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TRIALS OF THE TRAINER Form Followers Ascribe Sinister Motives When Horses Fail. Owners Expecting Too Much from Their Thoroughbreds Make Trainer Target for Unjust Criticism. The everyday life of the successful trainer is hedged around with many unusual occurrences .and demands. Anxieties, cares, responsibilities and difficulties are oftimes his portion when the thoughtless public imagines he is only waiting for the day to come when a big stake is to be contested for and the band will play some appropriate symphony i.i tribute to the grandly bred equine wonder in his charge, which is certain to win the great race according to the reports of all the sporting writers, handicappers, dockers and rail-birds, and it is all over but the shouting and collecting the money. Usually the trainer has an abundant supply of faith and is liberally endowed with optimism, but some little thing may happen just before the race, or in the race, or some hoi so may drop out of the clouds hitherto unsuspected of possessing great speed and win on its merits to prevent his horse from winning, as everyone confidently expected it would. The trainer will then be blamed by some cf the wiseacres for overtraining, by others for not having worked the horse enough, and still others will intimate that there was an ulterior motive and that it was not intended that the horse should win at all. So the poor trainer is condemned on all sides and is made vividly aware that nothing succeeds like success. TROUBLESOME INTRUDERS. In no other business does a comparativ stranger seek to obtain information that must be considered private and reserved f ,r the owner that amounts almost to an impertinence, certainly it often is a great annoyance. Overzealous turf information dispensers assume the authority to intrude and pass judgment on matters in which they have no interest and over which they can have no control. No pne would think for an instant of walking into an office or store of a business man or merchant and asking such searching personal questions regarding his business affairs as is frequently ask"d by responsible people of any good trainer of a prominent stable. Anyone, of course, if he be of such character as to be admitted upon the grounds at all, has a perfect right to time any other mans horse on a public race track, and the public should be encouraged to come out and see the horses work out in the morning, f jr it must always be remembered that if it j were not for the public approval and patron-j age there would be no race track any plac ! The race track is the greatest outdoor j recreation ground for all old and young, rich and poor, strong and weak. All find enjey-I ment in the health-giving, open air entertain-j ment. What occurs on any public race track belongs to the public, but what happens in j the stable after a fast work-out, amount of feed relished by the horse, general condition, weight carried in the trial, etc, belongs to the trainer and owner, and to them exclusively, the same as the private business of any mercantile firm. LOOSE TALK A NUISANCE. The great trouble has been that certain persons, in order to verify their own judgment and to assume a superior knowledge in all things connected with racing, ostentatiously attribute some sinister motive to the trainer every time a good horse, or rather the one that they had their clientele bet on, is I beaten. It is the persons who are always I around crying fraud and trying to get down j a bet on a "sure thing today because it is all fixed" that cause a lot of trouble and are objectionable. The judges in the stand ! are experienced, capable men, paid liberally j and will protect the public and give each i horseman an equal chance ; therefore, there is no foundation in fact for most of the sensational stories that are passed on to the gullible and credulous as a salve to satisfy the hopes of foolish and disappointed nv n. Owners will oftentimes expect too much from their stable, simply because the horses are well bred and cost extravagantly as yearlings. The public, too, will rememb r the high-priced, good-looking ones, and if success is not instant will suggest that the owners should change trainers, although there may not be a horse of any value in j the stable. It doesnt make any difference what they cost or how they are bred, it is what they can do that counts. Public opinion reacts on the wavering minds of owners and as a result of ignorance and the caprice j of others the fidelity of the trainer is sus-I pected for no other reason than because ho j has been unable to realize expectations, i baseless as the fabric of a dream. I
