RACING ROGUERIES. 287 



other races, and a horse will keep. Why oppose 

 each other when, by working as one man, we can 

 land the sum I have named ? " 



It has occurred before now that a horse 

 which has been, so to speak, left out in the cold 

 on the occasion of an "arrangement," has ulti- 

 mately proved the best animal. Such rehearsals 

 as have been pictured used to be common, and 

 still take place. 



"What a splendid field there is!" said one 

 gentleman to another, a year or two ago, as a 

 start was being effected for the Hay market 

 Handicap. 



" Yes," was the reply, " no less, I see, than 

 fifteen. What a pity that three only of the lot 

 are trying ! " 



Great blunders are sometimes made by men 

 who have horses in handicaps. However good 

 a horse may be, and however long the animal 

 may have been kept with a view to a grand coup, 

 it may be found when the weights are published 

 that it is not given such a good chance as that 

 supposed to be conferred on some other animal, 

 the result being that the owner does not accept, 

 and probably, to his great chagrin, finds his rival 

 also among the non-contents, his rival having 

 been imbued with similar fears. At other times 

 a lot of horses do not accept because " something " 

 has been " thrown in " at a feather weight which 

 everybody thinks cannot possibly be beaten, 

 although in the end that something runs nearly 

 last, Ruperra to wit, in the Royal Hunt Cup of 

 1880. Many a time and oft a horse not believed 

 to possess any merit wins an important race, and 

 owners and trainers alike find again and again, to 



