186 THE RACE AND ITS RESPONSIBILITIES. 
the post, and the pleasure and profit of all enriched by this 
forbearance. 
These, then, are the relations between the owners and the 
public as they are, and as they should be. Let us now turn 
to see how the former stand towards the many who claim, 
often, with little reason so far as action or motive is concerned, 
the title of friends — friends who are so ready to dictate 
what should be done with the horses, without reference to 
the trainer's judgment or expressed opinion. 
“Secrecy is the soul of all great affairs,” so says the adage; 
and there is no business, trade, or profession of any sort, that 
so strictly requires reticence asracing does. But unfortunately 
the gentlemen that commence racing are generally young and 
inexperienced ; whilst those of riper years are acquainted with 
the habits of their old and business-like friends, and assume 
that the same caution characterises their young and thought- 
less acquaintances. Secrets ooze out in many ways, and often 
by means least suspected. Thus it happens that all connected 
with the horse may be wrongly and ungenerously blamed, 
when the owner of the animal has himself inadvertently sup- 
plied the information. He has in strict confidence revealed 
the matter to a friend, and no sooner is this done, than it is 
repeated to another—in the same strict confidence it may be, 
yet equally to the annoyance and injury of all concerned. 
The late Lord George Bentinck used to say, “ If you really 
want anything thoroughly well known, write it to a friend in 
strictest confidence and its proclamation will be complete.” 
So it is with racing. Plans are laid with the greatest care and 
secrecy, only to be upset. They are disclosed as a great 
secret and retold in the same manner, and so become the 
property of hundreds, although through the process the con- 
fidants have been restricted to sincere and trusted friends. 
