view raw text
j ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE HANDICAP. 1 it Steady Advancement of a Style of Racing Unknown .1 to Founders of the Sport. In spite of a strong agitation tor ranting the weights in the principal handicaps. It la hardly likely that those who compile them will adopt any t radical change without the sanction of the Jockej Club after a full discussion, tboogh - • far a- I am aware 00 rule exi-ts 10 pr.-vi ut a bandicapper from going aa high as he likes. Trai lag thia daaa of race to it- origin, it doubtless sprang from the scafc oi g weight for age as far back aa 174», when a statute * wa.- |.as-nl axing 10b for ive-year-oids, 11-t for six. and 12-t foi tin- aged; bin 11 wa- not until later that the handicap took any definite form, and it A was chiefly applied to matches. Aa the number of a borsea increased, and many were not good enough to compete In weight for-age races, the handicap aoun r gained a wider footing, and in 17P1 the srst impel-taut handicap look place at Ascot, and lad flnallj to J oca -: ihe most regrettable acta connected with the j Brili-.i tint. The race waa called the Oat lands j Stake-, and was wen by tin- prince of Wales Escape, whose subsequent running led to the retip inent of the Prince and the fall of Culfney, the c Jockey and trainer, who lived at tin Palace at Six 1 Mile Bottom from which plan- a gallop known aa the smile coarse had its commencement, joining the -Beacon coarse at AUngtoo BUB, and su away to Newmarket. Nil -miier had the handicap become thoroughly - established, with the Chester Cup. the Liverpool -Cup. the Chesterfield and Stewards Cup- at Goodwood, and the Cesarewltch and Cambridgeshire in full awing, than it was attacked by some of the members of the Jockey Club on the plea that it was making racing a money-making business instead • f . a sport. In its early days no limit to the featherweight existed, and ii was generally considered that a low weight was a direct encouragement to enter ■ a lot of rery Inferior horses, so long as any boy ; could lie found to ride them, tie- result being a *-acramble amongst borsea sot desired on the turf at . ah. and ridden by inferior riders. At the aaaae time admitted thai racing, erea -• it was aooo generally -far back, could not possibly live by weight for-age areata alone. I in a long and keen debate by the leading racing men it waa clearly shown that, owing i" the great Inequality la horses, raring o old not i" kept tu as B nation. il sport unless horses BOt ill the first eiass could be given a chance to win ran-. The result was that those who had attacked the handicap keen-eat were amongat the soundest converts, and before long it a- very generally discovered that it was in reality an absolutely necessary item in every program. Having s.ttb-d that point, the Jockey club s.-t itself to wmk to discover 1 In- soundest bash on which handicaps could be managed, and when the Rules of Racing were revised by a full bOOSe I I Jockey Club members about is.5s. a minimum weight t Waa lived a I ti.: pounds. A couple of years later it waa attacked again, and Lord Bedesdale brought forward a proposal to limit the minimum to 7st . or if that wa- impossible to not lower than S4 pounds. -In a keen debate, in which Lord Derby, Lord Grau-x ill. . Ear! Wim helsea. and the Duke of Beaufort flgored mi si prominently, tin- chief opposition to . light Weigh ta was that the ridi rs were too snial1 f. 1 such dangi I-ii- work, and that it wa- calculated to 1 encourage -peed rather than stamina. But no outside legislature ever appear- to have done any good to raring, and the Jockey Club -till, as ever, make * their OO 11 law-. Early in tin sixties the minimum was raised to 77 pounds, and there it remained satisfactory to ad until a dearth of good lightweights brought about a rise to m pounds a few year- ago. With our ancestors, who had a groat practical knowledge of the horse, it waa unanimously agreed that it was quite wrong to suppose that, by raising the top weight- proportionately with tin- minimum weight, an equality could be produced any more than is tin- ease now. The nn-t successful handicap Admiral BOUS ever made was the City and Suburban , In- so often quoted, when he ranged 136 horses between 12ti pounds and 03 pounds and obtained 100 acceptances. Be, with John Scott, the Dawsons, and every competent contemporary in thai age. declared i that a "high standard of weights was most : iletrinieiit.il to Brat-class horses, for when tiny hav to race under welter-weights they most before long . be Injured or break down altogether. That, of course, is undisputed, and when people .■in- talking so glibly of raising the minimum they lose sight of ihe good horse and the injury it might work. If in these days ideas have changed, in many , things for the better perhaps, it cannot be argiid that tie- horse has improved also, and in comparison with the grand, powerful banes, say. of Admiral Bousa early time, with their hardy constitutions. I very few COUM be found today 1" cany welterweights many times over long distance-. It is no argument in its favor to point to the fact that tWO-year aids race under 132 pounds. ind Hint yearling- are ridden by heavy lads, for who knows that this is not one of the chief reasons why so many of our two-year-olds deteriorate instead of improving; and. except for the temptation of rich stake-. DOW many owners and good, practical men 1 would not in their heart of hearts prefer to keep assay two-year-olds for another season without racing at all. Can it be in the best Interests of racing to crush the good horse in order to bring the plater to terms 1 of equality?. II can hardly be doubted that the 1 lowering of the minimum in the Grand National and the gradual rise of the top weight brought th-it I race down last year, and it i- Impossible to conceive either sense or reason in driving out good horses for the Inclusion of bad ones. In Hat racing the chief bete noir ha- 1 ver been the scheming owner or trainer, who either resorts to all aorta of tricks to deceive the hsndlcspper or keeps a good two-year-old for a year or two. under pretence, porhap-. of it-; having gone amiss, until it ha- been forgotten. It is against this which hnndi-cappera require moat to guard, and yet it is here where they appear moat lax. and thereby ruin their work and cause the moat widespread dissatisfaction. It has to be recognized, of cour-e. that surprises in handicaps, a- well as in other races, must be sonic what plentiful, and no rules could prove of much assistance. Tiny cannot alter the principle of handicapping, which i- for hnndicappers to use their own Judgment entirely, and as long as one lasts. his judgment must be sometimes at fault. — "Warren i Hill." in London Sporting Life.
