AND TIMES OF JOHN OSBORNE 221 



Discussing the point as to the early running of 



two-year-olds, John's opinion is 



" Some horses are as good in the spring as 

 two-year-olds as ever they are, and never improv- 

 ing thereafter. Other horses require time ; some 

 never come to maturity or true form until they 

 are four-year-olds. I really don't think a hard 

 and fast line should be drawn as to when you 

 ought to start running horses. I am not at all 

 opposed to two-year-old racing; and I don't 

 agree with the opinion held by some people that 

 it destroys stamina by running them. I have 

 known two-year-olds tried highly, and they have 

 never improved on that form." 

 In regard to long-distance races, he expressed the 



following views : 



" I think it is a mistake there are not more 

 long distance races than there are. (This was 

 in the January of 1897.) If more horses were 

 trained and tried for longer distances it would 

 be found that we have more stayers than we 

 really see. To illustrate the point : Some years 

 ago there was a Free Handicap run for, and it 

 "brought out three good stayers to my knowledge 

 in Lilian, Pageant, and Fraulein. This Free 

 Handicap Mr. Fairlie had it made was 1J 

 miles for horses that had never won over more 

 than a two-year-old course. Now, Lilian, 

 Pageant, and Fraulein had been running over 

 short courses before that, and it was proved that 

 they could stay and win over long courses after 

 that race. Parmesan, I remember ; he had been 

 running over short courses as a three-year-old, 

 and Mr. Savile ran him in a race at Newmarket, 



