The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1919-12-17

~ NStaks0U " tNotoUds SStSuoSs
At no time in the course of the last
i've years, not even while the great
war was at its height, did the Cen
trail Empires stop the racing Of thor
oughbred horses. The great tracks at
Hamburg, Buda Pest, Vienna and Ber-
lin we're the scenes Of brilliant gather
ings, even when the Grand Duke Mich
olas was threatening East Prussia
with invasion and Brusllof was on the
edge of the plains of Hungary with his
wild Cossack riders. At no time dur
ing the course Of the great war were
American and English trainers and
Jockeys, who had been caught by the
declaration of war In Germany and
AustriaHungary and were unable to
obtain passports. interned. They were
permitted by governments their gov
ernments were seeking to destroy to
pursue their accustomed callings I'm.
molested and unrestraineL.
To a certain extent racing was cur
tailed in Great Britain during the first
two years of the great war. The use
of the famous Epson Downs course
as a resting place for cOnvalesclng sol
diers necessitated the running of the
famous British Derby at Newmarket
in 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917 and 1918. The
preoccupation of the sportsmen Of
Great Britain in the business of war
caused them, TO certain extent, to
neglect the thoroughbred sales of 1918,
1915 and 1917, and Americans were
enabled to slip in and buy up lot OF
irst-class stations and mares with
which to enrich the American thor
oughbred industry.
France Alone Stops Racing.
OF the great nations participating In
the great war, France alone felt the
necessity of stopping horse racing.
Threatened with utter destruction in Il
food OF Teutonic barbarism, France
had to send to the fighting lines on The
Marine, the Somme, the Aisne about
Verdun, in the Vosgcs, every male
Frenchman capable of bearing arms.
Back of the fighting lines she had to
mobilize the elderly men with the
women and children for the imperative
work of making munitions. Upon
France alone fell the burden Of resist
ing the German tide for upward Of two
years. Throughout the course of the
war speed tests were held at the great
French tracks, but not as public spec
tacles. But there was no letting down
of the bars as regards the expectation
from France Of thoroughbred blood
any time during the war. AS special
consideration citizens of the United
| States, country from which the
French, from the very beginning Of the
war, were drawing enormous quanti-
| ties of military material, who had thor
oughbred studs in France, such men as
John Sanford, of Amsterdam, Major
August Belmont, Joseph f. Widener
and Thomas p. ThOrne, were permit
ted, when transportation was avalla-
BILE, to ship to the United States lin
tied number of thoroughbred yearlings
NO matured thoroughbred stations or
males were allowed to leave the coun'
try, whether their owners were FRENCH
men or Outlanders.
with the. signing Of the armistice
France and England resumed racing
with Characteristic enthusiasm. The
attendance at the race tracks about
Paris has been greater this season
than in any for the period of half a
dozen years preceding the outbreak Of
the great war. The crowds that wit
messed the running of the Derby, the
Oaks, the Ascot Gold Cup, the Leger,
ETC., in Great Britain, were greater by
the thousands than the greatest Of
ante-bellum race track gatherings.
Sport Encouraged in Europe.
In France and Great Britain the pat
rOnage of horse racing, by the public,
has the highest government encourage
ment now as the support OF racing had
In Germany and Austrla-liungary even
through the dark months when human
beings were finding 1t difficult to OBJ
tain nourishing food. France and Eng
land recognize today as Germany aud
Austria-Hungary have for many days
the indispensibility Of thoroughbred
blood to national defense and neces-
sity of thoroughbred horse racing for