52 THE TURF 



better than any they have seen since ; others, again, 

 are constantly making fresh idols, and discover the 

 "horse of the century " every other year. Prejudice, 

 too, is a mighty factor in most comparisons. Men are 

 interested in horses and magnify their achievements ; 

 possibly they base their calculations on some trial 

 which was never authenticated by public running, and 

 they implicitly believe that it was quite right when it 

 may, in fact, have been quite wrong. More probably 

 still, they are prejudiced against a horse, disgusted, it 

 may be, by the panegyrics expressed in wild and 

 whirling words by fatuous enthusiasts, and so try to 

 pick holes by way of proving that these enthusiasts 

 were writing nonsense. Unbiased and dispassionate 

 judgment is rare, and when it is found, it may be 

 based on inaccurate or insufficient grounds. 



In this work I have sedulously avoided quota- 

 tions, of which so many books on racing are so largely 

 made up, but it is obvious that no new ideas can now 

 be promulgated about the famous horses of long ago ; 

 and it may be very briefly stated that Marlow's 

 observation when he first rode the Flying Dutchman 

 (on whom he won the Derby of 1849) must surely be 

 accepted as going far to stamp that colt a great one. 

 " I was never on such a one as this before !" was the 

 remark of that experienced jockey. Voltigeur is 

 naturally coupled with his immediate predecessor in 

 the list of Derby winners, and it is curious to recall 

 the fact that when this notable animal was offered for 

 sale at auction as a yearling no one would bid 100 



