It is hard for a city kid to imagine how central horses were to life prior to the internal combustion engine.
Farm power, transportation, war power and entertainment all associated with horse power.
European culture revolved around horses from the early days of domestication and farming.
In California, gambling on gamboling dated back to Spanish days.
In May 1890, spring was in the air and Tribune editor/owner Benjamin Brooks was sponsoring a horse race.
At the time, a year's subscription to the Daily Tribune cost $5.70 per year. The editor guaranteed $500 in prizes.
Today 100 times a year's subscription to the Tribune would be a prize purse of over $21,000.
(You get more today in the paper more reporters, more pages and more photos and bonus ... color. However, there is less horse racing, sorry.)
The purse was: winner took 65 percent, place 20 percent and show was 15 percent.
The race was a Futurity Stakes of local foals. At the time the racing horses were signed up they had not yet been born.
Entry fees would be refunded if the mare did not foal.