The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-04-24

The last of the sectional match races on the American turf was run at Louis vile on July l. 1873, between Ten Broeck, one of Kentuckys greatest horses, and Mollie Mccarthy the pride of the Pa 1 citic coast. The rain and muddy track al- most made the race faseo. but the in- | terest was as keen as it had ever been in one of the old-time match races. The eastern racing men object to match races, because they are sure 10 engender quar- rels and bad blood and racing men have enough to contend with from the outside without splitting up in internal dissen- sions.
 The race course at Saratoga was laid l out in 1S6S William Travers being the leading spirit. In 1880 Jerome Park gave way 10 Sheepshead Bay and Brighton Beach, and the new era of metropolitan racing was born. In 1881 the first subur- ban at sheepshead Bay was captured by Gen. Monroe. and in 1888 the first futur- ity was won by Proctor Knott, with Sal vator second The subugban is the only great event of the New York race courses which has remained unchanged from the nrst no alterations in distances or con ditions having been made.
 The effect of the American love for horse racing upon the horses of the eouh- try has been marvellous The racing thor oughbreds and the standard bred harness horses have been improved from year 10 year, and with their improvement and de- velopment the domestic horse has been brought to q state of perfection not dreamed of ia the days gone by. In the Civil war the superiority of the cavalry from Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee, responsible for the fame of Forrest and Stuart and Morgan, has been universally credited In large part to the biooded horses with which these troops were equipped Even the Kentucky and Mis- souri mule owes his superiority to tho line of thoroughbred dams from whence he sprang.
 While breeding farms that produce great horses are to be found in many parts of the union, particularly in New York, Pennsylvania, California and Tennessee the commonwealth of Kentucky leads the world In the number of breeding estao- lishments and in the high class of their product In Kentucky Woodford coun- ty leads all the others Indeed, the his- tory of the horse cannot be written IT Woodford county be left out, with It's great names of Alexander. Harper, Bu- ford, Blackburn, Swigert and Kinkead. In neighboring counties there are the mighty seats of the families of blooded horses known by the names of McGrath Haggin Whitney, Belmont, Keene. and others Of their kind. Lexington. in Fayette county is the metropolis of the bluegrass and the capital of the Realm of the Thorough bred The bluegrass country comprises about HOO square miles Of territory, rolling country covered with the very king of grasses.
 Of it's stock farms, Woodburn in Wood- ford county Is perhaps most famous. For more than a century the Alexander fam- fly bred the finest horses to be found in the land The original Alexander was friend and protege of Benjamin Franklin. The farm was bought from Gen. Hugh Mercer of Revolutionary fame, in l790 The place originally included 2700 acres, but 1t has been increased now to 390o acres all of which is brought to the per lection of an Italian garden by intelligent care and improvement. From here came the mighty Foxhall. winner of two ofythe English classic races, also the Parisian Grand Prix. Woodburn was also the home of the mighty Lexington, who held the four-mile record for nineteen years, and whose descendants stood at the head of the list of winners for seven consecutive years-a record never before or since touched From Woodburn came also the great trotting mare, Maud S.. whose record was the unattainable goal of all trotters for many years, and which would have doubtless remained the top notch except for the improved conditions in sulkies and race tracks
 Adjoining Woodburn is the Harper place, founded by three brothers, John, Jacob and Adam Harper. From them it came to Frank B. Harper, who died re- gently at an advanced age. Adam Harper was killed by guerrilas during the Civil war, and Jacob and an aged sister were murdered in their beds one night in the seventies. John was away from home and escaped. Frank Harper. like his uncles, never married and lived for years alone in the old house about which so many tragic memories chung. The Harper farm was the home of the mighty Ten Broeck and the mvncible Longfellow-twc heroes of the turf whose names will not perish as long as the love of the sport lives in the breasts of Americans Over the grave of Longfellow Is a handsome stone bear ing the legend, Here lies the King of the Turf-Seventeen Starts-Fourteen Firsts" This stone and that over the I old Harper residence. Inside the house the walls are hung with oil portraits of the great Harper horses, and among these old man Harper dreamed away the de- clining years of his life. These are only two of the three hundred odd stock farms which have made the name of Kentucky famous.
 In passing it is interesting to note that the blue grass region of Kentucky and Tennessee was the first national park and game and forest reserve in America It was SD set apart, before the white man had come with profaning foot and con quering firearm, by the great Iroquois tribes of Indians, the Six Nations They forpade any settlement or agriculture in all that great region and 1t became known as the hunting grounds" The Iroquois on the north, the Cherokees on the east. and the Chickasaws on the west were bound by treaty to keep these hunt ing grounds neutral territory. There was d perpetual truce that the arrow might be sped only when Aimed at the game and fowl of the wilderness. The stone monuments put rp by the 1roquois to mark the boundaries of this first national park are still to be traced. and a few of them are still standing.
 The Pacific coast has contributed much to the American turf. Racing began in California almost soon gold digging. and has been kept up ever since. There the old-fashioned long races con tinued years after they were abandoned in the east. About thirty years ago the famous Lucky Baldwin started the Santa Anita ranch. Leland Stanford founded