WEIGHTS. SI 



bad" hcrses being brought together needs consid- 

 erable modification. Supposed "bad horses," and 

 treated as such, are only too often good ones in dis 

 guise. That which allows "good and bad" horses 

 to be brought together not only fosters the con- 

 cealment of merit, but is a direct inducement to 

 wrong-doing, especially when seemingly it outrages 

 fair play. In principle, as well as in the intert?.sts 

 of racing, there is nothing to encourage, or even to 

 make desirable, the fact of bad horses racing with 

 those of the first class, on any terms whatever. 



On strict lines, the idea of racing should be to 

 bring into contest, into entry for certain races, 

 horses of particular class and suitability for the 

 ground upon which the races are to take place. 



Whatever the prize offered may be, the conditions 

 should make the chances of horses more a matter 

 of scientific investigation and study by those in- 

 terested in them, than the haphazard character rac- 

 ing represents on the model prescribed by the han- 

 dicap system. 



So far as "investigation and study" have hitherto 

 gone in the matter of handicap racing, I think any 

 one would be open to be accused of very bold 

 assertion if he was prepared to say these were not 

 confined to the work of the handicapper in allotting 

 the weights. As an instance of it, I have known 



