This month's article...

STABLE CONVERSATIONS

"Stable Conversation" was written by Murray Howe, and published in 1900 by The Horse Review Company. The characters in the book include "Jimmy the groomster" (groom, swipe), and "The Owner". Jimmy has travelled the world over within the Harness Racing industry, and offers numerous "lessons" to The Owner with respect to the understanding the finer points of the ins-and-outs of our great sport.

Filled with sarcasm and satire, Jimmy's opinions often have a strong thread of truth running through the middle of them. In the end, they are certain to hold The Owner in good stead, as he navigates the sometimes treacherous waters of Standardbred horse ownership.


The "February, March and April" BLOODlines will feature three of my favourite exerpts from Stable Conversation, after which we will get back to the present, and make another study of the performance of horses - in relation to their sale price. Enjoy.



About The Value Of A Pedigree

(HOW A SWELL PEDIGREE PREVENTS THE BAD HORSE FROM DRIVING THE OWNER OUT OF THE BUSINESS)

"What you want now is a map of your hoss's breedin'," remarked Jimmy. "You want a map, big enough to frame and hang on the wall, showin' how much Hambletonian, an' Bagshaw, an' Wilkes, an' Messenger, an' Imported Diomed blood he's got in his system. It's a cinch you'll get more joy studyin' one of them pedigrees than you will watching this racer trot - 'cause all owners is alike. They think pedigrees is like recipes in a cookbook - you mix a quart of flour with a pound of cinnamon, an' a pail of water, an' a dime's worth of pink frosting ... and you get a cake. You mix so much Diomed with so much Wilkes, an' top it off with a little Electioneer, an' you get a standard trottin' hoss. See?"

"That's the way owners always figure, an' the joy they get countin' up the Diomed crosses in a tabulated trottin' horse recipe is what keeps 'em in the business. That's why you ought to get some wise guy to rig you up one for this racer - with green an' red ink, an' curly-cue flourishes, on nice white paper, with a yellow an' black frame around it. That's what you've got to have to keep yourself in line. I seen that today when you made a crack about sellin' this hoss just because he got his tongue over the bit an' cracked the gaitin' pole. Now I'm givin' you fair warnin' that you best get a pedigree mapped out an' hung up on the wall, or else you are goin' to get sour on this game, an' sell out before you know it."

"I thought of that some time ago," remarked the Owner, laughing, "and Frank Jarvis is getting one for me that I hope will please you. I have always been a firm believer in the value of a pedigree."

"Sure thing," replied the Swipe, "that's what I'm tellin' you. Pedigrees is valuable to keep owners in the business, an' I can see your finish if you don't get one for this sportin' horse right away. There was old Col. Johnson, down at Lexington. He used to get dead sore on the business whenever one of his studs done the lobster act. He thought he was goin' to sell out every time he left the track, but about the time a buyer offered him $200 for a hoss, he would swell all up and say: 'Great snakes, man! That hoss is worth $3,000 on his breedin' alone! Look at his tabulated pedigree! Six crosses to Abdallah, ten crosses to Messenger, an' twenty crosses to Diomed - twenty crosses; count 'em yourself.' Then, about the time he talked about that pedigree for an hour, that hoss wasn't for sale for any kind of money."

"Why, I've knowed owners an' breeders by the hundreds that blowed in trunks full of dough breedin' and racin' pedigrees. Whenever they lost they got horses with better pedigrees, and tried it again. They never did win nothin', of course, but they got their money's worth out of the pedigree, an' that's what you ought to learn to do."

"Then you don't believe that a pedigree is of any particular benefit to a horse," remarked the Owner.

"Well, it ain't of any particular benefit to some hosses," replied the Swipe. "I have always noticed that the strongest kind of a pedigree won't help a poor hoss, an' most any kind of a pedigree is a big help to a good horse. I had Clara Z., by Robert McGregor, dam by Dictator, in '92, an' she used to bark at the wire like a hoss that didn't have no pedigree. I kept waitin' an' waitin' for that Dictator cross to help her out, but it never did.

"Then I had a light-waisted geldin' named Four Flush, that was terrible lookin', but he was a real good hoss. The Blue Bull cross he got on his sire's side used to help him over to the three-quarter pole in fine shape, an' the Texas-pony cross he got from his dam used to bring him home like a cyclone.

"That's a funny thing, an' I never could understand it - why any old kind of pedigree will turn in an' help a good hoss to a fare-you-well, but the swellest kind of a pedigree won't never do nothin' for a poor hoss. But that ain't got nothin' to do with the value of a pedigree to an owner, an' things is goin' to go wrong for you if you don't take the tip."



So - even the best pedigree can't help a "bad horse" ... and the worst pedigree won't stop a "good horse". Still as true today as when it was written 100 years ago.

Hope you enjoyed this exerpt from "Stable Conversations" ... and that you enjoy two more that I have chosen from this book of 31 such topics in the Standardbred business.

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