xt7np55dcc13 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7np55dcc13/data/mets.xml Davis, John H. 1907 books b98-38-41890466 English J. Polhemus, : New York : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Horse racing. American turf / by John H. Davis. History of the thoroughbred, together with personal reminiscences by the author, who, in turn, has been jockey, trainer and owner. text American turf / by John H. Davis. History of the thoroughbred, together with personal reminiscences by the author, who, in turn, has been jockey, trainer and owner. 1907 2002 true xt7np55dcc13 section xt7np55dcc13

JOHN H. D)AVIS

THE AMERICAN TURF

JOHN H. DAVIS

HISTORY OF THE THOROUGHBRED, TOGETHER WITH
PERSONAL REMINISCENCES BY THE AUTHOR,
WHO, IN TURN, HAS BEEN JOCKEY,
TRAINER AND OWNER

PRINTED BY THE
JOHN POLHEMUS PRINTING COMPANY
NEW YORK
L907

COPYRIGHTED i0o6

BY
JOHN H. DAVIS.

PREFACE

For a decade more than the three score years and ten
allotted by a gracious Providence to man I have been awaiting
the solemn call which comes to all human kind to weigh in,
and then to the great Steward make account of the use to
which I put the opportunities that came to me.
In the active competition of life, when rivalries were
keen, when ambitions created new fields and contests kept
alert both mind and body, there was little time, indeed, to do
more than merely store away in unclassified groups in
memory events and incidents each one deserving of a sep-
arate chapter. To write a history of the American turf had
long been a cherished project, but each day of a life of
practically unremitting and exacting labor interfered until
the westering sun of my eightieth year warns me that I must
be up and doing if I would achieve my cherished ambition
and leave behind me something which I trust will be worthy
tribute to the best and the noblest sport that it is given to
man to enjoy.
If in the chapters which are to come there should be
noted a tone of enthusiastic optimism, let the reader realize
that sixty-five years of my life were spent in the activities of
the turf as a jockey, a trainer and an owner; that I have
seen, and in many of them personally participated, practically
all of the great contests which gave fame to our thorough-
breds; that I have traveled on foot through valleys and over
mountains, when but rough paths pointed the way between
places now drawn close together by the bands of great trunk
line railroads, leading the horse that was on conquest bent;
that I spent weary weeks on journeys that now would be but
the occupation of one brief day of luxurious travel; that I
have seen the upward and the onward progress which has
marked the rise of the thoroughbred in America from a
little meet in some isolated though sport-loving place to the
magnificent seasons of Belmont Park.
No optimism of my earliest and most enthusiastic days
could have possibly created for me a grander vista than that

which in reality has come. No dream that I might have had
more than a half century ago could have conjured up the
multitude that on last Decoration Day I saw pass through the
gates of the vastest and the best appointed race course in the
world. No fancy of the years gone by could have pictured
the popularity of the sport which has so entwined itself
about the American thoroughbred. A long cry truly from
famed old Governor Gary's Lane, where our own Washing-
ton of ever blessed memory presided and where he raced his
own horse Magnolia, to the great courses which now cater
to the scores of thousands who pay their devoirs to our noble
horse.
Nor do I believe that we yet have reached our highest
in the sport. It is better conserved to-day, it has a more
popular patronage, it is better regulated than ever before.
It is difficult to maintain one's poise and listen to the croak-
ings of those who allege they fear disaster and already can
discern ruin. Racing has had its dark days, as what sport
or what man or what nation has not, and it may continue so
to have at uncertain periods. But I have been in it a life-
time longer than it has been the good fortune of many to
enjoy, and I have seen its good name assailed, and its patrons
criticised, and attempts made to thwart its progress; but
ever and always it has come out of its difficulties better and
stronger than it was.
And it did so because of the love of contest which is
characteristic of the American people. The American citizen
is essentially a man who glories in struggles for supremacy;
whether it be man or horse that battles, his sympathies are
at once enlisted and aroused. The red blood that courses in
his veins-the blood that has built nations and that has made
of empires republics-the blood that to-day dominates the
wvorld-is quickened by the sight of contest. It glories in the
battles of the thoroughbred, whose blood is uncontaminated
and whose life is conquest. Tell me not that the day will
ever come when the American citizen will look with either
disfavor or indifference on a field of thoroughbreds. Tell
me not that there is anywhere a scene so inspiriting as two
horses locked in struggle, neither flinching and neither yield-
ing, their veins in tension standing out like whipcords on
their silken sides, their eyes aflame with interest, their nostrils

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.

This page in the original text is blank.

INDEX.

PAGE
Preface 5
Story of Godolphin -I
Our Early Racing ________--_---_-__-_-_____-_-- i6
Some Great Races -- 26
Origin of Steeplechasing - 38
The Strain of Blood- 4
How I Became a Turfman -47
Won Every Stake -_---------- 54
Harry Gilmour's Victory -63
My Recollections --- 69
Home of the Racer -74
Why They Won - 80
How to Ride- 85
How to Breed -92
How to Buy a Horse -__------_____-_-__-_-______-_97
The Noted Jockeys and Trainers -______ 102
The Greatest Plungers -I08
Waning of the Gray -II 5
Tales of the Turf - 121
Men I Have Met _------------ _--_------- 1 26
Some Noted Ringers -152
Training for a Race -______--___----_- 58
How to Treat a Horse - 63
The Track Records-- 175

This page in the original text is blank.

HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN TURF.

CHAPTER L

The Story of Godolphin, the Arabian.
While America is not the birthplace of racing and is not
the country that first saw the merits of the thoroughbred
horse, she now has the proud distinction of having been the
country that encouraged the sport and brought it up to its
present high standing.
From the insignificant beginning, when the Dutch
traders and burghers first raced their Flemish ponies about
New Amsterdam, racing has grown to almost colossal pro-
portions. The whole country is honeycombed with race
tracks of the very grandest character, and there is not a
state in the Union but has some kind of a course. If running
is not promoted, the trotting interests are appreciated.
Probably the first racing ever held was on the broad
deserts of Arabia, where the turbaned disciple of Mahomet
scampered about on his steed and challenged his neighbors
to a contest of speed. If there wvere any regular races, how-
ever, there is no record of them, but the fame of the Arabian
steed was known as early as the beginning of the Christian
era.
It remained for France and England to introduce racing
and the features that have grown about it. Of course, there
were races during the time the Romans were ruled by the
Cesars and even previous to that, but there was nothing of
an organized nature and horses were not trained especially
for the purpose. France seems to have had the first blooded
horse of which there is any record. The Byerly Turk was
taken there from Turkey in i620, but it weas long years after
that before there was what could be termed racing.
There were some men in England who made pretensions
to scientific breeding, yet they knew but little compared
with what is known now. Several Arabian horses were im-
ported and they begat a sterling race when bred to the

gentle mares of the British isles. Among the earliest of
these importations was a celebrated stallion known as Dar-
ley's Arabian, whose blood is yet to be found in the horses of
this country and England and they are winning races day
after day.
But the grandest of these Arabians, in my opinion, was
Godolphin Arabian, and, in this connection, a pretty little
story regarding the discovery of this wonderful animal
occurs to me. I heard it when a boy. The pasha of Arabia
desired to bestow a compliment on the king of France and
he sent him a number of beautiful Arabian kings and queens
of the desert. Among them was one of especial symmetry,
but the French had lately been involved in a war and their
thoughts were far from racing and such matters. Their
entire attention was fixed on how to recover from the ravages
of the war. In consequence, the Arabian horses were neg-
lected. Finally the king ordered his grooms to sell the
horses for anything they would bring.
The animals fell into the hands of traders and common
people, who gave them no care, and gradually they declined
until the horse in question drifted into the hands of a man
who had a cart and hauled goods about the city of Paris.
With every one of these horses sent to the king the pasha
sent the groom that had had him in charge since he was
foaled, and there wvas one poor fellow who had cared for this
steed. Hie followed the carter about day after day, saw his
beloved horse become blind, shaggy and ill looking, and his
heart was touched to the very core.
But one day there came a change. A gentle Quaker
was passing through the streets with his daughter and they
saw the carter beating the Arabian horse mercilessly. The
girl's sympathetic heart was touched, and she persuaded her
father to purchase the poor animal and get it out of the hands
of the cruel driver. The Quaker paid over the money and
stood wondering what he was going to do with the horse.
At this juncture the Arabian groom approached and in
a respectful manner told the story of the horse. He told of
his love for the exile from the deserts of the spice-laden
Araby the Happy and pleaded to be engaged to care for
him. The daughter again interfered, and, woman like, she
had her way. Soon the groom and the horse were comfort-

ably installed in the stable of the Quaker. With kind treat-
ment and plenty to eat the horse began to round out and
once more the graceful lines of symmetry were perceptible.
Time passed and the cast-off Arabian horse became the
most beautiful creature in that part of the city.
The Quaker's daughter wvent from time to time to see
the horse and listen to the praises of the groom. Finally
she became so impressed with the animal that she used him
as her saddle horse. But all this time the spark of fire in
the blood of the horse was being slowly revived, for all the
cruel treatment he had received had not quite extinguished
it. One day he was feeling particularly frisky and he threw
his fair rider and badly injured her. This so enraged the
Quaker that he had the groom thrown into prison.
The mother of Lord Godolphin, a celebrated English
noble, was visiting in Paris, and, being a very charitable
woman, she went with a number of other ladies to visit the
prison. There she saw the poor Arab and listened pityingly
to his story. Afterward she made an investigation and found
that he had told her the exact truth. She saw the man again
and he persuaded her to buy the horse from the Quaker.
Then she sent both the horse and the groom to her son in
England.
The groom knew so much about horses that he was
placed in charge of the stables of his new master, and, while
acting in this capacity, occurred the incident that caused
his temporary downfall. On the stock farm was Roxanna,
by the Ball Galloway, a great mare of the day, and the lord
desired to breed her to Hobgoblin, a grand stallion he owned;
but the mare would have nothing to do with the English
stallion and seemed to care for no horse save the despised
blind Arab. The groom thought there was no horse like
the one from his own deserts and he permitted the mare to
go into the embrace of the Arabian.
When Lord Godolphin learned of what had been done
he was so enraged that he banished both the horse and the
groom to a barren estate in Scotland. There the Arab built
a small stone hut to shelter himself and the horse. For two
years they lived there, and the Arab worked and procured
food for both of them.
In course of time the mare delivered a foal. It was a

delicate little creature, but every day he grew more and
more beautiful. There were no such lithe and sinewy limbs
on any of the yearlings of the stable. There was no such
gracefulness in every movement, and the attention of every-
body was directed toward the offspring of the despised
Arabian sire. At length he was trained and put into a race.
His owner thought he was a beautiful creature, but he had
no great hopes for him. But when he ran away from every
thing in the race and won from the best stock of old England
he became deeply interested. Race after race was won, and
there soon came a time when this colt wuas considered the
mightiest race horse that ever looked through a bridle. His
name wvas Lath and his fame was widespread. Inquiries as
to his breeding began to be made.
Then, for the first time, it occurred to Lord Godolphin
that he had on his barren estate in Scotland probably the
greatest sire ever known. He sent a special ambulance by
a long and tortuous route into the Highlands, where the faith-
ful groom and his charge were quartered, and they returned to
the castle of the Godolphins in almost regal splendor. After
that Godolphin the Arabian grew and increased in fame
until a horse that did not have a strain of his blood in him
was not considered a race horse at all. He so far over-
shadowed the other Arabians of his time that they became
considered but of mediocre quality.
The blood of this mighty horse courses through the
veins of all the best stock of America to-day and is the purest
of the line that leads to the purple. One might go over the
pedigrees of all the horses that are gaining distinction on the
turf to-day and find that they finally lead back to the blind
steed of the desert. He combined speed, endurance and
gentleness in his makeup, all the essential points in a first-
class thoroughbred.
The sportsmen of America were quick to see that this
was a great horse, and it was not long until several of his
sons and daughters found their way across the ocean and
were quartered in the stables of the planters of the Newv
World. Here they thrived and produced a race that inherited
all the best traits of the illustrious sire.
The Byerly Turk was taken from France to England
in about i688 and wvas the founder of the famous Herod line.

' 5

The horse became the property of Sir George Byerly and
was his charger during the battle of the Boyne. When the
war was over Sir George took him back to England and
placed him at the head of his breeding establishment. This
is the line carefully traced: The Byerly Turk sired Jig, the
latter Tartar, and then followed Partner, who sired Herod.
Selim. was the sire of the Matchem line and was also
owned in England. These three lines are the most famous
the world has ever known, and all the great horses in Europe
and America contain these crosses. Diomed, the winner of
the first English Derby in 1780, had all three of the strains.
Sir Archie (the American Godolphin), whom I regard as
one of the greatest horses ever bred in America, was a son
of Diomed. This horse sired Florizel; Florizel is the sire ol
the dam of Boston, and Boston sired Lexington, which shows
in a few wvords the excellence of his blood.
Howvever, this is a slight deviation. Old England, the
mother of racing, had its grand race courses, its fine breed-
ing establishments and its owners whose wealth justified
them in indulging in the sport. They were true sportsmen,
and there is nothing they would not have done to have im-
proved upon the Arabian blood, had they but known how
to have gone about it. But they soon had rivals in America.
The men of the New World began to study the science
of breeding. They mated the Arabian stock to mares judi-
ciously and made up for the defects of the latter in the
virtues of the former. The result was that the class of the
stock gradually increased and became better and better.
Year after year saw an improvement in the American horses.
The best men in the country became identified with breeding
and they gave it the most careful attention.
But the Americans were not content with taking the
best of the English sires. They invaded France and Austria,
and finally imported a few Arabs themselves. In every
instance they succeeded by their judicious management.
Racing in the new world grew and flourished. Tracks were
built at first like those in the old country, but then the
Americans devised a plan by which the race at all its stages
might be witnessed by the people and by which the horses
would never be out of the sight of the man who had come
to see the race. They built the first circular tracks and con-
tinued to improve upon them.

CHAPTER II.
Our Early Racing.
From the very arrival of the first thorougbred in this
country racing became popular. It was the chief recreation
of the leisure class, and, though that class was exceedingly
small in number, it was thoroughly enthusiastic, and, perhaps
naturally, because of its smallness, contests took on the char-
acter of quasi-sectional rivalries. It was the North against
the South, or Virginia against Maryland, or New York against
South Carolina, and so on, for, as I have said, men who had
the wealth and the leisure to indulge in this most fascinat-
ing of sports were few and far between in those days when
our country was in that transition stage from a colony to a
nation.
Up until within approximately a dozen years of the
War of Independence there was no regularly constituted
race track worthy even of those days. In 1763, for example,
we find the celebrated horse Selim meeting and beating Dr.
Hamilton's imported horse Dove and others at four miles,
two miles out on the main road between Annapolis and Bal-
timore and return. Maryland always was a splendid racing
colony, and letters in private collections tell of the great
crowds that had gathered for the contest, traveling by horse-
back in some instances a week's journey to be present at the
race.
In 1764 Selim again won a purse at Philadelphia, and
about a year later beat True Britton over a regularly organ-
ized course at four miles and repeat in a match. In the
October of 1767 he wvon a purse of ioo guineas at the same
place, distancing three others. His superiority was so un-
challenged that it was not an uncommon thing to find him
barred. It was not until I768 that he met his first defeat,
his conqueror being the imported horse Figure.
In this connection it is pertinent to call attention to the
fact that the worthy, time-honored course at Charleston, S. C.,
was the oldest well-organized course in the United States.
It was not inaugurated until February i5, 1792, or nearly a
quarter of a century after some had their existence in Penn-

' 7

Sylvania. Let no reader misunderstand me; I pay reverent
homage to the gentlemen sportsmen of the Palmetto State,
but inexorable history gives the laurel for the establish-
ment of organized courses in this country to the State of the
gentle Quaker. More's the pity that in the years which
followed the great commonwealth of William Penn per-
mitted itself to be outstripped in the race for eminence in
this noblest of all our sports.
It may be of interest to give a list of all the horses,
especially the Arabians, imported into the United States
before the Revolution. Accidentally omitted is Lindsey's
Arabian, the only and first Arabian, ever imported into
America up to or prior to the War of Independence. He
-was a gray, and commonly called " Lindsey's Arabian." He
was landed in Connecticut in 1766, and was then four years
old. His stock proved to be valuable, and many of his get
wvere employed as cavalry horses in the army of the United
States.
In the stud he was successful. He was the sire of Gen-
eral George Washington's Magnolia, Mr. Edelin's Tulip,Dr.
Marshall's Hyder Ally, as well as a black horse belonging
to Notly Young, and a gray which later found his way to Win-
chester, Virginia. In connection herewith, I recount a list
of Arabians and Barbs which have been brought into the
United States since the Revolution.
A horse and mare sent asa present by the-Bey of Tunis
through his Ambassador, Mfeli Melle, to Thomas Jefferson,
then President of the United States; pedigree unknown.
Arab Barb, a black, imported by Colonel Lear. He was
large and strong, well proportioned, but not handsome. He
was said to be sire of the dam of Fairfax.
Bagdad, purchased by George Barkly, Esq., of New
York, from Hassana De Gris, Minister to England from
Tripoli, who imported him into England as a horse of
pure Arabian blood. He was afterwards purchased by a
company in Nashville, Tennessee, in i823.
Ballasteros, an Arabain, dark browvn, who had been the
property of Ferdinand, King of Spain. When the French
army got possession of Madrid the stud belonging to the
King of Spain was taken by the Spanish nobles, carried to
Cadiz, and there sold. There Ballasteros became the property

of R. S. Hackley, our consul at that place, who afterwards
disposed of him to Captain Singleton, of Philadelphia, who
sold him to Thomas Guy, of Richmond (Broad Rock Co.),
Va., in i8i6.
Busora, an Arabian, imported in 1820 by the Messrs.
Ogden, of New York.
The Jones, Arabian, foaled in 1820, a dapple gray, black
legs, mane and tail, I5 hands high. He was purchased by
Major Smith, an American consul at Tunis, who sold him to
Commodore Jones, and by him was imported into this
country in 1824. This horse ran at Gibraltar and performed
well.
Selim, an Arabian gray, presented by the Murad Bey
to General Sir R. Abercrombie. After the General's death
he became the property of Commodore Barron, who after-
wards sold him to go to Kentucky.
Winter's Arabian was captured as a yearling during
the war of i8I4 by the privateer Grampass, of Baltimore,
Maryland. He was on board the brig Doris, one of His
Majesty's transports, on her passage from Senegal to Ports-
mouth, England, and was intended as a present to the then
Prince Regent, afterwards George the Fourth. The horse
was sold, and purchased by E. J. Winter, member of Con-
gress from New York. He was 14 hands i inch high.
This horse crossed well with most of the Kentucky mares in
his time.
John M. Clay's Rally, by imported Trustee. The dam
of that good horse, Gerome Edger, was out of a Winter's
Arab mare. She was also dam of Mat Davis and other good
horses. Quite a number of his get were trained and per-
formed well.
These are the principal Arabs and Barbs that came to
this country prior to the date of the Independence and
long subsequent to the same period. An important con-
signment came in the more recent years through the enter-
prise of that public-spirited gentleman, Mir. A. K. Richards,
of Georgetown, Scott Co., Kentucky. Though well selected,
they most signally failed to cross well with our best Ameri-
can brood mares. The best of their get was Transylvania,
out of the famous mare Paytonia, by Glencoe, who became
famous when she beat the great Northern ideal, Fashion,

four-mile heats, in a match for 2o,ooo a side, over the Union
Course, Long Island, New York. While on this subject it
may prove interesting to modern readers of turf matters of
the past that I should recur to the origin of the conflicts of
the turf between the North and South, which were more
protracted than the Trojan War, though they were con-
ducted in a manner highly honorable to all parties emulous
not only to excel on the turf, but in the promotion of that
good feeling best calculated to cement more strongly the
bonds of our Union, as follows:
During the autumn campaign of 1823 Sir Charles, then
six years old, having beaten all competitors in several races,
a challenge was injudiciously made in the public press to run
him against Eclipse, four-mile heats, the following May, on
the Union Course, Long Island, or any Southern course,
four-mile heats, for 5,ooo or io,ooo a side, as might be pre-
ferred by Eclipse.
Eclipse was eight years old and had run but one race that
season. The challenge was accepted and the larger sum
named as most consonant with the fame of the two champions.
Sir Charles proving amiss, half forfeit was paid, though in his
unpromising situation a match on the spot was made to run
them forthwith a dash of four miles for i5,ooo a side. At
the end of two miles Sir Charles broke down and Eclipse
won almost without a contest.
Confidence now to the fullest extent being reposed in
him, a match was made by John Stevens, of New York, with
Col. Wm. R. Johnson, of Virginia, to run Eclipse four-mile
heats the following May on the same Union Course against
any competitor to be produced at the starting post for
2o,ooo a side, the rules of the Union Course to govern,
which, from the relative weights, were known to be more
unfavorable to young horses over the Northern tracks than
the regular tracks of the South.
All others had then trained off in Virginia, partly from
the severe mode of running three-year-olds, but in some
measure as characteristic of her fashionable stock, at which
time all horses dated their age from the first of May.
Thus, a horse foaled any time in the year i8rg would be
considered four years old on the first day of May, 1823.
Eclipse was foaled at Dosoris, Queens County, Long

Island, New York, on the 25th of May-, i814, was reared by
General Nathaniel Coles, the breeder, in whose possession
he remained until the Isth day of March, i8i9, when he
changed hands and became the property of Mr. Van Ranst.
He was sired by Durock; his dam was Miller's Damsal,
by imported I\Iessenger, grandam the English Pot-8-os
Mare, imported when three years old in 1795 by William
Constable, Esq., of New York. Pot-8-os was sired by English
Eclipse, his great-grandam by Jim Crack, he by Crip-
ple, and Cripple by Godolphin Arabian. This horse was as
much of a success when turned to the stud as a brood horse
as he was famous as a performer, when on the turf, meeting
and defeating all the best horses at all distances of his day.
(Borrowed of Volume I, American Turf Register and
Sporting Magazine.)
A portrait accompanying this number of the celebrated
racer and idol of the North, by name American Eclipse, was
engraved by Du Rand and Wright, taken from the original
painting, the property of Henry Hall, Esq., of New York,
and was acknowledged by all good judges to be an excellent
likeness. This horse was then i5 years old, a chestnut with
a star and near hind foot white, was i 5 hands i inch high, and
possessed a large share of bone and muscle.
At the death of Sir Charles, Eclipse wvas purchased by
some Southern gentlemen, to take his place, who had up to
this time stood at the head of the list of successful stal-
lions in the South, and in this capacity Eclipse continued
to add to his fame.
At first in this country there were just the straight
courses of England, and many a merry race was had in
Governor Gary's Lane. It is said that General Washington
once presided as judge at a race there, and that his decision
was satisfactory to everybody. Thomas Jefferson, the father
of Democracy, owned a race horse in those days. While
there is no recorded instance of the horse having won any
great races, he must have been victorious in some of them,
for he sold for a big price. There wvere many great races of
the olden times, and thousands of dollars were wagered and
wvon and lost on the results, for the pioneers were sports-
men of the most noble and liberal type. If they fancied

2 1

the chances of one horse, they were willing to stake every-
thing they possessed on him.
This is instanced in the story of one of the earliest of
these contests. It occurred away back at a time when no
record was kept of the matter save the barest details. In
Cobb County, N. C., there lived a very rich family, and they
had the best horse there was in the surrounding country.
He was truly a handsome animal and had all sorts of speed,
but he had not been trained. It was the proud boast that
this animal could defeat any horse in the State, although the
family would never for an instant have considered themselves
turfmen. They boasted of his prowess on every occasion,
and often they vent to the grocery store kept by a canny Scot
and spoke of what this horse could do in the way of running.
Now, it happened that this Scot had just moved into the
country and was not making much of an effort to get any
trade. He did not seem to care whether business came to
him or not. He was ready to take a drink, close up his
business and have a good time, and everybody soon got to
like him. He had a horse. His name was Trickem and he
was by Janus, the own son of Godolphin the Arabian. But
he did not let anybody know of the pedigree of his horse.
He simply tried to "make himself a good fellow."
One day a scion of the rich family called at the store,
somewhat under the influence of liquor, and resumed his
boastings.
" I think my horse could beat him if it came to a race,"
said the storekeeper.
" Have you any money to bet on it" asked the South-
erner.