Bibliothèque mondiale du cheval

« The very favourable reception accorded to The Racehorse in Training induces me to appear before the public again as the writer of my Reminiscences. It is a work that aims to deal in a plain fashion with matters of importance to all those who have an interest in the turf, and relies solely for its success on its truthful simplicity and its impartial mode of dealing with the diverse subjects which come under consideration. It is partly biographical, partly anecdotal; and in the portions which treat of trials and the stable, has its technical or professional side.
The biographical sketches have, I hope, in most cases the charm of novelty to recommend them, either in the subject itself or in their treatment. We must remember, in forming a judgment of individual character, that the men whose careers I venture to outline existed in an age of sensuality and of riotous mirth, and that most of them lived uncontaminated by the pernicious examples around them. The anecdotes, when they are not on the face of them fabulous, are true, or approximately true. Some of them, indeed, may not be new, but in these cases their applicability to the subject under discussion will, I believe, readily excuse their introduction.
The matters of technical detail occasionally dealt with have, I trust, the claim on the reader’s attention that is due to examples which in similar cases may be safely followed. The method employed is that which, in the author’s opinion, is best calculated to relieve the work from the weariness following monotony; whilst if its general merits should only prove adequate to the truth it contains, he can have little doubt of its being received with wide approbation. » Présentation de l’éditeur (1886)