OWNERS' IDEAS OF CONDITION. 



CHAPTER VII. 



CONDITION {continued). 



Opinions of owners on condition ; Mr. Dixon — Coughs and their various effects — 

 Lameness and its results — Diverse opinion of two owners — The trainer knows 

 his own horses — Curious belief in different treatment for handicap, and 

 weight-for-age races ; the fallacy shown — jfoe Miller, Voltigeur, Brigantine — 

 The public and condition — Typical instance of big and light conditions ; 

 Tame Deer and Fisherman — Condition of pedestrians — Fat men — Horses 

 oftener fit when light than big — Mr. Clark on equine fatness, 



I HAVE, in the last chapter, given my own opinion of con- 

 dition. It will not be amiss in the present to supplement 

 it with the opinions of other people, of owners and others. 

 The space devoted to this will hardly be regretted, because 

 success depends so much upon the condition in which horses 

 are brought out to run. 



I will commence by giving a short account of Mr. Dixon's 

 experiences. He was the owner of Blarney and other good 

 horses, at the time placed under my care. One of the latter, 

 Philippa, he had purchased as a two-year-old for ;^ 300, after 

 she had been raced two or three times and easily beaten on each 

 occasion. In the first race I ran her for, which was shortly 

 afterwards, she beat Borneo, ysiho had been purchased for 1,500 

 guineas, on whom odds of seven to one were laid. I mention 

 this to show the quality of the mare when fit to run. The 

 year following she was tried just before Bath Races, when 

 she was coughing and easily beaten as one would expect. 



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