Lovers of the Horse 



THOROUGHBRED RACING IN CANADA 



WIIEUEVER English-speaking people come together there will be sport, and 

 in nine cases ont of ten it will be racing, for there is no absolutely new 

 country oj^ened up without the man on horseback, and there is something 

 invigorating in racing that does not pertain to any other form of sport. Baseball, 

 lacrosse, cricket, in fact every other outdoor game, takes more than two to make an 

 interesting contest, but })ut a couple of men on horseback, and there are bound to 

 come moments when they will try the merits of their steeds. In this way doubtless 

 racing commenced, until finally it became a matter of wagering. And, speaking of 

 wagering, history does not tell us of a single type of aborigine that has not some form of 

 gambling. Even religionists, and the straightest-laced of them, have no doubt put 

 their hand into the pristine grab-liag, or played the apparently harmless Lotto, the 

 forerunner of the in.sidious game of Keno, that vagabondizing method with which 

 nearly every man who has travelled the South is to a greater or lesser extent ac([uainted. 

 Probably the promoters of church bazaars when they establish the lucky bag, or grab- 

 bag, or the fish pond, do not recognize that they are sowing the seeds of a pernicious 

 form of gambling, which, in later life, they will expect the very children that they are 

 encouraging to denounce. 



As a distinguished clergyman has said, it is very difficult to discover, either in 

 business or in sport, where gajnlding commences and legitimate s]jeculation leaves off. 

 Anyway, it is certain wherever there has been horse racing, there has been speculation 

 as to file result. Wagering is iidierent in the human system, and none of the laws, 

 divine or human, that can be made, will ever entirely eradicate the tendency. 



Racing in Canada, it is tolerably safe to say, came with the pioneers, although 

 probably as a recognized s]jort, it was the military who first set the game afoot on these 

 broad acres. Whatever the beginning, it is certain that, as a sport, racing has progressed 

 and thriven. It may be that there has been a disposition to overdo the thing, and that 

 some iii(livi(hials havi- manifested a keener inclination for the dollars, come whence 

 they may, than they have for the interest of the sport or the welfare of the ])eo])le. That, 

 perhaps, to a certain extent is unavoidable, for just as gambling, wagering, or specu- 

 lating is inevitable, so there will always be lower human strata composed of people 

 that will take advantage of the weakness of their fellow-beings. In the olden times 

 in Canada, the officers attached to the garrisons, which were then stationed at 

 different ])laces in the country, got uj) races for small wagers, or gifts given by the 

 regimental mess, or possibly the Colonel in command. This, of course, was pure, 

 unadulterated, legitimate sport, arising out of a desire for amusement. As the 

 years went by a new order of things sprang u]), and people organized to carry on 

 race meetings. Still, if reports are true, the methods pursued at the lieginning to 

 win were not always as gentle as they might have been, and bumping, thumping and 

 crossing were not unknown to the officers who, in many cases, could trace their pedi- 

 grees back a great deal further than covdd the thoroughbreds they bestrode. 



