SPEED AND STAYING 149 



at Epsom (if the animal has good shoulders and 

 can come down hill), at Derby and elsewhere, or 

 severe, as at Ascot, on the Rowley mile, the old 

 Cambridgeshire (or Criterion) course, the Bunbury 

 Mile, or where the winning post is at the top of an 

 ascent. A really speedy horse that does not stay 

 will beat bad animals over long distances, when run- 

 ning far beyond his course, in fact, because they fail 

 to extend him. He is cantering while they are 

 galloping hard ; going on well within himself he does 

 not tire, and so can keep with them at no exertion, 

 reserving his speed ; but put the same horse in his 

 own class, among worthy rivals, so that he is kept 

 at or near full stretch, and he is exhausted by a very 

 much shorter course — as is natural. A "stayer" is 

 a somewhat vague term, as regards the question of 

 distance, but one generally understands a horse that 

 can last with animals of his own class for at least 

 a mile and a half. It would have been extremely 

 interesting after Sheen had beaten Amphion at two 

 miles to see what would have happened had the two 

 run together over a mile, and then over a mile and 

 a half. At a mile most people would have expected 

 to see Amphion win easily ; at a mile and a half 

 opinions would have been divided ; when they met 

 at two miles Sheen won without difficulty. Kilcock's 

 best distance is probably six furlongs, but he won 

 at Newmarket over a course nearly twice as long 

 (i mile 3 furlongs), because against the horses that 



