AND OTHER SKETCHES 89 



A NOTABLE EACE AT LONDON. 



Sitting in the smoking room of the Tecumseh House, 

 London, some time ago, in conversation with a well- 

 known western horseman, the talk wandered away back 

 to the time when that still famous hostelry used to be 

 crowded with outside turfmen. Thirty-five years ago 

 there was a rare gathering present from far and near; 

 conspicuous amongst them were Dr. Andrew Smith, Hon. 

 C. I. Douglas, Major Peel, C. F. Elwes, Duncan (now 

 Judge) MacMillan, Dr. Woodruff, J. E. Seagram, P. D. 

 McKellar, T. Simpson, W. G. Henderson, John Davis, 

 George Forbes, Charles Boyle, P. Farrell, etc. Many 

 other good men were present who have since joined the 

 silent majority, but a sufficient number of genuine sports- 

 men have been named to show how pleasant such gather- 

 ings must have been. 



The old meetings at Newmarket track, London, were 

 generally most enjoyable events, but that night as we 

 talked of memorable bygone races, memory served up one 

 noted contest on the old track that left much hard feeling 

 and which created no small amount of scandal at the 

 time. I allude to the race between King Tom and Archie 

 Fisher's Sir Archibald. There was a lot of feeling on 

 both sides, and the betting ran high. The cockneys pin- 

 ned their faith to the first named, while the Toronto dele- 

 gation, strong in numbers and purse, stuck to the game 

 brown stallion, and thousands of dollars were wagered on 

 the result. 



Not only in the Tecumseh House over night, but on the 

 track just prior to the race, the auctioneers, Quimby, 

 Forbes and Page, were kept busy selling pools, and when 

 the bell sounded for the horses to come out I have no 

 doubt that there was as much money at stake as was ever 

 before wagered on a race in Western Ontario. The race 

 was a dash of a mile and a half and was a gallantly con- 



