HANDICAPPERS 



223 



horses entered in the race, upon previous know- 

 ledge, if any, of the performances of those horses, 

 and, to a certain extent at any rate, upon the im- 

 portance of the race ; for it would be idle and 

 unprofitable to expend six or seven hours of valu- 

 able time upon an overnight selling handicap, when 

 (considering the class of animals) the chances are 

 just as much in favour of your arriving at a proper 

 estimate of the platers' abilities in one hour as in 

 twenty-four. There can be no manner of doubt 

 that the highest trial to which a handicapper has 

 to submit is to weight a large number of second or 

 third class horses (not necessarily selling platers) in 

 a district which is more or less out of his own 

 beat, and where he has not the advantage of 

 knowing the form of the majority of the horses, 

 nor the ways of the owners and trainers ; for there 

 are times when a knowledge of human nature is a 

 great blessing and assistance, and no one will deny 

 that such a knowledge is material to the framer of 

 weights in horse-racing, when the form of the 

 owner, trainer, and horse alike has to be taken into 

 consideration ; though the writer is bound to 

 admit that the morality of the Turf is not really 

 so bad as it is frequently painted, and that, 

 considering all the drawbacks and disadvantages to 

 which it is subjected, it is really wonderful how 



