174 LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 



strength of that started him and put my money on it. 

 This race will prove that even the peoj)le on the inside of a 

 horse race gtre sometimes seriously mistaken. I for instance 

 in this race thinking 1 had an easy thing to win in 2:26 or 

 2:27, and betting my money on that basis, realized before 

 the race was over that I stood a good chance of getting beaten, 

 losing my money, and mining my horse. The race was a hard 

 fight of seven heats, and before it was over the track 

 was a sea of mud from the effects of a storm that came up. 

 As this was my first race with Wedgewood in I decided to 

 lay him up. The first heat was won by Green Charley in 

 2:26^. The result of this heat rather convinced me that I 

 would have no trouble to win, and when they gave the word 

 on the second heat I started out for the front. Fanny Rob- 

 inson, a mare who up to that time had the reputation of 

 being very fast but uncertain, more liable to be distanced 

 than to win, took the lead, and I followed with Wedgewood 

 in second place. At the half-mile pole I moved up and 

 tried to beat her, but was very much surprised to have her 

 stay through a hard fight, and lead me to the wire by a 

 neck. As I came back to the stand Mr. Goldsmith was 

 there, and said: "He beat you, but you have got a good 

 horse , ' ' The heat was in 2 : 20 J , I acknowledged that I was 

 surprised as I never for a moment suj^posed that she could 

 make such a performance. In the next heat we went at it 

 hammer and tongs when the judges said "go." Fanny 

 Robinson beat me all the way to the distance stand. There 

 Wedgewood closed with her, and they came to the wire a 

 dead heat, both horses tired, in 2:23^. In the fourth heat 

 they had another struggle from start to finish. Fifty yards 

 from the wire, when Wedgewood had the mare beaten, he 

 pulled off a shoe, made a break, and she won the heat in 

 2:23. 



We were then overtaken by a tremendous shower of rain 

 and the race was postponed until the following day. When 

 we were called out the track was so bad that I was afraid 

 to start my horse, and I tried to induce the judges to agree 



