166 TRAINING AND RACING. 



of the racing public in India, which is, above all others, 

 the country for a comparatively poor man to do a little 

 racing in, without it costing him much, provided he 

 knows something about horses ; for stable expenses are 

 very moderate (say forty rupees a month for each horse 

 including every thing), while none but first class animals 

 cost any extravagant sums. But the fact which enables 

 men of small means to race in India, is the system that 

 divides the majority of races among different classes of 

 horses. These events serve both to fill up prospectuses, 

 and to accommodate owners. It is, in most places, diffi- 

 cult to collect sufficient money to attract first class 

 animals, even were there more of them in this country ; 

 the fact/ being that, except at the few centres of racing, 

 it is impossible to get a field of such horses, while 

 handicaps have to be resorted to in order to bring the 

 one or two of them, that ever appear at a small meeting, 

 together with the second raters. On this account, 

 stewards of race meetings, in order to get fields together, 

 are obliged to add to handicaps, " all horses,' and selling 

 races, those for Arabs, country-breds, galloways, ponies, 

 and for maidens of the different classes, not to mention 

 still more minute division. Thus an owner would have 

 bad luck indeed, were he not to find some event or the 

 other suitable to his horses, even if he hud nothing 

 better than a country-bred pony, a half miler, and a 

 jumping nag of sorts, although their united value might 

 not exceed a thousand rupees. It may be objected that 

 this is not racing, which it certainly is not in the 

 English sense of the word, but for all that, a man, who 

 is sufficiently fond of horses to look after and manage 



