240 LIFE WITH THE TROTTEES. 



Wilkes could not by any possibility ont-trot him. At the 

 half -mile pole when I heard Van Ness cut Wilkes loose, while 

 I did not sit down and drive Clingstone, I let him sail along 

 at about the top of his sj)eed. Wilkes closed the gap and 

 came to Clingstone' s head and in doing so had to trot out 

 around him on the turn. I made up my mind that when 

 he turned in at the head of the stretch I would send Cling- 

 stone for all he was worth, w hich I did, and he did to Harry 

 Wilkes what I had not previously seen a horse do, and that 

 was to fairly trot him off his feet. When Wilkes broke he 

 acted to me like a horse that had for once found out when 

 he had enough, 



After the heat I sent word to Mr. Gordon that, bariing 

 an accident, the race was over. Clingstone would win sure. 

 To show the difference between the i^ublic and the driver 

 sometimes, I will state that after the first heat Wilkes was 

 a bigger favorite in the betting than he was before the 

 horses started. In the second heat Clingstone beat him 

 easily from start to finish in 2:17^. In this heat Wilkes 

 gave it up at the head of the stretch, having had made his 

 brush early in the mile. About this time the boys about 

 the pool -box who had been betting on Wilkes commenced 

 to trim their sails for a storm. When the horses scored for 

 the third heat and got the word they went away head-and- 

 head, and trotted like a team to the half-mile jDole in 1:08. 

 From there to the judges' stand the race was as close and 

 exciting as one could wish, and ended by Clingstone win- 

 ning by a short head in 2:16, Wilkes making a much better 

 finish than he had in the heat before. I have been asked 

 how I accounted for Wilkes trotting himself to a standstill 

 in 2:17|- and then coming back the next heat in 2:16. I do 

 it in this way: Van Ness had not come across any horse 

 that Wilkes could not out-trot easily, and for that reason 

 the horse had not been keyed up or asked to go his best for 

 a long while, and when he struck Clingstone, who had 

 speed enough to go a 2:10 gait, it put what the boys called 

 ' ' a crimp ' ' in him. 



