130 TRAINING THE TEOTTING HORSE. 



5th, in the 2:25 class, against Astral, Alert, Consul and 

 other seasoned campaigners. Astral and Alert were 

 the favorites, and the former won the first heat in 

 2:22 J. In the second heat Astral and Almont led into 

 the stretch, but St. Bel finished strong on the winner's 

 wheel in 2:2 J:, Almont getting the heat ; and the third 

 heat St. Bel beat Alert home in 2:25. I drove for the 

 next head and led to the turn into the stretch where 

 St. Bel made a wild break and lost a great deal of 

 ground, but he went fast after he got his feet again, 

 finishing second to Astral in 2:22^, and the big mare 

 just beat him out in a driving finish in the last heat 

 in 2:23. 



St. Bel is a handsome black horse, a trifle under the 

 medium size, but verv compact, stoutly muscled and 

 highly finished. He is one of the purest gaited, and, 

 perhaps, the most perfectly balanced horse that I ever 

 sat behind, and, as for his speed, I can say that I think 

 I have ridden behind him as fast as I ever rode in a 

 sulkj^ He wore ten-ounce shoes in front as a rule. As 

 I have already mentioned, St. Bel could never do him- 

 self full justice in his last campaign. He developed a 

 splint that season which made us cautious, and inter- 

 fered with his training, and, besides, he suffered all 

 the season from the effects of a cold contracted in 

 crossing the mountains. Though, for these reasons, 

 he could not do himself full credit in the matter of 

 speed alone, his gameness and resolution made it neces- 

 sar}' for another horse to have a good deal more speed 

 than he had to beat him when the heats were split. 

 He is what I may call a round-gaited horse ; his gait 

 is perfect for a race horse, true, rapid and direct, w^ith- 



