WEIGHTS. 85 



the care that is possible, can in the main be only 

 guesswork, and nothing further need be said con- 

 cerning them. 



Any disposition of weight in the absence of 

 known merit must necessarily be guesswork, and 

 for my part I cannot but regard a horse let into a 

 race under such conditions as sufficient, in the 

 spirit of fair play, to render it void on that ground. 



I see no reason why weiglit, assigned by **merit," 

 should not be governed by "scale," dividing horses 

 of three years and upward into classes. The prin- 

 ciple should be to make each horse bear his right 

 burden in accordance with age, coupled with the 

 class his merits shall have determined. 



Horses of unknown merit when running in races 

 other than weight-for-age races should be expressly 

 governed by "rule," as I have said. 



In arranging the weights for two-year-olds there 

 should necessarily be different treatment, though 

 the principle of "merit" must needs be kept in view. 

 To my mind there are two points of essential im- 

 portance in this. Not only should two-year-old 

 running be governed by merit, but it should also be 

 made to become a basis for three-year-old racing in 

 the following season. 



One great advantage of the principle of adjusting 

 tbe weights for horses on the lines to which I have 



