ALL men love a horse who know a horse. The love of contest and struggle forms a kinship between man and horse that exists between no others. It is the gameness, the courage, the fighting spirit of the thoroughbred which arouses in man the finest instincts, and it is these qualities that cause the love of man for the thoroughbred. It is noticeable too, that the thoroughbred horse loves only those human beings who possess those same qualities.
On the race-track we find the only pure democracy of the world, a democracy which includes all classes, all strata of society. It is more liberal, more forgiving of human frailties and human weakness, than any other place, because men who know racing understand how hearts break when the weight cloths are too heavy and the distance too great.
These little tales of the turf are based upon real incidents and real characters. Perhaps those lovers of racing who have lived the life will recognize the characters, and to those I would plead that they extend to them the same broad understanding and forgiveness that they give to the tout, the cadger, and the down and outer in real life.
The Author
To Morvich
SON OF
RUNNYMEAD AND HYMIR
who has demonstrated to the world that handicaps of birth and breeding are not insurmountable—that the offspring of a sprinter can carry weight over a distance if he has the heart, that neither straight stifles, weight cloths nor distance counts against gameness and courage—this little volume is dedicated.
THE AUTHOR.
“HARDSHELL” GAINES
“Hardshell” Gaines was the only name we knew him by, although had anyone been sufficiently interested to look through the list of registered owners of race-horses, he would have learned that Hardshell had been christened James Buchanan Gaines. The name might also have furnished a clue as to his age.