150 TRAINING THE TROTTING HORSE. 



" blow " the least, and I considered that race as good 

 as won. I found in the previous heat that the footing 

 was best just about one position, or sulky-width, from 

 the pole, and as soon as the word was given in the 

 second heat I took that ground. I did not drive the 

 mare any faster than w^as necessary, allowing Patron 

 to keep close company, and won it in hand by half a 

 length in 2:1 9 J. Fuller now saw he was beaten, but I 

 afterward heard that the owners of Patron gave him 

 great encouragement in the remark: "You have 

 always said you can make her stop, and we believe you 

 can." The heat had been an easy one, and the mare 

 showed not the faintest shadow of distress, but Fuller 

 clung to the forlorn hope founded in the belief that 

 Manzanita was a quitter, and so, in scoring for the 

 third heat, he was full of "snap," and evidently 

 intended to try to " make her set down " by hard scor- 

 ing. We scored ten or eleven times very fast, but the 

 wear and tear of this business was not telling on the 

 horse it was intended for. Finally we went aw^ay with 

 Fuller attempting to find that " soft spot " that was to 

 help him out. He found it— but in the wrong place. 

 At the word 1 again took the position I wanted and 

 led Patron a merrier dance than he really enjoyed. We 

 w^ent down the back-stretch at a red-hot clip, with 

 Patron under a hard drive and the mare gradually but 

 surely wearing him down. The pace made his head 

 swim, and just after we passed the half in l:08i he 

 gave it up in a tired, heart-broken break. He w^as an 

 utterly beaten horse, and Manzanita came home alone 

 in 2:20, far in front of Eagle Bird, who passed Patron 

 after his collapse. The victory was brilliant, but the 



