102 FLAT-RACING EXPLAINED. 



ferred, by, in point of distance, nearly a lengtli and 

 a half. 



I have said horses do not strike the ground in any 

 degree to be relative, and I am hoping as time goes 

 on opportunity will be given for fuller investigation. 

 Best Man, it is true, ran all courses pretty much at 

 the same rate of speed, a circumstance or a peculi- 

 arity I have never found to have existed in any 

 other horse. 



The general experience I have had of horses run- 

 ning is that, on a particular character of ground, 

 they have what is called a "set speed." I have, 

 however, always found that with a change in the 

 conformation of the ground there is always, or very 

 nearly always, a change in the rate of speed, 

 though the variation in the ground itself is scarcely 

 perceptible. 



