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DEEP AND ABIDING INTEREST IN THOROUGHBRED RESPONSIBLE FOR VAST THRONG THAT SAW KINGS PLATE RACE j j I i ; ! I ! i I | I i 1 i ■ i . By Francis Nelsou. Toronto, Out.. May 3d.— It was a deep, real and abiding interest in the thoroughbred horse in action. that was testified by the great attendance at the Ontario Jockev Clubs beautiful Woodbine course, for the fifty-ninth running of the Kings Plate last. Friday. Xot the wagers, but the contest — not tins laurel, but the race — brought thousands of men long-distances, from east and west and north, to see this decision of a single race, on which there was no public wagering. And the whole gathering was a. triumphant reply to the shallow sneer of the ill-informed and the bigot, that only the betting inter-ists the habitual racegoer. To Canadian lovers of the sjiort. this event has an attraction of history that attaches to no other ok the long list of iuiixirtant fixtures now connected, with racing in this country. The Plate had attaim-u the resiM-ctahle age of fifteen years when Men MoOrnths Aristides. the red son o"f Leamington, won the first Kentucky Derby. So that, even in antiquity alone, it is bound to command attention. It was ■ former resident of Canada, by the way. that brought out Loaiain--ton. a horse which has. left an indelible impress for good on the American, thoroughbred. That was It. W. afterwards Sir Roderick Cameron, who. lie fore he went to Hear York, had a wholesale grocery in Hamilton, ami. lived in a big stone house that I well remember, at the corner of Bay and Cannon streets. This years race was the single running event on the two-days program of the Hunt Clubs Red Cross show at Woodbine and it w:is clear that the fine profit that will acme to the Red Cross, comes from the inclusion of the Plate in that program. That the crowd c.ine for the race was amply demonstrated by the rapiiiy with which the attendance, decreased as soon as the race was run. It is the horse of the course, not the horse of the ring, that men want most to see. And that is a natural and eminently commendable preference. The competition of tin- ring is a comparison of the outward and visible things. The comintition of the course is the list of things that are not w-on. though they arw immeasurably the siiiierior things — courage, endurance and depth of spirit, the things that do matter. as against what seems to m-itter. It is a good sign of the sound heart of the people that such a preference exists. MANY VETEKANS IN ATTENDANCE. Of the thousands gathered for the big event, many of whom had seen it run for at least a generation, the record for the earliest connection with the Plate undoubtedly went to Charles Boyle of Woodstock, who held the watch on this years race, and had a hand iu the training of the winner of this race, before Canada was a Dominion. In 1S*E!, or four years prior to the Confederation of the Provinces that made the Dominion of Canada, the Plate was won bv his partner, the late Charles Littlefield of Paleimo. over the Carlton course on the Keele Farm, in what is bow a thickly built section of the Seventh Ward of the city of Toronto. Those were the beginnings of the turf in this part of tin- country and Palermo would not have been eligible for the ordinary race on any present day course. He was not a thoroughbred, being a son of FteMl Roval Oeorge, according to the usually accepted record, though Mr. Boyle recalls him as by Dohortvs Roval Oeorgo. His dam. Liberty, was pure bred anil Itojirt Oeorge nearly so. though his fame rests on his success as a sire of speed and stamina in harness. Indeed it is recalled that when Palermo, bred by the Whites of Haltou County, ami leased to a Hamilton man named Chalmers, was sent to St. Catharines for his training, the question was asked: What do vou want him trained for. to run or to tiof" As "the instructions in reply were: "For whatever he can do best," the presumption is that he was tried at 1k.Hi gaits. . . Though Mr Boyle aimed at winning the Plata for himself as loiig ago as 1871. when Jack the Barbi rs son John Bell won from his Rapid Roan at hitby. he did not succeed until 1**3. at Woodbine, when his Rhody Cringle was returned winner the first three-year-old to be successful in the twenty-four veirsof its history. The Plate had no monotary value then outside of the guineas of Queen Victoria and the stakes of the entrants. For winning the plate with Rhody Pruigle, Mr. Boyle received about eighty dollars less than Mr. Ilendrie gave jockey Lee Mink for riding Springside to victory heat Friday. Since that time, the veteran trainer has prepared luiinv a winner of the Plate and on more than one occasion has had two of his charges in the first throe at the finish. Rrisk and hearty, and keenly interested as ever. "Charlie" Boyle, in his eightieth year, is a living testimony of the effectiveness of the sport in maintaining perpetual youth of spirits. It is another Charlie, whose second name is Wise, that can go back farthest in the way of a riding connection with the Plate. He was on the back of Mr. Boyles Jack Vandal when that horse finished second to Fearnaught at Ottawa in 1S7 and two years later was again second in the first race I ever saw. the Plato of 1S74. run over Waddclls track in East Hamilton. On that day Wise rode Emily, owned by the late T. C. Patterson and trained by Charlie J.oyle and she was the Ix-st one in the race, though her failure to break until the others were well away cost Mr. Patterson the Plate. Sin-wore down all the others, but failed to get up to the Hamilton mare Swallow, a daughter of Terror, owned by the late Rolx-rt Thomson. After another lapse of two years. Wise again got into the Plate record, as the rider of the second horse, but this time it was through a disqualification. It was the first Plate ever run at Woodbine Bad Mary I... owned by Francis Iowell of Oalt. finished in front. She was set back to last place for fouling Xorah P. and Stinnyside in the stretch run and this gave the guineas to "Squire" Peters of London, who owned Xorah P. Sunnyside. on which Wise had the mount, carried the White colors. It was eleven years after that when Wise finally rode the winner, "Bob" Bonds Bonnie Duke, also at Wotxibine, where the race was now a fixture. In the meantime, Allie Oates. who took a day from his work in an aeroplane factory to see Fridays race, had himself been pretty busy riding in the Plate. Though he did not make so early a start, he beat Wise to the winning record and scored his first success just forty years ago. riding King Oeorge lome in front in the Plate of 1K7S since which time the race has not been run at London. He roia-ated for the White stable on Mess Rose the following year at Picton and completed his record of three winners when he nxle Fanny Wise at Woodbine in 18K2. for "Mr. Abingdon," which was the uom de course of the late Joseph Mead. WINNER TRAINED BY OLD-TIME RIDER. Tlie trainer of this years winner, Eddie Whyte. last performed in the saddle in the Plate in 1S89. when he was third on Mr. Hendries Long Shot, sou of Long Taw, to Colonist and Bonnie Ino. Rockspring. a half-brother by Martiiuas to the Kings Facte winner of this year, went to France early in the war as the charger of Maj. then Lieut. Ian Hendrie, who is a son of the Lieutenant-governor of Ontario. Sir John S. Hendrie. Rock spring was tried as a Kings Plater, but was not good enough for the task. He proved an admirable war horse though and at last a. -counts was still in service, thriving on the work and dangers he went through. For the first time since the autumn meeting of 1914. Lieut. -Col. David King Smith occupied his chair as associate judge at Woodbine, having Ix-en in the interval on active service, which included a strenuous iH-riod of the early days of the war. at Salonika. Cat, Smith, who is a son of the late Dr. Andrew Smith, chairman of the Ontario Jockey Club Executive Committee, is now officer commanding the OrtholMdie hospital at Davisville, where they do such wonderful things in the way of providing returned soldiers with new limbs. Springside comes of a family repres--ntative of the Valley Farm, where he was bred by the estate of the late William Hendrie, being from the IK-rwent water mare Springwells. which raced with much success in tin- colors of the late "Incle Oeorgo" Hendrie of Detroit. IH-rwentwater was a Doncaster stallion, which Mr. Hendrie discovered in the northwest and brought to Hamilton to better opimrtuni ties at the Valley Farm. The Kings Plate Winners i tabulated pedigree shows the stout blood of Stm-k-well, • returned on the side also of his sire Charles i Edward, who stood at Valley Farm until this season. Oolden Garter has a double infusion, lx-ing bv a i Stockwell horse from a Stockwell mare. The tabulation of Springsic.es blood liues reads as follows: Stockwell , f Bend Or Doncaster -, Marigold j ,. T, , Thormaiibv Carter j Rouge Rose Ellen Horne i*Uoldeu 1 t Wenloek VVCnl°Ck i L,,nl liWen Sauda 3 | U/T1,, J . . . , Stockwell t. I CharlesEdward j ■ Caudal 1 Lau Kvelyn B , 3 Enquirer J Leamington Falsetto ,U ,. g I f Farfaletta •Australian t hS ! I Flora Mae -. ■ I Elkhorna Hal j Kut of the Garter, j Prime Minister S - I l Flora Maedonald. [ K,,sa 15 "eur g" I i Lady Macdouald... Touchstone J £ M j ■ I Fair Helen K | I , i Stockwell j Tl«- Baroii B I Doncaster J Pocahontas H I . . . Teddingtou r •_ i * / f Miri-obl Mangold - | f •Derwentwater I Sis. to Singapore I / Thormanby $ Windhound = l Thorwater - J Alie Hawthorn S I i Fairwater J Loup Garou c I Springwells The Bloomer •= , Vandal .1 *C1ciic h- f Virgil 3 Daughter of Tranby 1 ,, I Hymeuia J Yorkshire I .Noblesse I » Little Piggy / Planet i Revenue I Notable J J Nina Novice i Glcnooe t Chloe Anderson •Imported.
