The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



135 



Their winnings amounted to more than first 

 money in the race. 



Speaking of Sea Foam, "Uncle Jock" said 

 that she was the most cranky mare he ever 

 handled. When being broken she got away 

 from the man hitching her up, jumped into 

 the Charles River with her harness on, and 

 swam to the opposite bank. This was how 

 she received her name. Once at Providence 

 she was leading 25 yards from the distance, 

 when she had one of her cranky spells and 

 stopped when a half length inside the dis- 

 tance, half turned around and kept tossing 

 her head and backing, with the result that 

 when the flag fell she had backed sufficiently 

 to have it fall in her face, and she was de- 

 clared distanced. 



At Prospect Park in 1872, "Uncle Jock" 

 had Royal John in a race against a good 

 field of horses, of which Charley Green was 

 a pronounced favorite. Mr. Merrow played his 

 horse to win from start to finish, much 

 against the advice of his best friends, who 

 thought him crazy to think that he had a 

 chance. When Royal John won it is said 

 that the amount of bills was so large that 

 Air. Merrow could not get the "wad" all into 

 his pockets, and had to get a flour bag to 

 carry the money to his hotel. 



If all of the anecdotes relating to "Uncle 

 Jock" were printed they would fill a good- 

 sized book. A few will serve to illustrate 

 his sterling qualities and immense bump of 

 dry humor. That he was the friend of the 

 young trainers was frequently attested by his 

 acts when they most needed assistance. 

 Along in the eighties a young man came to 

 the Mystic Park, and among his horses was 

 a green colt that was barely broken. It was 

 not iong before the colt commenced to de- 

 velop a lot of speed, which attracted the no- 

 tice of the old trainers. One began to work 

 up an acquaintance with the owner with the 

 idea that he might induce him to take the 

 colt away from the boy and, in this way, get 

 him for himself. The owner was about per- 

 suaded that this was the proper thing to do, 

 but before acting thought he would ask 

 "Uncle Jock" what he thought about shift- 

 ing. 



Those who were near and heard the way 

 that "Uncle Jock" laced it into the owner for 

 even thinking of such a thing, said it was a 

 caution. He reviewed how the young man 

 had worked early and late to get the colt to 

 make the improvement he had, and to think 

 of knocking the boy in the head for doing 

 well simply showed that he was an ingrate. 

 It is well to remember that "Uncle Jock" had 

 not spoken a dozen words to the one he was 

 befriending — it was his inborn idea of justice. 



Another time the judges at Mystic had told 

 a young trainer to give up his horse in the 

 race, as he was not trying to win, and turn 

 him over to another driver. "Uncle Jock" 

 knew that the horse could go faster than he 

 had, and it was a play of the betters who 

 had backed him with the idea that they would 

 complain to the officials, and in this way 

 make a killing without the young man get- 

 ting a cent of the money. This "riled" him. 

 Walking out into the stretch in front of the 

 judges' stand he announced to them that 

 they were taking down the wrong driver. 



"Which one do you mean?" the judges in- 

 quired. 



"That four-year-old mare right there, and 

 if you had any sense you wouldn't have to 

 ask." 



"Mr. Bowen, you drive that mare then, 



and you, Mr. D , will turn her over to 



him," was the request given by the judges 

 amidst plenty of excitement. The young 

 trainer was unseated, too. 



True to his prophecy, "Uncle Jock" 

 trimmed the party in the next three heats, 

 though the final heat was not till the follow- 

 ing day. After it was over he then took the 

 young trainer into a stall and gave him a 

 stiff lecture, telling him that he had saved 

 him that time, but if he wanted to get along 

 it was a bad way to start by pulling horses. 

 "Uncle Jock" drove out his own money, too, 

 by winning. 



Did you know that "Uncle Jock" was the 

 first driver to make a horse trot in two min- 

 utes? Well, he was, and this was how it 

 happened. At Mystic he had trained for a 

 "Canuck," a gelding that could go in about 

 2:30 with a mighty effort, and aided by sev- 

 eral of those gruff, rumbling "hey-yous" of 

 the veteran reinsman. One pleasant fore- 

 noon the owner showed up to see if it was 

 worth while to keep on paying $15 per week 

 on his trotter, ft so happened that all he 

 had was an ordinary everyday watch, but he 

 sat in the grand stand with it in his hand, 

 and watched the mile with the air of a Leavitt 

 or a Salisburv. After they got back to the 

 stall "Uncle Jock" asked : 



"Well, how fast did you get it?" 



"Wall." replied the owner, looking wise, 

 "I'll tell you; she go away quarter pass one, 

 she come back seventeen minutes pass." 



"Ugh!" said "Uncle Jock," "if I could 

 only get you to time for the rest of my 

 owners. I'd be the most popular trainer in 

 the whole country." 



Thus appeared the original two-minute 

 trotter. 



None could ever say that "Uncle Jock" 

 was not a brave man ; in fact, it is doubtful 



