Lovers of the Horse vii 



with the .s])ort whom tlie most strict camiot arouse of taking any (iishonoral)le 

 advantage or of Ijeinu' unworthv in thouiiht. Yvhv \>\ rear their eti'orts are hearing 

 frnit and the game is becoming cleaner and more wortliy of patronage. 



Financially the sport was never stronger than at tlie ])resent time. A few years ago 

 a thonsand dollar pnrse or stake was considered extraordinary; now. if three thonsand 

 and five thonsand dollar stakes are not mimerons, there are at least snfficieiit of them 

 to wai'rant the keeping of a good horse especially to strive for them. If the King's 

 Plate, rnn off annually at the WoodMne. Toronto, and of the estimated valne of five 

 thousand dollars, has not done all that might have been expected of it, it has at least 

 elevated the character of the sport and lienefited, in so doing, both horse and man. It 

 may seem an extravagant statement, but it is more than probable that nearly half a 

 million of money was raced for over the running and trotting tracks of Canada during 

 the year 1907. And tliere is every pros])ect that, with the growtli of the population 

 and conscMiuent increase of the sport-loving coinninnity. that this sum. in tlu^ course 

 of a few years, will be d()ul)led and even trebled. It is idle to say that the s]jort that 

 requires millions of capital to be carried on is of no value to the country; even the 

 fact that it keeps such a vast sum of monev moving is of itself a reeounneiidation that 

 cannot be overlooked. 



We, therefore, in dedicating this work to tlu> lovers of the horse in Canada, take 

 pride in trusting that their shadow may never grow less and that the sjiort will go on 

 and prosper for all time The names of the ladies and gentlemen -who figure in this 

 book are sufficient ])roof that horse racing has got far beyond that period when its 

 uatronaiie was beneath the dii>'nit\ of an\" oni'. 



THE PUBLISHERS 



