PART II.

TRAINING AND RACING.

CHAPTER I.

Racing in India.

ACING MEN AND HORSES-ON FORMING A USEFUL STABLE-THE STYLE OF RACE-HORSE SUITED TO INDIA-THE DIFFERENT CLASSES AND THEIR RESPECTIVE FORM-TIMING.

In England, racing is almost entirely confined to professionals, and to a few monied men, who can afford to run horses for amusement, just as others go in for yachting, hunting or shooting, caring little for the cost, as long as they get sufficient excitement out of the particular sport they may pursue. There, racing is such a complete business, and its attendant expenses are so heavy, that a man of moderate means cannot, with any safety, follow it, unless he adopts it as his profession. In India, the small amount of public money and limited speculation render the turf too precarious a means of living, except in the case of jockeys and trainers, while few of the latter find training pays, unless they be light enough to earn their winning and losing mounts on the horses of which they have charge.

There are few representatives of the monied section

of the racing public in India, which is, above all others, the country for a comparatively poor man to do a little racing in, without it costing him much, provided he knows something about horses; for stable expenses are very moderate (say forty rupees a month for each horse including every thing), while none but first class animals cost any extravagant sums. But the fact which enables men of small means to race in India, is the system that divides the majority of races among different classes of horses. These events serve both to fill up prospectuses, and to accommodate owners. It is, in most places, difficult to collect sufficient money to attract first class animals, even were there more of them in this country; the fact being that, except at the few centres of racing, it is impossible to get a field of such horses, while handicaps have to be resorted to in order to bring the one or two of them, that ever appear at a small meeting, together with the second raters. On this account, stewards of race meetings, in order to get fields together, are obliged to add to handicaps, "all horses,' and selling races, those for Arabs, country-breds, galloways, ponies, and for maidens of the different classes, not to mention still more minute division. Thus an owner would have bad luck indeed, were he not to find some event or the other suitable to his horses, even if he had nothing better than a country-bred pony, a half miler, and a jumping nag of sorts, although their united value might not exceed a thousand rupees. It may be objected that this is not racing, which it certainly is not in the English sense of the word, but for all that, a man, who is sufficiently fond of horses to look after and manage

them himself, can get good sport with a few moderate ones. Personally I'd take more interest in training an inferior horse and by skill and work, winning races with him in moderate company, than in owning (as. many do at home) first class horses, which might be entirely in the hands of a trainer, on whom I would have to be solely dependent for information as to their form and pretensions.

Six or seven horses will be found a large enough string for up-country meetings, if the owner intends to look after them himself, and expects them to win enough to cover their expenses. To accomplish this, one should have horses of an useful class, that would be certain to find races to run for, at the different meetings to which they might go, with a fair chance of pulling off an event now and then. Keeping horses too good for one's line of country, is hardly more paying than owning horses too bad for it. The presence of first class horses (if their form be known) deters owners from entering against them, the races do not fill, and even if they do so on an odd occasion, there is either no lottery, or the horses get bid up so high, that it is simply "buying money" to touch them. While in handicaps, a good horse, among moderate ones, gets so much weight piled on, that the odds are, it either breaks him down, or spoils his action.

A first class steeple chaser does not come under this objection, for "between the flags" one's money being "in the air," men will always enter on the outside chance of a fall or refusal. Besides this, the added money alone is generally worth running for, even with

out dipping into the lotteries, which, by-the-bye, usually fill well on a "lep race.”

One or two good second class Walers, which can stay up to a mile and a half, a couple of Arabs—especially if one or both be galloways, and are at the same time good enough to run among the big ones-like what Chieftain, Caliph, and Abdool Rayman were-a fast 13-2 Arab, or 13-hand country-bred pony, a half miler for selling races, and a good chaser would form the beau ideal of an useful stable for up-country meetings.

A good maiden is a real Eldorado, whether Waler, Arab, or chaser; but they are particularly hard to get, and uncertain to back, unless one has first-rate trying tackle with which to test their powers. I may here remark that maidens in India take, to some extent, the place which two and three year olds occupy in England, for many of the most important races are confined to horses that have never won during any previous season, irrespective of their age, though, of course, allowance of weight for it is always given.

Though Arabs and country-breds get three and two stone respectively from Walers for class allowance, this difference does not bring the best of them together with even second rate Colonials.

In late years, except Echo and Merryman, we have had no Cape horses that could hold their own against Walers, while the C. T. C. scale of weights, by which they get an allowance of a stone from the latter, show clearly how cheaply their powers are held among racing

men.

There is a sort of fatality about English horses in

India, for few indeed out of the many that are imported, prove, either as racers, or as ordinary riding horses, to be worth their passage-money out to this country. Their feet and legs generally go to pieces on our hard ground.

The style of race horse which will pay out here, is one that is particularly sound, can stay a distance, carry weight, and be at the same time pretty fast-qualifications that will ensure a long figure for their possessor in any country.

The majority of Indian race courses are so hard that they tend to make horses, which are trained on them, go short, and "stilty;" while even when the track happens to be soft, the "going" is simply heavy without any elasticity, so that the horse is taught to "dwell on his stride." We hardly ever obtain the happy medium afforded by the light springy turf in England. Good legs and feet are the first considerations, and then comes the power of carrying weight and being able to stay. An English horse should be able to race under 11 stone, and a Waler under 7 lbs. less, and with these weights up, should be able to travel 11⁄2 miles. If a sound game horse can do all this, his being a little "troubled with the slows," will not prevent him from paying his way. A flashy thorough-bred, that can stagger home in extraordinary good time over 5 furlongs with 6 stone up, would be utterly out of place in India, and would only be fit for selling races.

Race horses cost so much in England, that I strongly suspect, since the time of Morning Star, there has been hardly a single horse sent out here with even third class pretensions. Bridesmaid is the best we have had for