132 TRAINING IN INDIA. 



There are not many representatives of the moneyed 

 section of the racing public in India, which is, above 

 all others, the country for a comparatively poor man to 

 do a litfcle racing in, without it costing him much, 

 provided he knows something about horses ; for stable 

 expenses are very moderate (say forty rupees a month 

 for each horse, including everything), and none but 

 first-class animals cost extravagant sums. But the fact 

 which enables men of small means to race in India, is 

 the system that divides the majority of races among 

 different classes of horses. These events serve both to 

 fill up prospectuses, and to accommodate owners. 

 Except at the few centres of racing, it is difficult to 

 collect sufficient money to attract first-class animals, 

 even were there more of them in this country, so that 

 handicaps have to be resorted to in order to bring the 

 one or two of them, which ever appear at a small 

 meeting, together with the second-raters. On this 

 account, stewards of race meetings, in order to get 

 fields together, are obliged to add to handicaps, races 

 for " all horses," and selling races, those for Arabs, 

 country-breds, galloways, ponies, and for maidens of 

 the different classes, not to mention still more minute 

 divisions. Thus, an owner would have bad luck indeed, 

 were he not able to find some event or the other suit- 

 able to hio horses, even if he had nothing better than a 

 country-bred pony, a half-miler, and a jumping nag; 

 although their united value might not exceed two 

 thousand rupees. It may be objected that this is not 

 racing, which it certainly is not in the English sense 

 of the word ; yet for all that, a man, who is sufficiently 

 fond of horses to look after and manage them himself, 



