i8 LIGHT HORSES: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



for 200. This may be a strong opinion ; it is founded on the 

 fact that whereas 150 years ago the Eastern horses and their 

 first cross were the best and fastest in England, at this day a 

 second-class racehorse can give five stone to the best Arabian 

 or Barb and beat him from one to twenty miles. I presume, 

 therefore, that the superiority of the English horse has im- 

 proved in that ratio above the original stock." 



It was only in 1885 that the Duke of Portland's four-year-old 

 Iambic, always described as the very worst horse in training, 

 gained an absurdly easy victory over Admiral Tryon's four 

 year-old at a distance of 3 miles at Newmarket. Asil received 

 over four stone and a half. We do not, however, mean to 

 assert that the match in question proved conclusively ths true 

 difference in speed between the two breeds ; for Asil may not 

 have been as fit as was his opponent ; and it may be we 

 do not say such is the case that Arabs may require to be 

 trained in a manner differing from that employed for con- 

 ditioning our own horses. But the match may be taken as 

 showing that the Arab is no match for even a bad specimen 

 of an English racehorse ; and the Markham Arabian appears 

 to have been just as great a failure in the time of James I. 



Then, again, it is a common cry that we have no stayers in 

 these days. On this point Admiral Rous wrote as follows in the 

 article from which we have already quoted : " A very ridicu- 

 lous notion exists that, because our ancestors were fond of 

 matching their horses four, six and eight miles, and their great 

 prizes were never less than four miles for aged horses, the 

 English racehorse of 1700 had more powers of endurance, 

 and were better adapted to run long distances under heavy 

 weights, than the horses of the present day ; and there is 

 another popular notion that our horses cannot now stay four 

 miles." 



In the time of our ancestors, as the Admiral pointed out, there 

 were but few races over a short distance of ground ; now, 

 save at Ascot and Goodwood, we have few long ones ; and 

 with so many valuable prizes to be won over courses varying 



