Thoroughbreds

The North American racing circuit around 1900: a horse, an owner in debt, a trainer, a bookmaker, and the several ways a race can be arranged before it is run. Fraser worked the oil fields of Burma and India before settling in Ontario to write, and he knew the track from the stables outward — the animals here are characters and the men are the problem. Fifty-six plates of painting from 1861 to 1925, by Degas and Bellows among others, show the crowd, the weather, and the working life that surround the track.