The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-09-10
Correspondence OF the Chicago Tribune. i
TBuE TTJHE.


EfcEttphy OF EUfetcS-h to .alc
Wbas rhey Arc-Some Interesting
Facts Present state oil the 'Eurf.
SARATOGA, Aug. 1874. In 1912. Lord
Herbert of Cherbury said of the Ncwmarl-
e, races: ''The eyerc, = do not approve
Of is running Of horse there being much
cheating in tha; hirl.
This was in the ii ne of Charles l. who
established the Newmarket race course
and there had his final rupture with the
parliament 1t is a long historical leap
from that day to Lis, upward of 232 years,
yet the jockeys wlo won the main race, in
1874 in the United States are Newmarket
boys. The leading siablemcn. Sanford,
Lorillard, McGraih, Hunter and Trayers,
have imported .ckeys from Newmarket
Why not?
Because says a sporting reporter at
my side. ''there is n race Of lads around
that track who grow old and get families,
but do not increase in weight. and are
adapted TO ride at full strength without
much sweating of flesh We have no jock
cys in this country as perfect riders. Negro
jockeys are good until they 60 to Banting,
and then they lose their intellccts. Ameri-
can jockey boys are too loosely brought up,
and. after they become proficient, they get
too much weight and have to retire,
THE RACING TURF
in America was revived after the war by
VIM. Travers and John Morrissey at Sara
toga, and it has advanced in popularity and
aonital M iii fbprn is said ot prneopt tc Ia
between $3,000,000 and 5000, 600 of cap
iial invested in Our turf several hundred
thoroughbred racers, many large stables for
brood mares, and a small army of grO0ms,
jockeys and trainers. Racing has extended
even to the heart of Puritan parts OF New
England, and the Hartford course, opened
fortnight ago. shows that the blue Laws
have paled their Intellectual fires before the
general predisposition to welcome the turf.
The increase of speed, the unexpected
turns in fortune, the quantity of money
wagcrcd on stables, the value of the prem
iums, and the advent of very dissimilar
men upon the turf, lave marked this years
meeting in Saratoga as the most remarka-
BILE known since the palmy days of the
turf in the days of Monroe and Quincy
Adams. LeXington's time has been beat
en-, and most of the historic data for short
er dashes. The season closes with the
minds of men undecided whether Spring
box or Fellowcraft is the better horse,
with the former champion, Tom Bowling
disabled, with Katie Pease and Preakness
under cloud, and with a number of less
distinguished horses so exactly matched
that the science of betting has become a
matter of close and continuous attention.
1t is seldom that a race is beheld like that
where the spectators held that Belmont s
Steel'eyes had crossed the line first where
as Steei-eyes was adjudged to be third, and
Attilla and Acrobat to have run dead
heat
JARGoSRY.
Moreover, tie winnings this year have
been very agreeably distributed amongst q
great number of stables of quite unequal
capital and extent While Mcdaniel. with
his usual desert, carried off some $4,000
legitimate purses and stakes from Saratoga,
even Oden Bowie of Maryland won two
races, and the modest secretary of the Me-
tarie course in New Orleans, who makes no
pretensions to be turfman, carried off
about $4,000 with Stampede. Practical
opinion says that our horses nowadays are
bred too fine, and are therefore easily dis
abled in long tests, such as Eclipse and
Boston used TO make frequently, while
they have improved for swift spults and
dashes. 1t is very evident that the life OF
the American race-horse for active work is
brief, and the highest names on the turf OF
late have passed away in lameness, or pain,
or decease.
The morals of the turf are higher in
America than formerly, when racing had tC
be declared illegal in many states, and
higher than in England at present, where
the evils of the turf are subjects of national
agitation. While there are a number OF
gamblers operating amongst gentlemen il
these encounters, they have very little in
tluence in the management of the turf
Morrssey, who is absolute at Saratoga
takes care to own no horses nor be inter
ested in any that enter, and believe tina
he never owned but one, Defender, which
was consistently and inevitably beatel
every time. He is not held in distrusl by
turfmen OF any class, and is expected L
fathom the designs Of less scrupuous mel
Of his profession who would he capable o
selling a race. Men of the stamp of Bel
mon the Lorillards, Morris. Sanford ant
Trayers, keep the magistracy of the turf
control the courses, act as judges, aud 81
in inquest upon frauds. At the suggestion
of some of these men or their peers, som
of the New York papers this year refuse,
to print the names of any gamblers enter
ing races at Saratoga. The distinction l
too fine. No stablemen are too scrupulou
to back their horses heavily, and one of tn
greatest performances of the year was til
match of Belmonts Gray Planet agains
time on private bet with sporting &C
quaintance. The turf cannot protect itsel
by ignoring individuals; and, being an ope
tournament for horses. not for men, til
fruiltipa nf the latter no nacca1 mr.