16 THE BEGINNING. 



Patchen, Jr., and the second with General Butler, 

 The race with Patchen was the first called, and as the 

 California stallion was beaten easily in 2 130^ on the 

 first trip the spectators expressed their indignation in 

 very plain terms. In order to smooth out matters 

 Doble went on regardless of his traveling companion 

 and trotted two heats in 2:24^/2, 2:28. Three days 

 later Dexter was brought out again to meet General 

 Butler over the cinder track of the Chicago Driving 

 Park and lost his only race that season. The first 

 heat was trotted in 2:33^. Dexter won it. Butler 

 then won two heats in 2 127, 2 126^, after which Dexter 

 was drawn. 



"Two weeks to a day "after this race, or to be more 

 accurate, as this is a momentous event in the annals 

 of harness racing, September 22, 1866, General Butler 

 and Cooley met in a $5,000 match race at the Driving 

 Park. Before the race the Western horse was a pro- 

 hibitive favorite, five to one being laid on him so long 

 as the Eastern people would take the Butler end of it. 

 Rain had put the track in bad condition, but as Cooley 

 was known to be at home on any kind of footing, that 

 but added to the confidence of the favorite's admirers, 

 and it looked as though the Chicago people considered 

 him the only horse in the race. 



"William Riley drove Cooley, while Sam Crooks 

 had the mount behind General Butler. In the first 

 heat both horses were up and down all the way, the 

 lead alternating according to the breaks. From the 

 distance to the wire it was nip and tuck, Cooley win- 

 ning by a neck in 2:38^. Both of the horses were 

 very unsteady in the first quarter of the second heat, 

 but when Cooley settled he went on about his business 



