140 TRAINING IN INDIA. 



cut out by some of them, the timing of similar horses 

 is singularly close, on the same courses, considering 

 how variable the English climate is. For instance, 

 take that of the great three-year old races, from year 

 to year. 



We find timing is a perfectly reliable test in pedes- 

 trianism, and can pronounce with certainty that a man 

 who can do his 100 yards in 10 seconds, or his mile 

 under 4 m. 16 s. on level ground, is undoubtedly a first- 

 class runner; and so would be a horse which could, 

 with weight for age and class, do his mile in 1 m. 43 s., 

 or two miles in 3 m. 39 s. on the Calcutta Course for 

 instance, if he will but try in public; for herein lies the 

 source of nine-tenths of the disappointments timing 

 leads to. The "going" on most Indian race-courses, 

 except at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Poonah, and Dehra 

 Doon, is very similar, being almost quite level and 

 pretty hard. As it is impossible to get all horses to 

 run the same in public as in private, I would strongly 

 advise the young turfite to limit the use of the stop 

 watch to public performances, and to regulating the 

 pace of training gallops. If one wishes to test the 

 powers of a young one, it should be done, not by 

 " putting him against the watch," but by trying him 

 with some horse that has recently run well in public, 

 and is at the time of the trial in racing condition. 

 Then, if the young one beats the trial horse, and does 

 the distance in really good time, it is all the more 

 to his credit. No exact information as to a horse's 

 form can be obtained by timing his gallops when he 

 takes them alone ; for not one horse in ten will run 

 the same by himself as in company ; and it would only 



