The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



H5 



devote my time to training horses. In those 

 days Jake Stone was using the Manchester 

 track for Spring training. He was a suc- 

 cessful winner. 1 had no horses good 

 enough for the good half-mile tracks, and 

 nobody will ever know with what admiration 

 I watched Jake lead his fields of horses. 

 1 thought him of more importance than the 

 President! of the United States. 



"However, along toward Fall 1 would 

 gather up three or four of the fastest horses 

 1 was working and take in what was later 

 known as the 'Cox Circuit.' This comprised 

 the tracks at Warner, Canaan, Plymouth, 

 Bristol and Greenfield. Canaan used to 

 give a July 4 meet also. At that time I 

 figured the meeting at Tilton, and other 

 tracks of that kind, of Grand Circuit im- 

 portance! I'll say one thing, before I was 

 through with 'Cox's Circuit' it was a pretty 

 slick sort of a driver and horse he had that 

 could win a race from me." 



"What was your first mile track race?" 



"At Xarragansett Park, in 1893, 1 started 

 a pacer named Rowdy Knox, 2:201-4. I 

 took the horse there alone, swiping him and 

 sleeping in the stall. Before the race I nearly 

 wore out a watch timing the horses entered 

 in my class, and the way they did step from 

 the three-quarter pole to the wire brought 

 tears to my eyes. I knew I wasn't even a 

 dirty duce in a clean deck of cards. 1 didn't 

 look very good in that race, trailing along in 

 the rear guard." 



"Your first visit to Xew York was to drive 

 for James Y. Gatcomb at Empire City Park 

 in the Grand Circuit in 1903, was it not?" 



"I had been in New York once before. It 

 was at the time Home Rule was winning 

 match races in .Manchester and Concord. I 

 conceived the plan of slipping over to Xew 

 York and buying a 'skinner' that would beat 

 Home Rule and the rest of them. ( letting 

 to the big city I found that the auction was 

 in Chicago. So I went over to Guttenburg 

 and backed the runners. Played every race 

 across the board — and lost. I scampered out 

 of Xew York the next morning prettv quick. 

 All 1 saw of the place was the one block I 

 walked around and the car ride to Forty- 

 second Street ferrv. 



"When I went to Xew York to drive for 

 ( ratcomb I didn't know the way to Broad- 

 way. That's a fact. In the afternoon I 

 drove Prince of ( )range, and in the field was 

 Rhythmic and Fereno. That marked my 

 Grand Circuit debut. I won after losing the 

 opening heal." 



From my personal knowledge, Cox is 

 modest in stating his connection with this 

 race. The betting fraternitv had a ?ood 



opinion of Prince of * 'range to win the event, 

 but when they saw a tall, lanky Yankee, un- 

 known lc all, mount the sulky, there was a 

 rush to the betting ring to hedge the bets 

 made on the gelding. This was Gatcomb's 

 opportunity for getting on heavily at long 

 odds. That night all Broadway was ringing 

 with the praises of the Yankee driver. In 

 the clever way in which he had trimmed the 

 wdse men, and the shrewd drivers opposing 

 him, Cox had made his name. 



Cox maintained his home stable in .Man- 

 chester, training his horses in the Spring 

 over the Nashua, X. H., track, till the sea- 

 son of 1905, when he selected Granite State 

 Park, at Dover, for his training quarters. 



"As the seasons have passed, have you 

 noted any changes in the mode of race driv- 

 ing ?" 



"1 should say so. The day of the driver 

 going away from the wire rippitv-bang has 

 passed, unless laying all over the field in 

 point of speed, which is seldom. Rrains count 

 more now in the sulky than ever. Time in 

 racing has passed, it not being how fast the 

 heats are, but the class of the horse that 

 counts. Give me a 2:04 horse and I'll beat 

 a 2 :C5 one in heats raced in from 2 :oy to 

 2 :c8. Yes, and make him look cheap. In 

 some part of the mile I'll take all the race 

 '>ut of that chap and finish practically alone." 

 "Young drivers are coming up. What is 

 your advice to them?" 



"Don't wait for a winning tomorrow 

 when a victory can be earned today. Drive 

 always to win, regardless of a record on the 

 horse. Nobody ever made fame in the sulky 

 that did not often ride in front ; even the 

 driver coming in second is overlooked by 

 the spectators and critics. It's the man in 

 front who gets the glory, reputation, and 

 finally the best horses in his stable. Re 

 honest, and leave booze for the other fellow 

 to handle." 



"\\ hat has been the increased cost of run- 

 ning a campaigning stable in the past few 

 years? Other things have gone up; most 

 likely you have had the same experience." 



"It costs about twice as much to run a 

 racing stable now as it did ten years ago. 

 At that time it was nothing for a groom to 

 care for three horses. Xow a man is need- 

 ed on each horse, with extra helpers on the 

 day the animal races. Railroad and express 

 bills have been jumped, hotel bills increased 

 to quite an extent, and s*o along through 

 the list. Today every horse has his chest 

 filled with boots and harness. Each horse 

 has his own sulky. Ten years ago one sulky- 

 was used for all and one chest of boots was 

 all that was required for the string: of horses. 



