AMERICAN TROTTING HORSE. 541 



the tall and gallant bay strode to the three-quarter pole, which he 

 reached in 1 m. 38^ s. ' By Jove 1 he will beat the Maid's time/ 

 was the exclamation which came from all sides. There was a 

 strange fascination in watching the horse and listening to the tick 

 of the watch. Time is a relentless old fellow, and tolerates no mis- 

 takes. Every one knew that Karus could not afford to trip or 

 slacken his pace. In order to beat the long registering hand of the 

 watch to the fourteenth second mark after two circuits of the dial, 

 it was necessary for him to preserve a stroke and to show a courage 

 which no horse before him had ever shown. Grandly, stoutly, he 

 came forward, Splan sitting well poised in the sulky, and watching 

 the movement of his ears with his keen black eyes. After passing 

 the distance stand, the whip was gently laid on the back of the 

 horse, and as he neared the wire six thousand people rose to their 

 feet and held their breath. Under the wire Earus shot, and the 

 hands of the watches stopped short — 2 m. 13 s. ; no, 2 m. 13? s., 

 say the judges, and cheer after cheer rolls over the track. The 

 horse and driver received a perfect ovation when they returned to 

 weigh, and it was with diflSculty that Splan could make his way 

 through the crowd and up into the judges' stand. When he reached 

 the steps, he cleared them at three bounds, and, after hand-shaking, 

 was led to the rail and presented with a handsome basket of flowers 

 by President Bush. No words were spoken. It would have been 

 useless to have attempted speech-making in the presence of the 

 crowd which filled the quarter-stretch, and which made the ground 

 shake with its shouts. The scene is indescribable. While Splan 

 was blushing and bowing his acknowledgments to the applauding 

 thousands, Karus was being unharnessed, and he looked on with 

 dazed eye, quivering nostril and trembling flank. He had made a 

 new mark in the annals of the turf, had wiped out the record of 

 Goldsmith Maid, which had headed the list for so many years, and 

 modesty well became him in the hour of his brilliant success. It 

 was a proud day for Buff'alo Park, and those who were present will 

 never forget the uproar caused by the beating of 2 m. 14 s. Had 

 Splan not gone to the half quite so fast, it is contended by a good 

 many that be would have marked below 2 m. 13 s., and I incline 

 to the correctness of this view." 



At Rochester and Utica he did not perform up to his reputation, 

 but at Hartford, August 23, in the famous duel with Edwin 

 Forrest, he trotted in 2 m. 15 s., 2 m. 13 i s., and 2 m. 13| s., the 

 fastest three heats on record. The fame of this exploit extended 

 over the country, and henceforth the Rarus days were the big days 

 of all the meetings at which he appeared during 1878 and 1879, 

 and with little effort he could earn from two to three thousand dol- 

 lars a week from the opening of the trotting season to its close. 



