72 CANADIAN TURF EECOLLECTIONS 



tution and of that stocky, sturdy mould that would make 

 one willing to wager odds that he would easily pass the 

 scriptural three score years and ten, was cut down in his 

 prime, and Lean Burgess also dropped by the way. Poor 

 Sam Page is also a memory, and Quimby was found dead 

 in bed at Saginaw, Mich. Charles Boyle is still alive, 

 and he, I am pleased to hear, is fresh as paint and looks 

 tough as a knot of second growth hickory. 



Eeally there has not been much growth in the Cana- 

 dian running turf during the past quarter century. I do 

 not believe there are as many Canadian owners of 

 thoroughbreds now as there was then, and I am quite 

 sure that for genuine love of sport the old timers could 

 give cards and spades to the modern dollar-worshipping 

 owner. Whether there has been as much improvement 

 in the quality of the horses as some latter-day people 

 would have you think is an open question. Modern ways 

 of training and faster tracks are responsible for a good 

 deal of the so-called improvement, but such old-time per- 

 formers as Nettie, Terror, Disturbance, Jack Vandal, 

 Emily, Bonnie Ino, Lady D'Arcy, Jack Bell, Jack on 

 the Green, Bay Jack and lots of others would be in the 

 money to-day under the present circumstances. Mile 

 heats over bad half-mile tracks in 1.48, 1.49, was smart 

 work, and I would back the timber-toppers of that time 

 to carry pound for pound and hold their own with the 

 best of the present day, and I think a few I could name 

 would be top-notchers now. 



What about Milesian, winner of the double event over 

 McDougall's farm, back of the mountain at Montreal; 

 it was a good day's sport. The son of Mickey Free beat 

 a field of twelve in the Club steeplechase, three miles, and 

 forty minutes later with 174 pounds on his back, gal- 

 loped away with the open steeplechase, four miles, beat- 

 ing thirteen others, the nearest horse not being within 

 two hundred yards of him, and there was some real good 

 material among his followers. There were some rasping 

 good timber- toppers then: Jack the Barber, Pilot, 

 Mitchell, Grey Cloud, Kelso, Viley, Cataract, Tradewind, 



