Oaks. " The garter of the English turf." The celebrated 

 stakes for three year old fillies, established by Edward Smith 

 Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby, :\Iay U, 1779. The stakes 

 received its name from Lambert's Oaks, in the parish of 

 Woodmansterne, formerly an inn. The house was erected by 

 the Hunter's Club, and was rented to the Lambert family. It 

 afterwards became the residence of Gen. Burgoyne, from whom 

 it passed to the 11th Earl of Derby. It is the most important 

 fixed event of the English turf, for fillies only, and consists of 

 fifty guineas, forfeit forty guineas. It is run on tlie fourth 

 day — Friday — of the great Epsom races over the Derby course. 

 The Earl of Derby, originator of the stakes, died in 1834. 



Oats. Oats are regarded as the best and healthiest of 

 all the grains as a food for horses, because the ingTedients 

 necessary for the complete sustenance of the body exist in them 

 in the most perfect proportions. They are easily digested and 

 a large proportion of the nutritious elements which they con- 

 tain are absorbed and converted into the various tissues of the 

 system. Oats should have a sweet, flowery smell ; thin, smooth 

 skins that slip quickly through the fingers, and a sweet taste. 

 AVhite oats are generally thinner in the skin than black ; and 

 short, plump oats are better than large, long ones. Xew are 

 chiefly distinguished from old oats by the smell, which, in the 

 former, is somewhat earth-like ; the husk of the new oat is also 

 bright, while its taste is more sweet and milky than that of the 

 old oat. Light oats are composed of more skin or husk than 

 flour. Oats badly saved, mouldy, sprouting, or otherwise 

 damaged, will destroy the condition, if, indeed, they do not 

 cause disease in the best horses. In the case of most horses, 

 oats are better fed whole, although crushed or bruised oats are 

 preferable for old horses, aud those having defective teeth. Old 

 oats, old corn and old hay are better than new for feeding. In 

 all the States the legal and standard weight of a bushel of oats 

 is thirty-two pounds, excepting in Maryland, where it is twenty- 

 six pounds ; in Xew Jersey, where it is thirty pounds, and in 

 Oregon, where it is thirty-six pounds. 



Objections. An objection is an ojDposition to a ruling 

 or decision ; a complaint against a horse, driver or jockey. 



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