236 ashgill; or, the life 



CHAPTER XV 



" On like an arrowy meteor flame, 

 The stride of the Leger winner came." 



At the outset of 74 Admiral Rous enlivened the dull 

 season by a manifesto on Turf prospects, which forms 

 interesting reading at the present day. It was levelled 

 at those who would enforce by legislation their own 

 peculiar dogmas in rearing the racer, which happened 

 to be at variance with the then existing recognised and, 

 so far, prosperous methods pursued in such affairs. The 

 Admiral admitted, in opening the subject, that the 

 season of '73 had expired without a symptom of decay, 

 but expressed alarm at " the black cloud on the horizon " 

 which threatened the Turf. He combated the asser- 

 tion that in breedino; strena;th and endurance were not 

 thought of, speed for short races being all in all at the 

 time he was writing. He warned his critics that 

 strength and endurance were the summum honum of all 

 breeders, and that there were two thousand more horses 

 running over long distances and carrying heavy weights 

 than twenty years before ; that breeders were not such 

 fools as to carry on their trade at a loss, and that in 

 Trance and Germany the cleverest and most successful 

 sportsmen ran two-year-olds for the earliest spring races 

 without damage to their future prospects. Much 



