154 



The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



State Short Ship Circuit, which, I hear, did 

 very well in its initial season. 



1 well recall, during one of the big New 

 England fairs, held always there at the old 

 Worcester Fair Grounds, seeing Gus Dore 

 (Lester's father) drive Galatea a heat in 2:28 

 and that it was the track race record at the 

 moment and was proudly announced by Tom 

 King, who always acted as starter there. It 

 was in 1881, and, over the same track, 1 

 afterward saw Prince A., Corinne, Xed 

 Winslow and others perform many seconds 

 faster, some of the miles toward the very end 

 of the pretty old track's history having been 

 right at 2:10, writing from memory. C. M. 

 Dyer's pretty trotter, Careless Boy, trotted 

 an exhibition heat there one day. in 1879 or 

 188c, in 2 :28. as I recall, and many there that 

 day doubtless believed they would never see 

 his equal among Worcester owned trot- 

 ters, yet, when they allowed "selling" there, 

 Worcester was one of the best towns on the 

 New England circuit. The area occupied by 

 the track and its complement of buildings is 

 today built completely over and not to be 

 recognized by sentimentalists, who like to 

 think back to the New England Fair as our 

 one to-be-perpetuated institution. 



At Westboro, ten miles east of Worcester, 

 occurred one of the amusing incidents con- 

 nected with our turf events that, after all, are 

 really to be laughed over. A meeting at the 

 half-mile track (now no more) wound up at 

 dusk the last day and the last race looked to 

 have a carried-over inclination. Heats were 

 split up, horses tired and no one was willing 

 to settle it as per summary. Accordingly, 

 John Kervick thought up a plan to end the 

 race and get the money divided. He pulled 

 into the bushes on the back stretch, rejoined 

 the tired horses with one fresh enough to do 

 the trick and got the money, despite the un- 

 usual protest and investigation. 



At old Beacon Park, before George Hicks 

 caused to be razed the famous "willows" at 

 the stretch turn for home, many were the 

 Onawa-like breaks and attendant growls. 1 

 can hear them yet — "I don't suppose you 

 judges saw So and So run clean through 

 them willows!" Then the accused driver 

 made his plea. No patrol judge clause then. 

 It was really a feature of especially the 

 winter-overcoating meetings there. Ah ! 

 Those late meetings, held as late as "October 

 32d," I guess were pleasurable affairs after 

 all. and. whether they were framed up or 

 otherwise, we saw hammer-and-tongs races 

 just the same. 



Mr. Feek came over from Syracuse, 

 usuallv Grady (he lived there then), Dougrey, 

 Alta McDonald and Frazier came down from 



Albany, Tom McAloon, Woodbury and 

 Libby came up from Maine, Fred Reynolds 

 was at Charter Oak then, and he and "Gene" 

 Hyde, together with Shillinglaw, usually gave 

 them some entries : Twitchell from the west- 

 ern part of the State, Houghton and Wash- 

 burn from Worcester, Swan and others from 

 up Athol way, and various others from as 

 far away as Baltimore had horses in, and all 

 wanted to get the money if they could escape 

 a mark, and "Game_>" will tell you that is the 

 really artistic feat and makes for interesting, 

 amusing races and stand management, if at 

 all rightly conducted. One heat may be 

 2:34 1-4, and the next in 2:24 1-4, for some- 

 times an owner of some stallion wanted a 

 race-record — and he got it, too. 



The bologna sandwiches tasted just as well, 

 let me add, as though every rule in that book 

 "went." The coffee, even without fancy 

 trimmings and tongs to handle cut sugar, 

 tasted satisfactory — possibly it had a few 

 dried beans mixed therewith, and no one 

 uttered a protest because of price or service. 

 I've seen men of considerable wealth elbow 

 neighbors with "Mike-the-Tramp," eating as 

 heartily at these 10-20-30 lunch counters at 

 the tracks as though surrounded by brokers 

 at the swell clubs where dues alone amount 

 to hundreds annually and with a waiting list 

 only utilized in the event of a death among 

 the older members. 



Today the owner rides to the races in his 

 $10,000 auto, the chauffeur receives more 

 than a trainer's charges for handling a sea- 

 son's sensation, everyone has his private car 

 for the horses, the swipes wear uniforms, 

 washes and other preparations are put up in 

 convenient form to be merely diluted and 

 applied under cotton, they are put away for 

 the night and "the stable" is at the theatre 

 enjoying a roof garden show, whereas, in the 

 old days, the owner and trainer remained to 

 see the race performer cooled out and put 

 away, and frequently going without their own 

 supper, merely catching a late bite in town 

 before retiring. Nothing at all suggestive of 

 the old gipsy-like, halfway camping out life 

 from Cleveland to Boston does one see, and 

 the old "hotels"' at the track entrances have 

 gone their way. Never do we see a party in 

 a landau at, say, thirty dollars for the after- 

 noon and evening, as well as paying for feed- 

 ing the horses, wining and dining, as well as 

 liberally tipping the driver, — this whether 

 winners or losers on the day. 



No, it is, seemingly, forever past, this tem- 

 porarily "high life" chapter. Money appears 

 to be tight and men like the late Major Dick- 

 inson, Matthew Rilev, Col. Lawrence Kipp, 

 Col. William Edwards, the brilliant and ver- 



