178 THE RACE AND ITS RESPONSIBILITIES. 



ground at his fences, that he was not fast enough for a hunter, 

 and was sold again in consequence. This Mr. Heathcote 

 told me himself. One would have thought of all horses this 

 would have been the best to have carried a heavy weight 

 through deep ground a long course ; but it was just the re- 

 verse — a good hunter could beat him, and I have no doubt 

 many of Mr. Heathcote's did, or he would not have parted 

 with him. From all that has been said, I think it is a duty 

 to look well to the state of the ground and the shape and 

 features of the race-course ; and before parting with any horses, 

 to give them a chance over different courses and different 

 lengths, as w^ell when the ground is wet and sticky, as 

 when it is dry and hard. To do so, at least, will be to have 

 done all that is requisite to deserve the success that fickle 

 Fortune so often denies her votaries. 



Another consideration is the relation of owners and trainers 

 to other than their stable and immediate friends. " The duty 

 of owners to the public " is a phrase in every mouth ; and it 

 will be not irrelevant to this portion of our subject to inquire 

 as to what this duty consists in, and contrast the reality with 

 the inordinate conception of the responsibility so widely held. 

 " I will be master of what is my own," is a principle that 

 the masses, if they had their way, would not permit to be held 

 by gentlemen who spend large sums of money frequently more 

 for the pleasure of the multitude than for their own. 



For my own part, I believe that the owner of a stud has, 

 in common fairness, just as much right to do what he likes 

 with each and every one of his racehorses, as he has to deal 

 with his hack or his hunter, his flocks or herds, so long as he 

 violates no principle of honesty ; and that if he cannot protect 

 himself in any other way against those who forestall him, he 

 is justified in defeating their ends by not running. The great 



