30 FLAT-RAGING EXPLAINED. 



"Horses for courses and courses for horses" is 

 so old as to be quite proverbial. Its application 

 is general, to courses of all kinds, when horses 

 repeat their performances upon thera; but it Ijas 

 special significance when applied to horses, for the 

 simple reason that it recognizes their adaptability 

 to some particular ground. That these facts should 

 not have become impressed upon the minds of rac- 

 ing people has always struck me as being strange. 

 If horses were singular in this peculiarity, and their 

 performances partook of isolated cases, much need 

 not be said, but we all know there is a constant 

 recurrence at almost .every meeting that is held. 



I have thought it strange for two reasons. In 

 the first place, it affords a solution to a horse's run- 

 ning capabilities, on a scientific basis, that should 

 have been of material importance to horse owners; 

 while, in the second place, it points so directly to the 

 peculiarities in the natural formation of courses as 

 to afford a positive clue to the vagaries — called in 

 sporting language the "glorious uncertainty" — of 

 racing results, ynder all kinds of conditions. 



