''AMERICAN SYSTEM " OF TRAINING 41 



country by Huggins and the Messrs. Duke 

 and Wishard. They won a lot of races, and 

 theideas were called the "American system." 

 It will interest you to know that every one 

 of these ideas was in daily use by me in 

 a small stable I had out at Kilgobbin, Co. 

 Dublin, for years before the Americans came 

 to England, except the sand-bath, which I 

 learned about from my friend Mr. W. Duke, 

 as well as several other very useful hints, 

 particularly as to working — " breezing " and 

 ''stepping," as he calls it — and timing horses 

 in their fast and steady work. I won plenty 

 of little races, too, but I suppose my ways 

 were unknown, and hence what ought to 

 be known as the " Irish system " became 

 known as the " American," and so will be 

 till the end of time. 



The Americans, too, by the way, let their 

 horses' tails grow very long, and do not, as a 

 rule, square off the ends of them. I also did 

 this in Ireland before an American trainer 

 ever appeared in England, where, by-the-by, 

 the fashion of leaving the tail long has never 



