PALO ALTO AND WILTON. 157 



the field. It was not unusual for Palo Alto to blunder 

 a little in the first heat of a race, and he lost his feet 

 just as we got off. Wilton shot to the front before we 

 had o^one far ; Lucy Fry and Palo Alto chased him up 

 the stretch, but failed to catch him, Wilton winning 

 in 2:2tl:, with my colt second. Wilton and Palo Alto 

 had it to themselves from the start in the second heat, 

 and trotted like a team nearly the whole route. Mike 

 Bowerman called on Wilton in his most energetic and 

 approved style for a finish ; I did not give Palo Alto 

 any peace either, and he won the heat for us pretty 

 handily in 2:22. It was now late, rapidly getting dark, 

 and the judges postponed the race The next morning 

 was warm and the track was fast. The race was con- 

 fined really to Wilton, Palo Alto and Lucy Fry, the 

 rest having no chance with these. Lucy was quick at 

 the start, and generall}" got away in front of us. but in 

 both the third and last heats she was overtaken by 

 Bowerman with his pony, and myself with the four- 

 year-old colt, before she got much more than round the 

 first turn. In each heat Wilton made a great fight, 

 and the two horses were so closely matched that the 

 slightest mistake mio^ht have chano^ed the result. In 

 both heats I managed to beat him in the last hundred 

 yards by very hard driving, the time being 2:22 and 

 2:20^. This race showed that Palo Alto was a good 

 race-horse, for Wilton had just as much and probably 

 a shade more speed than Palo Alto then had, and he 

 had, moreover, the advantage of two 3^ears in age. A 

 four-year-old record of 2:20^ in a fourth heat would 

 have been highly creditable under much more favor- 

 able circumstances. 



