New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-12-10
HORSE IN FAVOR AGAIN.
REMARKABLE INCREASE IN RIDING AND
DRIVING THIS YEAR

WHAT THE SPEEDWAY HAS DONE FOR THE LIGHT
HARNESS HoRsD-HIoHEsr PRICES ON Rho-
ORD FOR CARRIAGE TEAMs-vIEws
OF PROMINENT DEALERS.
, e.. casual observer has not failed TO note
A. ,n.rked increase in riding and driving TINS
vsar vet few persons other than those ciosei' "'
ISOLATED with such interests In business way 20"
realize what a change has come over the ho'Se
world since the decline OF bicycling ana 'he ie'".
a, nrosperity to New-York and the country AT
- t>vervbodv from the breeder TO the blacR-
,,,b has felt the effects Of this new DOOM anu
Increasing trade rising values is reporter OH al
sides. -. ,or,oss
,orsa the opening Of the Harlem River speedway
has done wonders not only here, but throusnou'
,ha 1rni,ed States and Canada. Boston, BuHalo'
p,,tshurg Philadelphia and other cities are follow
ing the example OF New-York, and the lnoica'o's
are that before long speeding ground lot 'ie
American type Of horse will be among the paIh
improvements Of nearly every American city mere
IN the metropolis IT is estimated by experts '""s
u,tb,n the last year the number OF trotting ana
pacing horses kept for pleasure driving mas oeen
multiplied nearly tenfold. Anybody familiar win
the Speedway flyers can name more than one nun
dred horses having records OF 215 or better tha'
have been added TO the list OF metropolitan Ioau-
sters since the driveway on the west bank OF 'he
Harlem River was thrown open. In July, 1873 Anu
for every trotter PAGER with record OF 40
there are ten or more having records not so ias''
as well as many more fast ones having no pupho
records at all.
PART THE SPEEDWAY PLAYED
That the Speedway is directly responsible for
this remarkable increase In the number OF morse
fanciers who drive trotters the road is known
10 everybody Before the new driveway was COM
pleted the speedy light harness horse had we'll
night disappeared from the roads Of New-York for
there was not single stretch of soft earth ROAD
on Manhattan Island where man could safely
speed a valuable trotter or PAGER All horsemeh
will recall the meagre showing made by the trotters
at Speedway Park when the bars were hrst taken
down. Almost Immediately, however. their num-
bers began TO increase. slowly at hrst and then
with rush, which is greater than ever as the
driving season of 1899 draws to a close.
Illustrating the influence OF the Speedway, Cap
tain c. II. Mcdonald relates an experience which
is as interesting as it is remarkable, as follows:
I can show you boarding stable in Harlem
that was a monumental failure before the opening
of the Speedway. 1t was built in 1888 at cost OF
bles in the country. The man who built it opened
the place. and lost about $4,000 in addition TO los
mortgage after two three men had tried and
failed TO make 1t pay The building stood vacant
tempt to carry the losing business. To-day this
stable is ned with road horses. whose owners
thirty trotters and PAGERS with records below 2GO
In this one stable alone A dozen or more of them
were brought here from out of town expressly for
Speedway driving and there was hardly one horse
In the lot that had been owned in New ork when
the Speedway was opened last year. All the board
Ing stables doing thriving business at present.
where they were all complaining only little more
.han year ago.
PNEUMATIC ROAD WAGONS.
The effect Of the Speedway is plainly in the
large number of pneumatic road wagons no" used:
Before the driveway opened these small
wheeled rubber tired vehicles were almost a curl
osity, few Of them being In use at that time,
Nowadays may see hundreds Of them any
Sunday In Seventh-ave. or at Speedway Park They
outnumber the high wheel wagons and buggies
two TO one. A dozen more bicycle makers nave
lately gone into the business OF building pneu-
matio wagons for the trotters. and all of them
doing thriving business at their New-York
headquarters To a reporter OF The Tribune w. X
Rose. of the Speedway Carriage and Harness Com
pany, in Forty-secOnd-st.. said the other day.;
The RcR nys h anS
directly attributable TO the opening OF the Harlem
River Driveway Although the first one, was , seen
on the road here last season, you can count thein
by the score at Speedway Park any Sunday morn
Ing at present.
John A. Blaurock of the Blaurock Carriage
Company. IN upper Broadway. had this to- say
about the trade in pneumatic road wagons:
Most of the Caffrey wagons which we handle ale
are built partly TO order for our customers. 70
SHOW you where we stand Will Just say II , LOON
us six weeks to get wagon fST es Was the rush
at the shops in Camden. Down at the Garden
took orders for wagons than we hss s S %e
IN the whole Of the last four months OF 1873 a.ons
either Lois OF other makers will tell you they
are away behind their orders
GOOD PRICES FOR HORSES
CONCERNING the demand for road horses. b. A.
Upton, Of the Fasig-Tipton Company. said
Our big sale. which followed the Horse SHOW "a, AZ
sale OF light harness horses that has been neld
in Newyork since l S Mere h0 0rSess esti
mate that the demand for good road horses ms
more than doubled within a year. anu p''''' 81 '
fully one-third higher
At the American Horse Exchange W. d. Grand
and r. NJ Ware talked interestingly ABOUT the
market for heavy harness horses and the lhcreas-
ing interest in park driving, Mr. Grand said:
The records Of my auction sales In 1899 show an
Improvement OF just about 50 cent in values over
horses ss'e came q. from the same consgnors in
years and were virtually the same IN point OF
e eSasyt 50 Moreover the books SHOW this
in price is true OF each ndiydqai s Tonsig
gether When l say this mean Of such shippers al
ehenor Co.. Bryant Jew 81 hrFnS boTses st[
the Newly market every year; We could hav'
done a much larger business II we could hav
found the horses to SELL But the fact Is high eas
horses becoming very scarce. New orh puSS
ers have learned 10 know a good horse on sigh
since horse shows became so popular and the,
want the best only n few years ago you coulo Tea
out one hundred carriage horses. good and common
place. and sell them at auction. and there wopl
moi he n great difference between the selling prc
of the best and the poorest Of the lot But IN IN
amateurs are experts nowadays. Ihey pick OUT IN
really high class horses at glance, almost, i
every public sale, and bid for them accS i ,
My October sale OF carriage horses TINS year wa
the best ever known in New YORK or elseWher'
Forty horses brought an average or sVS each an
twenty-five Of them averaged 1850 each iha nat
away ahead OF any sale on record. Several Euro
pean horsemen who were here at the time y VOC
place told me such sale would be imposssiDle ~
sny other city in the world. Neither LONDON no
Paris they said. could take SO many hisn C.as
carriage horses at such prices. When you renen
Der that ali of the horses were American trotter
trimmed UP in hackney style IT seems 70 tne
the newspapers. Why, II sale IKE thst Mere h an
OF the talk about It, The trottng bred carr'eg
horse Of America s the best horse OF his kno IN u
world and when he beats the WORLDS RECORD