The policemen followed o'er hill and dale
To put some salt on the tiger's tail;
But he said he was not such rara avis
That he must be taken cum grano salis !

Having nothing to do, P. W. D.
Desired him to stop for his carte de V.;
But the creature replied he prefer'd for his part
A positive horse to a negative cart!

Brave Fe was active as could be,
But he could not catch that tiger jee;
So he climbed to the top of a toddy tree
For fear that the tiger might "catchee hee!"

The Mugs on foot the wild beast found,
And soon they made him bite the ground;
And then the Sahibs from the tops of the trees
They "patted" the tiger at their ease.

The brute was dead all plainly saw
He had not crunch in his cruel jaw,
Nor a pat left in his once powerful paw—
He was dead and done for according to law.

Then to the front rushed bold P―u
And hit the dead tiger a stunning blow!
For though he lay dead by bullets slain,
Brave P-u made sure and kilt again!

Our auctioneer he did prefer

To avoid such an 66

ugly customer;"

But such a "bad lot," he did consider,

Should be knocked down at once to the "highest bidder."

Immortal S-t he was not there,

Because

he happened to be elsewhere!

But had he been there with a very large gun,

There's no knowing what the devil he might'nt have done.

The following appeared in the Sheet Racing Calendar, of January 8th:

Sir Joseph Hawley has given notice that at the general meeting of the Jockey Club, held at Newmarket in the First Spring Meeting, he will move the following resolutions:

1. That no two-years-old shall run earlier in the year than the 1st of July.

2. That no two-years-old shall start for any handicap, and a horse running in contravention of this or the preceding rule will thenceforth be disqualified for running at any meeting where the rules of the Jockey Clab are in force.

[If these rules are passed they are not to be applicable to races already closed and entered for.]

3. That in future no money shall be added from the funds of the Jockey Club to any race for which two-years-old may be entered.

4. That if two or more two-years-old run a dead heat, they shall not be allowed to run again, but the prize shall be equally divided between or among them.

In the Calendar of January 21st, the following:

In consequence of the importance of the resolutions of which Sir Joseph Hawley has given notice, he proposes to postpone the consideration of them till a meeting of the Jockey Club, to be held in London about the time of Epsom races, when a fuller attendance may be expected.

In case of his resolutions being carried, Sir Joseph Hawley will further propose that the entries for the Derby, and other races at Newmarket, Epsom, and Ascot, which have usually closed after the Newmarket July Meeting shall not close till the Tuesday after the Houghton, and that the races which have closed on the Tuesday after the Houghton, shall not close till the first Tuesday in January.

Colonel Forester has given notice, that, provided Sir Joseph Hawley's first and second resolutions be not carried, he will move that the following resolutions be considered in their place :

1. That no two-years-old shall run before the 1st of May.

2. That no two-years-old shall start for any handicap before the 1st of September. Horses running in contravention of either of these rules to be disqualified from running at any meeting where the rules of the Jockey Club are in force, and the resolutions, if passed, not to be applicable to races already closed and entered for.

Lord Coventry has given notice that at the next meeting of the Jockey Club he will propose that, on and after the 1st January, 1870, no horse shall carry in any race a lighter weight than 6st.

In the Calendar of February 18th :-
:-

The following notice has been given of a motion to be brought forward at the general meeting of the Jockey Club, at Newmarket in the Craven Meeting.

By Admiral Rous :

That a committee be appointed at the annual meeting of the Jockey

Club in each year, consisting of the three stewards and four other members selected by the Club.

That all proposals for alterations in or additions to the "rules concerning horse-racing in general," shall be referred to the said committee, who are to give public notice of such proposals, and may, if they think fit, appoint a day on which they would be prepared to hear and consider any objections made to them by owners of horses, not members of the Jockey Club, or by other persons interested.

That in the Second October Meeting in each year (due notice being given) the committee shall report to the Club the proposals made during the year, the evidence they have taken, and the opinion of the committee on each proposal, which would then be submitted separately to the Club for adoption or rejection, and the rules so altered and amended by the Jockey Club would come into operation from the 1st of January of the following year.

Previous to the publication of his resolutions, Admiral Rous addressed the following letter to the Editor of the Times:

SIR,-When reforms on an extensive scale are proposed by an influential member of the Jockey Club for the sole purpose of ameliorating the treatment of young thorough-bred stock, every horse owner is interested in the discussion of the merits of the proposition.

Many articles have appeared in the newspapers from which I dissent, and I offer my version of the points at issue. A general opinion exists that thorough-bred horses have degenerated owing to the early training of two-year-olds. It has crippled many, but in no way has it affected the breed. Mares early trained and turned out are more likely to drop good foals than those which are kept on in training to a mature age. After five years in a hot stable their constitutions suffer by the cold weather. No domestic animals have made a greater improvement in strength and stature. It may be disputed whether at light weights they have the same power of endurance; but with regard to national purposes, and the capability of carrying weight, there are twenty thorough-bred horses now in England up to sixteen stone to one which could have been found in 1815. Race-horses must be broken in as yearlings, or nine out of ten would become masterly for life.

It is of great advantage to teach them their business at an early age. A fine grown colt disengaged as a two-year-old ought to be trained at that age to be tried in November, for the double advantage of ascertaining his form, and for the facility of getting him quickly into condition, after a prolonged winter, to run for his spring engagements. If found to be bad, the colt is put out of training, and the owner is released from a further heavy training bill. The minor stock of yearlings are purchased with a view to spring engagements; very few of them are destined for the stud; it is seldom that a Thormanby runs for a two-year-old stake in March, but as he won the Derby and an Ascot Cup, and is now a superior stallion, getting large fine stock, the sin of early training is an exception to the argument that it is detrimental to the breed. There is scarcely a stallion of any note which has not distinguished himself in two-year-old races, viz., Orlando, Stockwell, &c. The breed suffers by employing inferior stallions, and keeping washy, long-legged brood mares. In this year's Derby the

colts are got by 92 stallions, one-third of which ought to be otherwise dealt with. It is a disregard of the virtues and prowess of the sire which has degenerated the ancient Arabian stock, and the opposite policy which has given us from the same blood a race of horses which can run five feet to their four, and carry a third more weight; and with this view of the subject our great breeders give enormous fees for first-class stallions. The great misfortune to the Turf is owing to that barbarous system of racing from February to the end of November, which ought to be forbidden by Act of Parliament. It is not the usage of running two-year-olds, it is the terrible abuse. Several twoyear-olds in 1868 ran three times as many races as the celebrated horses in the last century performed during the whole course of their career. The natural sequence is nine-tenths will be stumped up at fiveyears-old, but that will not affect the breed.

With respect to the motion in the Racing Calendar that no two-yearolds shall run before the 1st of July, we must regard the extensive interests at stake, and the fact that three-fourths of the horses in training do not belong to members of the Jockey Club. Some delicacy ought to be observed in treating this subject without eliciting the opinions of the owners. Gentlemen who have no race horses may take a different point of view, and may naturally differ from those who have a pecuniary interest. In 1868 two-year-olds ran in February in 91 races; March, 160; April, 158; May, 259; June, 330-total, 998. As the two-year-olds engaged in July are generally tried three or four time before the 1st of April, I am for naming that day as the limit in preference to the 1st of May.

The second and third motions, "That no two-year-olds shall run for a handicap, and that no money shall be given from the funds of the Jockey Club to any two-year-olds race," would in no manner protect the two-year-olds; it would only injure the prosperity of Newmarket, to which place the rules would be confined; for it is not to be imagined that the racing authorities in the country would submit to such arbitration. No person has a greater antipathy to two-year-old handicaps than myself, but the Jockey Club has no power to enforce their law or interfere in any programme the stewards of country races may choose to adopt.

Last year 108 two-year-old races were run on the Heath. These three motions would reduce the number one-half. Generally, the great two-year-old stakes are swallowed by three stables; and if no plates or public money are to be given, the two year-olds would be sent to those courses where the gifts were to be obtained, and Newmarket would relapse to its bankrupt state in 1856, when the expenditure exceeded the income by £500.

The fourth motion is: "If two or more two-year-olds run a dead heat, they shall not be allowed to run again, but the prize shall be equally divided."

This is an inference with the rights and privileges of the horseowner, who, it may be presumed, is as capable of conducting his own business as any member of the Jockey Club. Supposing this motion be carried, a two-year-old, after running a dead head, my be brought out to run again in a second and third engagement on the same day, or he may run for public money the best of heats. A noble friend pro

poses to raise the minimum weight from 5st. 7lb. to 6st., if the argu ment be directed against the impolicy of employing very light weights. Jonathan Wild won the Goodwood Stakes, carrying 4st. 7lb.; Red Deer and St. Albans the Chester Cups on the worst race course in Europe, for a large field of horses, carrying 3st. 13lb. and 5st. 3lb. My objection as a handicapper is that the maximum weight in a great handicap is under 10st.; and as the good old horses can give 5st. to the bad three-year-olds (barring those which have been pulled), who have no chance to win at 5st. 7lb., I am at a loss to understand the wisdom of adding 71b on their backs, as every handicapper is bound in honour to give the worst horse a chance to win, if it be in his power.

It is most extraordinary that the panacea recommended by public writers to improve the speed and vigour of our race horses is to lengthen the courses for two-year-olds, and to increase the weights to be carried by older horses. The first necessitates a severer system of training, which is so detrimental to their youth; the latter is an absurdity. The heavier the weight, the greater the wear-and-tear to accelerate the destruction of legs and feet. The popular Alexandra Plate at Ascot, three miles, carrying 10st. and 10st. 81b., breaks down one-fourth of the runners every year. How can it be otherwise on ground as hard as iron? Up to 1833 horses taking their age from the 1st of May legally prevented two-year olds running on the 30th of April. That protection has ceased, but there is alway a plausible, and generally a sensible reason for adopting a new policy. It is this: It has been calculated that the early running of two-year-olds is the least expensive system of training; it either pays the bills by winning stakes, or it opens the eyes of the owner to the demerits of the animal, which he hastens to get rid of. In a commercial point of view, it is the quick return that pays-the world is governed by £ s. d., and racing men are unfortunately not exempted from this human frailty.

If these motions be carrried, they will be nugatory save and except at Newmarket; the Stewards of the Jockey Club have no power to enforce them elsewhere. I am, sir, your obedient servant,

Berkeley-square.

H. J. Rous, Admiral. This was followed also in the Times, by Lord Coventry, to this effect::

SIR,-I am sorry to think, from the tone in which Admiral Rous has alluded, in your columns, to the resolution of which I have given notice, that I shall not be able to reckon on the gallant Admiral as a supporter of the motion I intend to bring before the next meeting of the Jockey Club.

I wish to raise the minimum weight from 5st. 71b. to 6st., and Admiral Rous objects to this proposal of mine "because the maximum weight in a great handicap is under 10st." I am not aware that there is a rule of racing which fixes the maximum weight to be carried in any race; therefore, if the alteration is agreed to, the Admiral would only have to begin his handicap 71b. higher, and it is surely no hardship to inflict 10st. 7lb. on a horse over a distance which never exceeds two miles-and-a-half! I would point out to the Admiral that in steeplechases it is no uncommon thing to find horses carrying 13st. successfully over much longer courses, at a time of year when the ground is Usually in a deep and holding condition. It is very difficult to find an