of the China pony is almost beyond belief as is illustrated by the weights they carry. The offi standard is 10 st. for 12 hands and 3-lbs. for every inch above, and unfortunately this high scale of weights must be maintained in consequence of so few amateur jockeys being able to ride under it, and as professionals are prohibited, amateurs would be scarcer than now; in fact their present scarcity is a drawback that is felt very keenly by the Club, In the early days the ponies all came overland from Mongolia in mobs of several hundreds at a time, and the intending purchaser had to go out amongst them, and take his chance of picking out" good "one, but now they come in small lots from' Tientsin by steamer and from Chinkiang and are sold at auction; the dealers knowing fairly well which are the best, place a limit on them. They are valued speaking roughly, at anything between Tis, 25 and Tls. 500 each. As soon as they are bought they are put into training, that is to say they are exercised on the Race Course every morning for some time, then sent either with a trial pony or to run against time, and if found wanting are sold cither, to perform the duties of a hack, trap pony, or hunter, but if found good enough they are carefully trained and raced. Probably the. most pleasant part is the training in the early morning, when owners, who are all their own trainers, meet ini the Grand Stand, drink coffee and watch the ponies being exercised. As the race moeting draws near, the serious work begins, and the ponies ave sent for the distance theyareintendedtorun at nearly full speed, and stop-watches are set aguing, by which means Very accurate ideas are arrived at to the likely wimers. Unlike the English race horse these ponies have no pedigree and seldom arrive until they are at least 7 years old and many are double that, so the purchaser has little to gv on except shape.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.