174 



The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



"I have had bad luck enough with that 

 who he was, but did not let on. Before leav- 

 ing the office he remarked to the freight agent: 

 horse. Now that he has broke me I am 

 mighty glad to get rid of him." 



In the next morning paper the reporter 

 showed he had grabbed the bait, hook and all, 

 as there was a column and a half story telling 

 how Gossip, Jr., had broke Mace and the 

 party with him, and as a result the gelding 

 had been shipped home. The truth of the mat- 

 ter was that Mace's winnings were $9,800. 



One of the lovable characteristics of Mace 

 was his fondness for children. When we 

 struck Quincy. 111., he went to one of the 

 prominent members of the association, John 

 Allen, originally a Providence man, whom Dan 

 had known previous years in the East, and 

 made arrangements that on Thursday, the day 

 he was down to exhibit Hopeful, all of the 

 school children and little orphans would be ad- 

 mitted free. Then Dan ordered a big ox 

 killed and roasted in the infield for a barbecue. 

 He paid all of the expenses. The management 

 bought a floral wreath to put on Hopeful. It 

 certainly was a great day for the kids in 

 Quincy. 



The week before this at Danville, III, Mace 

 had been thrown from the sulky and had his 

 shoulder dislocated, so that he was compelled 

 to drive Hopeful at Quincy with one hand, 

 his other one being in a sling. It was so pain- 

 ful that after the mile, on alighting from the 

 sulky, he fell to the ground in a faint. Imme- 

 diately the children rushed to the track and 

 set up a great cry, believing that their bene- 

 factor was seriously injured. There were over 

 7,500 persons in the grandstand, too, that 

 were greatly concerned as to Mace's condition. 

 Fifteen minutes after being taken to his stable 

 he revived and appeared again in the quarter- 

 stretch. When the children and crowd saw 

 that he was all right, the most spontaneous 

 burst of applause came forth that was ever 

 heard on a race track. Everybody fairly went 

 wild. 



Mace drove many match races on wnich 

 large sums of money depended. One occurred 

 at the old Prospect track, near where the 

 Gravesend running track was located. It 

 was between Edward and Richard. Frank 

 Work owned the former and Foster Dewey, 

 Richard. The match was for $5,000 a side, 

 making $io,oco up. 



The day of the race was cloudy, but Dan 

 went prepared, as that forenoon he had a pair 

 of mud shoes (shoes calked) slipped on Rich- 

 ard, for the event was play or pay. Johnny 

 Murphy did the honors behind Edward. It 

 began to rain before the opening heat, making 



the track heavy ana slippery. Edward was a 

 big favorite. Richard won the first heat in 

 2:21 1-2. When it came to the second the 

 continued rain had made the track deep in 

 mud, but Dan had the big advantage through 

 his shrewdness in having Richard shod in 

 anticipation of the weather. The mud shoes 

 told the story, as the race was over in straight 

 heats, Richard winning. 



I think that the last race that Mace drove 

 was at Springfield, Mass., August 29, 1883. In 

 the race were such horses as Overman, J. B. 

 Thomas, Romero, Minnie A., and Josephus, 

 the last being the property of the late David 

 Stephenson. Mace was engaged to drive Jo- 

 sephus. There had always been great rivalry 

 between Hickok, who had Overman, and 

 Mace. Rain had made the track quite heavy, 

 but Dan was particularly anxious to defeat 

 Hickok on any account. Mace drew the pole, 

 and next came Overman. One of the drivers 

 in the race was Jimmy Golden. 



Now it should be borne in mind that Jo- 

 sephus was not the gamest trotter ever bred. 

 He won the initial heat in 2:21 1-2, but was 

 very tired. Mace had the management roll 

 the track before the second, to settle the mud 

 some. After a desperate finish Josephus cap- 

 tured the second heat right in 2 :2o, but he 

 fairly staggered the last end of the route. It 

 surely looked all over for Mace to win, but 

 right here was where his wonderful sagacity 

 came into play. 



No sooner had Josephus reached the stall, 

 at the conclusion of the heat, than Dan sent 

 for the blacksmith and had him take the heads 

 off the nails in one of the forward shoes, so 

 that when he came out for the third heat the 

 shoe would fall off. When this happened the 

 judges gave Dan the requested time to have 

 the shoe replaced, but before he got round 

 for the heat nearly an hour and a quarter had 

 passed, and Josephus was then well rested. It 

 was not easy for Mace to win, though, as 

 never in all of his career on the turf did he 

 drive a harder or more clever heat. By almost 

 riding the gelding on the back he just man- 

 aged to reach the wire a neck to the good. The 

 time of the heat was 2:21 1-2. Many who 

 had seen Dan drive for years have declared 

 it was the best race he ever drove. The Hickok 

 party lost a large pot of money on the result, 

 and a portion of it went into Mace's pocket. 

 This was Dan's last race. 



All the time Mace was doing somebody a 

 good turn. I can call to memory once when 

 away racing we came to a meeting where he 

 met a man with a horse entered who had not 

 the money to pay the entrance fee. This ap- 



