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DEVELOPMENT OF THE THOROUGHBRED. The race track as we know It was first resorted to by the | eople of olden times, not for sport or , amusement, but shnply as a means to test the superiority of ceitain horses or breeds of horses over other animals of the same or different strains, so that they could absolutely know which horse or breed of horses had the most speed, endurance and weight curving abilities. One of the early kings I of England was the lirst to bring the race course into popular favor by simply using it to try out his own horses to find out which ones were the best i for Mm to ride In battle or in the chase, an all-iinioriant • thing for a king to know during that I troublesome period of English history, and It is a good thing yet for the cavalry of any nation to confidently tad that they are better mounted than i their enemies. History tells us that there were races ami race Sanaa long, long liefore that — in the Creek games, back to the time of Homer, where • history vi rges into tradition and tradition fades i into inv:h. Hut as we understand the race course. as it is now. it is an English institution. Soon this ! process of testing the qualities of the thoroughbred I horse grew into a favorite sport among all classes of aaoake. Rai-e courses multiplied and racing became a national institution. Good looking, fashion ably bred, high-class horses were eagerly sought , after, anil commanded high prices for the purpose i of trials of speed as an amusement. In 1727 -Mr. John Cheney established the Racing Calendar, an historical record of all the horse races I run in Kugland ami Wales during that year and in the years following, and a complete record has been 1 kept of all ran* run in England down to the present t time, with age. weight carried and breeding of the different contestants. In this country " Kriks " Cuiile. Goodwins Racing Cubic and Daily Racing - ", Form have given a complete account each year of 1 all the races run in the Coiled States and Canada. The winners were selected to breed from because ,. tiny had demonstrated that they were the best 1 horses and the bad ones eliminated, thus estah - lishing a breed of race horses superior to any 1 . other kind of horse in the world. This would I not have heen possible could they not have been ,, developed, tried oui. and selected from their perform:, " n-e on the race track. We have horses here e in the liiileil Slate: that trace back through a number of goiMl winners without missing a link to " tin- horses owned by Oliver Cromwell. King Charles s I. and James I. in a dozen different ways. The ancestral tree of any descendant of the lilgrims on a Hie Mayflower or tin- Daughters of the American „ Id-volution is nothing compared to the tabulated II pedigree of any good thoroughbred horse. He is the , only real aristocrat in America today, and he and his ■ ancestors have earned their titles on many a hard-fought I- battlefield by conquering their competitors. I So at an early date, as it is now. what was the means of demonstrating the Tine worth of the lac e horse became the object of a sport-loving public ,. and tin- highest ambition of a wealthy and leisure «■ class was to win one of the classic events, either for the honor or the money there was in it. Still, they never lost sight of that one main idea, that the best strain was the one that could win. and they kept on improving the breed until now they have size, strength, weight, s|i.-cd. endurance and all the deniable qualities that a horse should have. The- Reach goviniinent has naed the English race Banc for years ami one product is the French coach bane. The Cerman government considers it money well invested to pav over S100.000 for Ard Patrick and 0,000 for Caltee More, two of the l est race borsea in England, to areas on common farm mares. All the great nations of the world seem to want the an horse hut America, and our horses are eagerly sought after bjr discriminating breeders from all loimtrics. as evinced by the prices received for the tliousands of good horses forced from our shores by adverse laws. The Canadian National Bureau of ttreedtaaj was- organized in loos for the purpose of improving the breed of horses in Canada by placing thoroughbred. kUllions of class ami pedigree within , I . I May reach of farmers with good cold-blooded marcs. It expects to distribute 1" Millions each vear of live vcais to rcsiMHisihle Sara tlirou--lio.it the l o minion free of all Coat, whq in turn v.ill give their neighbors a chance to bleed to these royally bred tallions for a small aflllS fee. The bureau is no: controlled by or affiliated witli any jockey club or racing association, but aims to be on friendly terms witli al! such organizations, realizing that the race track test is the only one thai is reliable. That there are some things on the race track that should be regulated and some eliminated every one connected with the legitimate turf will admit without question: but who are the ones best fitted to adjust these debatable points, the people who are only looking for what appears to be impularity and know or care nothing of the merits of the case, or the men who have their money in the breeding farms, stallions and mares, and expect to make the scientific breeding of the horse their life business? If it be admitted that racing and the race tracks arc subject to occasional abuses that is only to admit them not to be exempt from human frailties. Bacing was, is now and ever will be the supreme and only trustworthy and infallible test by which we can develop, maintain and preserve the desirable qualities of the blooded horse. — C. K. Brossraan. In National Stockman.
