The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-23
FAST HORSES STILL
HOLDING Big PLACE
Automobiles Have Had but
Little Effect on the
Trade
snecial to The Globe

Special to The Globe
NEW YORK, April 22.-The year book
of the League of Amateur Driving clubs
for 1904 shows a remarkable interest in
amateur sport of this character in So
called "horseless age" The members of
the league are Gentlemen's Driving asso-
citation of New York, Boston, Chicago,
Columbus. o.; Cleveland, Lexington, Ky,
and Memphis, the Matinee club of Pitts
burg and Allegheny and the Driving club
of Syracuse. There are, of course, q
large number of other clubs who have
not yet realized the necessity of afiiliation.
but in the meantime it must be borne In
mind that when the National Trotting as
sociation was organized it had only a
membership of sixty and the American
about the same number. Today the 1900
trottlng associations Of the continent in
the United States and Canada are all in
membership with these two professional
governing bodies and are amenable TO
thelr rules. Ii is safe to predict that IN
few years every amateur association
VIII be in membership. with the league or
will recognize its rules.
Ever since Commodore Vanderbilt, the
founder of the famous family, and the
father of the New York Central and its
allied groups of railroads, found his soie
recreation in driving fast trotterS the
amateur drivers have been a power here
in the metropolis. Not even the bicycle
craze OF the past or the present passion
lUi duIOulOBlIGS nave peen dDlG 10 uO
away with the demand here in New York
Tor fairly good horses. William X. Van
derbilt maintained the honorS Of the fam
lily and at Fleetwood drove his famous
team Maud 5. and Aldine, a mile in 2:1512
last fall. This is the best time, under
the circumstances, ever made. The
younger generation of the VanderbitS all
inherit that interest in good horses which
made their ancestors famous if for no
other reason, for this one thing alone.
{. k G. Billings holds the championship
amateur team records for both trotterS
and PAGERS and both of them lead the
professional records This will illustrate
TO what an extent the amateur love of
horses has developed. The wealthy Knick-
erbocker families were powerful enough
TO secure the 5000, 600 speedway at a
time when bicycle influences We're clam
o1lng toT city bicycle paths and the same
amateur sports men are still powerful
enough IN an age of automobiles to keep
the speedway drive of beauty and crowd
1t on pleasant days with horses fit to de-
light the heart of any amateur. When il
comes to spending money the amateurs
are even more liberal than the profess
sionals. c. X. G. Billings outbid all pro-
fessionals for Lou Dillon before she ever
raced. i. e. Smathers paid $4,000 for
Major Delmar for no other purpose than
to win the amateur gold cup offered by
What is true of New York was true in
lesser degree of all the northern and
middle states where the tTotting horse is
popular. But with thousands of amateur
organizations, no amateur clubs and no
amateur races except at professional
meetings. All this has been rapidly
changed, and within a decade amateur
clubs, gentlemen's driving associations and
road drivers associations have grown and
multiplied so that all leading cities have
at least one such organization. Naturally
these independent clubs had their own
rules which. in intercity races, We're liable
to conflict and the necessity of q parent
authority became apparent hence the or
ganiZation of the League of American
Driving clubs
The Driving club of New York, as far
est member Of the league. It's home is the
where its matineeS take place Last year
II gave fifteen free matinees, at which
$50 races and trials against time We're de-
cided. Brayton Ives won the Gun Ibr the
fastest trotting time in a race with Monte
Carlo in 2:06.
The organization which took the lead
was the Gentlemens Driving club of
Cleveland, which was formed in 1895. It
has a membership of nearly 200 and its
president is II. K. DeVereuX who is also
the president Of the league.
New England has always been devoted
to the trotting horse. Boston is it's CEN
ter and statistics prove that more money
IS spent in trotting sport in that city each
season than in any other city on the con-
tinent. 1t is. therefore. only a natural
sequence that the Gentlemen's Driving
club of Boston. organized in 1899, should
be prominent and wealthy organization