CAPT. SMITH AND CLAY. Ill 



Abe Edgington was a peculiar sort of horse to train. 

 He (lid best with about thirteen ounces on his front 

 feet, though he could trot faster with eight, but could 

 not get away fast. Hence he was at a disadvantage in 

 startinof. When he came into mv hands he was in 

 about as bad condition as a horse could be to prepare, 

 and we experimented on him with the new system of 

 training before we understood how to apply that 

 system. So some allowances must be made, and I will 

 here say that though his record is only 2:23f , I have 

 always believed that Edgington was the superior of 

 Occident as a race-horse. He was an iron-gray, sixteen 

 hands high, and would turn the scale at 1,050 pounds 

 when in good shape. He was a stoutly-built horse, 

 high at the wither and up-headed and lofty in carriage, 

 and, as 4^ show-horse or " parader," would attract 

 marked attention anywhere. He was used m Governor 

 Stanford's photographic work, illustrating the actual 

 movements of the fast trotting-horse. 



Capt. Smith, the brown gelding by Locomotive, out 

 of Maid of Clay, was a much faster horse than his 

 record indicates, but he became a bad puller, and little 

 could be done with him. We drove this horse a quar- 

 ter close to thirty-one seconds, and a mile in 2:21 as a 

 four-year-old, but this clip made his head swim. The 

 onh^ race he ever won was against Del Sur, at Sac- 

 ramento, September 21, 1880, and there are certain 

 things connected with that race that fastens it pretty 

 securely in my mind. We won it finally, but, as Splan 

 would say, I had to " hustle " all I knew how to get there. 

 Capt. Smith won the first heat in 2:29, and then Del 

 Sur cut loose and won the second and third in 2:25 and 



