30 LIFE WITH THE TROTTEKS. 



1 made a contract with Simmons to work for him on a 

 salary, to train and drive his horses, he reserving the right 

 to advise and counsel with me, a fact which proved of more 

 value to me than my salary, as I had the advantage of his 

 exxDerience. Mr. Simmons was in his day one of the 

 greatest match-makers we ever had. It was not an uncom- 

 mon thing for him to make races for his horses Avhen the 

 stakes were as as high as $5,000 a side, and it was he 

 who matched Ethan milieu and running mate against 

 Dexter in harness. Mr. Simmons never told me how much 

 money he won on that race, but it must have been a 

 large amount, as Dexter w^as a great favorite, and Mace 

 had given Ethan a trial and convinced Mr. Simmons 

 he would surely win. In that case it was only a 

 question of how much the other party was willing to bet. 

 Mr. Simmons had a great deal of faith in Kansas Chief, 

 and told me he was certain the horse would beat 2:20, and 

 in those days that amount of speed meant to beat every 

 horse in the world, with the exception of perhaps two or 

 three. The day I took Kansas Chief he was shod with tij^s 

 in front and what might be called a half shoe, weighing 

 about six or seven ounces, behind. The reason of this was 

 that his feet had become very much contracted and sore, 

 Mr. Simmons thought that by shoeing him in this way the 

 pressure would be brought on the frog and force the foot 

 out into its normal i)osition. We commenced at him very 

 guardedly, giving him slow work and doing everything we 

 could think of to relieve his feet. Along in September he 

 showed a mile in about 2:30, and we felt very much encour- 

 aged. The same treatment of the feet was continued, and 

 just before the track closed in the fall Mr. Simmons came over 

 and asked me to drive the Chief a mile. I did so in 2:29|^, he 

 being still shod in the same manner, and after I got out of 

 the sulky Mr. Simmons asked me if I thought I could 

 drive him better than that. I said I thought I could, and 

 he api^ointed a day to come over and see me drive him 

 aa:ain. When the time came I asked Mr. Simmons if I 



