view raw text
TROUBLES OF ENGLISH HORSEMEN. Unable to Transport Thoroughbreds to Various Tracks Because of Wars Demand on Trains. Horsemen in England are encountering difficulty in getting their thoroughbreds to the various tracks, where lilt short BMettara of three and four days each are h Id. Anm.u.u i nient was made in the London Sportsman that there would be no special trains to any of the winter steeplechase meting*. and also that no horse cars would be carried on any of the trains because of the heavy traffic necessitated by war conditions. In commenting on this condition of affairs. "Vigilant says: "It is enough to know that the railway company has received orders not to carry horses to race meetings, and that the difficulty has to be faced. A little ingenuity and foresight ought to enable trainers to find means of sending their horses , Gatwick and elsewhere, for no doubt the veto will be general and I sincerely hope we shall not find any laxity of endeavor in this direction. Indeed, it seems to me that out of evil good may com . for in normal times even, complaints were rife of the bad service too often rendered by the railways. Horse boxes were short in supply, they were sometimes dirty, and led to infection: delays were frequent, and fares unfairly high as compared with those paid by hunting men and exhibitors at shows. Here, then, is the necessity that is the mother of invention, and if the difficulties can tie got over now and other means of transport arranged it will be all to the trainers advantage. "The motor van or horse box at once suggests itself. It seems to me that a motor horse box would soon pay for itself, while the advantages its possession would give the trainer are numerous and obvious."
