CHAPTER XI 



THE RACING CHRONOMETER 



How good are the Derby horses this year ? 

 Was Ormonde the fastest winner ever foaled ? 

 And have breeders improved on Eclipse? are 

 futile, though engrossing subjects to lovers of 

 the thoroughbred. At present these questions 

 are impossible for us to answer, but they may 

 suggest to our minds the advisability of fixing 

 the precise value of the racing chronometer. 



Now, we do not suggest that each racehorse 

 should start with a pedometer strapped to the 

 martingale or saddle, but we are anxious to 

 overcome the racing expert's antipathy to a 

 stop-watch whose works are guaranteed to be in 

 going order. 



Althouofh orreat events in England are timed 

 to the fraction of a second, the British public 

 are angry if the truthful watch casts a slur 

 upon the reputation of their " fancy." All 

 manner of ingenious excuses are made to refute 

 time tests, and some people urge that the course 

 was heavy, and others consider the horse was not 

 fit. But though the "talent" may ransack their 

 brains for excuses, they cannot deny that hitherto 

 the chronometer has not been used to the best 

 racing advantage. The truth of the matter is 

 that time tests should neither be implicitly 



