'The American 'Thoroughbred 87 



the produce of their mares in the Futurity ; and as a natural consequence, from 200 to 

 500 good two-year-olds a-r-e- annually knocked to pieces in a vain effort to bring them 

 to the post in the great Futurity. If men would only train small colts and fillies 

 for two-year-old events, like the Futurity, the Matron and the Saratoga special, say 

 youngsters of 15 hands high, there could be no great harm in such racing. But when 

 they take up a sixteen-hander in April and try to make him win these big events, 

 they chance the ruin of what might become a Henry of Narvarre, a Delhi or an 

 Irish Lad, all great winners at three. At the bottom of all this there can be nothing 

 but greed. I speak plainly on matters of this sort, as I do on nearly everything else. 

 I always endeavor to say a kind word where I can ; and surely, the right to applaud 

 carries with it the right to censure. 



Legitimate racing in the middle West (except at St. Louis, -already referred to) 

 languished for a long time. Kentucky had become the cradle of the thoroughbred 

 horse immediately after the Civil War was ended and the prominence of the Old 

 Dominion, as a breeding ground was gone forever. In 1875 the Kentucky Derby and 

 Louisville cup were established, the former race being won four times by geldings 

 in its first seven years. Twenty years ago, the winner of a Kentucky Derby meant 

 something, when Hindoo, Fonso. Leonatus, Joe Cotton and Spokane carried it off, 

 but of late years it has been won by some very ordinary horses. And as for the 

 once great Louisville Cup, once emblazoned with the victories of Montana Regent, 

 John Davis and Lucky B, it has dropped out of sight, apparently forever. The trib 

 of Ikey Mo' doesn't want long races and, with the exception of the meetings held in 

 the Atlantic seaboard States, the trades are generally, if not wholly, run in the interest 

 of_the bookmakers, from whose "cut in" comes such a large revenue that, in many 

 Instances, the "gate money" is almost clear profit. In England, the bookmakers have 

 to protect tHemselvesF but in this country, and more especially at the winter tracks, 

 they too often obtain very marked consideration at the hands of the officials, jjjor my 

 part, I can only regard bookmaking as the curse of modern racing. It was the means 

 of closing up all the race-courses in New Jersey, thereby involving a clear loss of one 

 million dollars to the estate of the late David D. Withers who built the beautiful 

 Monmouth course at Long Branch. Other States are likely to follow in the wake of 

 New Jersey unless a radical step is made in the direction of reform, which is not likely. 

 The average bookmaker is a man whose motto is "After me the deluge." 



The Washington Park course at Chicago, inaugurated in 1884 through the tireless 

 efforts of John E. Brewster. now ten years dead, demands something more than a 

 mere passing notice at the writer's hands. It was opened with several fixed events, 

 the most prominent being the American Derby and the Washington Park Cup. The 

 former is a mile and a half for three-year-olds, but with accrued penalties, which 1 

 do not think should exist in any Derby race, though it undoubtedly leads up to 

 larger fields of starters on account of maiden allowances. Such a race is not a Derby 

 but a Handicap. The Washington Park Cup was a weight-for-age race at two miles, 

 with no penalties, but was abolished at the end of six years, much to my regret. Had 

 they made it a handicap, it would have been the biggest drawing card of any race in 

 America, outside of the two big handicaps at Gravesend and Sheepshead Bay. 



Following the opening of Jerome Park, came an opening for breeders. All fixed 

 events at that place we-re so conditioned as to close when the colt were yearlings 

 and this made the modern auction market, which removes the burden of training 

 from the shoulders of the breeders and places it upon the .sporting element. The 

 following are the more noted importations since that period: 



