REGULATION FOR THE START. 173 



there, the horses that are exhausted fall back, and continue to do so, to the end of 

 the race, till, as is often the case, there are only two or three which come in, and 

 are able to try for the Stakes ; and in case a Jockey cannot obtain the place he 

 chuses, after the Hill is passed, on account of the deficiency of speed in his horse, 

 he could not have won the race if he had had the best possible start. To prove this 

 assertion I may instance the time, when the late Duke of Hamilton's William won 

 the St. Leger, almost in a canter, although he lost two hundred yards at starting : 

 also the time, when Altisidora, Tiger, and Camelopard, the three first favourites, 

 came 'm first, second, and third, notwithstanding 1 they were jaded by so many false 

 starts. If it were necessary, I could instance many more cases; but it must 

 be evident to every thinking person, that as so few horses try for the race at 

 the last, a horse may win as easily with a fair start, as with the best start 

 imaginable." 



This Gentleman perhaps, like many other correct logicians, does not perceive 

 that he has argued perfectly well, to no manner of purpose : that he has gone only 

 skin-deep, leaving the marrow of the question still in the cavity of the bone, and 

 untouched. All his arguments will doubtless apply, regulation or no regulation 

 the question remains, is, or is not, a new regulation necessary. To decide that 

 question experimentally, we need go no farther back, than the history of the late 

 double start at Doncaster, with all its trouble, vexations, and risks. . As to the 

 necessity of applying to the Jockey Club for a regulation, which by way of emphasis, 

 we have placed in Italics, that appears to be one of the most curious of objections. 

 With what propriety or efficiency, could any Turf rule intended to be obligatory 

 and permanent, be elsewhere obtained ? 



But, having at some length, made a clear stage j to come to the start of the 

 question nobody can deny, that a grievance has been proved ; and should it be 

 urged that, here is a case made of much cry and little wool, and that there need no 

 ghost to be disquieted and brought up, to prescribe a remedy, it may well be 

 answered, why has a nuisance susceptible of a prompt and easy abatement, been 

 suffered to continue so long, and why so much argufication pro and con on the 

 premises ? A start ought evidently to be a certain thing, clear of all contingency, 

 since all the parties concerned, horse and man, however various and unequal their 

 qualifications, in that respect, necessarily stand upon a level, each taking his own 

 chance. On this simple, therefore just ground, and to avoid the possibility of 

 dispute, misapprehension, or Jockeyship, one decisive start only is lawful, the word 

 being given by the proper officer of the course, by beat of drum, or sound of bugle. 

 For example, to round or complete the proposition, suppose the signals, at conve- 

 nient periods a beat of the drum for the horses to assemble, another for them to 

 saddle, mount, and chuse places, and a blast of the bugle for the start. This regu- 

 lation, should it be honoured with the sanction of the Jockey Club, to be announced 



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