64 



fleet-tooted Gilmore, and he galloped in under a pull, win- 

 ning the first Omnibus Stakes ever run. 



It was the greatest surprise of the time, as everybody 

 figured that he did not have one chance in a thousand of 

 winning. I wagered all the money I could raise on the race 

 and won everything I went after in the financial line that 

 day. 



This race set people to thinking, and after that no man 

 ever accused me of having a badge horse in a race. It was 

 generally considered, always, that when I started in a race 

 I felt sure I had a chance of winning. I might buy the 

 poorest skate, and put him in a race with a lot of first-class 

 platers, but my horse never lacked support. In fact, I 

 made it a point never to start a horse as a favorite, and I 

 never did so. I always endeavored to get as much money 

 for the owner as I could, and to do this I sometimes had to 

 train by candle light; but no one ever knew what one of my 

 horses was going to do. It was but fair to the owner to get 

 him the best odds possible. 



When I returned to the West I met Mr. Bell, who, by 

 the way, had never seen me since I took charge of his string. 

 When I turned over $20,000 in winnings to him he could 

 hardly believe what I said. At first he said I could not have 

 paid my expenses out of the money, but I assured him that 

 such was the case. 



Harry Gilmore afterward ran in the Stallion Stakes at 

 Louisville against my advice, and was defeated by two 

 horses, for the reason that he never could run in the mud. 

 Clay Pate, a sure enough mud horse, captured the race, but 

 he could never have landed first past the post had the going 

 been fast and to the liking of Gilmore. At the same time 

 we had in our stable Dave Yandell, a horse that liked the 

 mud, and could easily have won. In fact, I tried my best to 

 induce Mr. Bell to start Yandell ; but James Guest, a half 

 owner of Gilmore, wanted to start his horse, and I had to 

 submit. Thus we lost a stake that should have fallen to us. 



We moved to Chicago from Louisville, and I won the 

 two-mile- and the three-mile-heat races with Dave Yandell, 

 beating some of the best horses there. Harry Gilmore got 

 the mile-heat race handily. After this I returned to St. 

 Louis and spent the winter. The next season I started out 



