Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1897-07-27
HORSES ARE EXPENSIVE
If You Long to Start a Raoing
Stable Wen, Don't.
That Is, Unless You Are n Multi
millionaire Startling Fig
ures by an Ex-
pert.
Copyright. 1871

, and women Of all times and countries
have, to own a racing stable--either
to crafty your love for the sport Of
kings, or because you hope to enter So
ciety by way Of the turf and the pad
dock or because you have visions Of
wonderful coups and fabulous returns
and look upon your prospective stable
as a legitimate investment--it will be
wise for you to ponder, TO do lot Of
addition and a very little subtraction
before you choose your racing colors.
The adding will be of the expense items,
and will take you as long as you own
your stable; the subtraction will be
your earnings from your expenses, and
you may not have to do it more than
once or twice in your racing career
1t will cost you more to educate one
horse for a turf classic than it will to
educate your son in all the classics of
a university course; moreover, your
horse is much less likely to repay you
for his education.
Unless your boy acquires that collie
giate habit of changing his raiment
four times day, his tailor's bill will
be less than your horses tailor bill, and
unless he is a sheer idiot his tutors bill
win be less by many dollars than the
bill of your horse trainers understudy.
Only Glory in 1t.
Unless you are a Belmont. a Loril-
lard or a Keene. and intend TO race
your stable purely for the glory there is
in it. or unless you are as shrewd as
Dryer, Pittsburgh Phil or "Pa" Bill
Daily and are going to make your living
from the turf, racing stable is one OF
the finest investments to leave alone
which can be found in the country.
Somebody not long ago asked Pitts
burgh Phil, the keenest turfman Of
them all, what he thought of racing as
a business venture, and he replied that
it was the worst that possibly could be
made Looking at it from a financial
point of view, there is nothing to hope
for. You may have large winnings for
a year. or five years, or ten, but you
never heard of an out-and-out turfman
who depended upon the sport for his
income who died rich, or even moder-
ately well off.
Racing is the toughest game ever
devised by man. You must give every
moment of your time to it; you must
measure your brains against the cum
ningest and craftiest minds in the
country. You must follow every move
inent of your horses, nurse and pamper
them as you would baby, and then,
after you have studied it all out until
your brain reels and your hair turns
gray, the chances are so much against
you that not one man in a thousand
can win.
"Now ard then man with peculiar
aptitude and knowledge of the game
wins, but the geniuses of the turf are
fewer and further between than in any
other walk of life"
Counting the Cost.
A few days ago the writer asked a
veteran turfman--a man who has had
an intimate knowledge Of all the ms
and outs of the game for years, and
who now owns a stable of his own--to
give him in detail the expenses of main
tanning a moderate racing stable for 4
year.
Don't want any crackajacks-no
Hastings or Requitals or Henry of Ma
wares in your stable?" asked the turf
man.
mo crackajacks, Navarres or Re
quitals."
"Well, then, suppose that we begin
with a string of IL horses-fairly good,
honest racers, with promise of lard
ing some stakes before the season is
over. Your original capital will be
$4,000; that is the lowest possible sum
for which 10 horses such as you want
can be bought. You will see how low
this estimate is when tell you that
in one year August Belmont paid S92,-
600 for four horses. Henry of Navarro
cost him 1000; Hastings cost him
SS7, 500; keenan,, $4,000, and Dorian,
$4,000. In that same year w. p.
Thompson paid $4,000 for Requital.
such Prices for Trainers.
Having bought your horses, your
next big item will be your trainer. AT
the least you will have to pay him an
annual salary of $4,000, and provide
home and board for himself and family
the year round. A man who can COM
mand a salary of $4,000 will want to
live on the best that the land affords,
and in figuring $4,000 more for his liv-
ing expenses you are not overestimat-
ing it. Besides this you must pay your
trainer certain percentage of the net
earnings of your stable. The four or
five really first-class trainers in the
country to-day receive a salary of from
$4,000 to 100000, and get from five to
ten per cent. of the earnings of their
stables Take John Hyland, for ex-
ample; he received from Gideon & DAILY,
in 1895, $4,000 and ten per cent. of the
winnings. In 1896 August Belmont en-
gagged him, and the inference is that
he now receives a materially larger
| sum.
Jockey Wants "A Kings Ransom.
''Your next important item will be
your jockey. No rider whose skill Is
such that you dare intrust your horses
10 hin, In stain avanf oap Ia had for