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ARGENTINIAN HORSES AND RACING. Frank G. Carpenter, the noted American journalist, who is continually contributing to the press ;s glial quantities of enlightening information gleaned in trips to far-away corners of the earth, writes s in a highly interesting Vein from Buenos Aires of ,f racing ami the breeding of thoroughbred horses in n tlie Argentine Republic, as follows: "Buyers from England and France are scouring " Argentina for cavalry horses, to lie used in the war. • The purchases are kept as quiet as possible, but it II is said that orders for .MNi.nuo horses have already been received, and that these orders will be duplicated 1 in the near future. It is estimated that the e sales will ultimately reach 0,000,000. Thousands of horses have already been shipped and steamer T loads of them are now moving out over tlie ocean on the road to sudden death. It is said that the ■ average life of a horse on the battlefield is only three days, and it makes ones heart sick to think k of the slaughter of such animals as this country is raising. "Argentina is noted as paying the highest prices s for fine blooded stock, and this is so of horses as s well as of cattle. I have already referred to the • $:::,. mo bull which was sold here last year. Stallions " have liecu sold at several times that. There e is one now on the Las Ortigas stud farm that was s brought in from England at a cost of more than " .O00. It is known as "Diamond Jubilee," aud I it won the triple event for the late King Edward. • It was sidd for 30.O0O guineas. Another famous s horse imported by Saturnino Inzne, came from n Frame and it cost SUO.tHH. Ormonde was brought 1 here from England, where he was purchased for r MSjttfl He remained for some time in Argentina, • and was then sent to the United States at a price e of more than 40.000. Flying Fox sold for ;t,-Ooo. The hors- Cyllene was landed in Buenos Aires ■ at a cost of 8150,000. while Missel Thrush cost Dr. • Benito Villaiieuva 5. ooo. There have been many ■v mares IsBSMrtea at extraordinary prices, and some of tbe line stallions from England have had a chance to return home at increased figures. It is said that r an offer of double the original price paid for Cyl-ISJM ua made with the idea of taking him back I to England. If this is true tin- amount was 00.-OoO. and. as tlie story goes, it was ret meed. "These high-priced thoroughbreds are kept priu-ci|iallv ." for racing and breeding purposes, but they are scattered all over the country and they have greatly improved the native horses. As to races, S there is no place in the world where the sport is more «ipular. There are about 150 race meetings s |«er annum in Buenos Aires, and last year more «• than 9.009 horses ran. and the nnmher of actual il races were more than a thousand. The amount of .f money Let was $::.".. iioo.ooo in gold, showing an in-embsc i- over mm/ of lbc yeans preceding. Three bun i dred and fifty thousand dollars are often handled I at a single meeting, and no race is run for less than ■ JSl.oOO. while some of the races bring as high as J from .ooo to 0.00o. In one year the chief * winning stable came out ahead in twenty-seven n races, taking purses to tbe amount of 00,000. • During that same year the total value of the stakes distributed was inore than ,000,000. "I wish I could take you out to the Hippodrome p ntr Palermo Park i:nd show you the races. They v are held on Sundays and Thursdays, and also on all jl of the holidays. Kveryoue goes and in the grandstand 1 vou may sec the president and his cabinet, the chief officers of the army and navy, and all the J world and his wif besides. The race track is a a wonder. It is two miles in length and has an n inner track for training purposes. The main track k is of sand and earth. The grandstand will seat t many thousands. I was told there were about 20.0OO o there the last day I attended and these people paid j all the wav from to %" entrance fe-s. Tlie races s are under the Jockev Club, which owns the track | and manages it. II gets lO per eut. of the receipts s and this amounts to several million dollars a year. . I I • . . • - . • • s • ■■ " • s S = ~ ■ ;s s of ,f in n " • it II 1 e T ■ k is s s • " e s " I • s n 1 r • e ■ • ■v r A large part of this sum is given to charity, but enough is left to make the Jockey Club the richest association of its kind in he world. The Jockey Club has its special compartment in the grandstand and this is supplied with elevators and furnished with cafes and eating arrangements. "The betting at the Palermo races is on the pari-mutucl order, tbe tickets costing about in gold. They can be bought in lots of from one to 100 or more, and there is straight betting and place betting on every race. At the last meeting eighty-seven horses were entered and there were rivers of men and women going to and from the windows of the betting establishments. Buildings covering a half acre are devoted to pool selling, and it seemed to mi- that all were putting up some money on every race. All were wildly excited. As the horses near-ed the winning iwst 20,000 people rose with a yell. The same emotions were displayed as those we see at one of our baseball games. The crowd was well dressed, but there were more poor than rich. There were many Italians and Spaniards and thousands of native Argentines. "It is now a third of a century since the Jockey Club was founded. It was started with the idea of improving the horses of the Argentine and at the same time to promoting good fellowship. The government became interested in it aud the club received some of its property on the condition that it could be held only as long as it was used for races, and that if the races were stopped it should be returned. Today there is no probability that that property will ever iro back to the government. The club has grown and it is now perhaps the most wonderful of its kind in the world. It has steadily iucreased in popularity and it has now more than 2.000 members, although its initiation fee is ,500. Tlie dues are 0 a year. The club is not a money-making institution as far as the members are concerned. Its enormous receipts go back into the club furnishings aud charities and to tbe building up of horse spirit and race spirit. It has spent vast amounts on its club arrangements. The grandstand at Palermo cost .0OO and the special accommodations there for the members of the club 50.100. The stand for the jockeys and trainers cost 5,000, and the ticket office, where the bet-ling is done, 25,000. Altogether the race track ami its surroundings have cost more thau ,000,000. "Tlie Jockey Club house in Buenos Aires is oue , of the finest buildings of the city. During my stay I have had the good fortune to dine there in company with the American minister and a party of ten. We sat alniut a round table in a splendid little dining room, finer. I venture, than that of any royal palace in Europe, and later on we looked into I lie state dining room, which is one of the most beautiful in the world. It is lighted from above | and the walls are covered with costly tapestries and carvings. The clubhouse has beta decorated by famous artists, and it is a mass of treasures from i oue end to the other. Entering from Florida street, the great business center of the capital, you pass | a celebrated statue of Diana by Falguieroe, and ! then go up stairs of marble, with balustrades of onyx, to tlie second floor. Upon the walls are the paintings of such artists as Bonnat. Bonguereau 1 and Royebet and there are statues by famous sculptors here and there. "Nothwithstandiug the beauties of the clubhouse, the members are not satisfied with it. and they have decided to give it over to the Argentine government 1 for use as a building for the state department or , ministry of foreign affairs. They are about to build a new clubhouse on the Calla San Martin, not t far from the Hotel Plaza. This building will face . a beautiful park and its site alone has cost ,500.-000. The man who sold the pronertv bought it t some years ago for less than 00,000, and the , Jockey Club sale will give you some idea of how :. land is rising in Buenos Aires "The origin of the Argentine horse is of especial 1 interest to us. As you know, our hemisphere had 1 no horses until aft r Columbus came: and the first t horses of lioth North and South America were im- . iiortod from Spain. They were descended from those . produced by the Moors from the cross between the " , Barb and the Arabian. Some were sent to Mexico. where they ran wild, aud formed the wild horses s of our western plains. Others were brought to a South America aud some of the first came over in ;1 the sixteenth century. A part of the latter lot belonged i to Pedro de Mendoza, who, when attacked 1 by the Querraudi Indians, had to abandon his s settlement on the pampas. He then left behind him ■ live mares and seven stallions, and it is said that 1 these twelve animals were the progenitors of the 0 great troops of Argentine horses. The animals increased in such numbers that the wild droves almost j covered the plains. There were so many horses s that mares and geldings were sold to the government - for two or three shillings each to supply the e Indians with horse flesh. Later tens of thousands s of animals were killed for their hides and tallow. . bringing from fifteen to twenty shillings a head d aud it was not until recent years that horses be- t- came worth from 0 and upward apiece. The early v Argentines were too proud to ride mares and during the first quarter of the Nineteenth century more Z than a half million mares were butchered for what t they brought in horse hair, fat and hides. Now v the mare is almost as valuable as the stallion u and horse breedinsr is exceedingly profitable. "In riding over the country oue sees large droves s of horses feeding inside the great fenced inelosures s aud there is a steady importation of all kinds of f line animals including the Clydesdales and Per-eherous for draft purposes. The number of horses u is steadily increasing. It has more than doubled , j within the past twenty years, and it is estimated that there is still room here for many times the e supply now on hand. "Indeed, the possibilities of Argentina in stock k development are beyond conception. As it is now, • less than one-seventh of the land is under cultivation, l; and I am told that 200.000,000 animals could ■ be fed and still leave room for more. "The Criolla mare, which served as the base for • the native horse stock of the republic, had excellent 1 bbxMl, and today it shows some evidences of its s Arabian ancestry. It was dwarfed by being born ■ and bred in the open without any other food than 11 the native grasses. Still It is strong and willing S and capable of extraordinary exertion. It is irregu- • lar in shape and color, ranging from the slender r type to the short, stocky one, and from a dusky i brown |o a fantastic blossom color. "The native stock might have been improved by J selection and brought back to its original excellence. I am told that some of the estancieros have tried •i it successfully and that if animals of the same c breeds had been imported from Spain they might it have renewed tlie old stock. The native horses, . however, form excellent ones for breeding, although h crossing them with the racing blood seems to take B away their muscular strength and sturdiuess and to 0 make I hem nervous. For working cattle, the las-s !- sooers on horseback need brawny, quiet horses aud d not quick nervous ones. Crossed with the Per-n cherou. Clydesdale and Shire, the Criolla is a good d general purpose horse, fitted for draft or the carri-F i- age: and. crossed with the thoroughbred, it makes s an animal which is especially fitted for cavalry pnr-s ■- jxises. The value of horses is steadily rising. Before ■- the war began good carriage horses brought t 00 a pair at auction, and light draft horses were !; sold for as much as 10. North American mules brought about 00 each and Argentina mules half f as much. Cavalry horses are now selling from 00 upward, many poor animals being among those ■ sbipiied. "The same prejudice as formerly still exists s among the natives in the use of inares as riding animals. The gaucho is ashamed to be seen riding them and nianv persons use them for draft purposes Z ■ only. "I have beeu interested in the methods of horse breaking in Argentina. On the great stud farms s . where fine stock is kept, the methods are much the l" same as in the United Staees. but out on the pam-•" J" jias. where the cowboys do as they please, the horses •* are allowed to run free until they are four or five |; years old. They are then lasooed and saddled bv ; force. The cowliov mounts the horse and gallops him under a shower of blows until he is conquered. f it is much the same as the methods of our cowboys s of the West."
