208 



The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



combat with an opponent, giving him a race 

 for the honors from start to finish, and at 

 the very end barely having sufficient speed t' > 

 win by inches, is tonic to his nerves that noth- 

 ing else can duplicate. 



Like any true sportsman, of course, Mr. 

 McDonald dearly loves to drive the winner. 

 If he finds that what he has in equine flesh 

 has not the ability to more than hold its own 

 it has been his motto to buy another with 

 that capacity : hence it is that his stable of 

 today, and in the past few years, has won more 

 than four hundred blue ribbons in competi- 

 tion with the fastest trotters and pacers in 

 Greater Boston. 



Mr. McDonald is a natural horseman. 

 From the beginning he had the rare ability 

 of getting from a horse all that he could give 

 in a race. In this, possibly, Mr. McDonald 

 was fortunate in having secured for his tutor, 

 at his start in matinee racing, so able a reins- 

 man and all-around horseman as A. J. Fur- 

 bush. 



First in the heart of Mr. McDonald comes 

 the grand pacing gelding. Chief Wilkie, 

 2:123-4, who held the pacing championship 

 of Charles River Speedway for eight sea- 

 sons. In winning more than 100 races he 

 placed the straightaway record for the regu- 

 lar speedway at 58 seconds, his opening heat 

 that day being in 59 seconds, and is joint 

 holder of the half-mile track record of 1 104, 

 made in the Spring series of 1914. He has 

 to his credit that no pacer ever defeated him 

 but he, in turn, was later returned the con- 

 queror. The ones having won from Chief 

 Wilkie are. however, about as scarce as hens 

 teeth. < >n the snow Chief Wilkie has a rec- 

 ord of 293-4 seconds, the speedway record. 



In the trotting gelding Demarest. 2:06 1-4, 

 Mr. McDonald owned the champion of his 

 gait at the speedway. The year of 191 2 

 Demarest never met with a defeat, either in 

 the Spring or the Fall series. In a winning 

 race he secured the trotting record of 

 1 :04 3-4 for the half-mile track, while over 

 the straightaway he has won a heat in 

 1 :oo 1-4. 



Don Labor. 2:051-4, was purchased by 

 Mr. McDonald in the season of 1914, and 

 raced in the Fall series of matinees. As he- 

 was started with hardly any training, having 

 been running out the early part of the year, 

 he never was in proper condition to display 

 his best efforts. Much better things are ex- 

 pected from him in the sleighing and in the 

 1915 matinees. 



Of the other present occupants of the Mc- 

 Donald matinee stable that have been promi- 

 nent in the Charles River Speedway races 

 are: Miss Adbell, 2:061-4; LaBoudie, 2:10; 



Directum Regent, 2:091-4; Orale, 2:171-2, 

 trotting. 2:161-4, pacing: The Counsellor, 

 2 :ij 1-4; Mendell, 2:21 ; Ecce Volo, 2 129 1-4; 

 Mediumore, 2:12 1-2; Hal-at-Law. 2:10 3-4; 

 Virginia Hill, 2:1" 1-2 ; Anita Knight. 2 :20 1-4, 

 and Castle Todd. Mr. McDonald resides in 

 Allston. Mass. 



JOHN M. JOHNSON 

 John M. Johnson was born in Xorwalk. 

 Conn., in 1850. and received his education in 

 the schools of that city and in Malone, X. Y. 

 lie started in the wool and tanning business 

 in St. John, X. I'.., in 1879, and later also 

 bad large interests in Calais. Me., of which 

 city he was Mayor for three terms and rep- 

 resentative in the State Legislature. So ex- 

 tensive became his business that, in 1900. he 

 opened offices in Boston for the conducting 

 of the wool and tanning output. 



Mr. Johnson is a member of the Metropoli- 

 tan Club and of the Gentlemen's Driving 

 Club of Boston. He filled the position of 

 vice-president of the Metropolitan in 1914. 

 He is also a member of the Xational Trotting 

 Association, and in the past has been presi- 

 dent of the Xew England Trotting Horse 

 Breeders' Association, president of the Maine 

 Breeders' Association, president of the Grand 

 Circuit, and director in the American Trot- 

 ting Horse Breeders' Association of America. 



When eighteen years of age Mr. Johnson 

 bought his first colt, and it took every cent 

 that he had. But the venture proved unsuc- 

 cessful, as the colt got kicked and had to be 

 killed. The next dip in the horse line was in 

 buying a brood mare by Mambrino Charter, 

 which he bred to ( Hympus. selling the foal for 

 S700 to go West. His first real trotter was 

 Lady Sim. 2:31 1-4, which secured the honor 

 of holding the Maritime record for mares. 

 Later he go! the pacer. Ituna, 2:10. and she 

 earned the Maritime record for pacing mares. 

 He bought Kwanon, 2:121-4, at the Allen 

 Farm, when be was a colt, and after racing 

 him sold him to George Van Dyke for $3,500. 



Tn 1898 Mr. Johnson purchased at the 

 Forbes' sale, held at the Forbes Farm, the 

 brood mare, Eanella. 2:13. at that time car- 

 rying Sadie Mac. 2 :o6 1-4. which foal he sold 

 when she was a yearling for $4,000. Todd, 

 2:143-4. he bred and sold when a two-year- 

 old for $4,coo. He was one of the syndicate 

 that purchased Cochato for $10,000, and the 

 colt later won the Hartford Futurity and was 

 sold for a large sum. 



Mr. Johnson bought the Forbes Farm, in 

 Ponkapoag, Mass., and renamed it the John- 

 son barm. Tn his breeding venture he was 

 most successful, the list of high-priced and 

 record trotters he bred and owned being a 



