FOURTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III 267 



down to our fair and just naturally stole the money?" I wouldn't 

 blame them if they would go at it that way. 



During the month of September there are eighty fairs in the 

 State of Iowa, and the horses are scattered. It isn't an easy job 

 to make a trotting horse or a ])aciiig horse. You can't grow them 

 like a big pumpkin. A man can breed one hundred mares — 

 standard brood mares. Then, out of that one hundred brood 

 mares, he can get approximately sixty colts. Of these sixty colts, 

 one out of two, or thirty of them, are physically able to be trained. 

 Say that thirty can be trained. Out of that thirty there are 

 probably ten, or one-third of them, that will show exceptional 

 speed to get to the races. Out of this ten that get to the races 

 there would be probably one out of five, or, say, two of them that 

 won over their expenses, or, in other words, two out of one hundred 

 that make expenses from the time they are born. In other words, 

 when you breed a mare you are taking a one to fifty shot. You 

 talk about gambling ! Good race horses are not easily made. They 

 are not plentiful. You get counterfeits and imitations of them, 

 but there is probably two out of one hundred mares bred that 

 develop enough speed to make any money. It is an uphill propo- 

 sition all the time. Now, say there are fifty-eight others. What 

 are you going to do with them? Thirty are not trained, they are 

 cripples. They are put to breeding. Under I. of the American 

 Association these are the future breeders of the standard bred. 

 Eight out of ten we take to the races. They didn't make good 

 and we might catch suckers for them and make them think they 

 are good. Now there is twenty. They used to sell good, but the 

 automobile has put them out of business. So, you understand, the 

 training business is not all roses. The only way to get horses is 

 to encourage the local trainer and provide stables. I know secre- 

 taries in Iowa who knock the local trainer. Stimulate the breeder 

 to raise them and get them in the trainer's hands. Then there 

 will be enough horses to go around. There are not enough good 

 horses now. In the month of September everything starts, and 

 you can not get good races without good horses. As I say, the 

 secretaries — I don't know what they think of the horsemen as a 

 lot, but we holler and belch and beef. We think lots of you, at 

 that. I don't think at the races proper you ever hear me kicking. 

 The only kick I had coming this year was because some of the 

 horses were faster than mine. 



