The Old Racing Breed

Our Equine Friends
Stories of Horses in History
Copyright 1964 Modern Press
246 pages,
ISBN 1-894856-01-5.

Oval race tracks were still uncommon and when they did become a reality they presented some new and confusing problems if one may judge from the experience of two cowboys from the first town south of Calgary to have such a course. It was a town in which the lights were turned off at midnight and on again at 6 A.M. The two men from the hills, after sitting too long at the bar, hitched their team to democrat and started for home. But the trail led across the new race track on the west side of the town and in crossing the track, the horses took the best road which was the race course itself. Men and horses continued to travel all night and at 6 A.M., when the town lights came on, the two sleepy riders decided to turn off the road to see what strange town they had come upon. Great was their dismay when they discovered they were still at the town of their evening pleasures, having driven all night on the new race track.

But with country-wide interest in racing, it was natural that attention would be directed at Thoroughbreds and the late '80s saw at least three high-class breeding studs started in the North West Territories by the Quorn Ranch in the foothills, Beckton Brothers at Cannington Manor and Michael Oxarart on his ranch in the Cypress Hills.

The Quorn, west of Okotoks, was started with English capital in 1885 and received its first breeding stock in '86. A herd of cattle was driven from the South and five hundred broncos, also from Montana and neighboring states. Then, in time for the breeding season, twelve super-quality Thoroughbred stallions from England were unloaded at Calgary and delivered in safety at a new barn on the ranch. The high calibre of the imported horses brought surprise to everybody on the frontier and the first reaction on the part of horsemen was that such excellent sires would be wasted on the kind of mares available thereabout. The centre of attraction in the group was Eagle Plume, a big and stylish bay of which E. D. Adams said: "The best Thoroughbred I ever saw." Included, also, were Acostic who had been a track winner in England, Grand Coup and Yorkist.

Then, in the spring of 1887, while cattlemen were counting their disastrous losses after a severe winter, a large band of Thoroughbred mares from Ireland and England came to the Quom to place the foothills ranch in a still more distinctive position.

With the great Negro stockman, John Ware, in charge of the Quorn horses, the stallions were kept in show shape at all times and young animals given good care. When the offspring from the imported stock began to mature, the quality attracted buyers. The first horses to pull the Town of Calgary firewagon were bought from the Quorn and men responsIble for the buying of cavalry horses and police mounts found the Quom halfbreds to be most suitable. These hardy young horses with substance and hardiness from semi-native dams and quality from imported sires were good enough that the Mounted Police Commissioner announced the force would cease to look to Ontario for its needs.

The Quorn experience proved quite conclusively the Thoroughbred's exceptional worth for crossing, not only in getting police and army mounts from common mares but in producing general purpose and light delivery horses from heavy mares. Farmers, in many cases, found those middleweight crossbreds to be their handiest workers and some of those animals became heavyweight hunters.

While the Quorn was making Thoroughbred history, imported stallions of the breed were brought to Fort Macleod by Frank Strong and High River by the High River Horse Ranch, but in these cases, also, the production of utility horses rather than racing stock was the purpose. Michael Oxarart, the colorful Frenchman who created a chain of police problems following his arrival with horses from Montana and Oregon in 1884, later imported and bred for racing purposes on his ranch in the Cypress Hills.

But the best known early breeders of the West specializing in racing stock were the Becktons of Cannington Manor. The Cannington community, with an intensely English character, was the brainchild of Captain Edward M. Pierce and started in 1883. Fox hunting and racing were pastimes for which the English settlers had no trouble in finding time. The Canninoton Manor Turf Club was formed quite early and a race track was constructed. A race meet held there in 1887 drew horses of one kind or another from farms and homesteads for a hundred miles around. Thereafter, the Beckton Brothers-William, Ernest and Hubert-were the undisputed leaders on local tracks. Having come into a fortune, they set about to erect elegant farm buildings, entertain lavishly and own the best Thoroughbreds obtainable. Eight high class mares were brought directly from England in 1889 and a Kentucky-bred stallion, Jase Phillips, was bought to go with them.

"The best appointed stable west of Winnipeg," an editor conceded after visiting the Beckton farm. The racing barn, one hundred and twenty feet long, housed many animals With track reputations, Jack Daw, Miss Tax, Picininny, Imogene and Cloe Martin among them. Didsbury and Picininny were winners at the big Territorial Exhibition in Regina, 1895.

But that was only the beginning. East and west there came better tracks, more skill in training and many more of the good horses. New Thoroughbred names appeared to win public praise. The United States had its Thoroughbred Great-Man 0' War, described as the best bargain in turf history, bought by Samuel D. Riddle for $5000 and ultimately declared The Horse of the Century"; Citation with a one-mile record of 1:35.6; Alsab which was bought by Al Sabath at Saratoga Sales for $700 and then won $350,000, and others. Canada's list of "Greats" was not quite as spectacular but it holds significance-great sires like Yorkshire Lad foaled in 1902; Will Somers, imported by the Duke of Windsor when he was Prince of Wales; Craigangower, imported by James Speers; Marine by Man 0' War, and so on.

And in 1960-exactly one hundred years after the first Queen's Plate event-Canada's leading sire was another "Great," Chop Chop owned by Mr. and Mrs. E. P. Taylor, Wmdfield Farm, Ontario. At the same time, Victoria Park by Chop Chop and bred by Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, was the Horse of the Year in track performance, also pronounced "the best ever among Canadian-breds."