HANDICAPPING.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXVIII, Issue 50, 29 February 1892, Page 3

HANDICAPPING.

The following extract is of interest :—

" What is of such importance to the turf as handicapping?" asks the Sporting-Life. • ' Whom does it not concern,?' is an easier question to answer than, •• Whom does it concern ?' — for it concerns everybody. Trainers, owners, and the countless followers of the turf— all are interested m it.. And it is not too much\to say that high above every other position a man can occupy on the turf is that of the_handicapper. The mistakes of judges, if any mistakes are made, can be rectified by the stewards of the meeting. But who is behind the handicapper? In Ireland I believe appeal is allowed, but m England if any owner is dissatisfied with the weight allotted" his horse, be may only make an informal complaint to the stewards of the Jockey Club, who are naturally loth to interfere with a trusted arid honoured official, and bo far as -I can recollect, have never yet interfered. Or an owner may show his dissatisfaction with the handicapper's opinion by striking out his horse as soon aa the weights appear. But that is all. So, practically speaking, the handicapper is the autocrat, of the turf. The fate of horses and the fortunes of men rest m the hollow of his. hand. This is his power. But with power 'comes responsibility, and the /handicapper is v surrounded by a whole host : of difficulties. His it is to know the form of horses to the last ounce, so far as that form has been publicly disclosed. When, such has not been the case, I take it that no matter what the handicapper may suspect, he has no legal right to act, for suspicion is never proof. That at times the following of this 1 principle may lead him into mistakes is palpable. But how can it be avoided? Once transform a handicapper into a sort of public detective, and you never know where the thing may end. Of course, if any notable incident occurs it is his duty to heed it.. But for. a handicapper to listen to the voice of Rumor as though it were the voice of Truth would be fatal to his own position and to the best interests of theturf. Of course, the more hoises he can inspect the better is he qualified to fulfil the positions of his office. And if he be, as he should •• be, a keen judge of condition, that also will help him, for he can then see when a horse -was beaten on its merits as a horse, and when it only stopped from want of condition. This judging of condition, if a handicapper undertakes it, is one of the most delicate of all possible tasks, seeing there is- no rule of thumb to go upon. Horses are not machines. .Some run best above themselves, others when finely drawn. And to expect a handicapper to have an intimate knowledge of the constitution of every horse with which he has to deal is to reckon him something more than human,"