DOUBLE HARNESS RIVALRY 



wagon in 2.12^ on the half-mile track of the Park- 

 way Driving Club, Brooklyn, N. Y. It is the best 

 double-harness record over a half-mile track, and 

 the details, as written to me by Mr. Bedford, are 

 worth reproducing. 



'* The horses were hooked to a Perrin road wagon 

 not a speed wagon weighing 130 pounds, which 

 with my weight, 190 pounds, made a total weight 

 of 320 pounds. I gave them two preparatory miles, 

 one in 2.27 and one in 2.22, and then drove them 

 a mile, which the slowest of four watches made 

 2.I2J. The fractional parts of the mile were, first 

 eighth, 17^ seconds; quarter, 34 seconds; half, 

 i.i6i; three quarters, 1.40, and mile 2.12^. The 

 track, although fast for this season of the year, was 

 not as fast by a second or two as it would be in the 

 summer or early fall. The day, for a fall day, was 

 perfect, with very little wind blowing. The previous 

 Saturday I had attempted to beat the record, but, 

 after several efforts, the best mile I could drive them 

 was 2.19^. I left the horses at the track to be put 

 in perfect condition, and to keep them off the stones. 

 They had also been given, comparatively speaking, 

 light road work, and I came to the conclusion that 

 leaving them at the track had a tendency to make 

 them nervous, so, as all the creditable miles I have 

 ever driven had been with horses out of my own 

 stable, as for instance the mile at Norwalk, 2.15^, 

 after the horses had been jogged seven and one-half 

 miles from my place to Norwalk, I decided to take 

 them away from the track and bring them home 

 to my own stable, which I did. I had them driven 

 fifteen miles every day, regardless of the weather, 



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