igS HUMANE HORSE-TRAINING 



familiar by winning a long series of races with both of 

 them, was credited with many witty sayings during his 

 career on the track, and will always be remembered as 

 a wit who lived and sparkled in the good old days of 

 harness-racing when the breed was being founded and 

 trotting horses were in a measure manufactured by the 

 men who developed them. 



One of Splan's most brilliant flashes of wit was 

 placed on record in the lobby of the St. James' Hotel 

 on Broadway, in New York City. The English jockey, 

 Fred Archer, whose name became a household word on 

 the American continent on account of him winning 

 the English Derby with Iroquois, had made a trip 

 across the Atlantic in search of health. His head- 

 quarters were at the St. James', whose proprietor. 

 Captain Conner, was an ardent admirer of the gallopers 

 and had many beautiful paintings of them scattered all 

 over the house. One afternoon, while Archer was there, 

 John Splan dropped in for a \dsit. A group of horse- 

 men suggested that it would be a capital idea to introduce 

 Archer to the greatest living driver. Archer was very 

 much pleased with the suggestion, and after the greetings 

 were exchanged the slender little man slid up to the big 

 six-footer and said : "By the way, Mr. Splan, what 

 are the principal fixed events on the trotting turf in 



