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REGARDED COLIN AS GREATEST OF ALL. James R. Kcenc Considered Son of Commando and Pastoiella Best Racer World Has Seen. The character of the late James it. Keene was so complex, that, while Wall afreet operators san • .IK- side ni him, they knew nothing of the side ha displayed whih- petting his faawina nee home. Sysonby. and tbe older Domino, or the satisfaction Im gathered from erecting a monument to Domino after hia death at a riin- old age. Mi. Keene contended to the end of hi* experience with race horses that tolin was the greatest horse the world haa eve seen v,, far :is ability to win lines wna i-ini lined, while llomino was the most lovable horse thai ever lived, regardless of what the people might think of their favorite Svsonliv. Mr. Keene always insisted that Colin was his ideal of what American standards of breeding could do. •■file horse lias bred into bint," Mr Keene mid, "both speed and stamina. His winnings mean that oar standard is improving. And our standard should continue to in m for the horse is a nohU animal and is worth cultivating." No other patron ,.f tbe tnrf anywhere in the world ever won as much money with his race horses as did Mr. Keene. In the thirty-three years lie was connected with the apart his racing colors, white, blue sii.ts. flashed li e first in most of the great events ni America, England and France, the Epsom Derbj being an exception. There was M-arcely a hi racing event In existence that was not won al some lime or another by omul in- horses. Daring his k»ug career as breeder and owner, h1 horses are credited wiili having won |i:i.OOO,ooti a record that lias never been approached bj any other turfman. Ami interwoven in this success was that ol .lames Bowe, iiK trainer. During the eleven years that Bowe developed the speed of Mr. Keenea thoroughbreds. 1 he horse* won .tNM.0» 0. Mr. Keenea hmma were the start of his life— the bread and wan- of hi- existence. In them he round a surcease from basiness cans and a tonic for the ills of the flesh, with him a g I horse was not a plaything or a toy to while away an idh hour. but something thai gave him Keen enjoyment and satisfaction for all time. Every Sunday, rain or shine, week in and week "in. be paid a visit to his horses while they wen in training on the New York tracks, frequently In-va- in such poor health that be had to lie literally carried into his aatomobUe. but despite his lack of physical Krength, be made tbe trip to hi- stables to insMiii bis nets. This affection foi his horses was strikingly lllns trated if his trfiaati to Doasfno when thai fanxsis racer died. Domino was the greatest two year old of 1893, and ana the higgeal individual winner of Mr. Keenes many mighty race horses. When llomino died at Castleton Stud i;i K.-iilmlv. Mr. Keene erected a handsome monument over his favorites grave. On the abaft of granite is an Inscription telling of tli horses acbievemeota. Domino had .1 Ion;; string of nnbrokea victorief to his credit as a I wo-yea 1 old, hut as a three-vear-old he was in-, 1, .11. Nevertheless be won 93,5Tj0 before he terminated ins rareer on the tnrf. Though one of the most conspicuous and daring speculators that Wall street ever kneu. ami al-o 1 1 iimps the most prominent of Americas turfmen, .1.11111 - U. Keene was not a betting man in his racing opei alioii- He routined his specula! ions to the -lock markil. win re be won and lost enormous folium-. He was known to have made onlv one large wager, when be bel sio.mm at 12 Id 1 on Eoxball in the Cambridgeshire Handicap thirty years agni, ami thai was truUng in comparison with tbe average a 11111- li-t in those days. On the witness stand once in- gave Ids occupation n- a speculator, and justified In- ease in this manner: "All that life consists of is the taking of chaneee; the spirit of speculation i- mimi with the man: Providence has Impressed in bis hear! and brain tin- betting Instinct. It i- responsible for civilian lions progress in .very country in the world. Without it our own population and wealth would he about a third of what they are Inlay: science and inven tion would be back one hundred yearn, and the immeasurable aid which our eontntrj baa given through its wonderful development In the half-fed populations of oldei countries would -till lie a matter of the future. Without -peculation--call it vain Ming if you wish enterprise would cease, bmnness decay, values decline and the country would go back twenty years in less than on-." on the tnrf. as |B Wall afreet, Mr. Keenea final public activities wen- defending age-old practice? ■gains a newer public opinion that would not tolerate them. He became angry whenever the name of 1 invi-i-nm- llu-rms was mentioned in his presence, and once be went to the ofiVe "I Angnsl Belmont to upbraid him for promising certain reforms in con neetion with race track customs. These practices to Mr. Keene were entirely right, and were sprinkled with the iiusi of hallowed precedent. He wanted no reforms, either iu tbe methods which made him tbe center of v.hal even now -land- as Wall streets most recent sensational stock manipulation, nr in the race track against which Governor Hughes waved war. One day whin hundred- of devotees of fashion were al the Madison Square Harden enjoying the Horse Show. Mr. Keene led away a selected few of his friends men and woiniii who like himself loved what was most noble in a thoroughbred horse. He led them northward to the .Museum of Natural Hi-torj ami iu the lengthening shadows at nightfall stood before the mounted skeleton of Sysonby. lioiscd for speed. And be -1 1 iu a silcnc,. thai none of hi- friends tbonghl ii tlmelv to Interrupt. Among those present were Frank K. Stnrgis. Schuyler I.. Parsons, Mi— Anne Morgan, daughter of .!. Pierponl Morgan: Mrs. I Borden Harriman, Mrs. Francis It. Appleton. Mrs. i laieiiic Macfcay, i.en. Horace Porter. ex-Ambassador Cboate, Mrs. |[. I : is li.-t.l Osbora -in fad. an unusually large groap of those moat devoted to Horse Show affair. Mi. Keene ran his hand lovingly over Kysoethys head, and at la-t some "in- n marked: "A perfect horse, Mr. Keene." iln- veteraa tnrfman was ronsed from his revery. "Ves. I think so," be answered and then led the waj back inward the Horse show.
