12 CANADIAN TUEF RECOLLECTIONS 



American turf are those which marked the contests be- 

 tween representative horses of the north and south, and 

 though the Civil War gave a mighty setback to the sport, 

 the recovery after the close of the war was wonderfully 

 xaj^id. 



Breeding farms famous in equine history are now no 

 longer the home of the thoroughbred, and the pastures 

 over which once roamed the heroes and heroines of the 

 turf are to-day grazing lands for herds of cattle. Mc- 

 Grathiana, Woodburn, Elmendorf, Fairview, Belle 

 Meade, Rancocas, Dixiana, etc., etc., are now little more 

 than memories of a glorious past. Stately homes and 

 great estates over which the thoroughbred ruled king are 

 to-day tenanted by an altogether different class of ani- 

 mals, and beef, pork, and mutton are more familiar sub- 

 jects of conversation than the chances of Futurity candi- 

 dates and other classic races of the American turf. 

 Mighty is the change that has taken place and the reason 

 is not difficult to determine. When sport is degraded by 

 being conducted for the sole purpose of money making, 

 evils and abuses creep in and public confidence is soon 

 shaken. Men utterly destitute of sportsmanlike qualities 

 went into the racing game solely because of the chances it 

 offered to make big profits. Tracks were built all over 

 the country, a liberal proportion of them by men of 

 questionable reputation, in fact, many of these were 

 under the absolute control of professional gamblers. 

 The management of such places was directed solely to 

 extracting the largest possible amount of money out of 

 their patrons. Disreputable owners of horses were 

 shielded instead of exposed, and altogether the condition 

 of affairs became so deplorable that general public in- 

 dignation was aroused and those in authority were not 

 backward in introducing measures of reform. The 

 Legislatures in many States passed anti-betting laws and 

 the result has been the closing of nearly every track 

 in the West. Racing ]^roperties representing a cost of 

 millions of dollars and which, w;hen operated, paid 

 princely incomes to their owners, are now deserted and 



