"Excerpt" from the Mar 31, 1943 HH and John Hervey article, From Here and There:
The fame of these events (Epsom Derby and Oaks, St. Leger Derby) is world?wide, that of the Derby in especial, which is universally famous, throughout the globe, as the greatest of all horse races. And all originated as above?said: they were first gotten up by little groups of owners and breeders whose sole object was to see which one could produce the best colt or filly. They raced for their own money exclusively; the stakes, in each instance, consisting only of the entrance money and forfeits paid in by the nominators.
It will easily be seen that they represent the competitive spirit in the purest form, one wholly different from that which today governs almost all ''organized'' racing, which is often conducted by associations of men who neither own nor breed horses (indeed, many of them have been heard to declare that nothing would induce them to do so) and who open stakes and purses for sums of money, often immense, which they guarantee; if the entrance?fees and forfeits fail to ''pay out'' their expectation being to make up the difference from admission fees, betting privileges, etc., etc.
This places the sport upon an entirely different basis and turns the competitive spirit into other channels from the original one. The direct personal rivalry which then ruled being replaced by one general in sweep, while the tremendous sums at stake greatly intensify it. This phase being still further intensified by the fact that in the olden times all betting was strictly a ''man to man" affair. between private individuals; whereas today it has become something almost wholly impersonal, done promiscuously, and by means of machines.
The modern system of racing has brought with it a standardization akin to that which has come to rule throughout the entire modern scheme of life; by which much of the color, the ''character," the picturesqueness of events, and men, and horses, has been eliminated and replaced by a stereotyped sameness much less attractive and fascinating to many people. This has been much accentuated by the shortening of the contests, which has robbed them of a great deal of their former dramatic and absorbing interest by reducing them to a conventional series of affairs that, day after day, present practically nothing far removed from the ordinary but, instead, have settled down into a uniform pattern thoroughly routine in its make?up and execution.
Next week the further implications of this development will be taken up and discussed, for they are what have brought harness racing to its present status and may be said to be responsible for many of its ills and short?comings.
