234 THE RACING WORLD 



my opinion a subject which the Stewards of the 

 Jockey Club should seriously consider. 



It has been frequently stated of recent years, and 

 asserted in print, but without any facts or figures 

 to support the statement, that the handicapping of 

 racehorses as a science is not to be compared with 

 that which ruled thirty or forty years ago. Now, 

 facts are stubborn things, and it is never safe to 

 make a general assertion unsupported by them un- 

 less you are perfectly certain that these tell-tales 

 are in your favour. There are, fortunately, tests 

 by which the handicapping of racehorses, as well 

 as most other things, can be nicely gauged, and if 

 you apply these tests, so far from finding the 

 adjustment of the weights to be of an indifferent 

 character during recent years, you will quickly 

 discover that not only is it incomparably superior 

 to what it was in the time of Admiral Rous, who 

 has been described as the " prince of handicappers," 

 but that the results of some recent years are at 

 least equal to, if not considerably in advance of, 

 those of any preceding one. It may be presumed 

 that the object of the framer of the handicap is 

 so to balance it that the result will be a dead heat 

 between two or more horses. If he cannot attain 

 that end he will hope for the narrow margin of a 

 head victory ; failing that, his ambition would be 



