But where his will and ours are powerless our system 

 of racing has, according to the author, succeeded. 



" Short distance races have given birth to a special 

 type, that of the sprinter, whose gallop is choppy with 

 quick and frequently repeated .jtrides and a minimum 

 period of suspension. A gait which carries with it a 

 shoulder but little sloping, a very sloping arm, elbow to 

 the rear, rather short pasterns ; a sloping croup, and 

 femur, stifle to the front, and a Cut off rump. The gen- 

 eral appearance is short, and the four feet are close to- 

 gether, 



" Do we not recognize the portrait which was once 

 made of the trotter, of the high-class trotter? 



" Well, I am afraid lest this model, which is presented 

 to us as that of the sprinter, be, in the very near future, 

 that of all high-class thoroughbreds. 



" It is certain that two-year-old races and Short dis- 

 tance races, have been abused by us-, although on this 

 road we have been caught and easily passed by our neigh- 

 bors, the English. 



" But neither on this side of the Channel, nor on the 

 other, can there be imputed to these mistakes the changes 

 found, either correctly or incorrectly in the thorough- 

 bred. Colonel Couste, who is not only an eminent horse- 

 man, but a distinguished sportsman, must have lost sight 

 of the fact that since 1780 in England, and i860 in 

 France, selection has always been made upon the basis 

 of the Derby, that is to say, upon the horse who, in the 

 middle of his three-year-old year, has shown himself to 

 be the best at a mile and a half. 



" If this distance is considered insufficient, it has been 

 so for one hundred and thirty years; the grievous ef- 

 fects of this selection should have been felt very long 

 before the present time, and should have affected Fitz- 

 Gladiator, who, in the whole breed, has been represented 

 as the type of rangy stayer with long strides, well bal- 



67 



