LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 231 



it was a liorse-race, and J. Q. won by an eyelash in 2:17^. 

 From the look on Hickok's face after we finished I imagine 

 that he was as surprised a man as yon would often see, and 

 the public commenced to realize that they were to be treated 

 to a genuine horse-race. 



When we came out for the next heat Hickok asked the 

 judges to be sure and see that he was in his x^lace when 

 they said "go," which they j)i'0 noised to do. I made the 

 same request of them. When the word was given both 

 horses were on their stride, and again Arab rushed out with 

 the lead. The heat was trotted identically as the one 

 before, with the exception that we might have commenced 

 our brush a little further down the stretch. I went to the 

 half-mile pole in about 1:10, and home in about 2:17J, J. Q. 

 beating Arab a head in the last stride, thereby winning the 

 race and money, and giving the cheap boys a chance to get 

 a few good tickets cashed at night. 



J. Q. was a peculiar horse, and often trotted in-and-out 

 races, and sometimes the public imagines of such a horse 

 that his driver is not honestly trying to win, when the facts 

 of the case are otherwise. In disposition J. Q. was rather 

 a high-strung, thin-skinned, nervous horse, inclined to be 

 peevish, and after making an effort like the one he made in 

 this race it seemed to take him weeks before he recovered 

 the form that enabled him to perform at his best speed. I 

 have had other horses that possessed the same peculiarities, 

 although perhaps not in as marked a degree. At Utica he 

 was beaten, and at Albany the same, but at Hartford I 

 had my revenge, as he beat Spofford in a race that General 

 Turner had set his heart on winning, for which he had got 

 the watermelon all ripe, and the New York men came over 

 in a body with their cash and check-books, and backed the 

 little General and Spofford in a manner that showed their 

 confidence to be nnlimited. 



This was rather a peculiar race, as both horses were bred 

 much alike, and Mr. Albert Hall of New York and David 

 Bonner, two reliable men, told me that J. Q. trotted a half- 



