232 THE RACEHORSE AS HE WAS AND IS. 
that for stallions at the present date, viz. 100 and even 200 
guineas, each mare. 
I should perhaps remark, in conclusion, upon the fallibility 
of the time-test to gauge the merits of different horses even 
with all the accuracy with which it is now kept. The objec- 
tions to it are obvious. One race may be run fast a part of 
the way only, whilst another is run the whole distance at the 
best speed of the animals contending. Thus in a slow run 
race over a long course, a fast horse may win and beat one 
that, if the pace were good all the way, would be able to dis- 
tance his conqueror; and in the two instances the time occu- 
pied by the same animals in doing the same distance would 
vary considerably. The state of the ground, too, would 
tell materially for or against the making of good time. As 
no mention is made of all these differently operating circum- 
stances, nor any calculation of the probable effect on either 
of two animals thus tested by time, I prefer to see horses 
tried side by side ; or if that cannot be attained, then I would 
rather they were tried collaterally horse by horse, than rely 
on information derived from the uncertainty of the time test. 
If more were required to be said on the subject, I think it 
would be allowed that the superior stamina of the racehorse 
is even more conspicuous if we observe him under heavy 
weights, over deep ground—across country a long distance— 
as a steeplechaser, where he now takes a foremost place. 
Some twenty or thirty years ago, the half-bred hunters could 
beat our thoroughbred horses over such courses; and to start 
one of the latter would have been deemed an act of insane 
cruelty on the part of the owner. Though some may argue 
that the transposition is more owing to the degeneracy of the 
one than the improvement of the other, yet I think this will 
not appear to be the case if we consider the high standard of 
