178 COMPARISON OF THE NORTH AND SOUTH COUNTRY RACERS. 



this might be easily accounted for ; but those which are sent down to run for the 

 St. Leger Stakes, generally arrive at Doncaster a fortnight or three weeks before- 

 hand, that they may be used to the stables, the air, and the water. The trainer 

 and the jockey come along with them, so that they have their usual customs and 

 advantages, and on these grounds have no excuse for their ill success. 



" But the observation made by the North Country trainers is, that the New- 

 market trainers train over highly, and never seem to have done galloping their 

 horsas. This we believe was very discernable in the case of Sultan, at the last 

 Doncaster Races. A day or two before the Races, he appeared in the highest con- 

 dition ; but we understand his Newmarket trainer thought otherwise, and would 

 give him a severe gallop of four miles, and the course being uncommonly hard at 

 the time, he broke down in coming in, and so lost his chance for the St. Leger 

 Stakes, for which he had been training so long. 



" The Northern Jockies, more cunning, gave their horses nothing but slight 

 gallops, and latterly, only a good deal of walking exercise, which kept their 

 muscles and sinews in sufficient play, and did not endanger their giving way, by 

 strong exertions over ground, which at that time was as hard as a London 

 pavement. 



u The Newmarket fashion of always keeping a horse ready to start, when a 

 match is made, never answers when a horse is kept up for a great stake, which 

 horse has been put at ease, a long time previously. Besides, it is a well ascertained 

 fact, that no animal, game Cock, Horse, or Greyhound, will long stand at what 

 is technically called hi&mark" 



The signature to the above letter is AMATUER, but the substance of it is the result 

 of much practical observation, and well merits the serious attention of all trainers 

 of Race Horses, whether of the North or the South. With respect to antiquity 

 and celebrity, either in the breed or training of the Horse, Yorkshire claims the 

 precedence, but in succeeding times, the palm has been pretty equally divided, and 

 the balance in regard to the number of capital Racers bred, has necessarily perhaps 

 inclined to the South, from the gradual and great extension of the breeding 

 system. Horses, winning and being* beaten alternately and reciprocally, in the 

 North, and South, is an old theme, of which we well recollect the discussion, 

 when Mr. Stapylton's Magog, first came up to Newmarket ; but if our memory 

 serve us faithfully, the Northern grooms were represented in those days, as the 

 greatest disciplinarians ; and if they have since, as the letter-writer asserts, 

 outrun their brethren at Newmarket, in improved practice, and in relaxing' the 

 rigour of ancient pedantic usage, it is another proof of the acuteness of northern 

 intellect. 



A Horse breaks down in running in all probability nine such accidents in ten, 

 result from injuries done to the legs and joints, and from impending lameness, in 



