ii6 THE RACING WORLD 



I am rather shy of expressing opinions about the 

 rules which the authorities make. As to the 51b. 

 apprentice allowance, however, since you ask me, I 

 can only say that I think it spoils the big races. I 

 mean this : it seems a pity that a good horse like 

 Zinfandel, with a good horse's weight, should have 

 been deprived of the Cesarewitch, not because he 

 was beaten by a better animal on the handicap, but 

 because the owner or trainer of a lightly-weighted 

 old horse had the luck to engage a small boy who 

 carried 51b. less than Grey Tick was in at. In 

 the smaller handicaps it doesn't seem to matter 

 so much, and it is a good thing that the boys 

 should have practice and ride in public. A good 

 apprentice is, of course, a capital thing for a trainer, 

 who lets him out to the best advantage, and often 

 gets big fees for the lad's services. Sometimes the 

 master gives the boy a share of what he earns, 

 sometimes he keeps it all for himself, and perhaps it 

 is rather hard that an apprentice should be making 

 a good income and receiving none of it, or only at 

 best a very little. But the trainer has taught the 

 boy to ride, and has found him opportunities of 

 riding by which he has been able to make himself 

 known, so that all the profit does not go quite one 

 way. Some owners, too, are considerate in this 

 direction, and put a " pony," or whatever it may 



