KViLS OF TJii: F.ir;frrwr:K;HT scale. 193 



CHAPTI'lR XX. 



WKIGIIT.S AND DISTANCES. 



Evils of the lij^ht-weight Kcalc — Weight-carrying hunters and tlieir performances ; 

 instances — Successes of racehorses with heavy weights: Rataplan, Fisherman, 

 Chandos, Vespasian — Admiral Rous's opinion and its contrariety — The 

 trainer's view of it — TaVjIe of light- and heavy-weight handicaps and the 

 lesson it teaches — The late Lord Derby on Lord Redesdale's bill : hi.s objections 

 examined ; their fallacy .shown ; Mr, John .Scott's advocacy of it — Advantages 

 of a higher standard — Opinions of the press — Children as jockeys: rarity 

 of their success ; evils of the system — Reforms instituted by the Jockey Club 

 — Long and short courses : advantages of the former, and evils of the latter 

 — Handicaps at Goodwood and Newmarket tabulated to show the prepon- 

 derance of boyish riders; injustice of the system to experienced jockey.s — 

 Examination of boys suggested — Reason for general predilection for welter 

 races — Petition to Jockey Club recommended — The Duke of Portland and 

 short races — Good example .set by the Prince of Wales — Official table of 

 weights for Queen's Plates, and suggested table for shorter races. 



I PROPOSE in this chapter to discus.s the .subject of weights 

 and distances, under the impression that I shall be able to 

 show that the racehorse of to-day is as equally able to 

 carry a man and go a distance as was his predecessor ; 

 and that a higher .standard of weight than that now current, 

 would be better for owner and joclcey, and more humane 

 for the horse. 



In the first place, as I have previously demonstrated by 

 examples, children cannot manage the horses they ride, and 

 they are driven all over the course, and often out of it, 

 and galloped twice the necessary di.stance before the race. 



O 



