49 



ber, and I did my best, but could do no better than finish 

 third in the race. The next time out I also lost. 



But the third time I showed them who laid the rail. I 

 was on a horse belonging- to a man named Sherley, who had 

 a stock farm near Louisville. The colt was by imp. Margrave 

 and was called Martinet. It was over the old Oakland 

 course, and there were eight or nine starters. We got off 

 well together at the tap of the drum. I was instructed to 

 trail till I came to the head of the stretch. I kept within 

 distance of the leading horse for three-quarters of a mile. 

 Then I pulled a little wide and came on home winner of the 

 heat with comparative ease. 



Paddy Burns, of Frankfort, a famous Bluegrass plunger, 

 who had backed my mount for the heat, approached me and 

 handed me three sovereigns. It was my first fee and I w^as 

 anxious to distinguish myself by winning the race. I was 

 instructed to lay up the next heat unless I got off well, and 

 as I did not do so I lost the heat. The third heat my horse 

 had cooled off and rested well. At the tap of the drum I 

 went to the front, and with a good swinging pull all the way 

 I maintained the lead. 



Burns was again backing me, and the next day he took 

 me down town and bought me two good suits of clothes and 

 gave me a twenty-dollar bill. It was the first large amount 

 of money I had ever possessed and I had no pocketbook. 

 I was terribly afraid I would lose the money, and I tied 

 it up in one corner of the tail of my shirt. It reached home 

 with me safely and I turned it over to Mrs. Shy with in- 

 structions to keep it for me. This happened in about 1845. 

 Shy was very unlucky with his horses and race after race 

 he entered and lost by the worst kind of luck. It was the 

 talk of all the tracks, and there was not a man but felt 

 sorry for him. Being a man of but limited means, it was 

 predicted that his turf career would soon have to close as 

 far as ownership was concerned. But the tide turned. Dal- 

 las, by Robinson, out of Theatrus, was entered in a race about 

 1846 at Lexington for the three best in five heats. I had 

 the mount and won the race in four heats, losing the third. 



Then originated the famous saying that is now a familiar 

 one all over the South — " Shy won a heat.'' You may hear 

 it in Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisiana, and 



