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Now this exhibits what I consider direct evidence of a satisfactory 

 state of racing affairs in Ireland. It proves that the number of horses 

 we had running in Ireland in 1891 was more than double that in 1850, 

 while the number of races in 1891 much more than doubled those in 

 1850, and the value of the stakes was greater by more than 150 per 

 cent. Still more satisfactory is it to see that while the total of each 

 decade shows a steady increase in the number of horses, that increase is 

 entirely due to the four, five, six, and aged, for the two and three- 

 year-olds in 1891 about maintain the average of the period between 

 1850 and 1889. 



This shows that our Irish breeders and owners recognise the fact that 

 racing two and three-year-olds is the bad game I have already striven to 

 prove it. 



Ruffs Guide for 1891 gives a table of horses which ran in England 

 for as many, or more, years back as our Irish Calendar, but it is 

 restricted to flat races only, not even including hunters' fiat races for 

 some years, so by it is seen that a very great predominance is in the 

 two and three-year-olds, which is, of course, comprehensible. By this 

 table we see that the 



Horses which rax on the Flat in 1891 in England were:— 

 Two-year-olds. Three years. Four years. Five, six, and aged. Total. 

 1,062 641 293 310 2,306 



The Irish table included all races. 



Almost every autumn 1,000 yearlings are sent to the Newmarket 

 training stables alone, a number practically equal to that of all the 

 horses we have in training in Ireland. What the total number of 

 horses in training or running in England is I know not ; but it is far 

 and away beyond what we have. For all that, we are able to send 

 some from the Curragh and other places to compete in many of the 

 great English events, and very often win them, while some of the best 

 horses ever owned by Englishmen were bred in Ireland. 



How is this accounted for ? I certainly cannot tell. Our horses, 

 although bred in Ireland, are all from English strains, if they are not 

 from parents directly and perhaps recently imported from England. 

 The secret of our success in producing good horses must not therefore 

 be sought in the breeding alone. It lies in the climate, the soil, or 

 our methods of rearing and training. The Irish winter is not nearly 

 as severe as that of England ; while our summers, I think, are just as 

 sunny as the English. Neither have we more rain, although many 

 people say we have. In Ireland there is a great deal of fine rich land, 

 which produces the best and sweetest grass, a large proportion of 

 which is from a limestone substratum. Grain, grass, and roots grown 

 on that sort of land are notoriously the best for producing bone. Tip- 

 perary, Cork, and Limerick are all limestone countries, and from them 

 come the greater number of the horses bred and reared in Ireland, and 

 often the best. 



Irish mares are kept in regular, steady work on the farm all the time 



N 



