at large is concerned. 



Whether the great increase in the number of 

 horses bred in consequence of betting and handicaps 

 produces a sufficient increase of superior animals to 

 compensate for the waste, it is difficult to decide, 

 but whether or not it is the cause of many good 

 horses being bred, there is no doubt it is the cause 

 of a great many bad ones being bred. 



Anyone who made up their minds to breed their 

 own horses and run them in weight for age races only, 

 would, I should think, have more good horses to show 

 at the end of a term of years than anyone who raced 

 in the ordinary manner. 



And anyone who confined their speculations 

 strictly to the stakes for which their horses ran would, 

 in my opinion, have more money to show at the end 

 of any given time than the man who tried to increase 

 the amount of his winnings on each race by back- 

 ing his horse in addition to entering him. 



Spottiswoode dt Co., Printers, New-street Square, London. 



