San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-10-31
BRITISH ALL THROUGH

Mr.. Jarvis. the trainer of the British
horse, Papyrus which was recently de-
feated in the international race at New
York, must be perfect Briton. He
is, appar emily, one of those Britishcrs
who never can see anything good in
anything unless it comes out OF Britain
or is of British origin.
When it became evident that the
race would be run on a muddy track.
several American horsemen went to Mr..
Jarvis and suggested that he have his
horse shod with clips such as are used
by American horses on such occasions
to assure them surer footing on the
track and consequently give them
greater speed.
However Mr.. Jarvis would have none
of the clips. He had never used them
in England. why should he use them
anywhere else? He had some bloody
English horseshoeS and what could any,
body want better than them? The fact
that he had never heard of clips and
that they were not used in English mud
was convincing to his British mind that
they should not be used in American mud
or any other kind of mud. The Ameri-
can trainers, anxious to give the British
horse every chance. explained to Mr..
Jarvis that Zev, the American horse
would have them. and that they would
constitute an advantage over the British
horse if the latter did not have them.
But Mr.. Jarvis was as British as his
blooming mime" He would have none
of them. In the back of his head he
probably considered the clips to be
blarsted American idea that could not
apply profitablv to his horse, because
they were not British.
AS he wanted it. so he had it. His
horse had no clips and his horse was
badly beaten. In all probability, his
horse woulS have been beaten even
though he had used double set of clips
on his feet and had clips for his noon
day meal. The fact remains however.
that after the race was over. O'Donog-
hue, the British Jockey. said that his
horse seemed to slp in the mud at times
during the race. He did not offer this
as an abb, but gave it casual mention
as one of the incidents of the race. II his
horse had used clips as the American
trainers had suggested his horse would
have slipped far less and might have |
made better showing in the race e, en- |
though it is now certain that Zev would |
have beaten him under almost anv con-
ditions However. Papvrus might have
had better show had he not been
handicapped by the characteristic British
mind of Trainer Jarvis.
AS for Mr.. Irish. the owner of the
British horse. he was equally British.
but his behavior was far more consistent
1t is announced that when he heard
that his horse had been beaten, he said
I'm sorry; we did the best we could
and tic Americans treated us splendidly
I'm sorry we did not win" He paused |
and his eyes filled with tears of disap-
pointment; then he smiled and said |
Lets have a drink" and as Britons
still retain their personal liberty, it is
probable that he had it.
When Mr.. Jarvis departed from Amer
lea he lad much to say of the beautiful
manner in which the Americans had
treated him and his horse. He Offered no
excuses and took his defeat like the oak
hearted Briton that he is The great pity
is that the oak was not confined to his
heart.