92 PREPARATION. 



you please every one before the race ; and if from superiority 

 you win, the victory is attributed to condition, which is highly 

 praised though in reality non-existent. But if you are beaten 

 for lack of condition, the horse will not unlikely pass to 

 another, who, training him regardless of popular preju- 

 dice, will make a marked improvement in the animal, and 

 you not only lose your horse and your employer, but above 

 both, and what is most dear to you, your reputation. On the 

 other hand, if you train your horse and suffer defeat, pleasing 

 no one but the owner, some wiseacre buys him with the inten- 

 tion of making Imn better. He makes him look better ; but 

 when it comes to racing it is decisively shown there is no 

 improvement ; that in fact he runs worse — a result that helps 

 to make your reputation as a judicious and fearless trainer. 



I ask, would any sane man run his horse light, when he 

 by any known process could be made to run as well big } 

 Most certainly he would not be so silly. Some may and 

 do, in spite of public opinion, run their horses light for the 

 best of all possible reasons — they know they run so best. 

 There are others that knowingly do the reverse. The great 

 " Wizard of the North," as he was facetiously called by 

 " Argus " and other sporting chroniclers of the day, knew 

 horses could not run when fat. Yet he tickled the popular 

 taste, in short, hoodwinked the public, and made it believe 

 horses run best in that condition, although nothing could be 

 more fallacious than the conclusion thus arrived at. In reality 

 the horses he used to run big, were those that were bad, or 

 were supposed to be so. His good horses he took care to 

 run light as other experienced trainers did. Of two-year- 

 olds, the lightest I probably ever saw run was Dervish at 

 Epsom, and of three-year-olds West Australian at Doncas- 

 tcr ; and yet, in spite of their ragged appearance, they both 



