The Washington herald., 1913-02-02

race between these two famous thor
oughbreds had its inception in this city,
we will recite briefly some of the facts
I that led up to it. Eclipse was a North
| ern-bred and Northern-owned horse, and
had beaten everything that had run
against him. Foaled in 1914. he was eight
years old I'm 1872 when he was matched
against Sir Charles to run four mile
4 heats over the national course, located
| on a portion of the land on which the
suburb. Mt. Pleasant. is situated. There
was at the time. and had existed for
some years subsequent TO the Revolution
airy War. a sharp rivalry between sports
men North and SDuth OF the Potomac,
and. as the Northern cock had been
Growing very Justify on his particular
dunghill. the Southerners concocted
scheme to cut his comb and let little
blood.
James J. Harrison. OF Virginia. thought
Sir Charles the horse to do the trick,
and agreed to race Eclipse for $4,000
| side, $500 forfeit, the heats 10 be four
mile ones. On the day of the race, Mr..
| Harrison came forward and stated that
Sir Charles had met with an accident
and paid the forfeit. He thus offered to
| race Eclipse a single dash of four miles
for $3.50. and, Van Raust, who then
owned Eclipse. consented. the last named
| TO carry 126 pounds. and Sir Charles 120
pounds Eclipse led from the score.
About 100 rods from the winning post, Sir
Charles broke down and Eclipse won.
Much money was lost by the Virginia
contingent in side bets, and they were
sore and eager for revenge. What ir-
ritated them not little, was the bold
offer of J. c. Stevens. OF New York.
to run Eclipse four-mile heats over the
Union course. Lond Island. May. 1875, for
200 a side, 5000 forfeit against any
horse in the world
Five horses were selected by the South
erners. but all went wrong except the
four-year-old Henry. Col. W. r. John
son, of Petersburg. Va. a noted turf
man and matchmaker managed the de-
tails. But the night before the race
Col. Johnson ate too freely of lobster
and fell victim OF New York hospital
ity. Henry led from the tap of the
drum until three-fourths of the distance
was run, when Eclipse came up and
passed him, winning the race through
sheer endurance and gameness. The cele-
brated John Randolph, of Roanoke, said
in commenting on the greatest race ever
run in America, up to that date, that
it was the Holsters, not Eclipse, that
beat Henry. In saying this, Mr.. Ran
dolph evidently weant that II Col. John
son had not been indisposed Henry's
rider would not have been permitted to
set the pace in each heat, which re-
calls to mind the old adage: ''Tige is a
good dog, but Holdfast is better one"
Eclipse could be relied upon to hold
fast in any event, but It must be con-
fessed that he was outrun by Henry
until near the WIRE and that If Henry's
rider had spared his mount more for
the homecoming. it is highly probable
Eclipse would have been beaten. It
should be remarked in this connection.
that the blood of Eclipse and Henry
have blended kindly with that OF Ham
bletonian 10 and Hambrinn Chief II. and
with other strains of trotting blood, Man,
brino Patchen, Jay Gould, George NJ.
Patchen, Spuggler. Nelson, Pocahontas.
Axworthy and Shanghai Mary all car
ried the blood of Eclipse, while It is
held that the dam of Seely's American
Star Il was by Henry.
The rule recently adopted by the Grand
Circuit stewards, limiting the amount
of money a horse shall earn in sin
gle racing season Is exciting more acrid
discussion than even the antt-hopple leg
islation produced in its day. Granting
that the stewards were well intentioned
in their action and wished to equalize
the earning capacity of horses that race
on the Grand Circuit, the real question
at issue is, was it wise to put limita-
ton on the earning capacity of capable
horse What would be thought of law
passed by Congress that limited the earn
ing caPacity of individuals? Would not
such a law be denounced as one inter-
ferring with the personal rights OF man.
and would not such a law penalize the
ability of one man to earn more In
single year than some other man, handi-
cap brains and energy-and put a prem
ium on mediocrity?
From our viewpoint, the rule, as II
reads, hurts the poor and rich ahke.
Many men of moderate means have bred
and developed stake trotters and PAGERS,
and either raced them in person, or turn
ed them over to a Murphy, a Cal. or
Geers to be raced on a percentage of
winnings. Not all the rich men own
stake horses and race them. To put
an embargo upon the earning capacity
of man or horse is death to Individual
enterprise, good judgment, and SIKH, and
we believe in this special case 1t is
a blow dealt at the breeding industry
OF the United States. Baden's and r..
T. C.'s are not so numerous that they
need to be Handicapped. nor are Joe
Patchen's IL SO numerous every year that
they should be legislated against. There |
mill isa nfIlN