2i8 THE RACING WORLD 



different from the ascent at Ascot. The very 

 slight undulations on the straight course at Hurst 

 Park, and the slightly falling slopes at Lingfield 

 and Lincoln, render those courses as easy to some 

 horses as such tracks as Gosforth Park (as good, 

 perhaps, as any other racecourse in the kingdom) 

 are difficult. Here stamina as a rule asserts itself; 

 but the accurate observer of racing problems soon 

 discovers any peculiar leaning of a horse to a 

 particular kind of course, be it right-handed or 

 left-handed, uphill or downhill, hard going or soft 

 going ; noting too, perhaps, that whilst horses 

 of inferior class are much affected by a change in 

 the weather, state of course, etc., really high-class 

 horses appear to be more capable of showing good 

 form on any kind of track, and under any dis- 

 advantages, and are naturally regarded with much 

 greater affection by the handicapper than a lot of 

 selling platers, who are continually running for the 

 hay and corn stakes, and winning one day, to be 

 defeated under precisely similar conditions the 

 next. Then, again, horses have their peculiar 

 moods, their likes and dislikes, much in the same 

 way as human beings. Their recollection of 

 particular courses and of spots on those courses is 

 marvellous ; thus it was curious to see the old 

 hurdle racer, Swaledale, on the last occasion on 



