Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1857-08-08
From Portsrsa Rpirit Of August.
AMERICAN HORSES IN ENGLAND.
ENGLISH rArn PLAY.


been weighted for the Great Ebor Handicap, has at
tracted very wide attention; and the sentiment
which its demonstrations has ELECTED is one Of mixed
indignation and surprise.
The manifest injustice for applying the arbitrary
rules Of weight, more heavily to Pryor, than to any
OF the fifty eight Of their choicest racers en-
tered Tor the same race cannot Ind defender even
among Englishmen in this country, and the common
impression is that Mr.. Ten Brock will not run his
horses 10 the Handicap at York. This is very much
TO be regretted for the American are in Eng
land Tor the hrst time and the problems 10 be de-
cided by the contests which have thus been inaugu
rated are, whether our mode Of training is most
conducive to the speed and endurance of the horse
or whether that merit is be accorded to the Brit
ish system-a problem of no ordinary Importance
TO both countries
And here we Will pause for a moment to remark
that the mode of training and running in this eoun
try and IN England essentially different-so diff
terent that It is matter of great speculation in the
minds Of the best informed Of turfmen, which of the
systems will triumph when their respective repre-
tatiye meet in actual contest
In this country we do not force our horses at an
early age and the fsvorite race for which we train
them is, race Of four mile heats. This is race
which tests their powers the utmost, and in or
der that they may give that highest proof of speed
known as low time, they are made to run the heats
desperately, from end to end In this STYLE Sir
Henry made his four miles in minutes 37J seconds;
Fashion hers in 1924; Lecompte his in 1926 and
Lexington his in 1924 In England however nv
system Of hot stables and various arts of forcing
their horses pushed into unnatural precocity
and are sometimes run early lone year olds
They are obliged also to carry very heavy weights,
but on the other hand their races are usually yery
short The one mile, single dash, is their fayorite
distance, and they have but one race that is as high
as four, and that IS not race of heats like ours
The favOrite race, said is a single dash of one
mile, and a very large number of the performances
Of the year are made at quarter, half and three
quarters of mile-raees which would be regard
ed here as entirely inadequate to tast our horses
latent power.
Tie English also run their horses differently from
US, and instead Of making the running from the
start, in order to exhibit at the end an improving
record in the way of reduced time aud consequently
greater speed over former competitors they indulge
usually IN what is called waiting race by start
ing of on watchtul gallop, keeping their eyes upon
each other without regard to time, and making their
great efforts when nearly at the end. We say that
this is game of jockies-not a trial Of horses
that by our system have successfully devel-
Oped the horse, and that when it comes to a down
right honest struggle from end to end that we can
make better time. About this, however, there is
doubt, which, as said before, puzzles the
ablest of our turfmen and that doubt is whether
our horses, which run in this country over foot
ing OF loose soil, or what is caeda 'dir track" can
run as fast over the short green turf which is the
nvariable footing of every race.rack in Great Br-
tain. This problem has never been solved for no
American racehorse has ever yet stretched himself
English ground and it is this fact and all the
other questions put together that makes the contest
which Mr.. Ten Brock has inaugurated in the name
Ofour country in the center of the British isles So
intensely interesting
OF course, it is Of the highest and most profound
Importance that in the decision of so vast an inter
est TO both countries, as the improvement of the
horse, the conditions of the contest should be exact
y fair; and that, if favor be shown at all it shall
be given to the strangers who had ventured three
thousand miles beyond the sea, to boldly meet a
swarm Of champions, who, and whose glorious an
cestry, have, since the arena of the English turf
was known, held it pre-emineut, even beyond ap-
prOach, against the world. When therefore we
said, as soon as we arrived in England, that we
could not only go fast, but far and could beat them
for twenty thousand dollars at the trying race of
four mile heats, they should have found among some
OF their thousand of high-mettled racers, one at
least, to have taken up this guage. They did not
take II up, however, but the contrary the Lon
don Journals with sort of indignation, denounced
four mile heats cruel tasking of the powers of
the horse, which no horse in England was prepared
to undertake. They, then, wound up by suggesting
that there were Ascot and the GoOdWOod two weight
forage races, where we might meet the flyers at a
single two miles and half; adding that we would
find that enough; and that "if Fandango, or Me-
LISA, with Alfred Day upon her back, did not make
mInce- meat Of US, they would be more far astray
in judgment than ever before" Some welcomed
our appearance at heirhOspitable stables by treat
ing preensions with derision while others pro-
claimed in unhesitating print that any of their 'od
leather fappers, or leather paters, would, when
occasion served take the pride of Brother Jonathan
in the way Of race horses, down.
Under this state of affairs and feeling, Mr. Ten |
Brock entered his horses for the StOckbrdge Plate
the GoodwOOd Cup, and the Champagne stakes, at |
We iuhf for of
and Two and half miles. In the first and last of |
these he entered with the English horses, on APP
Parently equal terms; but, in the GoodWoOd, he |
was entitled to an allowance, for his horses of IA
pounds, as an offset to advantages which are allow
Ell 10 certain English horses and denied to u.s. on |
the strength Of their recorded performances in Eng
land.
Thus far, although entering under disadvantage
from the recent Ocean journey, his strangeness to
tie English Turf, and the short single dashes to
which his horses were confined, Mr.. Ten Brock had
nothing to complain OF. He understood the rule of
weight for age" and knew before entering his
horses how they and their competitors would have to
compete.
There was, however, another kind of race practic-
ed IN England which, instead of the fixed rules of |
weight, according to age allows weight to be put on
he back OF the horse, according to the degree of |
MS merit in order that a poor horse by carving
light weight, may have an equal chance with the
)esJ horse, to WIN. This stupid is called the
handicap" and the judge who estimates the speed
md power of various horses, and assigns them
weight accordingly, is called the - handicapper"-
INTO these races MIR. Ten Brock was frequently So
icited to enter his horses and, finally relying on
he much talked Of English spirit of fair play and
bearing IN mind, too, doubtless that it had been as
umed, by the London Journals that any of the old
leather paters of the English Turf could beat us
lie ventured to enter Pryor and Prioress for the
Great E00r Handicap" to be run at York, on the
10Th instant
To this at its close, there were fifty eight entries
numbering among them some Of the most renowned
yers that England has ever produced. When the
ntry was full, the Handicapped (who he was we |
ave not heard) assigned the weights to each in the
rider they will be found on our Ilth page under
he head of the English Turf. By that table, it
NIL be seen that Pryor. little horse, barely more
han fifteen hands high, and appearing virtually as
green horse IN England, leads the whole list in
ne penalty OF weight, and Proress is so overloaded
nj crushed down IN comparison with other ooates-
ants of her age and sex that neither can have a
hdnce TO win.
NOW there Is no conceivable rule by which this ap-
hcatIon OF weight to our horses can konestlv be ap
lied. They have no English record, and their 7
merlcan performances are far behind that of many
orSes IN this country. Pryor's best time in mile
eats was 463; , miles in ~; miles 57G;
nd four miles in 443. And the best mile of Pr
fess 40. Moreover, they have run these distan-
IS over . dirt tracks which the English handicap
err could not understand, nor recognize. Never
eess these sneered at horses whom the old "leath-
happers Of England were so easily to beat are p
AGED IN merit above all the champions of England