TIME. 101 



I have oftrii wondered, assiiiniii^ Kest Mnii and 

 Florizel II. — a sterling good horse on a level course, 

 and gifted, too, with a high rate of speed — co^uld 

 have been matched on perfectly even terms, what 

 course in the country could have been found that 

 would have been fair to both horses, in the sense 

 that each would have displayed his best qualities. 

 No two horses could have been more dissimilar in 

 every racing particular, yet on their own ground 

 both brilliant performers. 



A good many people I am sure would say the 

 Rowley Mile, while others would jump to the con- 

 clusion that Across the Flat would satisfy all re- 

 quirements. Here are two courses, perhaps at the 

 respective distances not to be surpassed by any in 

 this country, or in any other if it comes to that, and 

 yet neither Best Man nor Florizel II. showed any- 

 thing like high-class racing merit on them, and in 

 the matter of speed, it never approached what both 

 horses shoAved over and over again elsewhere 

 where better suited. 



I have not forgotten Best Man ran second to 

 Marco in the Cambridgeshire over this very ground, 

 but at its best it was only a poorish performance, 

 and in point of speed did not come up to what he did 

 two days later over a far more trying course, name- 

 Iv, the Old Cambridgeshire, to which I have re- 



