S-p-o-r-t is the word you will find at the head of the sporting columns of the Spanish, as well as English newspapers, in Argentina. This word has been transferred over bodily, as no term in Spanish exactly expressed the meaning of the English word sport. Baseball has not yet become popular and cricket is little understood by the Argentinians, but they are passionately fond of the turf, and horse racing is perhaps the favourite sport of all classes. It is not the excitement of the racing alone that appeals to the Argentinian, but the opportunity it gives for indulging in his love of betting. Argentina possesses some of the finest horse flesh in the world, and sales of favourites oftentimes take place at almost fabulous prices. Sixty millions is a tidy little sum to be placed upon horses in one year. And yet that is the amount staked upon the races in the city of Buenos Aires last year, according to the municipal statistics of that city. Estimating the population at one million, two hundred thousand, this is an average of fifty Argentine dollars for each man, woman and child in that great city. Naturally the reported figures do not include all the money that is wagered on the horse racing, so that it is impossible to give the total amount of the bets, but it was undoubtedly several million dollars in addition to the above sum. Reducing the figures to American money, the wagers would represent twenty-five million, eight hundred thousand dollars in gold coin with the American eagle stamped on the back. [Illustration: THE HIPPODROMO, BUENOS AIRES]