HANDICAPPING is the term used in various games and sports to denote the placing of competitors, good, bad, and indifferent, on such a footing that all shall have, as nearly as possible, an equal chance of winning. Thus, in horse-raciug, when the speed of one horse has been ascertained to be greatly superior to that of another, the swifter of the two, in a handicap race, is made to carry extra weight to an amount that shall be deemed sufficient to reduce its speed to a level with that of its antagonist. Where the public performances of a horse have been exceptionally good, and when both speed and endurance are found to be of an unusually high character, the penalty inflicted in all future handicaps is very great, amounting sometimes to a weight several stones above that of very inferior competitors. The beau ideal of a handicap would thus be on in which the merits of the animals should be so nicely discriminated, and the weights so accurately adjusted, that all the competitors should pass the winning-post at the same time, and thus run a "dead-heat." This is, of course, impossible in practice, but it is nevertheless the ideal at which the handicapper must aim; and the nearer he approaches to it, the more perfect is his work. In racing, no jockey with his saddle, etc., must weigh less than five stone seven pounds, but the maximum is left in the hands of the handicapper, who apportions to each horse a weight corresponding to its public per formanee, age, and sex. No appeal is allowed front his decision, nor can he be called upon to give the reasons that may have actuated him in allocating weights. Vested with such arbitrary power, he should be a person of sound judgment, unquestionable integrity, and thorough experience. His usual mode of constructing a handicap is to select the best and the worst horse entered for a race, placing such a weight upon the former as be supposes shall bring it down to a level with the hitter's minimum of five Stone seven pounds. lie then proceeds to adjust the weights of the intermediate horses according to their varied merits.
When the handicaps have been published, no alteration can take place in the rela tive weights of the horses entered, unless one of these should prove a winner during the time intervening between the issue of the handicap and the period of its decision; in which case, extra weight, varying from three pounds and upwards, may have to be carried by the winning horse, as a penalty for his intermediate victory. Each jockey,
with his saddle, etc., is weighed prior to starting, the exact extra weight to be carried hieing made up by lead strips let into the saddle-flaps. He is also weighed after the race, to prevent the possibility of his having carried either more or less than his proper weight; a precaution, moreover, that is rigorously observed after every kind of race, whether handicap or otherwise. , Though principally pertaining to horse-racing, handicapping is resorted to in many other sports. In pigeon-shooting from traps, the shooter stands, as a rule, 21 yards from the traps, that being the distance usually allowed to average performers. The more skilful the shooter, the further hack has lie to stand from the traps; the distance allowed by an acknowledged " crack" sliot to his inferiors ranging from 1 to 10 or even 15 yards. In games such as chess and draughts, certain " men" are allowed to time inferior player; in billiards, the better of two allows his antagonist a certain number of "points," so as to equalize or handicap their respective games; at cricket, an eleven, such as the eleven of all England, will sometimes play against twenty-two others; the competition being at times very close. In swimming and in pedestrianism, the inferior competitors are allowed a certain "law," or start; in yachting, the vessel of greater tonnage is handicapped with lesser ones, by allowing them extra time for the perform. ance of the race. For instance, a 50 and a 30 ton yacht start for a race, the former allowing the latter, say, live minutes. They start together, and the heavier yacht reaches home, say, three minutes ahead of the lighter; in that case, the lighter yacht's handicap of five minutes gives her the race by two minutes, though she was last to reach home. The principle of handicapping is the same, whether applied to field-sports or home amusements; it is the art of endeavoring to equalize, by certain penalties, the good, bad, and indifferent.