106 LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 



brush him a ways every other day, and found a decided in- 

 crease in his speed. Tliere was no fear"in mj' mind as to his 

 staying qualities, as it did not seem to me i^ossible for him to 

 have any more speed than he had the stamina to carry. I 

 had also by this time learned another thing, which was, 

 that when the tracks were not too hard he went better with 

 about ten or-eleven ounces on his forward feet than he did 

 with more weight, and I shod him accordingly. When 

 Ave reached Rochester it was apparent that Mr. Green and 

 his friends were very sweet on Lucille' s chances, she being 

 a mare that had always improved in her campaigns, and as 

 Cleveland was the first race of the season for her, and she 

 had gone well, they believed she had a chance to beat E-arus 

 before the circuit was ended. Some people said that he 

 had been screwed uj) in California all winter; that the length 

 of the campaign had begun to tell on him, and that he 

 would train off. Whoever thought this made a great mis- 

 take. Rarus had not been keyed up in California, and 

 with the exception of the Grand Rapids race had never 

 been pinched at all. In the first heat of the Rochester 

 race Green drove his mare from start to finish, but while 

 the contest was close there was no XDlace in it where Rarus 

 was extended. The time was 2:17^, the best mile Rarus had 

 ever trotted in a race. I had heard a great many people say 

 that Rarus was not a game horse, and that if he were taken 

 by the neck he would stop. I felt, however, a good deal 

 like the man that had a quarter-horse, and who was told 

 that the first horse that took his animal by the head would 

 beat him, j^ut the old man only smiled sort of sadly, and 

 replied that it might be so, he didn' t know, but the trouble 

 was to find a horse that could get to his nag's head. In the 

 second heat, Green made a desiderate drive to the distance 

 stand, where, feeling that he had no chance to win, he 

 stopped. When I saw this and eased Rarus, Green made 

 another rush with his mare, and at the finish it looked to 

 outsiders as though he came very near winning the heat, 

 which was again in 2:17^. As we walked to the cooling- 



