262 TirK HORSK. 



80 tliat opposite the Oakland House, near the three-quarter mile 

 post, the field closed. Ste})hen here let out the phenomenon he 

 so gracefully bestrode, and like twin bullets the gallant gray 

 and Wagner came out of the melee. At the head of the quar- 

 ter stretch, Stephen was told to " pull him steady," so that 

 before Wagner reached tlie stand, Queen Mary had changed 

 places with Grey Eagle, notwithstanding her saddle liad slipped 

 on her withers. Hawk-Eye was already in difficulty, and for 

 him the pace was getting " no better very fast." Grey Eagle 

 set to work in earnest on entering the back stretch, first outfoot- 

 ing the Queen and then challenging Wagner. From the Oak- 

 land House to the head of the quarter-stretch, the ground is 

 descending, and from thence up the straight run to the stand, 

 a distance of perhaps six hundred yards, it is ascending. At 

 the half-mile post, Cato called upon Wagner, and tlie critical 

 moment having arrived, Stephen collared him with the gray, 

 on the outside. For three hundred yards the pace was tremen- 

 dous ; Grey Eagle once got his head and neck in front, and a 

 tremendous shout was sent up ; but Wagner threw him oft' so 

 far in going round the last turn, that, halfway up the stretch, 

 Mr. Burbridge ordered him to be pulled up, and Wagner won 

 cleverly, Queen Mary dropping just within her distance, 150 

 yards. Hawk-Eye was nowhere. Time 7.48. 



The disappointment and mortification was so great, that for 

 the first twenty minutes after the heat. Queen Mary was freely 

 backed against Grey Eagle, while so far as Wagner was con- 

 cerned, it was considered " a dead open and shut." Before the 

 forty-five minutes had elapsed, however, a re-action took place 

 in favor of Grey Eagle. Not a KentucMan on the ground laid 

 out a dollar on Wagner ! From the first, the very few individ- 

 uals who were disposed to back him on account of his blood, 

 his form, his performances and his condition, had not staked a 

 dollar; their judgment prompted them to back the Southern 

 chamj)ion, but they would not bet against Kentucky ! Talk of 

 State pride in South Carolina ! Why, the Kentuckians have 

 more of it than the citizens of all the States in the Confederacy 

 added together. They not only believe Kentucky to be the 

 Eden of the world, and the garden of the Union, but their own 

 favorite county to be the asparagus-bed of the State ! And they 



