(" Examiner" )

In old days, whatever might be said of the brutality and vulgarity of the prize-ring, it was at any rate certain that it was patronised by gentlemen, and that " the gladiators " — as they iwere called — who stepped into the arena, fought to win. Nowadays, the worst feature of a prize-ring, always more or less brutal and disreputable in itself, became doomed as soon as an idea grew up that a fight was a matter the issue of which was pre-arranged. A similar notion has grown up about horse-racing. No one now supposes that the best horse among the starters will be declared the winner. It is known that the horses are the property of the book-makers and that the boolc makers decide which horse is and which is not to win. And in that one " if " so many contingencies are invol ved that no one can pretend to be certain whether the best horse will win or not.
