The record-union., 1897-08-20
THE WORKOUT RACEHORSE.
HIS LOT rs HARD-SENTIMEN
LACKING ON THE TURF.
Career of a Thoroughb bred From
His Birth to the Hour OF
Breaking Down.

when their racing career is ended.
This is a question frequently asked by
race goers and others. 1t is rather diff
cult TO answer, because some good
horses as we'll as some very bad horses
go to the Elysian fields of rich pas
lures, golden grain and costly blank
cts of the leading stock farms of the
country, While others are condemned TO
the hanson cab, coalcart, express Wag-
on and the plough of the farmer. The
history of a racer from the day he is
foaled until his death has frequently
furnished the topic for many thrilling
stories from the pens of able writer's.
Perhaps the best one of that descrip-
ton is Ouida's story of Forest King
in the novel called Under Two Flags"
Many other stories have been written
about the thoroughbred who has won
for his owner fame and fortune, and,
in many instances, a bride.
There is more or less fiction about
the fate of horses that have been sue
cessful on the turf. There is any
amount of talk about sentiment on the
turf, but the true facts are that senti-
ment rates as an outsider" and that
when the thoroughbred outlives his
and purses, his owner looks forward
to him to bring him handsome reve-
nue. in the stud Should the racer
prove a failure as sire his lot is
hard one. 1t is equally so should he
develop any physical infirmity. such as
an affliction Of the wind, or any ocber
unsoundness that is likely to detract
from his value. There are only a few
thoroughbred pensioners in this cUun-
try. Parole, formerly owned by Pierre
Lorillard, who won distinction on the
turf both in this country and in Eng
land, at the end of his racing career
was presented 10 Norvin r. Green, who
agreed to care for him the remainder of
his life. LOngOeacb, owned by Philip
j. DWyer, is the only pensiOner of all
the long list of horses owned by the
Dryers, The writer does not know of
a single prominent turfman besides the
foregoing who keeps any turf pensioner
When the racer is foaled as a rule, he
is watched from the hour of his birth
until he reaches the market as a year
ling. When he is sold that ends the
breeders interest in him, except that it
is desired that he shall be successful
on the turf, because his future brothers
and sisters may fetch a higher market
price than if he retires a failure. Once
the yearlmg reaches the racing stable
he is broken, and his trials are watched
with interest.
TRIALS OF THE YEARLING.
II he runs fair trials and promises to
be useful he is well cared for and fur
nished with every equine luxury. If his
trials indicate that he is not likely to
prove a winner he is sold as soon as
possible for what he will bring. The
successful thOroughbred's trials as a
yearling having proved satisfactory,
his owner enters him in the stakes to
be run as a tWo-year-old AS a two
year-old his efforts are observed, every
movement noted, and when he goes to
the post in his first race his owner
watches him with an eye of pride.
Should he win, his value is enhanced
and his owner tells his friends that he
has a good colt and expects great
things of him. During his two-year-
old career the colt wins several stakes,
and in his -year-old form proves
himself a breadwinner, but unfortu-
nately strains muscle or ruptures
| tendon in a fierce struggle to win
I
When the thoroughbred is led limping
back to his box the owner does not
exhibit an overabundance of senti-
ment; on the other hand he bewails the
losses incurred by the breaking down
Of the colt This does not apply to
poor owners It applies to million
aires, who race horses for the sport to
be derived from it and the possibilities
of being extensively advertised by the
press, with fair prospect of making
both ends meet by winning purses and
| stakes and a few wagers judiciously
| placed. The patient thoroughbred.
with his swollen tendon, is carefully ex-
amined The aid of a veterinarian is
called in. and many discussions are
held as to whether the horse will re-
! cover or remain unsound. Then the
'knackers" of the race track begin to
hover around like buzzards who scent
carrion afar off. The "knacker' is
permitted to examine the ailing tendon
and is told by the trainer that the horse
can be purchased for nominal sum AS
a rule, the "knacker'' purchases, and
the horse is put through a course of
torture known as firing and blisterfng.
When he next appears it is in the role
OF selling platter" in the colors OF
some hardened wretch who possesses
no feeling for either his jockeys or his
horses.
FATE OF THE CRIPPLED STAKE
HORSE.
The crippled stake horse is raced in
rain or sunshine, on muddy or dry
tracks; and when he is no longer of
any use to the ''knacker'' he is ship
ped to the minor tracks known as the
outlaw tracks, where he is starved and
beaten until nothing remains bue the
frame and hide of what was once the
idol of race goers at Sheepshead Bay
or Morris Park. Broken down, lame.
ill-treated and forgotten, he becomes
the property of some vender of vegeta-
| bles or other commodity, and is next
seen in the shafts of a peddler's wagon:
and, on the whole, the peddler, so far
as he is able, gives him better treat
ment than any of the owners through
whose hands he. has passed. There is
hardly a day that the observant horse
man cannot see thoroughbreds that
won at Sheepshead Bay or Brooklyn
attached to cabs express wagons and
other vehicles in this city. The thor
oughbred is finely constituted, hence
he is more susceptible to ill-trea tment
than horses of coarser breeding. There
fore his career in the shafts does not
extend over many years. He is soon a
complete wreck, and then he is material
for the real 'knacker,' who purchases
horses for two or three dollars apiece
for the purpose of rendering them and
securing the hide.
Tho number of fhpr011 erh hreds that