Pioneer's telescopic sights brought racing into modern era

“Keep yourself in the best company and your horses in the worst”

That declaration, which still holds resonance today, was coined by Admiral Henry John Rous in the middle of the 19th century. It is far from the only one of Rous’s observations to which racing folk habitually allude in every day conversation.

The act of 'hoodwinking the handicapper' was something Rous referred to when he spoke of handicaps in general – which he did often, since he was preoccupied with them long before he was appointed to the post of public handicapper to the Jockey Club in 1855. However, much the most important of Rous’s legacies is the weight-for-age scale, which he introduced in 1851 and which remains the basis on which younger horses take on their elders as the season unfolds.