102 LIFE WITH THE TIIOTTERS. 



ponents being Cozette, Little Fred, Slow Go, Lady Maud, 

 and Nettie. This race came as near fnrnisliing nie a dis- 

 .agreable surprise as any in wliicli the horse had ever taken 

 part. After bringing Rarus from California, I had indulged 

 him in his work, thinking that I would not strike a horse 

 that could give him a race. I had made up my mind to go 

 easy with him through the early summer, and try to get him 

 on edge for the grond circuit. I went to Grand Rapids with 

 him in this condition, and struck there what was as good a 

 field of horses as ever started over a half-mile track, Cozette 

 having a record of 2:19, Lady Maud one of 2:18J, Little Fred 

 2:20, Slow Go 2:18^ (made not long after that), and jSTettie 

 could beat 2:20 then, and eventually made a record of 2:18. 

 I concluded to lay Rarus up the first heat, and let the others 

 make the fight; but I soon found that, if they did any fight- 

 ing, it would be against me. Cozette won the first heat 

 easily in 2:21^. When the word was given in the second 

 heat. Slow Go interfered with Rarus at the first turn; my 

 horse made a break, and I did no^ try for the heat, Cozette 

 again winning in 2:21^, two wonderfully good heats to be 

 trotted over a half-mile track. This convinced me that if I 

 won the next heat, it would be necessary to set sail from the 

 start, and this I did. Cozette and Little Fred made the race 

 with me. The black mare, that has long since gone from the 

 turf and been put to breeding, was a steady trotter, and 

 Little Fred was also a good trotter, as well as the best run- 

 ner I ever saw in harness. Morrell Higbie was a little over 

 weight, but the most industrious man, with that sort of 

 a horse, that had ever appeared on the turf. When George 

 Yoorhies, who drove Cozette, found that Rarus was beating 

 his mare, he pulled up, and let Higbie see what he could do, 

 and the result was that Little Fred gave me a hard race to 

 the wire, Rarus winning by aheadonh', in 2:21f, the three 

 heats being tlie best at that time, and I think ajD to date, 

 ever trotted over a half-mile track by a field of horses. In 

 the f ourtli heat Yoorhies again laid Cozette up, and the rest 

 of the party went after Rarus. He stalled them off, how- 



