LIFE WITH TFIE TKOTTKRS. 119 



there that he would not beat 2:14, expecting to save the 

 money that he had in the French pools ; but as the sequel 

 will show, he misunderstood the terms of the betting in 

 both pools and lost his money two ways. In going the 

 second heat in 2:50 Rarus lost the money that Uncle Ben 

 had in the French pools, and when we got the word in the 

 third heat he went it in 2:13^, which cost Uncle Ben the 

 money that he had bet in the auction pools, being thereby, 

 as Jack Bachelor would say, ' ' whipsawed on the last turn." 

 The only mistake that I think I made in this trial was in 

 allowing them to have the track so high, and then in driving 

 him away from the wire faster, I think, than I ought to 

 have done ; at least, this was my opinion after the race was 

 over. I think that when the judges said "go" in the last 

 heat, Rarus must have been going at least a 2:10 clip. 

 On the second turn I took him back the least bit, and when 

 we swung into the back stretch I cut him loose again. He 

 did not drive as he did at Cleveland, but seemed to have a 

 disposition to pull all the time — something that was very 

 unnatural with him, as he never wanted to do this unless 

 the track was wet or muddy. Rarus j)ulled less than any 

 horse I ever saw, and went his heats with just the least hold 

 of the bit. He wanted to be driven about as a man would 

 play a violin, with the ends of the lingers. He went steadily 

 true all the way to the head of the sti-etch, and there he 

 made a wobble, as though he was going to break. I steadied 

 him around the turn and at the distance stand commenced 

 to drive iiim. He did n(^t finish as well as at Cleveland, 

 but still went the mile in 2:13^. 



As I turned him around beyond the judges' stand to 

 come back, my old friend Jack Feek ran down, and with as 

 much pleasure expressed on his face as there was on mine 

 when I bought my first drum, he announced to me that 

 Rai'us had beaten the best record, having gone the mile in 

 2:13^. By this time, it seemed as though every man, wo- 

 man, and child on the track had been apprised of the fact, 

 although the judges had not as yet given their decision. 



