The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



287 



Garrison. Jr., and Lady Mae were among 

 the number Mr. Sanders used on the road, and 

 in professional racing, in the days of the high- 

 wheel sulky. 



With the organization of the Gentlemen's 

 Driving Club of Boston. Mr. Sanders became 

 one of the early members, and he was very 

 prominent in the matinee racing at Readville. 

 He was also one of the first to join the Met- 

 ropolitan Driving Club. 



It was during the matinees at Readville that 

 Mr. Sanders, with three members of the Bos- 

 ton Club, each purchased a trotter and took 

 turns in driving them, the horse and its driver 

 being determined on race days by drawing lots. 

 Through driving each of the horses faster than 

 did any of the other three owners. Mr. San- 

 ders demonstrated his skill as a reinsman. 

 Others he raced in the matinees were Jesse 

 H.. 2:11 1-4; Silver Glow, 2:12 3-4; Pat My 

 Boy. 2:18 1-4, and Uhleen, the last named a 

 full sister of Uhlan. Jesse H. was raced as a 

 pacer, but one week after he paced in 2:11 1-4, 

 Mr. Sanders had shifted him to trotting and 

 drove him a mile in 2:19 1-2. In the Fall of 

 1914 he purchased from Benjamin Pope the 

 promising weanling by Cochato, 2:11 1-2, 

 out of the great brood mare. Miss Pratt, 

 2:17 1-4. Mr. Sanders resides at 43 Chest- 

 nut Street. Salem, Mass. 



USE OF ROAD WAGON AT 

 MATINEES DOOMED 



( By G. Pray Smith) 



I believe that the season of 191 5 will wit- 

 ness more amateur matinee racing in this coun- 

 try than ever before, although for a number 

 of years the sport has been gaining in favor if 

 not by quite as rapid strides as of late. This 

 increased interest in matinee racing I attrib- 

 ute largely to the fact that with the practically 

 universal use of the automobile pleasure rid- 

 ing on the principal thoroughfares has 

 ceased to be a pleasure, and those whose love 

 for a horse will never die have turned, in con- 

 sequence, to the speedways for their enjoy- 

 ment. 



Boston has always been a center of matinee 

 racing and, if I remember rightly, the Dorches- 

 ter Driving Club was the first of its kind to 

 be organized in this country for the purpose 

 of promoting matinee racing. Locallv the out- 

 look is of the best for all of the numerous 

 driving clubs, with every indication that there 

 will be more matinee racing and more horses 

 participating in 191 5 than during the very 

 highly successful season just closed. The or- 

 ganization in Xew York last November of the 

 American Driving Club League will, I believe, 



help to add impetus to the racing game. Prac- 

 tically all of the driving clubs are to become 

 affiliated with the league, including those in 

 Boston, and next Fall a series of club events, 

 open to those horses of members of any of 

 the affiliated clubs will be held over the his- 

 toric Goshen track. Boston boasts of as good 

 a collection of matinee horses as any city in 

 the country, and I believe that those local 

 road-drivers who enter their best horses for 

 the Goshen meeting will demonstrate to the 

 matinee world at large that the Hub still 

 stands high in this popular pastime. 



Several things have combined to place mat- 

 inee racing where it is today and to make the 

 outlook for the future so encouraging. One of 

 these is the co-operation the horsemen have 

 received from the municipal authorities. This 

 has helped matinee racing, not only in Boston, 

 but throughout the continent. Last Summer 

 I attended some matinees of the San Francisco 

 Driving Club held upon a three-quarter-mile 

 track, built by the city, with a stadium seating 

 6,000, also built by the city, at the finish of the 

 course. In New York the city fathers have 

 recognized matinee racing, and in many other 

 places I might mention speedways have also 

 been built. All these things are, of course, a 

 positive benefit to the game. 



It is unnecessary for me to say that matinee 

 racing furnishes diversion to a class of gen- 

 tlemen who might, otherwise, keep too closely 

 to their desks. They realize that fresh air and 

 wholesome sport are to be derived from 

 speeding a fast trotter or pacer. Also, matinee 

 racing is not necessarily limited to men ot 

 large wealth, although it does cost money to 

 maintain a large matinee stable. But many a 

 gentleman buying a horse, outclassed for rac- 

 ing upon the tracks, for $300 or $400 finds his 

 purchase able to beat horses that have cost 

 several times that amount. It doesn't always 

 follow that the highest-priced horses are the 

 best in the matinees. That, of course, helps 

 rather than hurts the game. More matinee 

 horses are now available than ever before, be- 

 cause the standard of racing in the Grand Cir- 

 cuit is constantly becoming higher and the out- 

 classed trotter has, as years go by, less and 

 less chance to pay his expenses "down the big 

 line." 



I think the coming season will see virtually 

 the elimination of the road wagon in matinee 

 racing. More and more drivers are coming to 

 realize that the road cart, although perhaps 

 not quite so elegant, is infinitely safer for 

 speedwav work than the road wagon, and 

 where matinees are held upon half-mile tracks 

 it is next door to absolutely dangerous to 

 attempt to use the delicately balanced road 

 wagons. 



