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► . 1 - + ■ * v.**... : • ...... " * *■ - -V - X - - ~ - j % I, jj-. Jp L iHyiiB ■ * "til " Mrs. Graham Has Ideas on Training Sportswoman Deplores Harsh Treatment of Thoroughbreds Canadian-Born. £x-Nurse, Founder of Maine Chance Farm And Vast Beauty Enterprises, Has Gained Real Fulfillment From Turf; Says, I Know as Much as Anyone About Hbrses By- WHITNEY BOLTON There was a fire in the Museum of Modern Art on a sunny afternoon not long ago and, like any certified New York fire buff, I stood there and watched it for a while, billowing and smoking and creating disturbance. It reminded me, suddenly, of another authentic fire less than a stones throw away. I wandered over to Fifth Avenue and whisked up 15 floors to the sprawling, enormous, pale green office of Elizabeth Nightingale Graham, a farm girl from Ontario. And Elizabeth Nightingale Graham can billow and smoke and even cause a disturbance* in a variety of areas and enterprises. She did not become either Elizabeth Arden or world renowned by playing mouse and keeping silent. Nor by sitting still. N She didnt often stand still or jsit still, as we talked in the sun-drenched high room. We sat sometimes in facing chairs, deep and silken, a small, incredibly old coffee table between us. We looked at each other straight in the eye and Elizabeth Arden of Maine Chance Farm answered all the questions directly and without evasion, and added commentary of her own. Away from us, against an unbroken wall, there stretched a desk large enough, it seemed, to field a polo team. Her hair, blonde, attractively unruly and deeply piled, lay in a golden strew on top of her valuable head and her desk was an equal strew of papers, jottings, memos and a tumble of jars and containers. She lives with these containers as she lives with her horses — constantly. She is no woman to be shown a new crystal box or cylindrical china jar — as a future holder of her. ointments and unguents, and to say at once: "Fine. Thats-it." Studies Cosmetic- Packagings She lives long, daily hours with these new, proposed cosmetic, packagings in front of her on the desk. She hefts them, feels "their smoothness and weight, lays a sharp eye on contours and color and, after weeks of association with them, either approves or rejects. She knows the value -of a soundly chosen container. It is the difference between a dead item on store shelves or a lively, fast-moving item. We looked together at a porcelain jar immacutely white and topped with a small, i colorful flower on the lid. She said she rather admired it and, probably, would use it some time in her business. * "But you didnt come over here to talk about porcelain jars," she said. "If you did, you arent going to. We are going to talk about horses. I know about horses. I know as much as any one and more than any other trainer 1 ever saw. They go by obsolete and unemotional rules. They wont show or even feel affection for a thoroughbred. And thats why most of them are dreadful trainers. "Look at fillies: No filly should ever have a whip laid to her or hear a harsh word. They need constant love, and affection and the showing of it. Every time I hear a sta-; - • ► blcboy speak roughly to one of my fillies I want to pitchfork him. Hes stupid. More fillies have lost more races because of awkward, unintelligent handling than could be counted. "I had a beautiful filly onte, a lovely, sensitive, gallant thing. They called me up and said: "Mrs. .Graham, shes no good. We cant make her do anything. I hustled out there and walked in and heard a desperate whinny from her stall. I walked over and cradled her head in my arms and spoke soothingly to Tier and she gentled right down. I remained there until -next day. They breezed her and she was a sensation. All the poor thing needed was affection." "Why did you enter racing, knowing that emotionalism over horses would be a strain on you?" Changed Jobs Frequently "Its complex, and ft isnt," she said. "I was born with a whinny in my-ears. We lived on a farm near Woodbridge, Ontario. My father had four good horses. At one time one of his horses was second in the Queens Plate. We never .had much; things were a struggle. I mean a real struggle. My parents tried everything from vegetable raising to horse breeding and none brought in a useful cent. It was not a childhood of luxury,. I can tell you that. "When I was 17 I started to work; a nurse. That!s what I wanted to be. I wanted to make the unhappy and ill comfortable and serene; I learen a lot about nursing, but never finished a course in it. I moved" from job" to job. I must have worked at 15 different things, changing every, few months. I never achieved real satisfaction in any of them until I met a chemist who had notions about the human skin "that .matched mine. He recognized that no skins are exactly alike and differ greatly in sensitivities. We worked together and that was the start of my business. Things improved economically right along and there came a day when a friend bought one-half of a thoroughbred and said: Youd best take half of my half. That was it. Ive never not owned a horse since. At the moment I think I have 70 mares alone." "Have you had real fulfillment out of racing? Could, you say that?" "Qualifiedly, I could say it," she replied, after a very short pause. "Yes, I could say it. with reservations. I would " MRS. ELIZABETH N. GRAHAM. have had much more fulfillment if I could approve more thoroughly of the way things are done by trainers and handlers. It causes me so much constant concern that I cannot feel total satisfaction. I worry about what is being done to and for my horses. I worry justifiably. Hideous things have been done by idiotic men. -Ive never been afraid of them andhave told them straight out that they know less about horses than a house-painter knows about binding books. How some of them keep jobs I simply dont know. They do all the wrong things. Sometimes, more often recently,, I have thought to sell the whole thing and get out of racing entirely, i. mean it." "You mean you would genuinely, sell out every horse you own and close the stables?" "There are times when I would. I felt it strongly the other day, when one of my beautiful horses was bumped oh a turn and injured by stupidity. That lovely animal should not have been bruised and lamed because boys up in a race havent sense enough to either-take room or make room. The loss of the race was not important. The injury to a superb animal and a gallant one was deeply disturbing. That day, I think, with one little push, I would have sold out and said: Good riddance." ""Have your thoughts and ideas on horse training and care ever resulted in saving a horse who later proved his worth?" "Certainly, in Gun Shots case. He was •out at Churchill Downs, fined to a hair, ready and able to get out there and win the Derby. It was partially my fault, what happened; I allowed them to persuade me to let- fhem breeze him the day before the race. He didnt need it. Not at all. But I consented and he broke a leg. Naturally, their only thought was to destroy him at once. I refused. I said I didnt care what methods were used or what time it took, he was to be kept alive and healed, even though he would never race again. It took months, but we saved him. He has one bad ankle now, disfigured by swelling at the point of the break, but he is a magnificent stallion and a great gentleman. Most of my stallions are great gentlemen." ._ "Not all?" "Of course not. Not all men are either. But the stallions who are not great gentlemen are, nonetheless, great breeders. Great sires. This happens in liuman life, too. A man may be far from a great gentleman, but he can sire enormously intelligent and valuable sons and daughters." "I know you are active in training and making decisions concerning the horses in your stable. More active than most owners. Would you say in all candor this has been good?" "Yes, I would." She stopped and" chuckled warmly deep in her throat. "I think everyone in racing, knows how active I am. Ive made life miserable for enough trainers arid stable people. They know I wont put up with nonsense or ignorance. And I do think it has been good. Certainly, for the horses. By now trainers know I insist on the best handling possible- and will not permit deviations from it. "I have definite thoughts about training and pass them on to be used, not ignored. I think in all truth I am a better trainer, myself, than most of those whose profession it is. I at least take the. trouble and have the heart tc be close to-the horses and give them personal attention. They arent machines, you know. I know what I want and I know how to communicate what I want and I insist on getting it, else I get a new trainer. "Ive seen horses pawing the air and straining to get in and win. Determined to do so. They would have won. But last minute, stupid instructions to the rider prevented it. I could massacre people like that. Do you think that a trainer whose stupidity has kept a willing horse from winning ever realizes how crushing it is to the spirit of the frustrated animal? Ive known horses thus frustrated to be thrown off their stride for weeks after. They sulked and were moody. Thats wilful stupidity for you." "Well, lets get down to cases: How should one train a thoroughbred?" "Apart from the obvious ways any horse-man knows, there has to be affection be- Cont!t yed on P_age 29Jl j Mrs. Graham Has Ideas • On Conditioning Horses Founder of Maine Chance Farm Places Accent on Gentleness Continued from Page 28 D tween trainer and animal. Communication, if you will. A bond, a rapport. Call it what you will. But for Heavens sake, how many of them know that— or, whats worse, care? The careless, the thoughtless deeds around stables are enough to stand your hair on end. Do you think these sensitive, proud and spirited creatures are sloths or moles?" "Let me saysomething-really trite." "Yes, some things have .to be." "What was the supreme moment, the thrill if you will, although its a word-npt exactly defining the feeling, of your racing career?" "When Jet Pilot won the Derby in Kentucky in 1947. No doubt about that. That was the magic moment of perfection." "Your vast business. I know, is a business and not a toy. Racing and breeding probably are best described as hobbies, although they go beyond that to some extent. What would you call your true hobby, as such?" _ "Thats easy. Collecting Bushers. I collect Bushers descendants and get as others collect Japanese prints or old china or furniture. I think its honest to say that collecting Bushers is my real, personally satisfying hobby." "What, apart from your clearly stated credos about trainers, disturbs you most as a breeder?" Selling," she said. "I hate to sell anything f oSled at Maint Chance. I hate to see them go. I hate claims, too. I am always upset when we sell one of our colts or fillies and I never liked losing any horse 1n a claim. Its like one of the family going away. Obvously, I cant keep every colt or filly born on the place. They have to go and I watch them first with unhappiness and then, as their careers blossom and. become important, with pride. I get depressed when what I sense to be a fine animal is sold, but in a.few years when its winnings justify my early confidence, I have tremendous pride .that the horse was from Maine Chance." We walked down a long hall to her exhibition rooms, taking along her favorite new picture, a. magnificent, enlarged color shot of Jewels Reward. Her affection for this authentically handsome horse was evident in her care of the picture. We looked at the new room for mens toiletries, designed as a room by George Lloyd, then at the new packaging of womens toiletries. We walked together to the elevator and she pressed the "down" button. "Ive enjoyed this visit," she said. *Ive enjoyed talking about what I think. And dont forget I think I know as much about training as any one, and more than most. My task is to make them see that I do."
