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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 1907)
10 THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN. PORTLAND, OCTOBER 13, 1907. THE VANDERBILT FARM IN THE NEIGHBORHOOP Wftw, OF PABJS THE FINEST TRAINING PLACE IN THE WORLD Mi .5 . 4 "SV v ft' !l -- - I ---s-' - '-.mw-.HH, BWleVUlrli tii. I- i. - - 1 " " ' p r,--Wil .mW I sasi -i ii rT -r n ,j . ' ?-! i;Vf Sl,B I f t. t 'Jll llviH iSC- 'IvWn ' 7 USwyHfeV -'-' ' -iTir,MMM LC ViOSl t has been equalized and made almost as i MMUirT i " fTiTt , "ff" 111 flat as a floor. 5 r? 1i BT DEXTER MARSHALL. POISSY-ON-aEUNE. Sept. 37. (Special Correspondence of the Sunday Ore gonian.) "M'sleu Vanderbllt. 'e 'ave been 'ere a good many years," said the young English-speaking Folssy cabman, who drove me out to St. iXPUls-de-Poisxy. William K. Vanderbllfs training head quarter near the town of Poissy, some 35 miles, a little to the north of west- of Paris. "I remember vare well when 'e come. I was small boy then. Every year since then 'e have been 'ere sometimes; 'e used to come from Paris In the train, but now 'e come toot, toot. In ees motor car. " 'E does not stay much about the town,, no; ' stay at "ees place an' keep busy about 'eej 'orses. But everybody in Poissy an' in this neighborhood think 'e is vare fine man; "e give much work to he men of Poissy an' other places roun' 'ere. Some years ago 'e 'ave employ 'un dred, two 'undred men. 'E is w'at you call it? hall right? Ees lat eetT" The Vanderbllt "farm." as it is some times termed by the Anglo-American col onists in Paris, Is anything but a farm In the ordinary sense, since no appreci able part of the ground within its in closure is devoted to cultivation. But it Is big enough for a very respectable farm either in France or the United States, as It covers not far from 250 acres, while Its soli is fertile enough to raise any of the crops which are produced on the smiling, hill-circled plain around it. Instead of being planted to potatoes, or own to wheat or oats, nearly all the 1 ' 1 area of St. Louis de Poissy Is given over to horses, which Its owner keeps in order to carry on his racing career in France, and neither money nor pains have been pared In the effort to make the estab lishment a model one. Frenchmen and Englishmen, as well as Americana, agree that the attempt has been quite success ful. The entire "farm" Is securely en closed after the manner of the French, partly by a high wall and partly by a till hedge 10 or IS feet wide that Is reinforced by a ' wire fence. Either hedge or fence would be difficult to pass; combined, they are practically Impregnable. Tet, apparently, the lord of the domain does not rely upon them wholly to keep Intruders out, for at varloiM points he has displayed con spicuously the announcement: "let II y a des pleges a loups," which, freely translated, means: "Look out for the wolf traps." So far as I know, no one ever has Investigated for the purpose of learn ing whether there are any traps in the hedge or not. There are no similar warnings on the wall. It is a piece of masonry as only Frenchmen build about nine feet high, of rough-finished buff stone, capped with brilliantly red tiles. It Is so new and It reflects the light so brightly when the sun is shin ing that you can see It plainly from tn hills miles away In every direction. The newness and the splc-and-span-ness of the entire establishment are among the most distinguished char acteristics of St- Louls-de-Polesy. It Is in a region not altogether devoid of other new buildings, to be sure, but where most structures are gray and black with age. At Poissy Is the sec ond oldest church now standing In all France, say the people there. It was built In the twelfth century, and al though portions of it seem to have been restored, it looks quite as old as It Is supposed to be. The Vanderbllt training farm is reached by a sandy cart track, which branches from the fine main road leading from Folksy to Meulan, both of which are on the River Seine. There are two entrances. Just inside the ornamental main entrance stands the new chateau the cabman tailed it a "castle"' which Mr. Vanderbllt has had built for a residence when he chooses to occupy it, but which la not quite ready to live in. While the owner of the place was In France In August, but attending the races at Deauvllle, Trouvllle and other racing centers. Mrs. Vanderbllt waa living In a pretty little red-roofed whlte-stone cot tage Just outside the yellow walls. "Finest Training Place In France." There are many who say that the train ing grounds at St, Louls-de-Poisey are the finest In France. As I haven't seen them all I cannot say whether this Is true or not, but the establishment oertalnly Is well planned and well kept up. The entire lncloeure Is practically level, and the turfed course, with two long stretches, has a circuit of a mile and a quarter. The sand course. Just inside the other. Is perhaps a hundred yards short er. One of the stretches of the turf course is quite five furlongs In length, which gives a chance for long straight away dash. The turf on the outside course Is kept In as good condition as the turf should be on the putting greens of a first-class golf course, although a bit longer. As turf never or rarely maintains Itself In France the course has to be watered plentifully every day, water for that purpose being pumped from the Seine into a water tower upon ita banks, about half a mile from the western boundary of the farm. With in the inclosure and near Its eastern wall Is another smaller water tower which Is connected with the first by underground pipes. All the racing in France, as In England, Is upon the turf. Consequently the more severe exercising of the horses at St. Louls-de-Polssy is done upon the turf course, the Inner, shorter, sand course being reserved for the slower gallops. In side the track there are 22 large paddocks. In which all the horses on the place can be turned out at once If It Is so desired. There are stalls for 64 horses, bnsldes six or seven "hacks." The stalls, which are very roomy ar.d well ventilated, are located in stone stables with thick walls that Insure coolness In the hottest weath er ever known In the Talley of the Seine. The stalls for the yearlings, of which there are 35, are In what Is known as the riding school. It Is nearly or quite $00 feet long and Its inclosed and roofed-over track for the exercising fit the yearlings. 4 'i V- A. .. V- ft .-Wife -V4- 1 1 . .V. f1 v - - which surrounds the stalls. Is about a rod wide. Five times round this track make a mile, and Us short turns are sharply raised on the outside. There Is nothing in the world, appar ently, that William K. Vanderbllt likes better than to watch his horses at work under the direction of his trainer, Will iam Duke. For some years' Duke was employed by Sir John Thursby In Eng land, where he helped Introduce Amer ican training methods, as Lester Kelff and Tod Sloane introduced American rid ing. Duke succeeded Hughes as trainer at St. LouIs-de-Polssy about five years ago. The stand from which the trainer and the owner watch the horses at St. Louis-de-Polssy rises one story above the riding school and commands an unob structed view of both tracks, the sand and the turf. . Bach track has posts at eisbth-mlle in tervalsred for the turf and white for the sand which serve the trainer In deter mining the speed at which the horses are going, and he calls for more or less speed as they are moving too slowly or too fast to suit, by means of signals worked from the stand. The exercising, of course. Is according to the most approved American '"rh'ls'ts now accepted as desirable by practically all French racing men, most of whom have adopted It in full or In part, but at first they looked upon it with caution, not to eay alarm. Even so late as five years ago. there was much question as to its value, as the following paragraphs, turned into Eng lish "as she Ib wrote" by one of the men who do casual translation for American sojourners here, will show. The article from -ilch they are taken, was contributed by Jean Romaln to Le Sport UnlversalleIllustre for July- 20, 1902. It will be noticed that M. Ro malne found a few things to surprise him at St. Louls-de-Polssy besides the training. "At the hour of our arrival," he says, "the work of the old horses has just been finished. We have before- us the stable of the t o'clock horses. The men are dressed in blouses held to xetbar by belts, their heads covered with very broad straw hats of the en tire American form while attending to their occupations, giving us at the first step the impression that here we are not at Chantilly. "The Yankee lad, or subordinate of the Yankee trainer, has quite a differ ent bearing from that of the English lad. He is nbt striving to appear as a gentleman, and the entirely sportive trappings and accouterments, caps, serge Jackets, breeches and legglns of porkskins, were not found by us to be worn at St. Louis-de-Polsey. "Contrary to the English, the Amer icans keep their horses as much as possible In the open air and do not store them all day. In dark and close stalls. At a distance we see them drawn up In battle array like a line of cav alry. One does not give in. We take advantage of this incident to inform ourselves. "The purpose of the dally exercise is not only to keep the horses supple, but also to make their character more steady and to get them Into the habit of remaining In contact with their neighbors while they are under the or ders of the starters. When at last all have been calmed down, order Is given to break the line loose, and, to our surprise, the entire troop starts at a small, slow gallop. In one of the most picturesque, but also one of the most practical mix-ups. In the English stables the colts are seen in Indian file at from 76 to 150 feet one from the other. Evidently such a method is In spired by fear of accidents, but it of fers the inconvenience of not prepar ing the horses for the brutal contact with others In the race. "Here It is estimated that the train ing should tend to educate the horse with a view to the hippodrome. In consequence one tries to give the horse during the exercise Itself a lesson which shall be profitable for its train ing. " It Is a fact that the young colts go in playful way, but very calm, well placed and nnder the full control of their riders, without the least diaordu appearing In their close line. This training exercise and the entire light work are done on the sand. The rapid gallops are accomplished on the grass." M. Romaine describes the training exercise at some length, laying partic ular stress upon the fact that the horses are left outside as long as pos sible after the work Is done. "Before their return to the stalls," he says, "they are walked a long time, led by hand under sieve-like coverings which are spread over the entire horse, per mitting the free access of air to the body and protecting It from flies. From time to time the animal, is given a mouthful of water. "I have been told that this dosing of the horse with the beverage Is one of the tricks proving the superiority of the trainers. I admit my incapacity to discuss this question. The exercise, the walk led by hand, the grooming, take at least three" hours by the clock," he continues,' with some won der, "during which time the horses re main in the open. If this be not suf ficient they are taken out again in the afternoon."' w Summing up with regard to American methods of training, M. Romaine says that, saving the rule to keep the horses in the open as much as possible, the principle seems to be to treat each ani mal according to his temperament and to vary the method as occasion requires "so many different horses, so many different ways of doing" is the way he puts it. This Is true of the Vanderbllt stables today, under Duke, as it was five years ago under Hughes. But today the under trainer is an Englishman named Piatt and be wears the "leggings of porkskin" and otherwise attires himself as men of his nationality and calling generally do. He is a highly competent man, however. He came here with Duke the head trainer, and since their arrival, nearly all the buildings have been re placed by new ones: new waterworks and electric light plant have been put In, and the surface of the entire Inclos ure, which formerly was undulating, so that the tracks were not without vrodas. It Is In doing all this work that the "one. hundred, sometimes two hundred" men of Poissy, as stated by my cab driver, have been employed by the estab lishment to the gratitude and largely to the support of all Poissy and its en virons. The building of the new "castle" has employed many local workmen, also. These men and the local tradesmen do most of their dealing with William K.'s secretary, Rutgers Leroy, the proprietor himself rarely coming in contact with them. In the Summer when the races are on and the horses' are away Bt. Louls-de-Polssy boasts few employes, but at o'ther times there are about 30 stable boys, be sides other regular employes, such as the gardener, the concierge and their un derlings, and so on. The stable boys in clude a few French lads from the neigh borhood, but there are seevral English lads, while here and there among them may be seen a "broad straw hat, entire ly American." Bellhouse. the regular Vanderbllt Jockey, succeeded Ransch. the American. last Spring, and is English. My visit to St. Louls-de-Polssy was made In midsummer, and. In consequence the place was almost deserted by both men and horses. AH the racing animals were at the tracks; the surplus stock had all been sold or sent to the big Van derbllt breeding farm at Vlllebon; both Duke, the head trainer, and Vanderbllt were absent and a sabbath calm cov ered the place, both Inside and outside the yellow walls. Only Piatt was In at tendance. His house and Duke's, white-walled and red-roofed, like nearly all the St. Louis-de-Polssy buildings, stands near a gate that is nearly a third of a mile further from the public high way than the entrance of state open ing on the new chateau and its gar- Every one of these villages has Its queer traditions, dating back to the middle ages, and perhaps beyond. At Poissy, to the south, lived Messionler, one of the greater French painters, during the larger part of tho nineteenth century. His statue, sur rounded by a square of stocky, thickly leaved trees, closely clipped an auda cious figure In bronse stands in front of the ancient church of which the town Is so proud. St. IiOuis-De-Polssy .in the Past. St. Louis-de-Polssy, especially since its owner has built a "castle" within Its walls, is now In the zenith of Its glory, and this is recognized by the picture postal card publishers, who have Issued a series illustrating te Improvements. But It has a history dating back some years before Vanderbllt got possession of It. It was once a public racing course, and for some time it vied in popularity with other courses in the neighbor hood of the French capital. But at the "best it no mora than held its own and later, partially because it was so far from the Poissy Railroad station, its popularity dwindled, its receipts grew less and less yearly, its prizes were reduced, and finally it was closed. Then Jacques Hennessy took it and trained his horses there. After him Cammille Blanc, the famous French racing man, purchase- it, in partner ship with M. Mecle: they kept it a short time only, and sold it to the present ' owner. It was a much smaller place then than now, .having been added to bit by bit. almost every year, and the fact that only a part of the present 250 acres is protected by the famous buff stone wall may mean that "Willie K." Intends to add still more acres to his domain. f The only training quarters in France that have cost mora money than Van debilt's are those of Edmond Blanc, brother of Cammille, and manager of tne Casino at Monte Carlo. His racing headquarters is at St. Cloud, adjoin ing the racetrack there, which was built by him originally to serve as a training track only. It has been one of the most important racetracks In the French system for some time now. however, and Edmond Blanc Is one of the heaviest holders of race track stock in the country today. Those who should know say that while Vanderbllt has spent a million dollars upon his track near Poissy, Blanc has spent twice that much at St. Cloud. Including the public stands cost much more track, and th the track there has than the Vanderbllt same may be said of the training quar ters themselves. Much costly art tils work is to be found in some of the stalls and other parts of the big stables at St. Cloud, but nothing so extrav gant and really useless Is to be found at St. Louis-de-Polssy. Edmond Blanc makes his establish ment very profitable, however, every year; Vanderbllt made money out of French racing for the first time In 1906, but has made little or nothing this year. To tell the truth "Willie K" has not done so well this year as last; neither has Jay Ransch, the American Jockey, who left him last Autumn after "a bit of an argument," thus closing an engagement of three years. Van derbllt'! present Jockey, Bellhouse, the English lad, who rides the horses of other owners when not needed by Van derbllt, has done very well, however, being second on the list of winning Jockeys, which bears out the state ment that Vanderbllfs horses were noi up to the standard this season. His 3-year-olds all failed to make good. Second Sight, which ran second to Sans Souci II.. in the Grand Prix de Paris, has not done anything worth mentioning since; Kadijah, who was in the second string, but still gave promise, also has failed to count for much. Schuyler, the best Vanderbilt 2-year-old, and North east, another of his 2-year-olds, appear to be coming on very well, however, and there Is reason to believe that the multi millionaire owner may fare better in 1908 than he has fared in 1907. His Malntenon and Prestige, which were the talk of all racing France last year by reason of the victories they won under Ransch's guid ance, are out of racing completely .. for the present. It makes little financial difference, how ever, either to Vanderbllt or Blano whether they make money on the tracks or not. Blanc's pockets are kept full to repletion, quite Independent of his win nings or losses as a racing man, by the constant stream of money from the utter most parts of the earth that flows to him by way of the great gambling resort, where, as the French say: "Nolr gagne quelquefols Rouge gagne quelquefols, mals Blanc gagne tou Jours" which means that Blanc wins sometimes, red sometimes, but whits (Blanc) wins all the time. The racecourse at Sheepshead Bay, largely owned by Vanderbllt and his New York Central trains unless the Inter state Commerce Commission shall get af ter them too hard "win all the time," and will keep his pockets full, no matter what happens in France, so that he need not care the snap of. his finger whether his horses win on the French turf or not. At the most his racing losses can not possibly be big enough to embarrass him financially, since' like Keene, Harry Payne Whitney and August Belmont, "at home,'' he never bets to any extent worth mentioning. But It is said that he does care a lot that he Is pretty sore over the failure of his stable to cut much ice this year. It should be understood, however, that Vanderbilt stands very high as a racing man In France, notwithstanding this rather poor luck this season. There was a time, before his horses began to win, when Frenchmen refused to take him any more seriously than they take most Americans, whether rich or otherwise, but now "ft is different." His costly breeding farm has not turned out any great horses as yet, but his Prestige carries an unbeaten certificate, despite his breakdown, and had beaten the best French horses before being withdrawn because of lameness. In France, as in America, "Willie K." has the name of getting more real fun out of racing than any other rich man allvo, and of taking defeat with the same smile with which he welcomes victory. It Isn't supposed that he knows as much about horses as the men he hires, and It is true that he is vastly better at railroading which he hates than at horsemanship, which he ' admires so much. But he knows how to select good horsemen as well as ex pert railroad men. and, perhaps, one day he may realize his ambition to stand at the head of the French turf, .He Is the only American, , probably, who could be a member of the French Jockey Club if he chose, which he doesn't.
