250 THE RACING WORLD 



these two unmitigated scoundrels, and I can say 

 from a very wide experience that those horse 

 watchers who stick to their clients are men who 

 honestly work and do their best in the interests 

 of their employers, and, though there are black 

 sheep in every line of life, I do not think they 

 prevail to a greater degree amongst touts than 

 amongst any other class of men. 



The artifices which trainers used to employ 

 to deceive touts were many and various. One 

 of the most common, and one which, if a tout 

 did not pursue his avocation with the utmost 

 energy, would very often mislead him, was to 

 gallop a horse which was being prepared for a 

 big race at totally unexpected times. The horses 

 would do their work in the morning and be 

 sent back home. Then, after a while, when 

 all was quiet, and providing the touts had gone 

 away, the horse would be brought out again 

 and given a rasping good gallop. This could 

 only be done, however, when the stable was 

 a small one, and there were some trustworthy 

 boys connected with it. I have known trainers 

 deceive touts for weeks by this trick ; and as 

 two or three strong gallops each week were 

 quite sufficient to keep a horse roughly ready 

 up to the final month of preparation, if you 



