TRAINERS AND TRAINING 49 



sometimes of course these matters are arranged 

 by discussion or correspondence. It need hardly 

 be said how much of trouble, worry, and respon- 

 sibility is saved if an owner manages his own 

 animals. The ignorant owner of whom we talked 

 a few pages back is rarely satisfied. You believe 

 that perhaps some of his horses might with luck 

 just get through a selling race, and you know also 

 that if you suggest such a thing he will be ex- 

 ceedingly offended. He wants them put into 

 good-class handicaps, and there you have to enter 

 them, knowing perfectly well that they have not 

 the remotest chance of winning, however favour- 

 ably they are weighted, and that if they do not 

 win he and his friends aforesaid will not entertain 

 the slightest doubt that the fault is due to their 

 not being properly trained. It is indeed a thank- 

 less business in these circumstances, and I think 

 owners should remember that it is not only when 

 successful that the trainer likes a pat on the back. 

 When things go wrong, as they have such an 

 uncomfortable habit of doing, he particularly 

 requires a cheering word to soften the disappoint- 

 ment which he, as well as the owner, must feel 

 keenly after the many weeks of anxiety he has 

 spent in the superintendence of his charge, the 

 hopes and fears as to whether he will be able to 



