HANDICAPPERS 



233 



is concluded. There is no system of betting which 

 shows a better return than that of backing 

 penaHsed horses, for the very simple reason that 

 penalties are as a rule far too light. Now the 

 object of penalising a horse is to afford animals he 

 has beaten a fair chance in their turn ; but 

 observation shows us that penalties of five, four, 

 and even three pounds are not uncommon. These 

 cannot be fairly termed penalties at all, for when a 

 horse is arriving at the top of his form he will 

 carry an additional three, four, or five pounds 

 home with greater ease than he bore the lesser 

 weights, say, a week or ten days before. The 

 consequence is that horses having run themselves 

 fit, and reached the top of their form, carry off 

 a sequence of races before they can be re- 

 handicapped ; running over the same course, to 

 which their style is adapted, they will often carry 

 twelve pounds extra, and win with it, too ! One 

 of the last races of the flat-race season of 1902 is 

 brought to my mind, and I may ask what penalty 

 could have prevented Bachelor's Button from 

 winning the Castle Irwell Handicap at Man- 

 chester ? Again, the prospect of securing a 

 sequence of races is a great temptation to the 

 manager of a horse not to slip him until he sees 

 his way to a coup. The raising of penalties is in 



