Evening star., 1901-05-04
THE OLD AND NEW H0RSEMtN.
The Passing of the Old Form of the
Patron of the Turf.

Washington has been well filled with
horsemen, and 1t was interesting to OBJ
serve them around the big hotels. and con-
trast the type of race track sporting men
of today with that OF a generation ago"
said a veteran turfman to a Star reporter
in one of the uptown hotels this morning.
There is no resemblance now to be
drawn between the two types except on
one point, and that is that the sport of to-
day goes the sport OF thirty years ago
went, to the track to see the races run.
There II ends.
The man who follows the races today
makes it a business. He figures his per-
centages carefully a Wall street
broker 1t is simply a financial transac-
tion with him. The horse is mere ma
chine that runs. He has about as much
sentiment for the animal that earns him
living, a fortune, or breaks, he has
for the jockey who rides the mounts he
backs.
The mind of the sport OF today is wrap
ped up in past performances, FORM
ites' stable dope odds percentages
and hundred technical things other than
the actual horse himself upon which the
sport figures. and of which the general
public have only an underlined idea.
When he talks with his companions in
the lobby of the hotel after dinner follow
ing day at the track. his language, which
is explicit to his hearers, is quite unintel-
ligible to an uninitiated hystander so oddly
and with such racing technicallties does
he frame his sentences as he talks about
his wins and his loses lhe seldom saws
won or lostD. and advances this reason
or that why his individual or combination
bets failed to connect with the winner.
The multiplicity and intrlcacies OF the
maZeS of the differentidtions OF why his
judgment mscarried, or his horse
horses didn't cross the wire first or second
in playing for place are as numerous as
the sparrows in the streets. and as rami-
fled the problems in differential cal
culus
For hours or, for that matter, for days
and months-for one day is but repeti-
ton of the precedinG-he talks on the one
subject. He is essentially a man of one
idea. His thoughts revolve around one
axis as closely the wheel OF suky fits
the hub. Seldom does he allow a mental
depression into other pastures. fearing, no
doubt, should his thoughts wander into
other fields, he would lose idea or "A
combination on the races Of the ensuing
day.
He goes up against a cold-blooded
proposition of dollars on the one side and
equine leg endurance and elasticity on the
other as hard a three-sheet theatrical
poster fits a billboard. He has no local
pride in horse or a stable. nor In a city.
section state. He has none of the APP
pearance of the old-time sport. He spends
great deal of money upon his clothes.
1t Is his ambition to have people think he
is a stock broker and so he is-a broker
in horse stock. He spends his money
freely and lives in first-claSS hotels
How different the old turfman of
my day. Many of the old residents of
Washington will recall the time when they
journeyed into the blue grass state and bet
their last dollar on Ten Brock; not neces-
sarly because they considered him bet
ter horse than the California mare Mollie
Mccarthy. but because he was a Ken
lucky thoroughbred and represented the
south And they and those who shared
this opinion took away from the game
from California old-time sporting men who
also backed their mare for patriotic rea-
sons a cool half million Of dollars
In those old days horse racing was n
sport. and not mere financial calcula-
tion, based upon percentages Of wins and
loses Local pride and the personal indi-
viduality, as it were. OF the horse himself,
were instruments in the moliing of mems
judgment. On the Old Brghtwood track
Washingtonians would back A Washington
horse against a Baltimore horse with n
patriotic affection touching to remember
even If their pockets were sadly touched
and emptied. Ana II beaten they were
game, and had dozen good reasons to
offer why the Washington horse might
have won If, etc.
"Of course. in the light Of today. local
pride is a poor thing upon which to back
a horse. but It added zest to the sport
Of horse racing which is like sauce to the
meat. The men Were of a different sort
Most Of them We're gentlemen az the term
was then understood. which is no refiec-
ton upon the sports OF today. but they
were men of means. who loved the horse
for himself. not what he could earn or
had done and who also enjoyed the race
for itself. The pool box was not the first
thought, either before or after the race
The race was not a financial transaction.
The horse was not a machine The book
maker was not the king nr the track"
Answer of Adam McCandlfsh.
In answering rule 70 snow cause why he
should not be COMMITTEE as for contempt for
alleged failure to pay certain court costs in
his former capacity as administrator of the
estate of his deceased father, Adam Nc
Candlish has entered the plea that the
court is without jurisdiction over him as
he is no longer administrator. Justice Bar
na rd has the matter under consideration
Northeast Branch once.
For The benefit of residents in the north
east The Star has branch Office at
Griftith's drug store, corner OF 7th and
III streets northeast, where classified ad-
ver:ise:nents of ana kind may be filed at
regular rates. Wanted Help and Wanted
Situations cost one cent . word