2fiO IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



his true way, the driver is cheating. There are a lot of things they 

 say about men who train race horses. Then another thing, and a 

 very important thing, is the judge's stand. Mr. McLaughlin just 

 told you about some of those starting judges. AVe have any amount 

 of those kind of fellows. Anybody can get a license from the 

 American Trotting Association. He doesn't have to be a compe- 

 tent man to get a license to start horses. They usually pick out a 

 prominent man around town where the district or county fair 

 happens to be held, and they put him in the judge's stand to see 

 whether you are complying with the rules or not. And I do not 

 lielieve that there is one man out of fifty that are in the judge's 

 stand at the county and district fairs who knows one tenth part 

 of the rules. I doubt if very many of them have ever seen 

 the inside of the rule book. Still you put them up there to 

 tell the men who race horses what they should do. They can im- 

 pose a fine, expel them, or do a great many other little things to 

 them. That is a nice thing, too. Then, another thing that is the 

 most disgusting thing, I think, that a training driver or owner 

 has to contend with, and that is the payment of purses. I have 

 been in places M^here you have got to chase around for a day to 

 get that little old $120 that you earn if you happen to be lucky 

 enough to earn it. I like to hear the starter say, when the race 

 is concluded, "Come up, gentlemen, and get your money." That 

 is what sounds good to me, and I think every other trainer or 

 driver concurs in that statement. I think that Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, 

 has the only real system of paying the purses that I know of. In 

 fact, it is the only one I ever saw that just suited me. At Mt. 

 Pleasant, if you win a dime down there it is "Come up and get your 

 money, gentlemen." If you win a dollar down at that place, you 

 get it immediately after the race, and, usually, with me, it comes 

 very handy, because I need it. I think that if more associations 

 would use that plan of paying their purses it would be more 

 agreeable to the horsemen. They say they want to try and please 

 the horsemen. I think Mr. Grady would furnish anyone with the 

 envelope showing exactly how he does it. It is a large envelope 

 with the name of the gentleman who owns the horse, and the name 

 of the horse printed on the outside. Tlierc is a receipt at the 

 bottom which he signs. When he comes up he tears off the end 

 of the envelope, takes tlie money out, counts it, signs the receipt 

 and returns it. I'ersonally, while Mt. Pleasant does not give as 

 large purses as some places, yet tiiere is one tiling sure, if you 



