BRILLIANT CAREER. 407 



for the sum of $37,500, cash, and was at once shipped to Racine by 

 his new and present owner, with the determination to abandon several 

 Eastern engagements in Avhich he had been entered. Mr. Case sooa 

 thereafter rescinded this decision, and ordered him to Buffalo, to 

 which place he was at once shipped; and thence, early in August, to 

 Rochester — all within about two weeks of his Dexter Park i^erform- 

 ance. At Rochester, he appeared in the second race of his life, and 

 won it in three straiglit heats, in 2:24, 2:21^, 2:23, against Mambrino 

 Kate, Hattie R. and Rose; at every part of the race displaying the 

 same coolness and ease which at all times mark his trotting perform- 

 ances. Thence to Poughkeepsie, the same month, where he entered 

 the lists with Mambrino Kate, Irene, Carrie N. and Big Fellow. He 

 gave the first heat to Kate, in 2:264-, and then won the race in 2:20^, 

 2:24^, 2:21^, in the same incomparable style. 



From this last field of unbroken success he went to Philadelphia; 

 and at the grand Centennial failure he appeared in the Independence 

 Race against Blackwood Jr., tlie first of his family, Elsie Good, the 

 fast daughter of Blue Bull, and Ladv Mills, the favorite daus^hter of 

 Chosroes. He won this race in three heats, in 2:244-, 2:26, 2:27, 

 although the weather and lack of condition were telling badly against 

 him. His withdrawal before the race was asked and refused. 



The account of this race which appeared in the National Lwe-8tock 

 Journal for November, is as follows: 



The Independence race for five-year-olds attracted a good deal of interest, 

 from the fact that upon this occasion the great black stallions Gov. Sprague 

 and Blackwood Jr., for the first time, were to try conclusions. It was gener- 

 ally known that the former was out of condition, and among the betting 

 fraternity Blackwood Jr. was made a favorite on the evening preceding the. 

 race ; but the result upset all of their calculations. On the first heat Black- 

 wood Jr. took the lead, closely pressed by Governor Sprague, and kept his 

 position, trotting rather unsteadily and breaking often, until they entered the 

 home-stretch, when Doble sent Governor Sprague to the front and won the 

 heat by half a length. In the remaining two heats Governor Sprague took 

 the lead from the start and kept it to the wire. Blackwood Jr. was very 

 unsteady throughout the race, while Governor Sprague appeared perfectly 

 unconcerned and never made a break. 



At the same meeting he trotted, against adverse weather and ill 

 condition, for the National Cujd, competing with Blackwood Jr. and 

 the veteran Sam Purdy. It was conceded by all that he was unfit to 

 start; and the only day that was in any degree favorable for such a 

 contest was the one on which his famous, and in this race victorious, 



