LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 191 



seen him do it before. I had also been told that Johnny 

 Goldsmith was going to do the same thing with Driver. I 

 thought, if that was the case, it would be a good scheme to 

 get my horse well warmed up, and go out and perhaps win 

 the first heat without an effort. I followed this j)lan, and 

 when they said ' ' go' ' I cut loose and won the first heat, 

 in 2:19| Murphy and Goldsmith did not make much of an 

 effort, as I thought, to win, each one exx)ecting the other 

 one to make a fight. The next heat they were both ready 

 for battle, but Wedge wood beat them in 2:19|. In the third 

 heat Wedge wood and Driver trotted a dead heat in 2: 19 J, 

 making the fastest three consecutive heats that Wedgewood 

 had ever trotted in any race, all being better than 2:20. After 

 this heat Wedgewood Avas somewhat distressed, and I made 

 up my mind to lay him up. In the fourth heat Patchen and 

 Driver finished so close that no one but the judges could tell 

 who won, they finally giving it to Patchen in 2:21|^. Driver 

 won the fifth heat in 2:21f . In both these heats I was satis- 

 fied to save my distance. In the sixth heat they all rushed 

 away together when the word was given and at the quarter 

 pole Patchen broke. From there to the stand. Driver 

 and Wedgewood had a battle royal. By this time it had 

 grown so dark that the judges could not see us as we went 

 down the backside, and it was a case of give and take all 

 the way. These horses were about as closely matched as 

 anything I ever saw. They were both game, good breakers, 

 would stand any amount of driving, and at that time Gold- 

 smith was not much more than a boy, but as industrious a 

 fellow with a horse sulky and whip as I have ever seen since. 

 Anyway, we fought it out on that line, and Wedgewood 

 beat him to the stand and won the heat in 2:20|^. 



Wedgewood was a grand horse for me, an honest trotter 

 if ever there was one in the world, and since his retirement 

 from the turf he has been doing great work in the stud, as 

 is plainly shown by the character of his get. Favonia, a 

 daughter of his, that is out of a mare by Alexander' s Ab- 

 dallah, was quite the star of the trotting firmament last 



