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ARGENTINIAN HORSES AND RACING. Frank G. Carpenter, the noted American Journalist, who is continually contributing to the press ss great quantities of enlightening information gleaned , 1 in trips to far-away corners of the earth, writes IBS in a highly interesting vein from Ituenos Aires •J of racing and the breeding of thoroughbred horses in 111 the Argentine Republic, as follows: "Buyers from England and France are scouring ng Argent iua for cavalry horses, to lie used in the war. ".• The purchases are kept as quiet as possible, but [J it is said that orders for 3 HMiOO horses have already . been received, ami that these orders will be duplicated "" in the near future. It is estimated that the ,le sales will ultimately reach u.0O»M»0»t. Thousands of horses have already been shipped and steamer "r loads of them are now moving out over the ocean on the road to sudden death. It is said that the " average life of a horse on tbe battlefield is only three days, and it makes ones heart sick to think ".k of the .slaughter of such animals as this country is raising. •Argentina is noted as paying the highest prices «*s for tine blooded stock, and this is so of horses as as well :-s of cattle. I have already referred to the " *.35.0oo bull which was sold here last year. Stallions ,1_ have Ikmii sold at several times that. There lv is one now on the Las Ortigas stud farm that was as brought in from England at a cost of more than »" and15O.00G. It is known as "Diamond Jubilee," and u" it won the triple event for the late King Edward. ll- It was sold for :; i.i** guineas. Another famous •"s horse imported by Saturnino Inzue, came from Vn France and it cost fCO.lxNI. Ormonde was brought nt here from England, where he was purchased for "r S!»."..inh». He remained for some time in Argentina, 1:1 • and was then sent to the United States at a price f more than lO.OOO. Flying Foi sold for fMft.-nm. The horse Cylleaa was landed in Ituenos Aires *■ at ■ i-ost of K130.O00. while Missel Thrush cost Dr. r: I.euito illai.eiia fTSjftftft. There have been many "•v mares issststtei at ex: inordinary prices, and some "" of the line stallions from England have had a chance °J to return home at increased figures. It is said that !. an offer of |o;ili!e the original price paid for Cyl-lene was made with the idea of taking him back eft to England. If this is true the amount was 00.-Om». ».- and. as the story goes, it was refused. "These high-priced thoroughbreds are kept prin-ci|ially ," for racing and breeding purposes, but they are scattered all over the country and they have ... greatly improved the native horses. As to races. S there is no place in the world where the sport is more |M pular. There are about 150 race meetings gs per annum in Buenos Aires, and last year more »• • than !».00l horses ran. and the number of actual nil races wen* more than a thousand. The amount of of money bet was 6::."i.»Hio.Khi in gold, showing an increase in- over any of the years preceding. Three linn iti dred and fifty thousand dollars are often bandied ed at a single meeting, and no race is run for less than an S l. HJO. while some of the races bring as high :1* as from . «ni to O.0Ni. In one year the chief le* winning stable came out ahead in twenty-seven ,-n ri.ces. taking purses to tbe amount of 00,000. *"• Luring that BBSS* year the total value of the stakes h distributed was more than 11.888.888. "I wish I could take you out to the Hippodrome llp n*#r Palermo Park and show you the races. They „,v are held on Sundays and Thursdays, and also on all ujl of the holidays. Everyone goes and in the grandstand .j. you may see the president and his cabinet. ,. the chief officers of the army and navy, and all the he world and his wif besides. The race track is a a wonder. It is two miles in length and lias an an inner track for t raining purjioses. The main track ck is of sand and earth. The grandstand will seat •at many thousands. I was told there were attout 20.0 m» hm» th.-re the iast day I attended and these people paid i l all the way from . 1 to entrance fees. Us races es are under the Jockey Club, which owns the track ck and manages it. It gets 10 per cent, of the receipts its and this amounts to several million dollars s year. ir. I — . i — ", _ o i I 0 o " at t of if _ j. . ■ d — ■ •• 1 — — — or r i- _ to .l » l ~ _ £• — — 3T. r. — ST. Is — E. — ST. T- ils — = ps ss , 1 IBS •J of in 111 ng ".• [J it . "" the ,le "r the " only ".k is «*s as as the " ,1_ lv was as »" and u" ll- •"s Vn nt for "r 1:1 • *■ Dr. r: "•v "" °J that !. A large part of this sum is given to charity, hut enough is left to make the Jockey Club the richest association of its kind in the world. The Jockey Club has ils special compartment in the grandstand and this is supplied with elevators and furnished with cafes and eating arrangements. "The betting at the Palermo races is on the I i pari-mutucl order, the tickets costing about in gold. They can be bought in lots of from one to 100 or more, and there is straight betting and place betting on every race. At the last meeting eighty- seven horses were entered and there were rivers of men and women going to and from the windows of the betting establishments. Buildings covering : i ■ half acre are devoted to pool selling, and It seemed 1 to me that all were putting up some money on every race. All were wildly excited. As the horses near- ed the winning |K st 20,000 people rose with a yell. Tbe same emotions were displayed as those we see at one of our baseball games. The crowd was well dressed, but there were more poor than rich. Then were many Italians and Spaniards and thou- sands of native Argentines. "It Is now a third of a century since the Jockey Club was founded. It was started with the idea t of improving the horses of the Argentine and at the . same time to promoting good fellowship. The government . liecanie interested in it and the club received some of its property on the condition that it could be held only as long as it was used for races, , and that if the races were stopped it should be returned. Today there is no probability that that c property will ever no back to the government. TJie club has grown and it is now perhaps the most wonderful of its kind in the world. It has steadily increased in popularity and it has now more than 1 2.000 members, although its initiation fee is ,500. • The dues are 0 a year. The club is not a money-making institution as far as the members are concerned. Its enormous receipts go back into the ; club furnishings and charities and to the building : ; up of horse spirit and race spirit. It has spent L vast amounts on its club arrangements. The grandstand at Palermo cost 00,000 and the special ac- . conimodatioiis there for the members of the club .".i».tMMi. The stand for the jockeys and trainers cost 5,000, and the ticket otlice. where the bet- ling is done, 25,000. Altogether the race track and its surroundings have cost more than ,000,000. "The Jockey Club house in Buenos Aires is oue ; of the finest buildings of the city. During my stay | I have had the good fortune to dine there in company with the American minister and a party of ten. Wo sat aliout a round table in a splendid little dining room, finer. 1 venture, than that of any royal palace in Europe, and later on we looked into J the state dining room, which is one of the most 1 iieautiful in the world. It is lighted from above and the walls are covered with costly tapestries and j carvings. The clubhouse has been decorated by r famous artists, and it is a mass of treasures from oue end to tbe other. Entering from Florida street, the great business center of the capital, you pass | a celebrated statue of Diana by Falguieroe, and then go up stairs of marble, with balustrades of onyx, to the second floor. Upon the walls are the paintings of such artists as Bonnat. Bonguereau i and Royebet and there are statues by famous sculp-"~ tors here and there. "Nothwithstandiug the beauties of the clubhouse, the members are not satisfied with it, and they have 3 decided to give it over to the Argentine government 1 for use as a building for the state department or , ministry of foreign affairs. They are about to build a" new clubhouse on the Calla San Martin, not ! I far from the Hotel llaza. This building will face a beautiful park and its site alone has cost ,500.-000. The man who sold the property bought it 1 t some years ago for less than 00,000, and the Jockey Club sale will give you some idea of how-land . is rising in Buenos Aires "The origin of the Argentine horse is of especial 1 interest to us. As you know, our hemisphere had i no horses until nft»r Columbus came; and the first t horses of both North and South America were im-I". . Batten from Spain. They were descended from those . produced by the Moors from the cross between the P Barb and the Arabian. Some were sent to Mexico. where they ran wild, and formed the wild horses i of our western plains. Others were brought to 0 South America and some of the first came over lu „ the sixteenth century. A part of the latter lot belonged "; to Pedro de Mendoza, who. when attacked a by the Querrandi Indians, had to abandon his s settlement on the pampas. He then left behind him u five mares and seven stallions, and It is said that 1 these twelve animals were the progenitors of the c great troops of Argentine horses. The animals Increased ■ in such numbers that the wild droves almost covered the plains. There were so many horses s that mares and geldings were sold to the government i- for two or three shillings each to supply the e Indians with horse flesh. Later tens of thousands s of animals were killed for their hides and tallow. . bringing from fifteen to twenty shillings a head »1 and it was not until recent years that horses be-= !- came worth from 0 and upward apiece. The early y Argentines were too proud to ride mares and during the first quarter of the Nineteenth century more e than a half million mares were butchered for what t they brought in horse hair, fat and hides. Now N the mare is almost as valuable as the stallion n and horse breeding is exceedingly profitable. "In riding over the country one sees large droves .s of horses feeding inside the great fenced inclosures s and then is a steady im|»ortation of all kinds of ,f line animals including the Clydesdales and Per-cherous J" for draft purposes. The number of horses is steadily increasing. It has more than doubled , within the past twenty years, and it is estimated , that there is still room here for many times the e supply now on hand. "Indeed, the possibilities of Argentina in stock k development are beyond conception. As it is now. ■"■ less than one-seventh of the land is under cultivation, •- and I am told that 200.000,000 animals could l lie fed and still leave room for more. "The Criolla mare, which served as the base for * the native horse slock of the republic, had excellent 11 blood, and today it shows some evidences of its " Arabian ancestry. It was dwarfed by being born " and bred in the open without any other food than ■ the native grasses. Still it is strong and willing ™ and capable of extraordinary exertion. It is irregu-" 1 lar in shape and color, ranging from the slender r type to the short. Blacky one, and from a dusky brown to a fantastic blossom color. ••The native stock might have been improvisl by • selection and brought back to its original excellence. I am told that some of the estaneieros have tried i it successfully and that if animals of the same ie breeds had been imported from Spain they might it have renewed the old stock. The native horses. • however, form excellent ones for breeding, although h crossing them with the racing blood seems to take e away their muscular strength and sturdiuess and to o make them nervous. For working cattle, the las-,,s »■ sooers on horseback need brawny, quiet horses aud d not quick nervous ones. Crossed with the Per-an r- cherou. Clydesdale and Shire, the Criolla is a good d general purpose horse, fitted for draft or the carri-1,v i- age: and. crossed with the thoroughbred. It makes s au animal which is especially fitted for cavalry purls r- poses. The value of horses is steadily rising. Before »- the war began good carriage horses brought it 00 a pair at auction, and light draft horses were J sold for as much as 10. North American mules brought about 00 each and Argentina mules half lf as much. Cavalry horses are now selling from 00 o upward, many poor animals being among those shipi ed. "The same prejudice as formerly still exists :s among the natives in the use of mares as riding animals. The gaucho is ashamed to be seen riding ft them and many persons use them for draft purposes s only. ••] ilavt. hasa interested in the methods of horse e breaking in Argentina. On the great stud farms 1S where fine stock is kept, the methods are much the ■ same as in the United Staees. but out on the patu-•" " pas. where the cowboys do as they please, the horses * are allowed to run free until they are four or five years old. They are then lasooed and saddled bv force. The cowhov mounts the horse and gallops him under a shower of blows uutil he is conquered. s It is much the same as tbe methods of our cowboys s of the West."
