226 THE RACING WORLD 



five hours is thus frequently necessitated, but 

 occasionally this time does not suffice, and a vivid 

 recollection of writing what was jocularly termed 

 at the time a three-volume novel on a Leicester 

 selling handicap still haunts the writer. The 

 sitting for this problem began at lo a.m. and was 

 continued until 5 p.m. without intermission or 

 even break for lunch, indeed the chair was never 

 once vacated. Truly there must be something 

 fascinating about the arrangement of the weights 

 of racehorses, for the time passed only too quickly. 

 In a word, the handicapper must be a real glutton 

 for work, and it seems to me that the owners of 

 racehorses do not give him credit for half (I might 

 say one quarter) of the labour which he conscien- 

 tiously performs. How often have we heard it 

 suggested, after many long hours thus consumed, 

 that " if the framer of the weights would only take 

 the trouble to look the horses up " he would satisfy 

 the requirements of owners and trainers ? 



The writer's own effiDrts in big races have been 

 chiefly confined to the Lincolnshire Handicap, 

 Ebor Handicap, Northumberland Plate, and 

 Ayrshire Handicap, of which the first-named un- 

 doubtedly absorbs the greatest all-round interest, 

 and an average of about four horses per hour is a 

 fair allowance in estimating the amount of time 



