CURIOUS BELIEF IN TWO STATES OF CONDITION. 55 



a horse for a weight-for-age race like him," and added, " but 

 I prefer you to all others for a handicap." I argued the point 

 exhaustively with his lordship, but my logic failed to convince 

 him to the contrary. And he believed in his preconceived idea, 

 that when a horse is fit to run for a weight-for-age race 

 there is something lacking in his preparation for a handi- 

 cap and vice versa. Surely when a horse is fit to run a 

 given distance (no matter what) for a handicap, he must be so 

 for a weight-for-age race over the same course ! More, it may 

 be said that many races of the latter kind become and 

 virtually are handicaps, from the extra weights imposed on 

 some and allowances made to other horses by the conditions of 

 these races. I can adduce many proofs, were they needed, 

 that my reasoning is sound ; but two must suffice. Let 

 me ask, then, can any one suppose for a moment that 

 Joe Miller was less fit to run when he won the Emperor's 

 Vase at Ascot (a genuine weight-for-age race without 

 penalties or allowances), beating Voltigeur and most of the 

 best horses of the day, than when he won the Chester 

 Cup, a handicap } Or can any one be simple enough to 

 believe that when Brigan tine won the Ascot Cup or the Oaks, 

 she was wanting the condition that assisted her to win the 

 handicaps at Newmarket 'i I need say no more to show the 

 fallacy of his lordship's argument. 



But now a word must be said of that irrepressible body 

 the British Public, the first to utter all sorts of illogical 

 assertions, yet limiting inquiries as to the real merits and 

 condition of racehorses to finding fault with those who have 

 the care of them. Owners and trainers alike fall in for 

 their share of the rancour of these prescient sages, who 

 oracle-like condemn "at one fell swoop" and in true stereo- 

 typed form, all light horses as starved or galloped to death. 



