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Fandango, v. 3, issue 4, whole no. 12, Summer 1946
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FAN-DANGO Vol. III, No. 4 PACIFICON ISSUE, Summer 1946 Whole No. 12 COUNTERCOCKWISE C. EDWARD BURBEE You might, said the sage, compare the love life of a man with the business or profession of racing horses. The racing man has what is known in his and other fields as a string. He loves the business of racing. Even though racing horses should not strain or be forced to violent effort, he races all he can, compatible with his abilities in that line. And naturally, Nature has endowed some men with the ability to maintain bigger and better strings than their neighbors. The racing man, then, loves the Game. To him it is the Prime Subject. His string is usually divided into four classes, though we will discuss a hypothetical fifth class later on. First of all, he has a few platers. They are called variously, lclaiming horses, claimers, skates. The term "mount" is used almost exclusively by jockeys when they speak of the horses they ride, but you might expect to see the term used indiscriminately here. These platers are cheap horses, oftentimes mere spavined hacks. The sportsman picks them up out of the claiming races, where any qualified person may buy or "claim" a horse that is run. They are a sort of pickup. Casuals. They do not cost much. He has no great attachment for them. More often they are just fill-ins between the bigger events of his life. He may run them a few times in some of the numerous opportunities he has to choose from, and eventually loses them to somebody else via the claiming route. He expects to, in fact, and often hopes to. He is not particularly interested in them as individuals--too many just like them, no better or worse. Sometimes, though, these cheaper items not only pay their own way but help support his better class stuff. He also has a few mounts of a somewhat higher grade. He does not risk these in the open market, viz., the claiming races. He watches them more closely, since they usually have more class than the general run of stuff and might easily develope into something better. They generally have been better bred or have by their own efforts raised themselves to the higher bracket. They are not run as often as the cheaper stuff, and their efforts can generally be depended upon to be better. Their style and technique is far above average. The stake horse is the third classification. Generally the small operator will have only one or two of these. These are the ones that he goes all out for. The other ones are just buildups for these. If financial reverses force him to give up part of his string, he will usually attempt to hang onto these horses, giving them up only as a last resort. If he has something really choice, he is constantly fending off prospective buyers, who often eye his mount with greedy eyes and sometimes cause him no end of worry, since he feels that in a weak moment he might possibly part with this choice stuff. Oddly enough, for all his care and expense, he often gets little or no money out of the stake horses. It costs more to enter them in races, and, comparatively speaking, they often do not make as much as the cheaper stuff. -- 1 --
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FAN-DANGO Vol. III, No. 4 PACIFICON ISSUE, Summer 1946 Whole No. 12 COUNTERCOCKWISE C. EDWARD BURBEE You might, said the sage, compare the love life of a man with the business or profession of racing horses. The racing man has what is known in his and other fields as a string. He loves the business of racing. Even though racing horses should not strain or be forced to violent effort, he races all he can, compatible with his abilities in that line. And naturally, Nature has endowed some men with the ability to maintain bigger and better strings than their neighbors. The racing man, then, loves the Game. To him it is the Prime Subject. His string is usually divided into four classes, though we will discuss a hypothetical fifth class later on. First of all, he has a few platers. They are called variously, lclaiming horses, claimers, skates. The term "mount" is used almost exclusively by jockeys when they speak of the horses they ride, but you might expect to see the term used indiscriminately here. These platers are cheap horses, oftentimes mere spavined hacks. The sportsman picks them up out of the claiming races, where any qualified person may buy or "claim" a horse that is run. They are a sort of pickup. Casuals. They do not cost much. He has no great attachment for them. More often they are just fill-ins between the bigger events of his life. He may run them a few times in some of the numerous opportunities he has to choose from, and eventually loses them to somebody else via the claiming route. He expects to, in fact, and often hopes to. He is not particularly interested in them as individuals--too many just like them, no better or worse. Sometimes, though, these cheaper items not only pay their own way but help support his better class stuff. He also has a few mounts of a somewhat higher grade. He does not risk these in the open market, viz., the claiming races. He watches them more closely, since they usually have more class than the general run of stuff and might easily develope into something better. They generally have been better bred or have by their own efforts raised themselves to the higher bracket. They are not run as often as the cheaper stuff, and their efforts can generally be depended upon to be better. Their style and technique is far above average. The stake horse is the third classification. Generally the small operator will have only one or two of these. These are the ones that he goes all out for. The other ones are just buildups for these. If financial reverses force him to give up part of his string, he will usually attempt to hang onto these horses, giving them up only as a last resort. If he has something really choice, he is constantly fending off prospective buyers, who often eye his mount with greedy eyes and sometimes cause him no end of worry, since he feels that in a weak moment he might possibly part with this choice stuff. Oddly enough, for all his care and expense, he often gets little or no money out of the stake horses. It costs more to enter them in races, and, comparatively speaking, they often do not make as much as the cheaper stuff. -- 1 --
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