CHAPTER IV 



HANDICAPS 



From one point of view the handicap is an alto- 

 gether absurd institution ; for the result is simply and 

 solely to show how far wrong the handicapper is in his 

 estimate of the ability of the horses he weights. The 

 winner comes in two lengths ahead of his field, and 

 thereby demonstrates, either that the adjuster of the 

 weights regarded him as a 7 lbs. or 10 lbs. worse 

 animal than he is, or else that he accepted the second 

 as a 7 lbs. or 10 lbs. better. A horse wins by a neck. 

 The handicapper is shown to be only a couple of 

 pounds or so wrong ; but that is all the race has 

 proved. Handicaps, however, are practically indispen- 

 sable, for the reason that it takes more than the 

 general scale of penalties and allowances to give the 

 moderate animal a chance, and if racing were confined 

 to the comparatively few good horses, the sport would 

 be enormously circumscribed. Selling handicaps — 

 dealt with in a later division of this article, under the 

 head of "Selling Races" — are of course infinitely 

 more preposterous, for here a horse carrying 9 st. may 



