RACING IN INDIA 139 



At most meetings the following classes are those for 

 which races are generally made, with the distances usually 

 run : — 



1. All horses 



2. Arabs 



3. Arabs and country-breds 



4. Country-breds 



5. Ponies (14 hands and under) 



6. Ponies (1.3.2 and under) 



7. Ponies (13 hands and under) 



8. Selling-race horses 



In discussing the '* form " of horses, I have been 

 obliged to bring in the subject of timing, as it is so 

 universally used and regarded out here. I am quite 

 aware how fallible a test it is, and how much it varies 

 according to the state of the course and the way in which 

 a race is run. The great majority of Indian courses are 

 so level, and the " going " so very much the same on all, 

 that there cannot be the same objection to timing in this 

 country as in England, where every course varies in 

 severity, especially if rain falls. Nevertheless, in races in 

 England, where several horses start, and in which the 

 running is certain to be cut out by some of them, the 

 timing of similar horses is singularly close on the same 

 courses, considering how variable the English climate is. 

 For instance, take that of the great three-year-old races 

 from year to year. 



We find timing is a perfectly reliable test in pedes- 

 trianism, and can pronounce with certainty that a man 

 who can do his 100 yds. in 10 s., or his mile 

 under 4 m. 16 s. on level ground, is undoubtedly a first- 



