Pedestrian ISM. 67 



faster ; although I am convinced that Fortissimo at even 

 weights for two and a half miles could give two or three 

 furlongs start and a beating to the fleetest son of the 

 desert ever foaled. Again, horses vary so much in 

 their respective powers of going up or down hill, that 

 timing them on an ascent or descent would furnish no 

 reliable data by which to measure their speed on the 

 flat. They also, sad to say, often run differently in 

 public to what they have done in private. It is no use 

 trying a horse against the watch without having pre- 

 viously satisfied one's self that he is thoroughly " game." 

 Although I had been accustomed to horses as a boy 

 in Ireland, and had learned all about their management, 

 from a military point of view, in D-20 and F-19 Royal 

 Artillery, still I knew nothing practically about getting 

 them fit for racing. I had, however, some knowledge of 

 training for rowing and pedestrianism ; for I had been 

 taught to " catch the first of it " by Jack Grant, Tom 

 Mackinney, Clasper, and Tom Pocock when I was 

 in the Cork Harbour crew on the river Lea at Glen- 

 iDrook ; while, as a cadet at the Royal Military Academy, 

 Woolwich, I won many foot races, in which I was much 

 aided by the advice of the ex-champions Jack Levitt 

 and Jim Pudney. My last experience in pedestrianism 



