The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



173 



the latter having the thumps. After the race 

 Dan was the most down-hearted person you 

 ever saw over the defeat, while, on the other 

 hand, the owners of the mare were equally 

 overjoyed. In the heat of their enthusiasm 

 they challenged Dan for another race to come 

 off the full >wing .Monday week at Cleveland, 

 offering to hack Proteine against Hopeful at 

 $2,000 to $10,000. 



This proposition Mace refused, telling the 

 owners of the mare that both horses were en- 

 tered in the free-for-all at Cleveland, on 

 Thursday, and they would then have the 

 ihance of betting just as much money as they 

 wished. It proved to be a great betting race, 

 ] 'roteine ruling a heavy choice over the field. 

 .Mace rather liked the improvement in Hopeful 

 since his defeat at Toledo, and in the selling 

 down of the starters had an order in the pool 

 box for all of those cheap tickets. 



When the sun went down over the hills that 

 evening Proteine had received her Waterloo. 

 Hopeful was her conqueror. The owners of 

 the mare were out over $10,000 on the result 

 of the contest, as they had been so positive 

 that she was invincible they backed her to the 

 limit. It is perhaps needless to state that a 

 good share of that money went in cashing 

 Mace's tickets. 



When we read of horses trotting half miles 

 in from 1 :oi 1-2 to 1 :03 nowadays w<e are apt 

 to think it quite a feat, but it should be 

 stated that it was very common to see Hope- 

 ful step to the half in his races in 1 103 and 

 1 104. and in those days there were no bike 

 sulkies, while the tracks were not nearly as 

 fast as is now the case. With the conditions 

 pertaining at the present period I firmly be- 

 lieve Hopeful would easily have raced in bet- 

 ter than 2 :io. 



I'll relate a neat coup that Mace engineered 

 at Ionia, Mich., and executed at Quincy the 

 following week. He had a little trotter named 

 Gossip, Jr., entered in the slow classes against 

 a very fast horse from Cincinnati called Big 

 John, and the owners of the latter were up 

 there to make a killing. Nothing but taking 

 off the pool box would suit them. 



Big John was made a big favorite, wdiile 

 Gossip, Jr.. was selling for a song. Mace 

 played his gelding to win $1,500, and won the 

 race, but at that he had little confidence in 

 Gossip, Jr.. as he was unreliable, sometimes 

 taking it into his head to stop, when he 

 couldn't be moved an inch. 



Well, the next week at Grand Rapids, be- 

 fore the race, Dan worked Gossip, Jr., and 

 said that he did not like him, and if he was 

 made favorite he intended playing against 

 him. for he had no idea he was capable of 



winning. The betting proved to be Gossip, Jr., 

 $100; field, $40. Mace sent in an order to 

 play the field. 



( iossip, Jr.. took the initial heat in z:2>>, 

 making him a bigger favorite at $100 to $30 

 over the field. Dan continued playing out his 

 hand by sending another order into the pool 



DAN MACE 



box on the little end. Howev.er. Gossip. Jr., 

 was again first to the wire in 2 :2/. This 

 caused little betting before the third heat, bin 

 Dan had field tickets knocked off to him in a 

 way not to arouse suspicion. Scoring for the 

 heat Gossip, Jr.. began his antics; he would 

 break, sulk, and behaved so badly that the 

 judges had finally to send off the field without 

 him. He caught the distance flag. 



Wow ! ! ! How the crowd did yell and storm 

 about, declaring at the top of their voices it 

 was one of Mace's slick tricks. To satisfy 

 the public, the judges called it no heat, and 

 put up a prominent Western driver in Dan's 

 place. It made no difference, however, as 

 Gossip, Jr., was done for that day and made 

 his standstill breaks, getting the flag again. 



That night when Mace went to town, the 

 first thing he did was to go to the freight sta- 

 tion to find out what it would cost to ship 

 Gossip, Jr., to Trenton, N. J., where he was 

 owned by Henry M. Smith, of the Fashion 

 Farm. While making the arrangements to 

 ship, a reporter slipped into the freight office 

 and sat down on a barrel. He had both ears 

 wide open to catch any news of the race of 

 that afternoon for his paper; there had been 

 so much talk over it. In some way Dan knew 



