Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-06
SQUARE SIDE OF RACING

I'm the death of william C. Whitney,
racing in the United States has received a
shock from which It will be long in recov-
ering," said a 1well-known Washington
sportsman. who has had his racing coiors
registered with the jockey clubs for many
years past. '1 do not mean that racing
will suffer materially or financially, for
there are too many substantial men of az
fairs now infcharge of racing as an instf-
tuition in this country to cause the sport to
suffer even when one OF It's ma1nstays
drops out. I refer to what may be termed
the square Side of racing. Crooked racing
men never took many chances at any race
track with which William c. Whitney had
anything to do. They knew their newt
| able fate, so far as the American turf was
concerned If they were discovered in jobs
on race courses with which Mr.. Whitney
had any connection. From the day that
Mr.. Whitney took his position as racing
man, he began his quiet but merciless cam
paign against the thieves and cadgers or
the turf, and he never let up on them once
he had clear proof against them.
He was utterly opposed to the system
which permitted the gambling feature to be
the uppermost feature of racing, and he
never ceased in his efforts to make the
gambling end of it subservient to the more
worthy features of racing. He was sternly
In opposition to the tremendous piungerS,
the chaps whose enormous winnings were
advertised all over the country. to inf1ame,
the minds of young men and make them
disconnected with their piodding conditions
Plunger after plunger, during recent years.
has been quietly notified, at the instigation
of Mr.. Whitney, one of the powers or the
eastern turf organization to either curtafl
the size of his speculat tons, or else betake
himself to other fields. Some OF the plung-
ers ranted and raved over these notfhca-
tons, but they all ended by agreeing to
obey the warning.
although he took his position in turf
affairs late in life, Mr.. Whitney had from
his young manhood been devoted to thor
oughbred horses, but 1t was only when his
affairs were at length welded into such
shape that he found himself able to give
almost undivided attention to the forma-
ton of great racing establishment that
he entered upon the sport Of racing at ALL
The love of a conquering race horse was
an absolute passion with Mr.. Whitney. He
loved the horse for the power and beauty
and courage and nobility of him, and not
because of his value as racing tool or his
earning capacity.
"Of all the great horses that he ever
| owned, believe that he loved the splendid
colt Ballyhoo Bey. that Won the Futurity
for him, the most Ballyhoo Bey was con-
sidered a speed marvel as a skylarking
yearling down in the old blue grass coun-
try, but he was difficult to train, and when
he was shipped north at the beginning OF
his two-year-old year to race in the great
uXtufeS I0T WHICH lie Tdu Deeu eHteTcu, TIC
colt went amiss. John Madden, the astute
horseman VINO had the colt in charge, never
lost faith in him, however. and finally, got
him to the post in race at Saratoga,
week or so before the Futurfty was run.
Ballyhoo Bey was badly beaten by several
inferior colts in that race.
well, John, how about the colt nova?
Mr.. Whitney inquired, bit doubtfully, af-
ter that race.
Nothing, was Madden's instant reply.
except that he's the fastest thing wearing
hair in the world today
Mr.. Whitney had previously wired to
England to- have Tod Sloan. the greatest
of all the Jockeys, past or present, to come
to this country to ride BaIIyhoo Bey in the
Futurity at Sheepshead Bay. When Sloan
reached New York Mr.. Whitney took him
up to Saratoga to give Ballyhoo Bey a
workout and fird out what Sloan thought
of the COLT Sloan sent the colt along at
racing clip1for five furlongs.
Is he any account, Tod? Mr.. Whitney
asked the Jockey when he was climbing
down from the colt.
He's the fastest horse / ever threw
leg over the little jockey man replied In
stantly.
Sloan rode Ballyhoo Bey to easy VIC
tory in the Futurity, and Mr.. Whitney
handed him check for 10000 for doing 1t.
The next week Raslyhoo Bey easily won the
FYatbush stakes, but the win was protested
by Foxhah Keenes the owner. with his
father, Of a couple of horses in that race
on the ground that Sloan had allowed Bal
lyhoo Bey to bump the Keene. colts, and it
is well Known fact that Mr. Whitney was
never quite able to forgive that accusation.
for the race was fair one. He sent the
amount of the Flatbush stakes to a Brook
lyn hospital, utterly refusing to accept the
money after the protest had been made,
and he would never again look at a race of
any of his horses against Keene horses.
When Balyhoo Bey broke down at the be-
ginning Of his three-year-old year Mr..
Whitney journeyed all the way down to
Kentucky to pamper the colt.
HE bet only occasionally, and he used
to humorously comment the fact that,
notwithstanding the tremendous success of
his horses, he lost four out of five of the
bets that he made on them They seemed
almost bound to get just beaten out when
their indulgent owner had bumper bets
down on their chances. He had 10000
down on the winning chance of his great
mare Gunfire in last years Brooklyn handi-
cap. When Irish Lad, the game colt be-
longing to his son, Harry Payne Whitney,
took that race the very wire, winning
the event literally by two inches, after
one of the most gruelling contests in all
racing history. Mr. Whitney gave his son
a slap on the back and said to him affec-
tionately:
Well, it's all in the family, son!'
But the young man looked distinctly
chagrined.
I'D rather you had got it with Gunfire.
governor he replied, and you wager
that nobody within hearing distance thought
any the less of young Whitney for that
remark"