CHAPTER XL 



ON THE RACE COURSE. 



The form and length of a race course, must depend 

 on the space of ground the neighbourhood may afford; 

 generally speaking, our country courses are most of 

 them round. As four mile heats are not so much run 

 now as they formerly were, a well formed two mile 

 course, or a round course of this length, is quite suffi- 

 cient. In running for most plates, the starting post is 

 also the winning post. This gives the^spectators an 

 opportunity of seeing from the stand, the starting, as 

 well as the coming in of the horses, and this, at some 

 of our great country meetings, is as much an object of 

 amusement to them, as the running is of interest and 

 consequence to the men of business. At Newmarket, 

 where they do not run heats, and where they seldom 

 run long lengths, most of the courses are straight,''or 

 nearly so, which renders them much less difficult to 

 run over, than a round course, both for the horses and 

 jockeys. All the horses trained at Newmarket, stand 



