120 RACEHORSES IN AUSTRALIA 



office in a worse condition than when he started. What has happened? He 

 has tried to make his heart-muscle do work which it is not prepared to do. 

 He has strained his heart. In other words, this wonderful pumo has done 

 its best to cope with the extra work that it was called upon to do, and while 

 it may have succeeded, the effort has affected it, and the result of the extra 

 work performed is that the heart has become dilated, and, for the time being, 

 it is not able to do the ordinary work that it is called upon to perform. 

 Provided such a heart is rested and nursed it may come back, but if the 

 possessor of such a heart tries to drive it, and does not rest it, then that heart 

 will fail to do ordinary work, and will most certainly fail if asked to perform 

 extra work. 



What happens to the untrained office-man happens over and over again 

 on the racecourse to horses that are asked to win races when they are not 

 "ready" — that is, when they are only half-trained; and while they may succeed 

 they often dilate their unprepared hearts in their honest efforts to succeed. 

 The most recent example of this is Salrak, injured by his Newcastle race. 



Again, when a horse is "ready" and his muscles are fit and he is quite 

 able to run a mile and carry a decent w^eight, he is asked to run a mile and 

 a-half; he makes a mighty effort, and from that day on he never does himself 

 justice in a race, for his effort strained his heart; and not being allow^ed to 

 rest, his heart remains dilated till the end of his days. 



Let me illustrate these general remarks by a few concrete instances. 

 Woorak was a most brilliant two-year-old; his bones were short and strong, 

 his hindquarters were perfect, while his muscles were so exquisite that had 

 he been cast in bronze he would have been a joy for ever. He ran in the 

 Chelmsford stakes as a three-year-old, and won, beating his great rival 

 Mountain Knight. Then came the Derby a few weeks later. Everyone who 

 had seen Woorak race recognised the fact that he must be given his head, and 

 that to check him would be fatal. He was a very pronounced favourite, and 

 one of the most experienced trainers said to me: "If you don't back Woorak 

 don't bet on the race." But I remembered that Woorak's sire had been only 

 a brilliant sprinter in England, so I backed Mountain Knight at six to one 

 simply because his sire. Mountain King, had a Wallace-Carbine heart and 

 could run a mile and a-half, and even further, at a brilliant pace. The Derby 

 was run and Woorak put up the effort of his career, but was beaten in the last 

 hundred yards by a very narrow margin. Now we come to the after-history. 

 Five days later Woorak was brought out to run in the Craven Plate, ten 

 furlongs, and he won in record time; some of the field being at the half- 

 distance when he was walking in. From that day onwards Woorak never 

 won at a distance again. These tw^o races dilated his heart, and a mile was 

 the length of his tether. Watching him do his training gallops at Randwick 

 during the winter of 1916, I became convinced that as he had to carry less 

 than weight-for-age in the Epsom that he would be able to run the mile right 

 out. I backed him well and truly, and was rewarded by seeing him win the 

 Epsom by six lengths in a common canter. Now this form so impressed the 

 public that a few days later they simply rushed to back him in the Craven 

 Plate, he having only four opponents. He was at odds-on, and ran in front 

 to the half-distance, then his dilated heart failed suddenly and he was easily 

 beaten by St. Carwyne and Reputation. 



Let me take another example. Wallace Isinglass was a fine upstanding 

 three-year-old with plenty of bone and plenty of muscle, and had a proper 

 Derby- Wallace-Carbine inherited heart. He ran in the Rosehill Guineas a few 

 weeks before the Derby of 1916, the distance being increased from seven 

 furlongs to a mile and a furlong, and he was made an odds-on favourite. By 



