THE DEL MONTE TIP. 87 



the door. When I found no one was listening I said: 

 "You don't mean it." "I do," said he, and with a 

 snap that showed he was not pleased with my 

 familiarity. 



"Well, do it," said I, "but it is like burning good 

 money. He is one of the kind that will do for see- 

 sawing heats at small meetings, but when it comes to 

 the Grand Circuit, he is outclassed." 



"Can your thing beat him?" asked Ragan, pointing 

 at my horse. 



"I don't know," said I, "but he don't have to, as 

 they are not in the same class." 



"I thought so," said Ragan, as he slammed him- 

 self down on the trunk. 



I let him cool off a little before taking out my 

 book to read up. Then I showed him where Del 

 Monte had been racing since the May meeting at Fleet- 

 wood, where he won a six-heat race from "Gypsy" 

 Haight with Gautier and how Gautier trimmed 

 him over the half-mile ring at Goshen the next 

 week. As I thumbed over the summaries I found 

 that Del Monte had won a seven-heat race at 

 Poughkeepsie, a straight heat affair at Albany 

 in June and was third to Green Girl at Hartford. I 

 could, against my will, feel like getting sweet on him 

 when I found that he had won a seven-heat battle over 

 Mystic Park with ten of them behind him, until I 

 turned over another page and saw that Ernest Mal- 

 travers had tramped on him at Beacon the next week, 

 and that after he had won a second heat in 2:21^2 and 

 was back sixth in the fifth heat in 2 125^. As I closed 

 the book I said: "Ragan, when it is split up in cool 

 weather Del Monte is a good card, but he won't do 

 here." 



