THIS BOOK AND BALIE PEYTON 



THE original purpose of this volume was to show the 

 extent to which the raising and racing of thoroughbreds 

 was carried on in Tennessee during the first half century, 

 or more, of the State's existence. 



Investigation developed that the breeding and turf 

 interests of Tennessee were so interwoven with these 

 interests in other states, the scope of the volume had to 

 be enlarged to the point indicated by the title. 



Most books about thoroughbreds of the period con- 

 sidered here are devoted chiefly to the science of breeding 

 and methods of training and to the physical well-being 

 of the horse, and are of interest only to horsemen. This 

 volume endeavors to emphasize the effect that all these 

 theories and experiments had on the customs and habits 

 of the people. 



The labor system, the code duello, the religious camp- 

 meetings and the open-house hospitality, of the "ante- 

 bellum" South have all been given their just share of 

 attention by historians. But the origin, growth and ex- 

 tent of the thoroughbred industry have not, as far as I 

 have observed, received any consideration whatever by 

 any book purporting to treat of life in any Southern state. 



In this volume will be found material upon which the 

 historian of the future may base a chapter on "The 

 America of Sir Archy," or "The Tennessee of Leviathan," 

 that will rival in interest Green's chapter on "The Eng- 

 land of Shakespeare." In the absence of available facts 



