HANDICAPS. n 



the entry, the weights are by force of circumstances 

 allotted on the running form shown by each horse, 

 as it may have been disclosed on all manner of 

 courses and under all sorts of conditions. 



Among the number to be weighted are horses 

 proved stayers on level courses up to seven furlongs, 

 and they may be trusted perhaps to even get a mile. 

 Attracted by the conditions, and especially the dis- 

 tance to be run, these horses get supported in the 

 market by both owners and those who are not 

 owners, with the result, when the race comes to be 

 fought out, they make practically no show, Aviuding 

 up. indeed, in most disappointing fashion. Then, 

 of course, comes the usual howl of discontent, and 

 all sorts of unkind things said touching the bona 

 fides of everybody concerned, and this without any 

 substantial reason. 



Horses that have done good things and carried 

 big burdens on the. flat are easily weighted out 

 of it at Ascot, simply because they cannot act on 

 the gradients they find there. But there is another 

 and perhap a more serious difficulty to encounter. 

 The running distance, as compared with 7 furlongs 

 and 16G yards surface measurement, makes the dis- 

 tance of the Royal Hunt Cup course, on the level, to 

 require something like a furlong more doing than 

 appears, and this very naturally settles the preten- 

 sions of horses of the character I have described. 



