THE POSITION OF THE TURF 19 



quite aldermanic proportions as the result of so much good 

 living. 



To look further into the Grand National times as argu- 

 ments in favour of improvement in the thoroughbred, I find 

 that nearly thirteen minutes was about the average up to 

 1844, when Cureall won in 10 min, 47 sec. Abd el Kader 

 (owned by Mr. Joseph Osborne, referred to just now) did 

 good times in 1850 and 185 1, but he carried such light 

 weights as 9 st. 12 lbs. and lost. 4 lbs., and I have heard 

 from Mr. Osborne that all the conditions were fairly favour- 

 able. In the sixties and seventies eleven minutes was about 

 the average time, though there were occasional fast times, 

 as, for instance, the second victory of The Lamb ; but from 

 1872 to 1890 the race was never run in less than ten minutes 

 (and often over eleven), while since that date the time has 

 only been twice over ten minutes, and the two winners 

 in the slow time were Wild Man from Borneo and The 

 Soarer, certainly the two worst Liverpool winners of the 

 last twenty years, or since Casse Tete won for Mr. Brayley. 



The Liverpool times point strongly to the improvement 

 of the chaser, but as to the Derby the times only date from 

 1846, and though the more recent ones are better than those 

 of half a century ago, the difference is not enough to support 

 a strong argument on either side of the question. During 

 the period of fifty-three years in which times have been 

 taken there is a difference of twenty-two seconds only be- 

 tween the best and the worst, the worst being the 3 min. 

 4 sec. of Ellington in 1856, and the best the 2 min. 42 sec. 

 of Persimmon, exactly forty years later. The record time 

 has since been equalled by Diamond Jubilee (own brother 

 to Persimmon) in 1900. 



A study of old Calendars appears to reveal the fact that 

 the racehorse was a hardier animal in the middle of the 

 century than he is now ; he certainly ran more frequently 

 and went to the stud later in life, but then he was not, as 

 a general rule, given so much early two-year-old work, and 

 in many cases he did the greater part of his training on the 

 racecourse. No doubt he was much less pampered when 

 a yearling and not treated as if he were an exotic plant ; 



