548 A SHORT HISTORY OP THE 



in 2 m. 17 s., m. s., 2 m. 18J s., and 2 m. 24 s., the public 

 could hardly realize that he was at last coming back to his time, 

 and that the new star was to shine with a brighter light than any 

 of its predecessoi'S. In this race Graves won the second heat, but 

 the time was declared no record. The owners of St. Julien felt 

 assured that he could do better than this, and when Gen. Grant 

 had returned from his tour round the world, and California was 

 lavishing her honors upon him, they, too, thought that they would 

 show the ex-President a faster trotting horse than auy he had seen 

 in his travels, and accordingly an exhibition was arranged for his 

 benefit at Oakland Park, San Francisco, October 25, and St. 

 Julien entered for a purse of $800 conditioned upon his beating 

 Earu.s' famous record of 2 m. 131^ s. The result is told in the 

 following abstract from the San Francisco Call of the next day : 



" When the horses were called, General Grant and Senator 

 Sharon accompanied the president of the association, Dr. E. H. 

 Pardee, to the judges' stand. The great event of the day was the 

 attempt of St. Julien, with a running mate, to beat the best trotting 

 record for a purse of $800. The track was in a very favorable 

 condition for fast time. After a short delay St. Julien passed 

 through the gate and proceeded leisurely down the track to take a 

 little preparatory exercise previous to the trial in two dashes to 

 eclipse 2 m. Vi\ s., the record of Rarus, the king of the trotting 

 turf. The horse looked wonderfully fit and strong, and moved 

 with such ease and freedom that those who had seen him make a 

 mile at Stockton, and do even faster time at San Jose, were con- 

 fident that he would lower that record, but were too skeptical to 

 imagine that the name of St. Julien would be flashed last night all 

 through the land with 2 m. 12| s. to his credit. There was no 

 betting on the event, but bets were freely oifered at $50 to $25 

 that, not even in honor of the presence of General Grant, would 

 the record of Karus be beaten. At the second attempt the bay 

 gelding, disdaining the aid of the running mate, came down to the 

 score at a grand swinging gait, and Hickok nodding assent, the 

 bell sounded and St. Julien sped along on his first trial, and hun- 

 dreds of watches were set clicking to beat time with his own 

 miniature weapons. General Grant stood in the corner of the 

 grand stand nearest the distance pole, and followed with an intense 

 gaze the fleeting animal as he passed around the lower turn, and 

 when he reached the quarter mile in 33 s., or at a 2 m. 12 s. gait, 

 there was a perceptible movement of surprise that was intensified 

 as the noble horse still increased his stride and reached the half in 

 1 ni. 5J s., or the second quarter at the rate of 2 m. 9 s. There 

 was a subdued murmur, and the spectators became seemingly im- 

 bued with the idea of witnessing a grand performance as St. Julien 



