7



distended with excitement, giving up their best effort out of
exclusively a natural desire to conquer. No prizes for them
if they win; no fortunes go with the victory; winner or loser
they go back to the stalls, conqueror and vanquished treated
alike-the only sport in the world where two combatants
struggle with all their might without individual glory save
the appreciation in which the public holds them.
    But I am digressing and discussing an impossible condi-
tion instead of confining myself to a word as to the progress
of the sport-a sport which is at once a great and an important
industry and a most popular recreation. In our early days
it was but natural that it should hold a minor place, for the
molding of a nation was work that compelled man's best
effort and man's whole time. But no sooner had the country
put on its swaddling clothes than the thoroughbred was im-
ported, and every year since then it has grown and has
gathered popularity until it stands at the very top of all our
recreations.
    Later in this book it will be my privilege to discuss this
growth and the reasons therefor and also to point out the
great practical value of the thoroughbred blood in improving
the breed of horses. The Jockey Club-the governing body
of the turf in the East-has inaugurated a Bureau of Breed-
ing, which will do much to illustrate this to the public of the
Empire State, and I have reason to believe that our National
Government, through the Department of Agriculture, may
move along a similar line.
    Before concluding this introduction I desire to say that
for the inspiration for this book I am indebted to that princely
sportsman, the late Leonard W. Jerome. Sitting on the
veranda of the old club house at Jerome Park one autumn
evening after the races, Mr. Jerome and his friend, the elder
August Belmont, than whom no better friend the turf ever
had, were speaking of the deplorable fact that the only
records of the turf up to that time were in the fugitive form
of newspaper articles. I chanced along and Mr. Jerome
urged that I take up the work. To him, therefore, I am
indebted for the inspiration of this book, and to him and to
my best and truest friend, George C. Bennett, of Memphis,
this work is dedicated by
                                      THE AUTHOR.