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RACING IN THE ANTEBELLUM DAYS Value of Thoroughbred Strikingly Exemplified in the Long AVar of Years Ago Tin recollection of interesting experiences in riiliug anil training horses away back in the ante ¬ bellum days as related by Iternard Hiley an old time trainer of race horses makes good reading but what seems to be of greater interest to the turf ¬ men of the day is this old horsemans advocacy nf racing as a sport as a means for the improve ¬ ment of the horses of this country and the promotion of horse breeding as a valuable and important in ¬ dustry dustryAlthough Although born in Jersey City in the thirties Pernard Itiley went south when ji more boy and be Itime such an outandout southerner that on the breaking out of the war he quit the turf tem ¬ porarily and joined a cavalry troop in New Orleans which was assigned to the command of Lieiitenant Ceneral Polk under whom he served until that officer was killed and succeeded by LientenantGen cral Stewart and under him Mr Itiley served until the last gun had been fired in behalf of the lost cause causeHis His long service as a Confederate trooper ren ¬ dered him especially qualified to judge of the value of the thoroughbred for military purposes and he unhesitatingly declares that it was largely due to the excellence of its cavalry horses which were for the most part either thoroughbreds or halfbrcds that the Confederacy was able to astonish the civil ¬ ised world by holding out against overwhelming odds as long as it did didWe We put up a great fight against tremendous odds in men and resources he said and it was mainly due to the fact that we had race horses and wellbred saddle horses under troopers who were ac ¬ customed to riding that we were able to do so Of course unflinching bravery patriotism and chivalry in the best sense counted for much in our successes but it must be remembered that the Federals hid all the qualities n array against us and wo held out when our resources would otherwise have been exhausted because we could capture 70 per cent of our sustenance from the wagon trains of the Federals which were constantly being surprised and plundered by our cavalry regular and irregular irregularCAVALRYMEN CAVALRYMEN ON THOROUGHBREDS THOROUGHBREDSAt At the time the war broke out racing was the great amusement throughout the South and a great proportion of our cavalrymen were mounted on thor ¬ oughbreds of the old sort horses which for many generations had been bred nd trained to run three and four mile heats when riding was the most popu ¬ lar nieans of recreation and locomotion among the southerners Federal offivers who had been accustomed to green troopers mounted on clumsy heavy fooled farm horses totally unfit for saddle or even light harness purposes could not believe possible the night journeys which our raiders would make and even when they were keeping the closest watch upon the movements of our cavalry troopers it was easy for us to surprise their wagon trains and secure sup ¬ plies which were invaluable to us while the loss of them was crippling our enemies enemiesThat That was in my opinion the real reason why our armies in the field were able to hold out so long against overpowering odds as far as men and money were concerned concernedThis This was undoubtedly the greit lesson taught to the civilized world by that terrible war and yet strangely enough our own country which as the greatest sufferer should have been first to profit by it is still about the only great power to ignore it It is a crime to mount a good soldier on a bad horse and yet it is what is being done in this country today Knglnud Germany France Russia and indeed all the great powers have recognized the inestimable value of cavalry especially for scouting raiding and foraging and have made the most strenuous efforts to systematically produce the highest type of cavalry and artillery horses by breeding animals having a strong infusion of the warm blood of the race horse horseThey They have bought stallions from English race conrsesat enormous figures to be placed on govern ¬ ment breeding farms and they are doing everything in their power to encourage fanners to breed their mares to thoroughbred sires for the production of the best types of army horses and officers chargers and even Cjinada and Australia are actively engaged along these lines On the other hand in this countrv we are doing much to rniu horse breeding especially the breeding of thoroughbreds through antiracing legislation legislationThis This at one time threatened to utterly ruin the thoroughbred breeding industry in every part of Ibis conntrv but fortunately Mr Pelmont Mr AMiitmy Mr Kyan Mr Pillings and other wealthy horsemen caiiie to the rescue and the result is that the sport has been greatly rehabilitated and that on the liberal and sportsmanlike lines which were characteristic of antebellum racing RESTORATION OF SPORT APPEARS CERTAIN CERTAINThere There is now a complete revival of the sport upon a foundation which cannot fail to appeal to the good taste and common sense of the best men in this country even though they may not have any especial liking for the sport but for the sake of what horse racing and resultant horse breeding may do in the way of improving the eiiuine product of the entire country countryReferring Referring to his own career as a turfman Mr Rilev said that as early as the Winter of 185253 he rode in races at New Orleans although when he first left home in Jersey City for the South In landed in Mobile which was then a racing point of considerable importance importanceI I rode several races in New Orleans that win ¬ ter he said lint few of my mounts were on horses which were at all prominent The last horse I rode was a white stallion called White Fagle He vas by Gray Kagle Hannah Harris He belonged to a gentleman nanied Drake who lived in Micliigan and who sent him south to race in Xew Orleans AVhite Kagle was fairly successful and made a good showing at three and fourmile heats Indeed the gentlemen sportsmen of those days would not keep a race horse which could not run three or four miles and about all the races were at heats dashes seldom being thought of If a horse could not win at more than a mile or two miles he was suspected of being shortbred and was sold to a farmer or fairs and small meet ¬ owner who raced at county ings such as we call bush meetings nowadays nowadaysWhen When asked if he thought Lexington could have held his own with the race horses of today Mr Riley answered unhesitatingly in the allirmative allirmativeiou iou see lie said our conditions were differ ¬ ent from those of today Owners would not think of running their horses over such tracks as we have now The running tracks of those days were so deep and soft that a horse would sink almost hoof deep in them and a trotter couldnt show a road gait on one of them A trainer of those days would no more think of working n race horse over a trot ¬ ting track than one of our trainers of today would consider working his horses over an asphalt pave ¬ ment One who has not seen oldtime racing could not believe how slow the tracks wore in Lexingtons racing days daysThen Then too thoroughbred horses were bred and trained to run fourmile heats and no trainer ever tried to develop great bursts of sliced AVe were accustomed to leave extreme speed to the quarter horses for they could beat the thoroughbreds at that game Lexington was meeting and beating the best horses of his day and generation that is what thJ kings and queens of the turf have been doing over since thats what they are doing now and thats what they will be doing to the end of time It always has been and always will be preeminence that counts Lexington was preeminent in his turf career and a large percentage of his sons and daughters were similarly successful and today the blood of Lexington remains a potent factor to suc ¬ cess on the turf turfAT AT HIGHAVATER MARK BEFORE AVAR AVARIn In the old days before the war racing was at highwater mark in the South The jockey clubs of those days were organized and maintained purely for sport and the gentlemen composing them did not care whether the public attended the races or not but no one could get into the members in closnre except through introduction by a member Xo nonmember could race a horse over the track of a jockey club unless a member would vouch for him and enter the horse in his the members own name though tin name of the owner would also appear as owner with the entry on the race pro ¬ gram gramThe The old Metairie Jockey Club of New Orleans and the AVashington Jockey Club of Charleston S C were perhaps the most powerful and aristocratic racing organizations of those days The last men ¬ tioned club had a stand opposite the quarter post for the general public where spectators were ad ¬ mitted at a dollar a head but no one could pay his way into the club stand and inclosure which were open only to members their families and invited guests guestsThere There were three regular racing circuits in the South in the old days One started at Crab Orch ¬ ard Ky where they would begin a sixday meet ¬ ing racing Tuesday AVcdnesday Thursday Friday Saturday and the following Monday This would be followed by similar sixday meetings at Lexington and Louisville Nashville Tcnn Atlanta Macon Savannah and Augusta Ga and Columbia Charles ¬ ton and Pineville S C CAnother Another circuit of the same character would begin at Richmond An followed by Rroad Rock Aji and wind up at Charleston S C CStill Still another of these circuits would include Memphis Tenn Natchez Miss New Orleans La and Mobile and Montgomery Ala but most of the horses racing in the South would finally drift down to New Orleans late in the autumn and there woidd be considerable racing down there until the following spring springThere There was heavy betting in those days but while it was assumed that every gentleman engaged in the sport was able to meet his obligations and lie did none of them was purseproud and nobody wanted to advertise himself as a plunger so that when gentlemen bet heavily in the clubhouse ill closure the outside world never was advised of it itWhen When Mr Ten Jtroeuk was in England I hail it an umiuestionanle authority that he won not less than 0000 on the victory of Prioress in the Ce sareuitch but the fact never was heralded abroad for in those days such publicity would have been regarded as bad form Taking into account that the purchasing power of a dollar was then much greater than it is now that was rather a nice sum to win even on a big stake race raceReferring Referring to his connection with the turf after the war Air Kiley said saidAlthough Although I made rather good progress after going to New Orleans having a stable of my own in 1S5155 after having landed there only about two years earlier my more important engagements were as a trainer first for Mr Lorillard and after ¬ ward for Mr Withers I was in Mr Lorillards employ for only about two yearn and that was lore he achieved his great successes on the turf beginning with old Parole ParoleWhile While I was training for him he raced James A a brother to Parole and a good horse though not at all the equal to the slender brown gelding that came into my hands as a yearling 1ierre Lorillard was buying most of his yearlings from Mr Welch of Chestnut Hill in those days The same autumn that he bought Parole I quit his em ¬ ploy and went with Mr Withers who had just founded his Rrookdale breeding farm farmMr Mr Withers had only six or eight mares when 1 took charge but he afterward made a splendid establishment of it His importations of such val ¬ uable horses as King Ernest Macearoon and Stone henge did much for the horse breeding interest of this country but it was as manager and controlling owner of Monmouth Parks old and new that he was most prominently and favorably known as a turfman of the old school and the best type lie always kept in mind that racing must be regarded as a sport and not as a means of making money and with this in view a regulation was introduced into the Monmouth Park organization by which all profits in excess of li per cent for the stock ¬ holders must be put back into the sport either through the increase of purses and added moneys for the following years or in the form of perma ¬ nent track improvements improvementsThis This was in line with the custom of antebellum turfmen and also in line with the action of the gentlemen who at no small financial risk under ¬ took in Pn to restore racing in New York and Saratoga
