166 CAKE AND TRAIXIxXG OF TROTTERS AND PACERS. 



At Lexington, there was a three-heat warm-up, 

 and Native Spirit trotted a wonderful race, her 

 gameness being something to remember. She was 

 not right at an edge that day, yet the heat she 

 came nearest winning was the third, in 2:11^, 

 being beaten by the merest fraction of a foot. 



In the previous miles, the tactics that had been 

 successful at Columbus, were followed, Native 

 Spirit trailing, but, for the third round, the battle 

 was on from the start, and, five feet from the wire, 

 it was a guess which filly would win, but Sparkle 

 Watts got it by a step. 



Every move made by a prominent trainer of a 

 baby trotter which is good enough to start in the 

 two-year-old stakes, where only the best may 

 escape the distance flag, is of interest to every 

 breeder and owner of young foals, as likewise is 

 the early speed history of such colts. In the case 

 of Sparkle Watts and Native Spirit, the former 

 was trained enough as a yearling to show 2:10 

 speed for a quarter, and sold for a long price on 

 the strength of that showing. Native Spirit re- 

 ceived the usual handling given Walnut Hall Farm 

 foals as yearlings, the lessons being given with a 

 lead pony, so she made practically all her speed 

 after going to the Cox establishment in the winter, 

 and was not really straightened out and ready to 

 go on with until May. — Henry T. E. White in 

 American Horse Breeder. 



