294 THE GOLDSMITHS. 



John H. Goldsmith's style in the sulky was pecu- 

 liar. With elbows and hands almost on a level with 

 his shoulders, he rustled the Guy Wilkes family into 

 the front rank with a vim and a dash that was electri- 

 cal. Many of the old timers considered it faulty, as 

 he had very little control over a horse with his hands 

 so high that the reins were almost lifting the terrets 

 out of the back pad, but they overlooked the fact that 

 a shift of the bit and a light tap with the whip was 

 all that his pupils required after he had completed 

 their education. No one ever saw a better mannered 

 or purer gaited lot of horses. They were the evi- 

 dence of John Goldsmith's skill as a trainer and, as 

 he seldom broke one down, his skill as a conditioner 

 must be put on a par with his success as a reinsman. 

 The following from the columns of the "Breeder and 

 Sportsman" is very much to the point in this particu- 

 lar: 



"As a judge of horses, he was one of the best, and 

 whenever he selected a colt or filly and concluded it 

 was worthy of being entered in a stake or purse race, 

 he never gave it up until he proved his prediction cor- 

 rect. A visitor at the San Mateo Farm said 'the 

 rapidity with which he would select yearlings, two- 

 year-olds and three-year-olds, and insist upon them 

 being entered for stake events, was most remarkable, 

 and after the races ended I always noted that he made 

 no mistakes in his selections.' 



"As a judge of pace, he was one out of a thousand. 

 He could time quarters and eighths without a watch, 

 and tell just how fast he was going. He was a 

 peculiar driver, carrying his hands high, and never 

 used a whip or artificial appliances to make his colts 



