1 80 Making the American Thoroughbred 



" ' Even ! Even ! ' is echoed and re-echoed by a thousand 

 voices. 



" * Where are your two-to-one betters, the wealthy South- 

 rons, and especially the sharp eagle-eyed knowing ones? ' 



"' Clear the track, the riders are up/ is rung like 

 a peal of thunder throughout that vast agitated concourse. 

 What a tremendous throbbing and palpitation is going 

 on in the breast of many a luckless wight who has staked 

 the needful on the issue. 



"Hark! the drum is tapped and they are off. 



"'Angora ahead go it Tennessee!' is now shouted in 

 wild delight by the knowing ones, 'where are you 

 Kentuck?' 



"'She is nowhere,' says a big double-fisted fellow who 

 has but nine shillings on the race (a Cincinnati wager), 

 ' Kentuck is where she always was and ever will be be- 

 hind Tennessee.' 



"'Never mind,' cries a rough honest looking laborer, 

 who has bet his month's wages on Rodolph, 'you'll see 

 what's what before long; if Tennessee beats old Kentuck 

 this heat I'll bet two to one the mare's tail drops off at 

 the Judges' stand. Look there, my darling; hurrah, my 

 Rodolph by Juno he has licked her the second round, 

 and if he hasn't run clear from under the rider's cap I wish 

 I may be shot; and by the memory of Daniel Boone, if 

 the bay will slacken a bit, I'll bet Rodolph can run clear 

 out of his own skin. Go it, ye cripples! Rodolph against 

 the world, and fling in a railroad.' 



"And so, indeed Rodolph had passed the boasted 

 heroine of the South, just like a knife, after loping behind 

 her for gallantry's sake, a mile or two. The way he came 

 around the fourth time wasn't slow, and the way Angora 

 was distanced was nobody's business but her own, and 

 that of the knowing ones." 



