140 



The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



CHAPTER VII 



Nut Boy Fooled the Talent When 

 He Won the Classic Transyl- 

 vania Stake 



NUT BOY, 2:07 1-4, the sensation- 

 al trotting gelding of the sea- 

 son of iyo6, when he was the 

 leading money-winning trotter 

 and captured no less than five 

 of the important stake events, the classics 

 being the Massachusetts, Charter Oak, Ohio, 

 Transylvania and Walnut Hall, was very 

 closely identified with the Dorchester Driv- 

 ing Club. 



Foaled in 1896, the property of A. C. 

 Barnes, Taylorsville, 111., he was sired by 

 Nutpine, 2:151-4, and was out of Grace 

 Smuggler, by Smuggler, 2:151-4. As a 

 four-year-old he was sold to Dr. Spaulding 

 of Decatur, 111., under the name of Benj aline. 

 The gelding was used by Dr. Spaulding's 

 son on the road and found so rank and so 

 erratic that he had to be run against a build- 

 ing to stop him. Young Spaulding got tired 

 of the fun, and the horse was purchased by 

 a dealer named Bates, of Richmond. Ya. He 

 in turn disposed of the animal to a man who 

 worked in a locomotive works at that place, 

 and for a season was driven on the road. But 

 the gelding's disposition, did not improve 

 and he fell into the hands of J. C. Smith, a 

 ■Richmond, Va., horseman, who sent him to 

 Richard P. Souther, of Dorchester, who used 

 him on the road and Franklin Field Speed- 

 wav. Thoueh Souther found that the geld- 

 ing had plenty of speed, yet he was so un- 

 manageable that he sent him back to Smith. 

 That Winter (1903) in the consignment of a 

 Mr. Tarter, of "Richmond, he was sent to the 

 Old Glory sale under the name of Ingraham. 

 He was purchased by John H. Shults, of 

 Shultshurst Farm, who thought he was get- 

 ting a mare. When he found out his mis- 

 take, he had the gelding resold, Paul Con- 

 nelly, of Philadelphia, being the purchaser. 



After running awav and nearly killing 

 Henry Longstreet, of Philadelphia, the geld- 

 ing was put up for sale at the Philadelphia 

 bazaar and sold to Eugene Rventhaler. and 

 he resold him to Thomas S. Young. He is 

 alleged to have run away with several driv- 

 ers and Young sold him at an auction to 

 William MacFarland. who got Walter Davis 

 to train him and while showing extreme 

 speed, he was so headstrong and rank thai 

 MacFarland soon became disgusted and put 

 him up at auction under the name of Nut 

 Bov. All of these parties were Philadelphia 

 horsemen, but the gelding now left that city. 



having been purchased by B. F. Slater, of 

 Crondale, Pa., without a guarantee of any 

 kind. 



The reformation of Nut Boy really began 

 with the ownership of Slater, who drove him 

 for a year about five to ten miles daily to 

 his place of business, and in kind hands the 

 gelding became quiet and gentle and showed 

 such speed that Slater thought he would 

 make a race horse. Not wishing to enter the 

 business of racing horses, however, Slater 

 finally prevailed upon George Hindemeyer, 

 of Philadelphia, to buy the gelding for $500. 

 This was on May 8, 1905, and Nut Boy was 

 taken to Belmont track, where Stote Clark 

 drove him a quarter right off the cars in 33 

 seconds. On May 25, Clark took the horse 

 to Point Breeze track and C. N. Payne, af- 

 ter having him four days, drove him a quar- 

 ter in 32 seconds, and to the half in 1 :o3. 

 That season Payne started Nut Boy in 

 twelve races over the half-mile tracks, win- 

 ning nine of them, and giving him a record 

 of 2:15 1-4. Late that Fall (1905) he was sold 

 to T°hn H. Crabtree, of Boston, and his 

 sister. "Lotta," for $5,000. 



Nut Boy, when taken in hand by Mc- 

 Henry early in the campaign of 1906. still 

 had the reputation of being thoroughly un- 

 reliable, liable to break, and extra liable to 

 be distanced when he did leave the trot. But 

 McHenry had transformed the gelding 

 as to manners and had won six 

 races with him before Lexington was 

 reached, among them the Massachusetts and 

 the Charter Oak, dropping him from the 

 2:16 class, in which he was eligible to start 

 when "the man from Freeport" took him, 

 until he was in the 2 :o8 trots for the big 

 money. But in spite of these triumphs there 

 was doubt in some people's minds about his 

 winning the Transylvania, and a combina- 

 tion of circumstances served to accentuate 

 that feeling. 



Solon Grattan, which held the record for 

 three heats on a half-mile track, came down 

 from Chicago with plenty of backing on the 

 strength of a trial he had shown, and in the 

 early pools more than once sold even with 

 Nut Boy. But the big play was on Mack 

 Mack, which at Columbus had forced out 

 Norman B. in 2:073-4, 2:063-4, 2:073-4. 

 He had been bought on the eve of the Tran- 

 svlvania bv Boston men who started to "win 

 him out'' in that race, they putting up a new 

 driver. Moreover, at Cincinnati, Mack Mack 

 had won the second heat of a race from Nut 

 Boy in 2 :o8. and thirdly, at Hartford Nut 

 Bov had been beaten a third heat in 

 2:00 t-4. although bv the conditions of the 

 race (which ended there) he was the winner. 

 Fourthly, Nut Boy had not started for a 



