DOG DERBY

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 114, 16 May 1931, Page 15

DOG DERBY

BIG CANADIAN SPORT

THE QUEBEC EACE

(From "The Post's" Representative.) VANCOTJVEB, 30th March. '•San T ko-dahr, San-ko-dahr encore." "Atta-bov, Emil." The cry is taken up by thousands of throats- along the Grande Alee, 'as a sturdy, youthful musher, wearing a brown parkah sped into view behind six lean, long-limbed huskies, andi running at top speed with one hand on his sleigli, brought them to a halt in front of the Chateau Frontenae Hotel. The tenth Quebec International Dog Derby is over. For the fifth time — four times in the last five years—Emil St. Godnrd, of The Pas, Manitoba.,, idol of the North,.is the winner. And he is just-21.' ' ■ ■ ■ . The going was heavy. The time for the three, day, 123. mile grind was 12 hours 3 minutes, an: hour :slower than the recordset by the same musher last Tear. Twenty-three minutes behind was Earl Brydges; of Manitoba, and'l3 minutes later Leonhard Seppala, of Alaska, the ', 53-year-old' veteran, and hero of \ke~l92i dash to1 Nome with diphtheria anti-toxin. It was the first' time in seven years that Seppala was outside second place. Strung out behind were Gii-anl,-of Manitoba, Russiek,, of Hudson Bay, Chevrette, of . Quebec, and Leo St. Godard, younger brother of the winner. Two minutes^ separated the first throe on the third day's run. . St. Godard has now won thirteen, international events in. six years. This season, to date, he has won the three major: classics—-Ottawa, New England, and Quebec. The last is .to come, The Pas, hardest', grind ,of all, 200 miles due. north to Flin Fldn,'jOver' the roughest trails .in-the racing calendar. St. Godard has won this race five, times. { A WONBEEFTJIi LEADER. For five years the same dog, Toby, a stout-hearted, steel-limbed, leanrfianked^.aristocratic husky has led St. Godard's team. He is a! Veteran of trail craft,'. this black-faced Pharlap- among canines, who has a. mixture of, greyhound.and wolf blood in his veins. ' ! Without waiting for official times; San-ko-dahr, as the winner's name is pronounced, leads his, team to the hotel clog : stables, , where, having been forbiddan to eat raw snow in their heated state,'1 thoy aro served hot,': black tea, brewed by their .master, followed by fresh fillet..steak,. chopped small. Unharnessed,. rubbed down, examined by' itherveterinarian—tiiere is , a prize, for dogs'/ condition at the finish—the' team if} bedded down for the night, and the', master betakes himsslf to the.-. Dogr lnushers' banqi:cit in the main dining: room of th-3 "Frostenac," a colourful ceremony of-.' Derby Night, at which prizes are-avrardsd and toasts are drunk in French witiea.' .' TThe.assembly is an interesting one. Humblo ar.d -great, /dog puncher and Cabinet' Minister, aine together. French is spqken, the patois of the trail. There .are English from Ontario, and American tourists in their amazing sports clothes, and voyageour affectations of sash and' toque. ■ ■..-. T .'" , v . Dog racing i.i now the major winter sport in.Canada. Each province has its classic race. It is standardised, wjth set rules for .breeding ./and 'training. Cruelty is "not tolerated. The dogs are as keen as their.: drivers. . ■-.-... Mrs. EieWer, of Maine, 'th 9 only woman entrant,' contemplated retiring after the second, day of last year's race, but her,dogs,made, so much fuss when, they saw the. others being harnessed that she, had to race them. CRADLE OF THE GAME. The game was cradled at The Pas, the jumping-oft" i place for ; the Hudson Bay railroad.;. It. was brought 'there from Alaska by a yetaran racer, Walter Goyne, who mat a ,nfusher!s death, on the'trail, with, his-,dogs. They found him under the ice, still sitting in his sleigh, his clogs standing, as if they were, alive. ■''"> .. ? •■ .-.;'■ . . ' .-. ■The husky is a part; of Canada, essentially a Canadian, wovsii into the fabrio of the history and development of the North. Ho-is-a permanent partner, of the-pioneer,; timber crniser, prospector,1 .-miner, trapper, Hudson Bay trader, Quebec habitant, Eskimo, Indian. Every litter borh.in ithe North is a prospective .Derby, winner. ' . St. Godard trains his dogs.in summer by making them run ahead of an auto^ -mobile! - Cod 'liver, oil and two raw eggs is thsir morning training'diet,: with, a three-course meal/of fish, meat, and toa; at the end of the day. . Russick makes his dogs racealdng the lake'shore, while he keeps up with them in a motorboat. . Breeds .are crossed to, secure the .type best-suited to the country in which, tho, dogs have .to race or work. Sep? pala, aecustomod to the hills of. Alaska, relies on, short-legged woff-hounds. St. Ggdard-1 develops the long-legged husky suitable for the Manitoba plains. Russick crosses the'wolf-hound, bull-dog, and red setter.' There ,are. other .hybrids— mastiff, collie, .'poodle, Scottish deerhound, and the- übiquitous mongrel,1 often master-of them all in a blizzard. Tho smaller, thick-footed furry dog has his place in the heavy drift, country. Police dogs will,go ten days without food, where no food is 'available, and still pull till their hearts break. In a country' whose mineral wealth, is limitless, tho price of dogs will go up to &40 each if a gold rush breaks out suddenly. .They still hold their own against the railroad, the automobile, the aeroplane —except, mirabilo dicta, in an emergency, such as. that in -which Chevrette, a Quebec musher, delayed by a sudden froezo-up, had to take his team by air to. arrive at Quebec, in. time to enter for the race.,