D 



Daisy-cutter. A horse that does not lift his feet much 



off tlie ground ^vhen trotting or galloping; a low, swift going 



horse. 



The Irot is the true pace for a hackney; ajul were we near a town I 

 shouUl like to try that daisif-cutter of yours npou a piece of level 

 road, (^barring canter), for a quart of claret at the next inn. — Sir 

 "Walter Scott. 



Daiig'erous Horse. An unknown horse of which one 

 is afraid in a race ; one of whose chances of success no informa- 

 tion is to be had. 



Dark. All racing and trotting rules forbid the making 

 of a heat or race wdien it is so dark that the gait of the horses 

 cannot be plainly seen from the judges' stand. 



Dark Horse. A horse not known ; one of which all 

 contestants are afraid ; whose capabilities are not known. 



Years ago there lived in Tennessee an old chap named Sam Flynn, 

 who always had a nag or two, traded horses to some extent and. 

 who had a black horse called Dusky Pete, almost a thoroughbred, 

 which he woidd straddle and ride into town in such a way as gave 

 those who knew it the inij)ression that Pete wasn't much of a 

 "hoss." One day Sam came into town where there was a county 

 race meeting and entered Pete at a post match. The people backed, 

 two or three local favorites quite heavily against iiim, not knowing 

 anything of his antecedents. Jnst as the tlyers were being sad- 

 dled for the race, old Judge McMinamee, Avho was the turf oracle 

 of that part of the State, arrived on the course and was made one 

 of the judges. As he took his place on the stand he was told how 

 the betting ran, and the folly of the owner of the strange entry in 

 ba<;king his "plug" so heavily. Running his eye over the track 

 the judge instantly recognized Pel e and said: " Gentlemen, there's 

 a dark horse in this race that will make some of you sick before 

 supper." The judge was right. Pete, the "dark horse," lay back 

 until the three-quarter pole was reached wlien he went to the front 

 with a rush, and won the purse and Flynn's bets with the greatest 

 ease. This is the true origin of the saying "a dark horse." 

 Wallace's Monthly, May, 1884. 



The first favorite was never heard of, the second favorite was never 

 seen after the distance post, all the ten-to-oners were in the race, 

 and a dark horse which had never been thought of rushed past the 

 grand stand in sweeping triumiDh. — The Young Duke, Benjamin 

 D'Israeli. 



Darley Arabian. One of the three most remarkable 

 horses of which equine history gives any record. It was dur- 

 ing the reign of Queen Anne, 1702-1714, (famous in its his- 

 tory of the English thoroughbred racehorse), that this cele- 

 brated animal attained his greatest fame. He is supposed to 

 have been bred in the desert of Palmyra, and was brought 



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