LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 233 



Clingstone had. been practically retired from the turf for a 

 couple of years, and I did not imagine tliat he was back to 

 his old-time form. The sequel proved that Mr. Dunbar was 

 right, and it also showed that Mr, Dunbar was not only a 

 good reinsman but also a good conditioner and an excellent 

 judge of pace, two very imi)ortant things in a horse-trainer. 

 When the trial took place Clingstone trotted in exactly 2:14, 

 but I have always been positive that Mr. Dunbar could have 

 driven him faster. His reasons for not doing so were that 

 this was the first time he had attempted anything of the 

 kind with Clingstone, and he was naturally anxious to avoid 

 any mistakes that would turn the trial into a disappoint- 

 ment to the public, but as matters turned out both the public 

 and Mr, Gordon, the owner of the horse, were greatly pleased. 



In the latter part of that season, Mr. Dunbar having in 

 the meantime severed his connection with the Gordon stable. 

 Clingstone was entered in a race against Harry Wilkes, to 

 be trotted over the Detroit track, and it was in this event 

 that I first sat behind him in public. Harry Wilkes was 

 at this time the star of the trotting turf, having beaten all 

 comers and made a record of 2:15. There is a little history 

 about this race, or rather preceding it, that will read well in 

 this connection. 



At the time the match with Clingstone was made Harry 

 Wilkes was at the Cleveland track, and it was reported 

 around that he had gone a m oonlight trial in 2 : 09 . There were 

 some people credulous enough to take stock in this story. I 

 was one of the unbelievers, but the men who were booming 

 Harry Wilkes stuck to their tale, and even went so far as 

 to talk about trotting him against Maud S. One evening Mr. 

 Gordon called on me with a letter he had received from New 

 York, and said he would like to read me a portion of it, which 

 he did. I have in my time seen some very flowery horse letters, 

 but to this particular epistle I award the pennant. I have 

 never to this day learned the writer's name, but would like 

 to know it, in order that he might be given a niche in the 

 Temple of Fame alongside of Swinburne and others who 



