HINTS ON MISTAKES IN TRIALS. 145 



could occur; yet, as a matter of fact, as I have said, they do 

 occur, and far too often and inexplicably. The state of the 

 ground, for one thing, should be carefully considered in its 

 effect for or against individual animals. Neglect of this may 

 upset the rest of your calculations. For myself, I have very 

 seldom seen horses that have been properly tried, fail to ex- 

 hibit the same form in public — rogues only excepted. I can 

 only, therefore, conclude that when mistakes are made, they 

 are assuredly assignable to some cause, and may be traced 

 either to the want of foresight on the part of the trainer, or 

 to an opinionated owner, or to an unskilful jockey. It often 

 happens that little contretemps take place in trials and races 

 that the jockeys alone know of, and of which they seldom 

 speak, unless questioned on the subject, which, if known, 

 would explain seeming contrarieties. It is often seen in a race 

 of twenty or thirty runners, that two-thirds of the number of 

 horses that have been highly tried and pronounced by astute 

 judges to have an excellent chance, are literally "never in 

 it," being beaten by some veritable outsider. In such cases 

 there must be something wrong, and a thorough investigation 

 is necessary. Were the case mine, I would do as I have 

 already described in the case of an unsatisfactory trial^-I 

 would try over and over again until* I had satisfied myself as 

 to the source of error, and then take precautions against a 

 repetition of it. 



In illustration of the suggestions contained in this chapter, 

 I will describe two or three trials of which I was an eye- 

 witness. 



The first took place here in the presence of a nobleman, 

 one of the cleverest and most experienced men on the turf, 

 between General Hesse, a speedy old horse, and a half-bred 

 Arab, over the T.Y.C. The latter, with only a boy up, beat 



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