208 WEIGHTS AND DISTANCES, 
think if we had another for shorter races it would be a 
welcome and serviceable addition. But as such a thing is 
nowhere to be found (so far as I know) I shall try and supply 
the omission by giving it. Though these figures do not 
exactly correspond with the scale adopted at any particular 
race-meeting, I think they are about the same as are generally 
in use. I have not thought it necessary to go beyond a mile 
and a half, as it would be but a repetition of the weights 
adopted in the Queen’s Plates for two miles and upwards. 
less than two miles, or for horses under three years old ; as those under that age are 
proscribed from taking part in Her Majesty’s Plates. As it is, two-year-old races 
are one of the great features of modern racing, and it is very necessary to have a 
just scale for them; nor should one be omitted for the relative weights to be 
carried by three- and four-year-olds over a shorter course than any given in the 
above official list, as the most important races of the year are run ata mile-and-a- 
half. A scale of weights for all ages over all courses, if issued in a tabulated 
form by the Jockey Club, would be an acceptable boon to the racing community ; 
as under the present system, clerks of the course often fix widely different weights 
for races run on the same course, and on the same day. 
Until such be forthcoming, I venture to give the relative weights that should be 
carried by horses of different ages over the various courses I have named, which, 
if in an abridged form, may in some sort serve as a guide :— 
TABLE OF RELATIVE WEIGHTS, 
A two-year-old should give a yearling :— 
Over half-a-mile, in October o........ cee eeeeee ane eee eee 2st. 7 lb, 
A three-year-old should give a two-year-old :— 
Over five furlongs, in the Spring ..... .......:ceeeeeeee 2st. olb 
3) SIX oe $9 2st. olb, 
ery) PP iy AUHUMNeica eendnd A few lbs. less. 
A four-year-old should give a three-year old: 
Over one mile, in the Spring ..........cccceceseeeaneeeees 23 Ibs. 
Over a mile-and-a-half, in June... cccceeee ceeeee 20 lbs. 
Older horses, over both these courses should carry 5 lbs, to 7 lbs, more than the 
four-year-olds. 
