A Sportsmen's Sportsman 



Opposite the old Post Office in Worcester, Massachu- 

 setts, in the early eighties, stood the otfioe of Clemeiice, 

 the auctioneer, on whose sidewalk tables were often shown 

 books he picked up at country auctions. When a lad of 

 tifteen, although then a reader for a year or more of the 

 Spirit of the Times, I bought there The Horse and Horse- 

 manship of the United States, by Frank Forester. The 

 reading of these two volumes probably had more to do 

 with shaping my career as a sportsman than that of any 

 other books, and from that day to this my interest in this 

 greatest of American sporting writers has grown. 



Unquestionably other followers of sport may bear simi- 

 lar testimony, and without pretensions to any such 

 literary ability as that of this master of words, this recital 

 of personal experiences in which Frank Forester's works 

 have guided me may not be uninteresting to those who, like 

 myself an admirer of his writings, have acknowledged 

 their obligation and would join with me in paying tribute 

 to one who was preeminently a "sportsmen's sportsman." 



Eagerly I read these two volumes, the first of which 

 treated of the thoroughbred or running horse. In it is 

 described the race between the mighty Lexington and 

 Lecompte at the Metairie Course, New Orleans, Louisiana. 

 Both were sons of Boston, one the pride of the Blue Grass 

 State and the other the hope of the sportsmen of the Red 

 River. The description of these great matches of four- 

 mile heats impressed on me the need of stamina in the 

 racehorse. Eighteen years later, when, in the Genesee 

 Valley I espied the bay gelding. The Cad, sired by Uncas, 

 he by Lexington, my mind ran back to Frank Foi-ester's 

 words, and purchasing the youngster, in 1900 I had the 

 pleasure of riding him myself to victory in the Champion 

 Steeplechase of America at Morris Park, value ten thou- 

 sand dollars, beating six of the crack professional riders 

 and establishing a record for the course; The Cad being 

 a maiden and a registered hunter at time of starting. 



In the firi^t volume of Horse and Horsemanship was also 

 the description of Sir Archy, the Godolphin Arabian of the 



