i8o THE RACE AND ITS RESPONSIBILITIES. 



To the second of these questions, the gallant Captain 

 replies : — 



" Not in this instance. In the first place, if you choose to 

 back another man's horse, you do so at your own risk. I 

 have hardly ever known an instance of gentlemen losing their 

 money on the turf, especially those not much on the turf, when 

 they do not conceive that they have lost their money rather 

 from roguery of others than from their own stupidity ; they 

 had always much sooner make out the rest of the world to 

 be rogues than that they themselves were fools." 



To question number three his answer is : — 



" He might have reason to complain, yet I would afford 

 him no redress, for he has no right to bet on that particular 

 horse ; no man can say that another's horse can win. He may 

 imagine such a horse can win, but I defy any man to say 

 certainly, such a horse could win and such a horse could not win. 

 Some people think that racing is reduced to a great nicety ; 

 they imagine that horses always run the same, and they can 

 calculate to a nicety what horse can win ; but I never met a 

 man yet who was able to judge of the transaction ; and not 

 only that, but the more persons are conversant with horses, 

 the more they will know of the uncertainty of racing. I have 

 tried one horse one week, and he has been beaten a quarter 

 of a mile ; and then perhaps two weeks after, in consequence 

 of having a couple of sweats, he has won a second trial on 

 the same racing terms." 



To prove the absurdity of any one being able to say any 

 horse could win that had not done so, he goes on to say : — 



" Yes, even for the jockey. I have often made matches on the 

 representation of the jockey, that if he had not done so and 

 so he could have won, and in nineteen out of twenty cases I 

 have found the jockey wrong ; any man who follows the 

 advice of his jockey is sure to be ruined." 



