2 FLAT -RACING EXPLAINED. 



general characteristics, we have not only surpassed 

 every other, but we have been the medium of all 

 that is possessed elsewhere in these essential par- 

 ticulars. 



Since racing was first inaugurated in this country, 

 we have made great strides in the number and qual- 

 ity of our thoroughbreds. In years gone by, as in 

 more recent times, of course horses of exceptional 

 character and merit came, as it were, to the front, 

 and historically have been handed down to us as 

 examples to be followed, on account of the great 

 achievements they performed. For sucli we have 

 the most profound admiration, knowing full well 

 what we have to-day amongst our equine celebrities 

 we owe to previous generations, to long strains of 

 blood chosen from the best running blood of pre- 

 vious times. 



It is of very great interest whether the standard 

 of the thoroughbred has advanced or retrograded 

 with time, and whether we have at the present a 

 class of animal superior or inferior to those our 

 forefathers had a generation or two ago. Unfoi- 

 tunately, there is nothing to tell us this. We might 

 go back to the celebrities at any period we might 

 choose to select, and relatively we are without the 

 least guide that would say whether they were of 

 greater or of lesser degi'ee, in point of superiority 



