282 MEMORIES OF MEN AND HORSES 



introduced by the fact that the reputed distances are in 

 very many cases incorrect. This applies to nearly all 

 round courses, which are measured along the middle of 

 the track and not, as they should be, a few feet from 

 the rails, as at Epsom. Besides, at Ascot in particular 

 a lot of new ground was made, which cut off a good 

 deal of the distance at the top turn. That was before 

 the 1902 meeting, and so far as I am aware no 

 corresponding difference was made in the starting posts. 



Thus it is that three out of the world's records over 

 2 miles were made at Ascot, and all three are better 

 than the fourth, which was 3 minutes 25 seconds, at 

 Wellington, New Zealand. 



The simple explanation of this is that the Ascot 

 2 miles is not a genuine 2 miles, and just in the same 

 way, and for the same reason, we find two ij mile 

 records out of three made on round courses in England, 

 Manchester and Newbury. There are six world's 

 records for 5 furlongs, and they were all made at 

 Epsom. These curious details serve to show us that 

 times made in England cannot reasonably be brought 

 into comparison with those made abroad, where tracks 

 are properly measured and the distances assured. 



An instance of the inaccuracy of English measure- 

 ments was furnished a good many years ago when the 

 Goodwood Cup course was always stated to be 2 miles 

 4 furlongs. I repeatedly published my conviction that 

 it was a longer distance than this, because the winner 

 always took from 15 to 20 seconds more than did the 

 winner of the Ascot Cup, and Torpoint an extra- 

 ordinary stayer ran better for the Goodwood than for 

 the Ascot Cup. 



Eventually the Duke of Richmond and Gordon had 



