66 CANADIAN TURF RECOLLECTIONS 



A THOROUGHLY HONEST TRAINER. 



Poor old Frank Owens, who trained for the late Mr. 

 J. P. Dawes for so many years, was called a crank, and 

 he certainly was built a little on the cross-grained order, 

 but I very much doubt whether any of us would be any 

 sweeter dispositioned than he if we labored under as 

 many physical disabilities as afflicted him all his life. 



It was at times very painful for him to hobble around, 

 and a man handicapped in such severe fashion has, in 

 my opinion, a legitimate right to grumble and kick at the 

 weight of affliction imposed upon him. True, the goody- 

 goody doctrine is that no matter how much you suffer, 

 it might be worse, therefore, bear the affliction you have 

 without grumbling. That's very well in theory, but it 

 does not pan out in practice, and it's human nature pure 

 and simple for a man to get short-tempered and use an 

 occasional strong word if every bone in his body is ach- 

 ing and he is unable to take a single step without feeling 

 that a few gimlets and bradawls are working within him. 



But I didn't start out with the intention of furnishing 

 a chapter on Frank Owen's physical disadvantages. I 

 merely desired to direct attention to it, thus, I think, 

 ampl}^ justifying any crabbedness of temper that he may 

 have displayed at times to those who read these pages. 

 Poor Owens trained many a winner, but he finally 

 weighed out himself, and though many a more pious 

 individual has answered the last roll call, I would just 

 as soon stand by the chances of old Frank in the Kingdom 

 Come as some of the more pretentious psalm-singing 

 crowd who love to toot their horns in the market places, 

 for I know Frank Owens, with all his faults of temper, 

 was an honest man, and there's a goodly proportion of 

 those professional Christians who would stand a mighty 



