LIFE WITH THE TROTTEES. 363 



many more. Anyone else might have made the same mis- 

 take which I did, whether they would or not I do not 

 know. I simply state the facts in the case and what my 

 opinion is as a word of caution to other people who are in 

 the same position, and that is ; before you give your horse 

 a hard race be sure that he is in condition to take it. The 

 strongest proof that my argument is right is this: If 

 Turner, Doble, Hickok, W. H. Crawford, Jimmy Golden, 

 Jock Bo wen and many others of that class of men whom I 

 could name start a horse at the beginning of the circuit and 

 he shows himself a good race-horse, you may expect to 

 have trouble with those peoj^le all along the line, for instead 

 of the first race doing the horses harm, if they are in condi- 

 tion to take it it will do them good and they will steadily 

 improve to the end of the journey, as is proven in many 

 cases by a horse's beginning at the first part of the circuit 

 and trotting a race a week and going their last races best. 

 On the other hand, you watch the man who comes to the 

 circuit with his horse that does not need any work, says he 

 hasn' t given him any, goes one good race and wins, and the 

 next w^eek he cant understand why he doesn't get better 

 than third or fourth in the race. The reason is, that from 

 lack of condition the first race has done the horse harm. 



As plain a case as ever I saw of the kind came into my 

 hands last year in the bay gelding Fred Folger. He be- 

 longed to a friend and old-time patron of mine, and a man 

 who from long experience and associations with Mace, 

 Doble and Jack Phillips ( they all having driven for him at 

 different times ), has ideas about the training and manage- 

 ment of the trotter that I think makes him a very useful 

 man during a campaign. As the financier of a stable of 

 trotting horses he will come as near having the account on 

 the right side as any man I ever saw. Mr. D. B. Herring- 

 ton, the gentleman who trained Fred Folger in his early 

 career, deserves a great deal credit, as he bought him at 

 auction when he was an undeveloped horse, and if he had 

 shown any great speed no one seems to have known it, as 



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