Omaha daily bee., 1899-03-05
WORDS WITH THE HORSsMEN
Changes In the National TrottinE As
ISOLATION Rules Charlie
Thorpe Will Retire.

Western horsemen will be interested in
the changes that we're made recently in the
rules Of the National Trotting association.
This intere.t will attach mainly 20 the anti
hopples regulation and the rule requiring
drivers to be licensed. Both these matters
we're offered to the American Trotting as
ISOLATION, which controls western racing. but
that body dropped the two subjects without
discussing them at all. Both these regula-
lions have now been abolished by the Ma
tional Trotting association.
The action in connection with the anti
hopples legislation would indicate that the
members who go to make up the national
association are OF a yacillating character.
This rule was not slated to go into effect
until January l, 1899, and the association
therefore stands in a position Of having
rescinded it without giving it even a trial.
The rule as changed now reads as follows
Horses wearing hopples shall not be
eligible to start in races on grounds of mem
bers unless otherwise stated" This Will
permit hopples to be barred if the racing
associations acting under the national asso-
citation rules wish.
The license rule, which had been adopted
only after a hard fight last year, was ex-
pected to be rescinded. While it promised
" http lue uIlNtTS, many OF WlOm are
smooth customers, within bounds and was
hailed everywhere as a splendid safeguard
against crookedness the rule was utterly
disregarded by a good many of the tracks
and whatever good qualities It may have had
were never brought to light.
Another quite important change was in
connection with bar time. The section
that formerly governed read as follows:
Time made on mona SSppiatipp trorl,g el,lI
be records or bars, as the case may be, the
same as If made over association tracks"
This section was entirely abolished and the
following substituted: ANY public race at
less than one mile and exceeding one-half
mile shall be regarded as irregular and time
made in any such race shall create a bar"
FROM san Francisco comes the report that
Jockey Charlie Thorpe, VIII is well known
in this city and in this section of the coun-
try, and who has been riding for Burns &
Warehouse for three years at $40, 900 a
year, will retire from the saddle at the
end of this season to live on his ranch in
the Sacramento valley. The telegram says
that Thorpe is well-to-do, and is over 40
years of age. To people of the middle
west who know Thorpe it is news that be
is so old and that he has a California ranch.
Recently Thorpe told a Chicago reporter
that he had made up his mind to quit riding
now that he had sufficient money to live
on, principally because of his wife's plead
ings. He said at one time that he owned
two big farms in Kansas and one in Iowa,
and would devote a great deal Of his time
to raising blooded stock. The acquisition
of a ranch in California is a piece of good
luck that every friend of the most popular
Jockey in the country will hail with de-
light. Thorpe has had a long career o.
honest riding, but he is only so years old.
Recent sales of light harness horses of
well bred character indicate that the horse
market is in a pretty fair condition. Some
good prices were recently paid for good
horses at the Fasig sale in New York.
Rubinstein, the fastest son Of Baron Wilkes
and the winner of the fastest seven-heat
race ever paced by a 4-year-Old, was sold to
Abe Johnson of Brockton, Mass, for SIS, 900.
Pilot Boy, the trotter with a record of
2:O9A, was knocked down for So, 700. The
Chicago crack pacing mare, the champion
5-year-old Bessie Bonehill, sold for 1850.
These were the bright bits in the Fasig
sale, although a number of other animals
brought good prices. At the Splan-New-
gass sale in Chicago one of the most sensa-
tional sales of the year was made when the
much-talked-of trotting team, Vert, 2:15M,
and B C, 2:25h. were sold to Andrew
Carnegie for $4,000. This is the highest
price paid for a pole team for a good many
years. Vert and B c are 6-year-old brown
geldings, 15.2 hands high, and they are
said to be matched to a hair in color, form,
style, action and temperament, with speed
enough in double harness to beat the team
record of 2:12A. B C is by Bourbonage,
son of Baron Wilkes, and Vert is by Wa.-
lock, a noted old trotting sire.