200 LIFE WITH THE TROTTEES. 



campaign lie f olloAved his old tactics. In the different races 

 that Ford trotted against Hannis, I saw maneuvers that 

 made me believe the little chestnut stallion was a much 

 better horse than the public rated him, and when I came 

 back to Chicago for the summer meeting, I found him entered 

 in the same race with Ford, and they were the only ones of 

 any note in it. 



[Here, I think, I made a mistake in training Ford. His 

 owner and groom both thought that I worked him too 

 severely and often criticised me on that point. They said 

 so much about it that finally I thought that iDerhaps I was 

 wrong, and gave way to their opinions. This fact, and a bad 

 decision that the judges made, cost Ford the race and his 

 backers more money than I think was ever lost on a trotting 

 race. A few days before the Ford race came off, Turner had 

 Hannis in a race against Monroe Chief and Wedge wood. 

 They finished the race with. Monroe Chief first, Hannis sec- 

 ond and Wedge wood last. I saw enough in this race to 

 convince me that Hannis was a race-horse of the first water, 

 and made up my mind that he would certainly trot a mile 

 in 2:16, and when 1 went out with Ford to contend with 

 him, I thought I had a chance to win, but did not look upon 

 it as a sure thing, as the owner of Ford and all his friends 

 did. They backed him for every dollar they had in the 

 world, and some of them have not yet recovered from the 

 shock. When I tried to tell them that in Hannis and Turner 

 they had a pair that would bear a great deal of watching 

 they laughed and said I was cowardly. In this race the 

 judges made what I consider one of the most outrageous de- 

 cisions that ever I heard. Ford beat Hannis in the first heat 

 half the length of himself, never was headed in the heat, 

 never swerved or made a break of any kind, led from start 

 to finish, and I could have beaten him further if there had 

 been any necessity, and to the surj^rise of myself and every- 

 body, on the track. Turner included, the judges decided it a 

 dead heat. They explained to me, after the race was over, 

 that they expected it would be a very one-sided affair and 



