172 



The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



in i :$6 1-4, and at the same meeting lowered 

 the wagon record to 1 157 1-4, and the half- 

 mile mark to 56 seconds. Seven miles in 2:00 

 and better were to his credit when he retired 

 to Winter quarters in 1903. In 1904 Dan 

 started only five times, lowering his record to 

 1 156 at Memphis. In 1905 his first mile bet- 

 ter than 2 :oo was at Hamline, where he paced 

 in 1 :59 1-2, five days after pacing in 1 157 1-2 

 over the same track. At Lexington he aga'in 

 paced in 1 156, and two days later made his 

 best technical record, I 155 1-4. He then went 

 to Memphis, where he paced against time, in 



the open, in 2 :oo, 1 159 1-4, 2 :oo and 1 158. 

 He started six times, beating 2:00 in every 

 effort. Six starts were also made by him in 

 1907, but his best mile that year was in 

 1 :57 1-2, at Phoenix, Ariz. Two miles better 

 than 2:00 were paced by him in 1908. Dan's 

 last exhibitions were in 1909, starting six 

 times, five of them with Minor Heir. With 

 windshield he paced in 1 155 flat, which rec- 

 ord, however, does not stand as a technical 

 one, and 2 :o2 3-4 to high wheels, behind a run- 

 ner, which latter performance is a record. 

 Dan Patch is owned by M. W. Savage, Min- 

 neapolis, Minn. 



Incidents in Eventful Career of Noted 



Driver, Dan Mace 



(By James C)*Neill) 



Editor's Note. — Dan Maw, in his day. was tin- most noted trainer and driver of 

 the trotting horse in the country, and none is more capable for relating the inside 

 stories of some of his principal races than James O'Neill, who, besides attending to 

 all of his clerical work, keeping his books and correspondence, ete.. was manager of 

 his blacksmith shop. Mr. O'Neill remaine i with Mr Maee until the time of his death, 

 on April 19, 1885, the result of bright" s disease. Mr. Maee teas ^,2 years old when he 

 passed away, and in his will he left Mr. O'Neill the blacksmith shop. 



It was in 1875 that Mr. Maee got Hopeful. 2 114 3-4. the noted trotting gelding that 

 Teas bred by the late Benjamin D. Whitcomb, former president of the New England 

 Trotting Horse Breeders' Association. Mr. O'Neill, in the Trotter and Pacer, re- 

 ferred particularly to the campaign of this famous trotter, and of Darby, 2:161-2, 

 the season of 1879 through the Grand Circuit, when Hopeful's net winnings 

 amounted to the neat sum of $21,000, but to let Mr. O'Neill give his own version of 

 the particular events in Mr. Mace's life: 



AT the close of the campaign of 

 1879 Dan came in the office one 

 forenoon and asked that the bill 

 of Thomas P. Wallace, of New 

 York, owner of Darby, be made 

 out with the check for the amount due him. 

 After figuring up the account, I handed Mace 

 the check for $14,000, and hours later he re- 

 turned and, throwing the check on my desk, 

 said: "Mr. Wallace carefully went over the 

 account. He then asked me if I had not 

 robbed myself, and insisted that I keep the en- 

 tire amount." That afternoon I destroyed the 

 check. This will show the kind of patrons the 

 noted trainer and driver had around him. 



For several years the racing associations 

 through Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, etc., had 

 been offering Mace big inducements to bring 

 his string of campaigners out over their 

 tracks. This was in the seventies; about 1878, 

 I believe. He had that Spring, at Point 

 Breeze, nineteen horses. "Knap" McCarthy 



did all of the conditioning, and Dan would 

 run over to the track two or three times every 

 week to drive them, so as to be able to find 

 which he thought good enough to take away 

 racing. 



Of the best ones in his stable I recall Hope- 

 ful. Richard, Darby, Midnight, Red Jim, Ella 

 Jones and Kitty Jacks. Those New Yorkers 

 who had horses with Dan were in the habit 

 of going every Sunday to the track to see 

 their horses work. When it came to shipping 

 West it proved that only six of the number 

 were considered fast enough to take along, 

 such as Hopeful, Darby, Midnight, and three 

 others. 



His first start was in the Michigan Circuit, 

 opening up at Adrian and then Jackson, where 

 he met defeat with his pet trotter Hopeful, by 

 a mare called Proteine, owned in Cincinnati. 

 Of course, this made Dan sore, but worse was 

 yet in store, as at Toledo, a few weeks later, 

 Proteine did the trick to Hopeful over again. 



