322 A MIRROR OF THE TURF. 



race, it is now the rule, shall carry less than 6 st. ? 

 In favour of an increase in the scale of weights 

 our two most popular handicaps may be cited. 

 The Cesarewitch has only been won by horses 

 carrying less than 6 st. on five occasions since 

 i860. Two Cambridgeshires only have been 

 carried off during the last thirty years by animals 

 bearing weights under 6 st. The City and 

 Suburban Handicap has been won three times 

 since i860 by horses weighted under 6 st. The 

 Lincolnshire Handicap has only been won once 

 since i860 by a horse under 6st. Why a horse 

 of any kind, even a horse of the most mediocre 

 quality, should ever have been asked to carry 

 the feather weight of 5 st. 7 lb. now seems pre- 

 posterous ! That a minimum weight of 6 st. 7 lb. 

 should be fixed upon, with a range of 3 st. 7 lb., 

 or even 4st., as between highest and lowest, has 

 been recommended by many who have at heart 

 the best interests of the turf. No ill would result 

 in consequence to the noble animal, and the 

 scale would certainly admit of more 7nen being 

 employed to ride. 



Much could be said on both sides of this 

 question, but there are many engaged in racing 

 who would never at any time have the weights 

 interfered with — they are such believers in use 

 and wont. This, therefore, is one of the matters 

 to which the Jockey Club should again turn their 

 attention ; there is more in what is asked for than 

 the mere fixing of a weight suitable for the com- 

 peting horses, or for the bringing together of the 

 sixty or seventy animals entered for some well- 

 known handicap. 



What are called ''flattering handicaps" very 



