Lovers of the Horse 



161 



SIR HUGH MONTAGU ALLAN 



TIIKKK ai'c two (lisliiict classes of raciiifi; iiicii on this coiitiiiciit, with a hue of 

 cleavage, not always clear, hnt still definable enough to make the stndeiit 

 of luinian nature and real lover of sport regret that so few men will realize that 

 s])ort, even for s|)ort's sake, can raise the ideals of a nation just as much as the study 

 of the larger prohlems. On the one hand we have the owner of a string of four or 

 five horses who makes his living at the racing game, alas, too often hy means secret 

 and devilish, which even the vigilance of the officials cannot alwavs penetrate, and 

 tliert' i[vv even men of good financial 

 positions, who go in for racing just as 

 they go in for other speculations. Now 

 these men arc no credit to the game, and 

 cannot by any stretch of imagination l)c 

 termed s])ortsmen. 



On the other hand wc have gentle- 

 men of social and linancial jiosition, 

 who give their time, influence, and money 

 to not only keep sport clean, but to 

 raise it to the standai'd that is set in 

 Europe. 



In the latter category can be placed 

 Sir Montagu Allan, the President of the 

 Montreal Jockey Club--a man who was 

 determined at the outset to make the 

 Montreal Meet a credit to Canadian 

 sport. How well he succeeded we all 

 know, but nt)t many realize the difficul- 

 ties he had to overcome — the shoals of re- 

 ligious prejudice, and racial ignorance, 

 he had to sail through without striking a 

 rock; the machinations of clever and 

 rapacious racing sharks he had to fight 

 — all these Sir Montagu did, with the 

 result that the Montreal Race Meeting is 

 lield, and rightly so, as an ideal place to see the finest sight in the world — a horse race. 



No one can mistake the tall, soldierly bearing of Sir ^lontagu Allan, as he, each 

 spring and fall, dis})enses, with rare tact, that hospitality at the Montreal Meet which 

 has not been tlu^ least to make it famous. 



With a talent all his own, what one might term a mixture of Scotch shrewdness 

 ami old-world courtesv. Sir INIontacu has before and since the Club's inauguration 

 worked early and late to bring about the results I have already mentioned, and no 

 more lilting and apiirojiriatc honor could l)e nuulc than his election as President. 



Sir Hugh .Munt.viu' .-Vi-lan 



