HANDBOOK OF THE TURF. 243 



auspices the stake is given ; all of which belongs to the winner 

 or winners, unless provided to the contrary in the conditions. 

 Stakes are of diiferent sums, for horses of different ages, and 

 are usually named for prominent turf patrons, individuals, 

 places, etc. 



Stakeholder. A person chosen to hold the stakes, or 

 amount of the match, in a match race, whicli must be deposited 

 one day before the race is to come off, omitting Sunday, when 

 the race becomes " play or pay." 



Stakey Gait. A stiff, imperfect, constrained action of 

 the fore legs ; faulty knee action ; such a horse is said to have 

 a "stakey gait.'' 



Stall. A room, or box ; standing place for horses. The 

 dimensions of stalls vary, but the generally recognized best 

 sizes are: For a single stall, five feet wide, nine feet long; 

 for a box, or room, fifteen feet by seventeen feet ; or, better, if 

 the size of the stable will allow it, eighteen feet by twenty feet. 



Stall off a Rush. To head off, or prevent a spurt of 

 speed from an opposing horse, at the finish, by which he 

 attempts to win ; to leave a contending horse behind ; to shake 

 him off. 



It is a dangerous, and often a fatal mistake for a jockey to ease his 

 horse, or to cease riding liini, when leading and close to the win- 

 ningiiost; for by so doing he may make him stop, and may then 

 be nnable to get him into his stride again in time to "stall off a 

 rush " from one of the others. — Riding, M. Horace Hayes, M. R. C. 

 V. S. 



Ormonde's last race was characterized by a great exhibition of game- 

 ness. The race was at Ascot, the distance over a mile, the finish 

 up hill, and the company two of the best horses England has ever 

 produced, Mr. Vyner's Minting, and Mr. Barclay's Bendigo. The 

 pace was terrific, and the np hill finish particularly trying to 

 Ormonde, yet he "stalled off" Minting's brilliant challenge, and 

 won, after a desperate finish.— The London Sportsman. 



Stallion. The male of the horse kind; an ungelded 

 horse ; one kept for breeding purposes. 



Stallion. [Law.] Where a party does not come to an 

 inn for entertainment as an ordinary wayfarer, but with a 

 horse to be used, under a special arrangement in serving mares, 

 the inn keeper is not bound to receive and treat the person as 

 his guest, and is not liable for the destruction of the horse 

 without his fault. 



An inn keeper is not bound to permit his establishment to be made a 

 depot for the i:)ropagation of horses. — American Reports, F. G. 

 Thompson, San Francisco, 1877, 244-246. 



Where the party came to an inn under a special arrangement previ- 

 ously made, whereby his stallion was to stand at the inn certain 

 days each week for the purpose of serving mares, it has been held 

 that the inn keeper was not subject to the common law liability 

 for the preservation of the animal.— Cases decided in the Commis- 

 sion of Appeals of the State of New York. H. E. Sickles, Albany, 

 1876, 34-39. 



