276 RACEALONG 



"I never heard of this colt until the last day of the 

 Lexington meeting in 1922. That evening Mr. Ellis 

 and I were sitting in front of my stable at the track 

 when W. H. L. McCourtie drove up in a taxi. He 

 called me aside and asked if I would train a colt for 

 him. I told him that I would be pleased to. He then 

 told me that he had a yearling by Guy Axworthy 

 out at Walnut Hall Farm and that when I got around 

 to it I could telephone them to bring him over to the 

 track, and send him the bill to Dallas. With that he 

 was off but later on he told some of his friends that 

 he was satisfied that if I had asked to see the colt 

 before deciding to train him he thought I would have 

 turned him down. 



"Later on when I was getting the yearlings to- 

 gether to be ground broken and sorted for the trip to 

 Orlando I requested Harry Burgoyne to send me Mr. 

 McCourtie's colt. He arrived in a few days and on 

 looking him over I found that he was a big husky 

 youngster. He was rather thin at that time and 

 about as tough looking a customer as ever entered 

 my stable. 



''However, I started the men ground breaking him 

 and getting him used to harness. Finally after he 

 had been hitched I drove him a few times and found 

 that he had a lot of natural speed although he was 

 sprawly gaited behind. 



''When the horses were shipped to Orlando the 

 Widow Maggie colt went along for sampling. When 

 he hit the half-mile track my troubles began. When- 

 ever he was asked to step he either hit the cart or 



