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THINKS HORSES HAVE IMPROVED Although some owners and trainers are always deploring the alleged deterioration of our horses there are others of long experience who do not hold that such is the case Some of the oldtime tracks may have been of a more wcarandtear order but up to a mile and a half they would probably have had little chance of going the pace set by horses accounted rather ordinary nowadays Recently I heard one veteran say to another I suniKise vou would like to have a couple of horses lik soandso naming two oldtime champions No was the reply 1 dont know that they would In much good in these days The horses now so faster than they could go He then continued It is all very well to put the faster times down to im ¬ proved tracks but the times now recorded from six furlongs up to a mile and a half even when the going Is somewhat slow as a result of rain would have been regarded as exceptionally good twenty live years ago Tho tracks are better but our horses arc undoubtedly much more brilliant tliiiii those of the old days Working on a time basis it cannot be said that even at twomiles our mod ¬ erates come out badly by comparison with the old time distance horses Until Carbine recorded 331 in 1SSJ the Sydney Cup had not been rim faster than 332X whereas on an averagoly line day it would now be little use starting anything incapable of knocking at least two and a half seconds off that time Of course a comparison between the past and the present is dillicult but with times faster from half a mile to threo miles than twentyin years ago there is fair reason for supposing that af racing machines presentday horses are much better than those of the past Pilot in Sydney Referee
