4 Lovers of the Horse 



TiiiK- went on. and tlu' otticcrs left us. but the love for racinii;. for outdooi- spoil. 

 for till- competition between livint!; things, continued, and littU' by iitth- lacing pro- 

 gressed, until to-day the coniiietition is for thousands, where in the good old days, the 

 rare ok! days, it was for tens. And, let it here be said that the sjjort was e(|ually as 

 keen and (juite as much enjoyed then for the smaller amount as it is now for the larger. 

 The writer is old enough to remember when he considered that there was no finer 

 sport fortlicoming than that given by tlu> Hunt ("lub of the day. at which there was no 

 gate money taken, but the huntsman merely stood with his cap in hand, and visitors 

 dropped in whatever they felt disjiosed to give. The prizes to be won were com- 

 parativclv small, but the racing was keen, anfl the fields were as large as they are at 

 a latterdav ()..!.('. or any other meeting. At that time theie were probably ten 

 gentlemen riders, that is. gentlemen who were willing and had confidence enough to 

 ride in ])ublic, to one to-ilay. 'J'hose. to the writer's thinking, were really the good 

 times of sport — the times when men raced just ff)r the love of the thing, and for the 

 exiiilaration of flying thrf)ugli the air with a good substantial back beneath them. 

 Even our pedantic friend, Samuel Johnson, declared that there was nothing equal to 

 the pleasure of motion .\t that time he was realizing his idea by driving through the 

 wilds of Scotland, and, what the greatest lexicographer of his own, or probably any 

 other age, experienced, so has every other man or woman who is healthy in disposition 

 and broad in mind 



There is nothing intrinsically wrong in racing, and (>ven tlu" mo.st narrow-minded 

 person can ever say, with truth, that there is. There is this nuich to be said that in the 

 betting or wagering on one horse against another, the man who wagers, or the man 

 who gambles, has an opportumty to see \\ hat is going forward and to judge for himself, 

 so far as his al)ility pernu'ts, of tlie prospects he has to win In other t'ornis of specula- 

 tion, such as buying distant stocks, or even home-bred stocks, on margin, lie has no such 

 opportunity. But I have been diverging, my subject is racing in Canada, and I have 

 been merely excusing its existence- possibly in excusing 1 have, in some people's minds. 

 strengthened the accusation. However lliat may be. lacing commenced in this coiinlry 

 with the pioneers, continued with the military, and finally found a resting place with 

 the short-pedigreed, so far as the soil is concerned, native 



The jtrogress of the game, until recent years, was gradual JJarrie al one lime was 

 a racing centre and l)oasted perhaps the best mile track in Ihc Dominion ^^hill)y 

 was also a |)lace of renown For lurl' men. and a di'^linguished citizen of thai liurgh, 

 good old John Stanton, can still tell of memorable conlcsis thai look place at the 

 town that produced that family of s])ortsmen. the Uavs in lad. in those days there 

 were running race meetings at Prescott. London. ()lla\\a and at many other points in 

 the Province thai now know lliciii no more. The ()nlaiio Jockev Club. an<l oilier 

 dubs of |)resuinplion and assumption, have offered such inducements to horsemen 

 that smaller cities and towns have found it impossible lo com|)ete. As a conse(|nence, 

 instead of meetings devoted entirely to miming, we lind an odd running race here ami 

 there tacked on to a tiotting and jiacing programme Wlicllicr lliis is lo be rcgrcllcd 



