Expression: keeping down to weight

[Haihao]

Hi,

Could you help me with the following sentences?

[Mister Micawber]

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Quote:
That's the way it was keeping down to weight.

1. Could I rewrite it to: That's the way to control the weight? If I could, how should I understand 'keep down to'? Sould I take it as a phrasal verb? Could I put it instead as 'keep weight down'? -- The context is a little sparse, but I think it means "that describes the experience of maintaining the specified weight". The only idiomatic expression I see is 'to weight'.

Quote:
That was the day he'd won the Premio Commercio with Lantorna shooting her out of the field the last hundred metres like pulling a cork out of a bottle.

2. What does 'up' mean in 'for their hides and hoofs up at Paris'? -- 'Up' means either 'north' or 'toward a large city'.

3. Could I suggest the latter means 'driving her out of the (racing) field into the goal? -- No; 'shooting her out of the field' means jockeying the horse ahead of the main group ('field') of other racing horses.

Quote:
But my old man saying that right out like that sure took the kick all out of it for me and I didn't get the real kick back again ever, even when they posted the numbers upon the board and the bell rang to pay off and we saw that Foxless paid 67.50 for 10.

4. Does 'it' refer to something like feeling? -- I think it refers to the whole experience (of gambling on horse races?) being narrated
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's