A GOOD PACE ESSENTIAL. 143 



the first ; to prove beyond misconception where the error, if 

 any, existed, and to provide, when found, a remedy in future. 

 I should always give preference to the last trial, unless, in it, 

 anything happened likely to upset one's calculation. 



It is in the nice discrimination of the pace at first 

 and during the whole length that your judgment is shown, 

 and an opinion obtained that is worth having. Horses may 

 get upset in running a short course by getting ofif cross-legged, 

 or in other words, by being bustled at starting. They are in 

 this way quickly disposed of, and a false trial is the inevitable 

 result. In such cases, the remedy is to try over again and 

 abide by the last trial. 



Trials should always be run as nearly as possible at the 

 pace which you may fairly expect to see in public. We know 

 that short courses are always run at top speed from the start- 

 ing post to the finish ; and this being so, on what ground can 

 any one, in the trial, justify waiting until the old horses are on 

 their legs as before mentioned ? Again, you may always in- 

 sure a good pace in a long race by making it, or hiring others 

 to do it for you ; but you can never say it shall be a slow one. 

 Therefore, it imperatively behoves you in trials to have a good 

 pace all the way. 



I may here mention an interesting fact, which is the cause 

 undoubtedly of unsatisfactory performances in long-distance 

 races. It is the waiting too long for, or more strictly speaking 

 perhaps it should be called, the lying back too far from, the 

 horse that is detailed to do the work. As a rule the distance 

 between the two is some eight or ten lengths. It should 

 never exceed two or three lengths ; for if you concede more 

 you are virtually making not a fast, but a waiting race of it. 

 You know that your pioneer is much worse than the one he is 

 started to assist, and cannot hurt him, go as fast as he will ; 



