134 



The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



about the year 1857. Among the trainers lo- 

 cated there was the famous Dan Mace and 

 Hiram Woodruff. Most of the races at the 

 track were matches, frequently made over the 

 bar at Porter's Hotel, which at that time was 

 a famous road house. Soon after the close 

 of the Civil War the Cambridge track was 

 cut up into building lots. 



The South End Driving Park was, so far as 

 known, the first of the tracks to be built in 

 the vicinity of Boston. It was a half-mile 

 course. It was opened to the public in 1852, 

 and was located on the land now occupied by 

 the Boston City Hospital. 



In 1855 "Uncle Jock" Bowen made his in- 

 itial visit to Boston, bringing with him from 

 Royalton, Vt., the trotter Tom Hyer, which 

 he had named in a match race at the South 

 End track, but the horse was taken sick ant! 

 did not start, and a few days later "Uncle 

 Jock" sold the gelding. 



The principal event at this course appears 

 to have been the race Dan Mace won with 

 Ethan Allen, on October 15, 1858, when, for 

 a purse of $1,000, he defeated "Ard" Car- 

 penter's Columbus Junior and John Pfifer's 

 Hiram Drew. The time of the heats was 

 2 :37, 2 :35, 2 133, the last one being consid- 

 ered phenomenally fast. A gala crowd was 

 present. Hiram Drew was a Maine bred and 

 owned horse, Ethan Allen came from Ver- 

 mont, and Columbus, Jr., from near Lake 

 Champlain. 



Ethan Allen, at that time, was owned by 

 Ned Maynard, a prominent Boston horseman, 

 and had been trained for the race over the 

 Cambridge track. The judges wore stove-pipe 

 hats and "choker" collars, and from the ac- 

 counts of the race there was repeated scoring, 

 the crafty Mace playing his cards carefully 

 to get the edge and vantage over his com- 

 petitors. 



Sam Langmaid, a Cambridge dealer in 

 horses, whenever he got hold of an animal 

 which showed an inclination of possessing 

 speed, would have him slipped over to the 

 South End track and worked by "Uncle Jock" 

 on the quiet. This track passed out of ex- 

 istence in 1862. 



CHAPTER V 

 "Uncle Jock" Bowen Had a Turf 

 Career Filled with Adventure 



THE descendants of the present 

 generation will place the name of 

 the late J. J. Bowen in the history 

 of the trotter along with the past 

 great artists of the rein and sulky, 

 Hiram Woodruff, Dan Mace, Johnny Mur- 

 phy, etc. It is doubtful, too, if there 



ever lived a trainer who did so much to ad- 

 vance the sport as "Uncle Jock." 



During his younger days in the sulky, 

 when the idea was prevalent among turfites to 

 evade a record as much as possible, and thus 

 in many instances to drop races when 

 the time was a little too fast, "Uncle Jock" 



J. J. "UNCLE JOCK" BOWEN 

 Veteran Trainer Behind Lester Boy, 2:22 1-2, the 

 Last Horse He Ever Drove. Photo Taken 

 at Readville Track 



was always taking these opportunities to 

 "win." This quality was uppermost in the 

 man's character, which, combined with strict 

 honesty, placed him foremost among men of 

 every calling 



"Uncle Jock" was well known to his friends 

 as bluff of speech — a man who told what he 

 knew was right, regardless of whom he an- 

 tagonized. He never curried for friends or 

 followers, but at that was true to anybody 

 whom he thought his friend. He was one 

 of those staunch characters so seldom found. 



In 1872 "Uncle Jock" drove Joe Elliott a 

 trial over the Mystic track in 2:15 1-2. The 

 performance pleased Robert Bonner, who 

 owned the gelding, very much, as it was the 

 fastest mile at the time ever trotted by 1 1-4 

 seconds. Other old-time turf stars handled 

 by the veteran were Iron Age, 2:191-4; 

 Tucker, 2:19; White Socks, 2:201-2; Jesse 

 Hanson, 2:133-4; Pilot Knox, 2:193-4, with 

 which he won the $10,000 Spirit of the Times 

 stallion stake at Beacon Park in 1885 ; To- 

 mah, 2:10; Refina, 2:08 1-2; Norvin G., 

 2:091-4; Sclavonic, 2:093-4, etc. 



In the big $20,000 purse race at Buffalo in 

 1873, "Uncle Jock" started Camors. Dan 

 Mace won the event with Sensation. As 

 both these horses went begging in the auc- 

 tion pools and as Mr. Merrow and "Uncle 

 Jock" played the small end heavily, they 

 were enabled to cash in a barrel of money. 



