Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1875-05-15
THE TURF.
I From the Philadelphia Tlmes.l

The racing interest in America,
or rather that in horses, has had a
recent revival, which promises TO
raise the turf of the country TO q
glory SURPRISING even what our
fathers would call its palmy days,
the time when Presidents of the
United States owned STABLES
and grave Senators trained horses
When we say the racing interest,
we mean the running-the noblest
gait of the animal, because his nat
ural and fastest one, and when we
speak of the horse we mean his
best development, the thoro'-bred,
whose untainted blood runs back
| in one pure stream for centuries !;
which has lineage as pure as that
| of any peerage, and whose ances-
/ try is older than that OF those FAM
lilies the roots Of whose trees were
the conquerors at the battle Of Has
tings. Tradition says his origin
was the five mares OF the Prophet
--of Mahomed himself--but GER
tain it is that for hundreds Of years
horses have coursed the plains of
! Araby the blest, the glory of the
child of the desert. The turf now
covers our whole country the
number of horses has vastly in
creased, and their breed wonder
fully improved; hundreds Of thou
sands of dollars are annually Offer
ed in premiums, and almost fabu-
lous sums are paid for great races.
kentucky who died few weeks
since, sold six or seven years ago
for $40, 900; land 'Longfellow,' in
the hey-day of his popularity, just
after he had vanquished the great
'Basset,' could have been sold for
$40 900, if his owner would have
parted with him. But he was the
pride of his masters heart, an old
man who all his life had devoted
himself to the rearing of racers,
and who. childless and childish,
regarded the animal as a father
might the son of his old age; and
when the horse, crippled and bro
ken down after he had run ter
rife race of more than two miles
on three legs, was beaten by his
former rival, and the cheers OF the
East drowned the groans of the
West, "old" John Harper, heart
broken and Inundated, went back
to Kentucky and died. Since the
mighty 'Longfellow's' failure, the
turf of the country has witnessed
such great stars as True Blue
tom Bowling Acrobat Aris-
tides and host of others scarce
ly less distinguished. The records
have been reduced to suchan ex-
tent that the old habitaes of the
grand stand, who saw the battles
between Gray Eagle and 'Wag-
ner, Fashion and sPeytona,'
Lexington and 'Lecompte,' and
who imagined they could not be
eclipsed, can scarcely credit their
senses. 'Fellowcraft' has run four
miles in minutes and 10 seconds;
True Blue has brought down the
two mile record to what would al
most seem to be the minimum -
and Gray Planet flying like
star through space, last year ran
mile in / min. and AZ seconds
This is the speed of the winds.
We are hot among those who
decry the turf. 1t has obnoxious
features, but the good outbalances
the bad. The race track is the unit
versity where horses are trained,
the purses the prizes for the best
scholarships. The competition fur
nishes the only means we have of
knowing whether the breed is i'm
proving or deteriorauing, and is
the only clue to the information
upon which 10 enforce the law of
selection. As result, the stock
of the country is steadily improv-
ing by judicious breeding and the
importation of fresh strains of
blood which infuse the qualities of
other families into our own. Take
Kentucky, land of the blue grass,
where racing has been an institu-
ton since day to which the me-
mory of few living runneth back.
Where in all the land do you meet
such horses, or women, or men,
too, for that matter? No. We
think that the Rev. Mr.. King of
the Established Church was right
when he resigned his curacy rath-
er than part with his horses, but
he ought to have told his Bishop
that he had as much right, sane
toned by Scripture, to improve
the equine race as the Bishop had
to ameliorate that Of guinea pigs
or Shanghai fowls. And then the
horse is such a loyal friend and
faithful servant. On, noble brute,
run thy course; IT'S fun-aye, joy
to thee, and it shall net be denied.
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