88 LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 



Goldsmith Maid for five or ten thousand dollars a side, and 

 if she beats him I will do the losing." I had thought for a 

 long time that Rarus would be able to beat Goldsmith Maid 

 some day, and lower her record; but I Avas not quite so san- 

 guine at that time as Mr. Gillender, for 1 knew that before 

 my horse could defeat the Maid he would need some further 

 education. I had seen a good many fast horses have a shy 

 at her, and the consequence generally was that, sooner or 

 later, they got beaten. I made up my mind to i^rofit by 

 their experience, and not give her a fight until I was sure I 

 had everything right. 



In the meantime the Utica Park Association had ofl'ered 

 a i^urse for Rarus and Great Eastern to go a race to wagons. 

 I concluded to enter Rarus there, as it was on my direct 

 road to Chicago, and did so. In going to Utica from New 

 York it turned out, owing to the delay from an accident, that 

 we never reached the track until the morning of the race. 

 The track was wet and muddy, and Rarus seemed sore from 

 his long standing in the cars. Great Eastern beat him in 

 straight heats, the time being 2:35, 2:30, 2:24|. The cause 

 of the first heat being so slow was that Rarus thrcAv a shoe. 

 After this race I shipped Rarus to Chicago, and from there, 

 in Mr, Doble's car, to San Francisco. AVe reached Califor- 

 nia about the latter days of November, and on my way there 

 I improved my time making the further acquaintance of 

 Doble. I thought to myself: "Here is a man that has 

 trained the only horse that ever trotted a mile in 2:14." I 

 knew enough about horses to be well aware that, be a trotter 

 ever so good, the animal must be well trained to perform 

 such a wonderful feat. Thinking that I had a horse that 

 was able to go that well, if properly handled, I made up my 

 mind to leai n everything I could from Mr. Doble in the way 

 of fitting a horse for such a performance. I stated the case 

 to him, and he, with his usual modesty, told me that, if 

 there was anything he could teach me, he would be glad to 

 do it, but from what he had seen of me, sldrmishing along 

 the line with the boys, he thought, perhaps, I was as liable 



